Join us in this insightful interview as we chat with Korra Juliana, a visionary and entrepreneur who embarked on a transformative journey to Portugal. From reevaluating her future after lockdown to building a vibrant expat community, Korra shares her experiences, challenges, and successes. Discover the beauty of solo travel, the joys of expat connection, and the diverse lifestyle choices Portugal offers. If you’re considering a new adventure or seeking a supportive community abroad, this conversation is a must-watch!
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
9:20 Personal Impressions from the Expat Communities in Lisbon, Portugal in General
20:35 “Life Hacks” and Advise for the New Expats, especially Single Professional Women
31:32 Some Real Life Stories and Other Expat Life Experiences in Portugal and other Countries
Emily: Hello. Hello, everyone. It’s me, Emily Bron owner of the International Lifestyle Consulting. And today I have pleasure to meet and speak with Korra Juliana, my, I can say, friend living now in sunny Portugal. And let me introduce Korra Juliana. She is a dynamic global lifestyle consultant and mentor who is leading in the empowerment of women in the realms of travel and relocation with a resolute mission to empower a woman to explore, discover, explore And Triumph Korra is a driving force behind global life by Korra.
It’s Korra company now, where she offers a transformative online consulting and personalized mentoring. As a co founder of Happy in Sisterhood, Korra Juliana has orchestrated a remarkable transformation. Fostering a vibrant communities of expats and local women and Lisbon with over 4,000 active members since it’s 2021 inception.
This community was born from course personal experience of arriving in port in Portugal, and craving meaningful connections and a sisterhood of support. Her deepness and knowledge in event curation and social media proneness was propelled this sisterhood to its current state, hosting an impressive average of six events every month.
Korra Juliana’s path of empowerment extends further as a founder and director of Wasien, yes, Wasien Group. She led groundbreaking wellness initiatives in the Dutch Caribbean in the past, sculpting a bespoke project of a diverse clientele. Her fineness in wellness, marketing, and collaborative teamwork has indelibly shaped the industries.
Today, Korra Juliana stands as a beacon of empowerment, channeling her passion, strategic acumen, and unwavering dedication to inspire women to conquer unchartered territories, and to And sees the greatness right now. Korra is focused on happy in sisterhood club and turning what started to be as a hobby in international business.
And Korra, when I am reading this, I am already you know, excited and empowerment by, by all these words and actually by all what you are doing. So how are you today, Korra?
Korra: I’m fine. Thank you. Emily. Thank you for having me And yeah, it’s always a pleasure to to share with the world what we’re doing and yeah Even if it’s just touching one life, makes me happy
Emily: Thank you. Like I already told about you but a little bit, you know, who is Korra juliana your Short life story, whatever you would like to share today with our listeners and followers
Korra: Well I’m born and raised in Curacao, the Dutch Caribbean, a small island. And I was pretty much a mother of a daughter and my daughter is now 20.
I was a wife, a business, business owner. I had a wellness consulting firm farm to table restaurant. And that’s, that was my life before the pandemic, basically. And as you know, sometimes things happen, life changes, I separated after, you know, being together 23 years and I got a divorce just before the pandemic started.
So to me, the time we had in lockdown was a time for me to reevaluate what the future will hold for myself, where I see myself And what I want to do with the rest of my life. I think it was the universe conspiring for many of us who needed a new start.
It gave us time to think, basically, think and re evaluate what we want to do. And in my case, I decided, well, now I’m divorced, my daughter was going to go study in the Netherlands. So she was going to leave, leave the house the following year. My businesses, I have to reevaluate if I want it to continue or not, because I just started the restaurant a year and a half before.
So it was still in the building up phase and the consulting the wellness consulting, my clients, they were all preoccupied with their own business, how to start again after the lockdown. So I was not foreseeing any income streams coming after the lockdown would end. So I need to think, I need to come up with a new, new plan.
So I felt that this is, this was for me a time to recharge. And I decided, okay, if my daughter is going to Europe, I’m going to go to Europe as well. I have owned two properties, so I decided to rent out those two properties to create passive income and take a time, a year off just to give myself a sabbatical, which is something I never thought it was going to be possible because we’re conditioned to always be working, always be doing something. Absolutely. So I never thought of myself taking such a long time off. I think the most vacation I’ve ever had was three weeks. Absolutely.
Emily: It’s the same for me. Three weeks in all my life is maximum twice, I think, over life.
Korra: So taking a year off was bold decision. But I thought, okay, it’s either now or never.
Emily: Absolutely. I hear you. And why, why Portugal? Can I ask? Like, why all the opportunities you selected Portugal?
Korra: Yes, it was basically when I was during the lockdown, I did a lot of research. into European countries where first of all, safety was my primary goal because I would be traveling by myself.
So safety was a number one priority. Number two is a place where I would feel welcome that is a bit multicultural. Number three was language where I could communicate also with the local, with the local people, although I do not speak Portuguese at that time. I knew that, especially in the big cities, they spoke English.
So for me, that was. A big, big plus and number four was the cost of living. I would, I had a budget, so because I knew I was not going to be working, I had to create a life within the budget that I had. And through researching, I found out, okay, Lisbon or Portugal would fit those criterias.
And I just decided to, to, you know, see it as an adventure. I had never been to, to Portugal. I mean, I’ve traveled and I’ve been to Spain, Italy. So those were my next options if I did not like, if I didn’t like Portugal. But when I came, I really, really liked it. Oh, and then, sorry, the number five was the weather.
The weather here in Portugal was very favorable. It’s still, it’s very mild and coming from the Caribbean. I’m not used to the cold. I mean, I lived in Florida. For seven years, so which was also nice weather. I did not want to go to the north part of Europe where I would experience very cold and lots of rain and dark days.
I’m not gonna take one year off to, to, to stay indoors. So, yeah, so that’s how I said no. I’ll drop off my daughter in the Netherlands. And the Netherlands is because we are Dutch, we have Dutch passport, so it’s easy for our locals to go into the Netherlands and study. So, I said I drop off my daughter in the Netherlands, have her settled.
I spent a month and a half. And then I took off to Portugal without knowing anyone. I just came by myself I only booked one week Airbnb for the first week. And I said, when I’m here, I’ll figure it out. That’s basically how I ended up in Portugal.
Emily: Great. Great. So since then. And life is moving and you know, changes happened everywhere, including Portugal.
What are your personal impressions from expat communities in Lisbon? And Portugal in general. I know it’s a big loaded question, but you can do it. You
Korra: can do it.
Yes, of course. Well,
I’m surrounded here by by expats. I must tell you that there are people from all over the world that are moving here. Either they’re coming here as a nomad, so they’re passing through Portugal, or they’re moving to Portugal and working remotely.
And there’s also, of course, expats that have been here for, for many years already working for local companies or international companies, but the amount of expats here surpassed my expectations. And at most people, I mean, I think 90% or even higher, I would say 95% of expats that I encounter. They love Lisbon.
They really, really enjoy their lives here. So it’s, it’s kind of contagious when somebody tells you, Oh, I’m so happy here. I really like it here. Then it’s like a light bulb switches in your head like, okay, so if they like it, there must be a special reason why they’re, they’re enjoying it. So it’s very contagious.
So I, I experienced it as a very positive place to live. And. To me, and it’s not just me, I’ve, I’ve spoken to others, they say the same. Lisbon has like a feminine, soft energy. It’s like a like a woman, the energy is very welcoming. It’s very soft. People here, they do not speak loud. You know, they’re very, very soft.
They have a lot of patience. You don’t see people fighting on the streets. People stand in line. So it’s very mild. I think when, when you’re going through changes in your life. Especially transformation, you welcome this energy. This is the energy that you need. You don’t want to be in a big city where with lots of traffic, lots of chaos and people that are always speaking negative.
Emily: But it’s a local culture. So it’s a general local culture. Like it’s it’s European and local to the Portugal. And what you would. Tell about, say, Algarve because Lisbon, it’s known, speaking about other areas of expats, you know, interest in the Portugal.
Korra: Yes, well, Algarve also has a big expat community, especially people who want to retire.
Or want to live a slower pace. They do not like the city life. They opt for for, for Algarve. And it’s, yeah, the weather, of course, it’s much warmer there. So some people that, you know, they move to Portugal for, specifically for the Algarve region. And I’ve been, I’ve been to Faro, Lagos Albufeira.
And they’re, they’re nice. But in certain time of the year, they’re very touristy as well. So it’s a kind of quiet lifestyle, but also you, you have the heavier traffic months of the year, especially now in the summer, it’s also for the Portuguese from all over Portugal.
It’s their location of choice for vacation. So many people from the North, they go down to, to the South during the summer months and it becomes quite, quite, quite quite busy. Again, it depends on what you’re looking for. In my case. As a single woman alone, I was in my forties, I wanted people around me.
I wanted things to do. I wanted activities. I didn’t want to be by myself. So that’s why I didn’t opt for Algarve. But I, I do understand the appeal of living in, you know, by the water. You know, like so, so they have retirement communities so it definitely has an appeal if you’re a couple, for instance, and you don’t need to, to, to go out much.
Definitely Algarve is an area that offers, has a lot to offer, and it’s a little bit less expensive to live than the capital, than in Lisbon.
Emily: Oh, really? I thought that kind of it’s even now because, again, a lot of like, businessmen and digital nomads coming to Lisbon, and I know that it’s a little bit shortage.
Of accommodation i’ve heard like from real estate perspective Understandable because so many people flocking to Lisbon and it Actually portugal is very high advertised and many sources over the last years What you would tell about the Porto which is has like little bit different flavor north of this location, but I’ve heard some people are flocking to Porto and actually all the silver coast of Atlantic, Portuguese Atlantic.
Korra: Yeah, actually a lot of people don’t even know, I mean, I didn’t even know much about Portugal before coming here. But Portugal has a full coastline, so it doesn’t matter if you’re in the north or in the center, like Lisbon is more in the center, Algarve is in the south, everywhere you can be close to the the ocean, you can be close to water, and even if you’re in in Porto that’s also the case.
The appeal of Porto is it’s smaller, it’s a smaller city than Lisbon, so it’s less crowded. Let little illustrious and the people there, I, I’m, I don’t know if, I cannot say for myself that I’ve experienced the difference, but people who live there tell us that the locals are much more friendlier in, in Porto.
Emily: Maybe it, it’s a small, you know, the. A sense of smaller city versus capital.
Korra: Exactly.
Emily: And they have their own cultural ambience. I remember when I’ve been in Portugal, I liked Porto as a city and a river, and they have their own kind of industry and they have their
Korra: own stories. Even like, you know, historic.
They do, they do. So people, the locals, even the LTAs, how, how the, how you refer to the lo the local people from Lisbon, they say the people from Porto are much warmer. than people from Lisbon, which is funny because it’s colder in Leporto weather wise, but the people tend to be warmer. So that’s also a very good option if somebody wants to, to be in a smaller community doesn’t mind the cold weather, doesn’t mind rain, because it rains more than it does in in Lisbon.
And it’s, you can travel also from Porto to other towns outside of Porto Porto in the north area, which are beautiful. If you’re a nature lover, it’s a beautiful area to be. I just came back from camping not too far from Coimbra, which is also, it’s not as far north as Porto, but it’s, it’s about two and a half hours drive from, from, from Lisbon.
It’s beautiful. It’s nice to be out in nature. So I think nature lovers will definitely enjoy living in that part of the country. If you don’t mind, of course, the weather.
Emily: Yeah. So please tell a little bit more about your activity in Lisbon, your expat welcome club happy woman club. Actually about all this activities you created for expats in Lisbon.
Korra: Yeah, so like I said, when I came, I came on a sabbatical I had time, a lot of time on my hands but what I realized is when you move to a new country, what is very important is your social life, who you have around you because if you move to a country and you feel lonely, The chances that you will stay there for long diminish, or the experience that you also have from the country will not be the same.
So, I said, okay, well, I’m here by myself. Let me reach out, see if I can meet other women with one. I can, you know, go out for coffee, or, or, you know, just, just meet. And because it was right after the Lockdown is the pandemic was still still happening a bit. A lot of places were closed, so you didn’t have many places to go.
You know, nightclubs, all nightclubs, for instance, were closed. There were some events going on, but they were very restricted. And there were no events that I could find that were only for women. So I went on a Facebook group which is called Girl Gone International which I was, you know a part of as a member, but on that I found a lady that had posted that she just moved from, from Germany to the same area where I was living, which was called Alfama, which is the old part of Lisbon and was also close to the river and she asked, she shared a little bit about herself.
She’s an author. She’s also, she came by herself and she wanted just to meet women, like minded women in about the same age group. And I said, you know what? Let me react. Let me just send her a message, which is something I’ve never done before because When you’re living your life in your own country, you have your friends, you have your established social life, so you don’t need to reach out to stranger.
But when you’re in a new country, a different country, it’s important for you.
Emily: You transform. You need to be different
Korra: Switch your mindset and say, okay. I’m new in this country. I want to make a new acquaintance. So I must make first steps. I mean, I have to, you know, approach people.
So I sent her a message telling her who I was and told her I was also living in that same area. And she reacted right away. She said, yeah, well, let’s go for a coffee. And the following day we went for a coffee and we connected right away. We’re completely from different worlds, but still we had so much in common.
And from that day, we started talking a lot and every afternoon we would walk by the river because there was not much else to do. So in that became a friendship. So I had my first, you know, friend. And then one day I was talking to her and I told her, I would like to start a business from Portugal.
Where I work with women because I come from the wellness industry back in Curacao and most of my participants at the events that I was organizing were, were women. So I’m used to that. I know what women want, but I don’t know the women who are here in Portugal, how I can be of value to them. And she said, okay, well, why don’t you start organizing events here?
Start organizing a meetup. And I said, well, that’s a good idea. That’s how we started. She volunteered and she said, you know, I can help you. So we joined forces and we started what we called back then, Happy in Lisbon, which is how we both felt. We were both happy to be here. You have to be happy. I mean, if you don’t, if it’s not in you, you’re going to keep looking for it everywhere.
Emily: I’m with you on this. I always trying to organize myself on something to do and inspire others.
Korra: And I like to have fun. I mean, I mean, especially after the lockdown, we were, you know, so, so long tied up inside.
I was missing that fun aspect of life. So we organized the first meetup. And to our surprise, about 30 women showed up and we were like, Oh, wow. So we’re not alone. There are more women like us that wants the connection. And the way we created the event was we helped the women connect and made it easier for them to talk, to talk to strangers.
So it was not just, it wasn’t a networking event where you just show up and then you just say, hi, hello. And you know, the same, same superficial talks, but we came up with questions to, so women could go dive, dive deeper into conversations and they love that. So after the first one, we said, this is what we want to do.
Let’s keep, let’s keep doing this every month. And we started like that with 30. And then from 30, we said, okay, by the end, this was February, 2021, we said, okay, by the end of the year, we would like to have a thousand women be part of, of our community. But at the end of the first year, we already had 3000 women.
So it grew so fast because there’s so many women. It’s like Portugal and especially Lisbon. It’s like a magnet attracting women from all over the world, whether they’re coming single or they’re coming as a, you know, with their partner. But there’s so many and they all want connection. Because after a lockdown, that’s one of the things that people crave more.
They want to be Part of something, they wanna connect, they wanna talk, they wanna yeah, share the experiences with others and do fun things together. So that’s what we started with. Just the two of us has now increased and now on, on Facebook group, we have more than 7,000 on Meetup, we have more than 3000.
And we just started on our Instagram page. So that’s just in the building up phase. And now every month we have an average around six, six events that we host. And we’re turning this from a community, a sister community. Also into a business where we’re offering also other type of events.
And we have some services that are coming up. So it’s been quite a journey transforming what was a hobby or something. We did for fun to accommodate the needs of all the women that are already here , in Portugal. And yeah.
Emily: Wonderful story. Tell me, please, if it’s happened for you to involve local women or families like Portuguese to be part of your community, because it’s important, you know, integration with local people.
Korra: Yes, exactly. We do have some Portuguese women. Most of them have lived outside of the country, so they understand the need to connect, and that’s why they joined us, our community. We do have some local women that just, you know, out of curiosity, also have joined, or some other friend have referred them to us, but we want that number to keep expanding more, so that’s why we are trying to do different events now to, to, to incorporate also more of the local women. Right now, the majority of our members are expats from, from all over the world.
Emily: I understand because expats needed more than local specifically single who coming without family even couples who found themselves in a new environment and new culture even it’s welcoming but we people we need connection and we need warmth we need to support we need interaction and tell me please I understand your events are live events Or online?
Korra: In-person events.
There are in-person events because that’s what we felt was needed. Because there were so many things online during the, the, the lockdown, but there were not many things in person and there’s a different energy when you’re connecting in person and when you’re doing it online, online works also very well, especially when you want to learn something.
But when you want to get to know somebody and, and meet, it’s like dating when you’re dating online and sending messages. It’s a different energy than once, once you meet that person, what you meet that person in person.
Emily: Absolutely. But it’s, what kind of, can you name, give examples, like, I don’t know, sport events, like, where do you meet in cafe, or like, how, how you manage that?
Korra: Yeah, we have, we have one base event that we have every first Tuesday of the month. It’s like a bar bar dining place, but with a big open space inside because that that meetup normally attracts between 70 and a hundred women. So we needed a big, big indoor space to accommodate all those women.
And that’s our monthly meetup and that every month has a different theme and based on the theme. We have questions. We come up with questions and then there’s questions. The ladies go in smaller groups and then talk about those questions and then they keep rotating. So in during the two hours that you’re together, you get to meet at least nine, nine new women.
And hopefully from them, you will connect with one or two, sometimes more. Sometimes after the event, all of them from one group, they go to dinner together and lots of friendships are started. During our events. So that’s one of the events that we host the other ones. We called sister shares, which are also themed on different members.
They have a passion or their profession. And so they want to share. It could be somebody, for instance, that is specialized in social media marketing. So The theme will be around social media marketing for that event. Tomorrow, for instance, we have one on emotional intelligence. So it’s a, she’s a life coach and she will be talking about that, how to deal with emotional changes.
So, we have, for instance, also a sex therapist. She sometimes gives, you know, her workshops on the sexual, you know liberation or things that you can apply in your relationships. So we have so many different themes. We also have women in music, which are women that professionally work in the music industry.
Either they’re singers, they’re DJs, or they’re they, they, they’re performers. So they get together to collaborate to, to, to brainstorm and to exchange ideas. So we have so many different themes. Tech, women in tech also come together, talk about their businesses. So the every gathering has a different topic on a different interest, but they’re all related to what women need, what our members tell us that they want to know more about.
We share with the within the community.
Emily: So you have membership based structure?
Korra: Right now we’re setting up a new platform where they will, will be different category of memberships. So that, that is a process that we’re in right now. So all these things are happening very fast.
Their transitions. We also opened another chapter in Madrid. So with one of the members that was in Lisbon moved, she was from Madrid, moved back to Madrid and she wanted to continue this. So now we have a chapter there as well. And every month they gather there and create the bonds just like we’re doing here in Lisbon.
And our goal is to keep expanding in, in other cities around the world, because this is something that women. Women want and they say the future is feminine. Have you heard that expression? The future is feminine. The past.
Emily: Yes, I do not fully kind of agree with it because I believe that for the world and actually for children.
There is place for men, men should be in this life.
Korra: It doesn’t mean that men will not exist because we have existed also in the past. But in the past, it was pretty much a man’s world. Men were the ones making the big, big decision and driving all the economic forces, the political forces. But little by little, you see that women are taking more.
Stance in the politics and business in environmental awareness and different things. So the future women will be more prominent than they were in the past. It’s only possible through collaboration. You’re only as strong as your connection.
So the more connections are made, the more we support each other. The better the process for us, us all. And it doesn’t mean that we are separating ourselves from men because we also want to understand men as better. And this is also part of our sisterhood. We exchange. Thought you know, thoughts about, you know, what, what, what’s working, what’s not working within relationships as well, whether it’s business or private relationships, but it’s a collaboration we need to do this together.
So that’s part of our aim to keep expanding the sisterhood and collaborate because there are other, there are so many other women organizations around the world that have existed for many, many years already. So it’s not, it’s not that one has to replace the other. No, we can join forces and collaborate and there’s room for more.
There’s always room for more. There’s so many people.
Emily: And you mentioned once that you have some club or community for men to be involved as well.
Korra: So when I started the, the Happy in Lisbon at the same time I started with another group called Lisbon Newcomers Club.
That was started by a gentleman from, from the UK and British gentleman. who lived many years in in Poland and then was coming back and forward to, Portugal. So he decided to start the Lisbon Newcomers Club and I attended the first gathering that he had and he asked who would like to join him to help him expand it.
And because I had time and I like organizing events, I joined him. So that one is for both men and women because there are a lot of men also here, of course in Lisbon and they also want connection. So, yeah, it’s, but just for me, my, my interest has always been to help women, of course grow and see where I can be of value.
Emily: Sure. Thank you. Thank you for sharing it. And as far as I know, and I’m kind of following your movement in the world you visit already several other countries in different parts of the world. Please tell us a little bit about like what you were looking for or,
and actually what are your impression from Bali or maybe some other countries you recently visited?
Korra: Yeah. Well, I’ve always loved traveling and I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to do so, even when I was on the island, I’ve been always traveling through different parts of the world. but I started my first solo trip to Arizona in the US I went for myself.
I said, okay, I taking a few days, and I just want to go to a wellness center by myself. That was my first experience traveling on my own and not because that went well and there was like a protected environment. I said, okay, now I’m ready to go explore a little bit further. So from Curaçao, I went to Kenya and Tanzania.
Traveled by myself and for me that a world opened because I saw it’s much easier than we think to do this on our own because a lot of times it’s fear holding us back. We think, Oh, something’s going to happen. What will people think? What will I do if I get lost? I feel lonely. All these negative thoughts in our head limit us from taking these steps.
But once I did it, and I saw that It’s liberating and it’s empowering and it opens up a new world and it’s a different way of traveling. Because I’ve always traveled either with my family or business wise, I never knew how it would feel when I traveled by myself. I think it’s solo travel.
It’s more like a journey inwards. It’s maybe contradictive because you’re traveling. You’re traveling to see the world. But while doing that, you are learning to get in touch with yourself. And I found that such a beautiful and spiritual experience that since then, I don’t have that fear anymore.
Emily: I coming through the same experience of traveling many years with family, children and it was a period after divorce when I was traveling kind of just, you know, to change environment. And because I always like you like to travel and I was dreaming about travel.
But now listening to you, I can tell you lately, like over the years. I so like to travel alone I found a special meaning to be with myself and I’m reaching out to people whenever I mean, I like new people to, to find connection and I do it like, but I feel a pretty sufficient. I mean after obviously working with first fears of traveling alone, it was not fear, but more. You know, fear of an unknown.
I like it. I like it because I feel that I grew up, like I do my research. I know where to go and sometimes even it’s going not exactly as I planned. Okay. So I’m saying myself, it’s an adventure. So now I will learn something new.
Korra: The same thing you apply back into your daily life as well, because sometimes we are brought up to plan every step of our life.
You know, you have to have a plan. You have to know exactly what you do and where you go and how you do it. But once you start traveling on your own, you will realize. Things don’t always go the way you planned, but still it will be okay if you’re open to find solutions. And in my case, whenever I encounter a difficulty, I just pray.
I just pray when I’m about to miss my connection or something. I just pray to God. I’m like, God, I really, really need your help right now. I need to be on that plane. I don’t know how you’re gonna do it, but I cannot miss this connection. And sometimes inexplicable reasons it happens, I’m able to make the things happen without rationalizing everything.
So the same thing I’m applying now to my life as well. I don’t know exactly how, how this business is going to turn out. I don’t know what I’m going to do next year. I’m open now to let life also guide me in the right direction. I’m open now to connect with people that maybe help me see things from a different, different way.
Give me new opportunities or new solutions. So traveling alone solo has opened myself up to much, much more than just seeing beautiful new places. And since then, I want to inspire more people to do it.
Emily: Korra, you are real entrepreneur, like in your spirit, in your fearless desire to take a risk.
It’s not for everyone, I understand. And some people need support at the beginning, and maybe it’s not the kind of nature. But I believe that every encounter, every meeting with new person, like I, like occasionally met you online, you know like six months ago, it’s a treasure that we we need to cherish.
Korra: And be open, just be open to new possibilities and to explore. And yeah, to learn. I try to always keep a playful mind when everything I do, if it, whether it’s in my social life or in my business life I try to have fun. I try to just. See, see what, where life takes me and not just you know, stress every day, that it has to be a certain way for me to fit in a pattern that others expect of me.
What I do now is I guide women that wants to embark on this, this, this journey that are tired of the same, you know a rat race, that they feel that this is not really what they wanna do. They want to start a new life whether it’s moving to a new country or taking like I did a sabbatical for a period.
But they don’t have somebody to talk to. They don’t have the guide. They don’t have the they have a lot of questions a lot of fears or insecurities, not, not always fears, insecurities, holding them back. And those women I mentor and guide towards their journey so they can make that into a reality.
Because all you need sometimes is support and a listening ear and somebody that can share their experience so you feel empowered to do your own.
Emily: Tell me please, your recent travel to Bali. What did you learn comparing, say with expat life in Portugal?
Korra: Yes. I spent a month in Bali. I traveled also different parts of Bali. Bali. It’s is also an expat and especially like a nomad destination for many years already. Yeah, most of the nomads there, of course, are young. That’s in general. Nomads in general are tend to be younger up to maybe mid thirties and younger. But it’s, it’s a different lifestyle than, for instance, the expats here in, in Lisbon.
I find the expats here are more creative. And they are more a bit more business minded than the ones in Bali. Maybe they’re, they’re more for the surf. They’re more for other, but I, I cannot say too much because I wasn’t there long enough to talk to many people in Bali to learn from their experience.
So, but from what I was gathering there, there was more like a surfers lifestyle.
Emily: It’s more adventurous, I think, rather than Portugal, where you have different age groups, different, you have variety of like age group people, professional experiences, and probably it’s what makes you know, this life, as you saw, say, more interesting, and yes, with variety of options and it’s, you know, Europe with its own charm and, and big cities.
There’s always difference between a life in old historical place versus Island. Even it’s wonderful, but it’s a different lifestyle.
Korra: This is I find that here in Portugal, it’s more diverse. I have friends from Madagascar to South Korea, to anywhere you can think of in the world they are here.
And then in Bali I found it was more Australians. Some Europeans, but it was mostly Australians. So it was a little bit different. I did really, really like, like Bali. It’s laid back. Nature is spectacular. Ubud is very culturally rich. And I did love the way that they respect the Balinese people, how they respect their culture.
And Yeah, it was, they were the most friendly people I’ve ever met. They’re super, super friendly. I felt very welcoming. And I met a lot of locals, so I connected mostly with locals there than I did with expats. And I still, up to this day, I’m still in communication with the Balinese that I met.
They send me messages. Very, very friendly people. So What language are they speaking? Like, did you find what language? In English. I communicated with them in English. Yes, in English. But yeah Bahasa is their native language. Of course, I don’t understand Bahasa. Most of them speak English. So yeah, that made it especially in the big outside the bigger cities.
It’s a little bit more challenge, but in the bigger cities Ubud Seminyak, although bigger cities they speak English.
Emily: Maybe some other communities you visited or you know of, I mean, in Europe, I know you traveled. I’m speaking now about expat communities, like, not versus Portugal, but you know, in comparison, because you have such a big experience with expat community in Portugal, what other communities?
Korra: I mean, I know the expat community, for instance, in the Netherlands, it’s completely different than, in Portugal, because most expats there are there for their work. So it’s job related that they moved for a company as opposed to here in Portugal, you don’t move to Portugal to find a job here because it’s not a country where you have lots of high paying jobs.
So actually the majority of the young people here move outside of Portugal to find better job opportunities. Because. Although the country’s developing economically, it’s better than it was a few years back. It still has lots of challenges. And one of them is the low salaries. So the aspects that are coming here are mostly Independent.
So they have their own source of income, whether it is they’re working for a company overseas so they can, they’re working remotely or they’re entrepreneurs themselves or they’re retired, but there’s their source of income is coming from outside of, of Portugal, whereas for instance, in the Netherlands it’s different.
You go there because your company relocated you there or you find a job, a better job opportunity. So, yes, the whole reason, the intention of MOVE also plays a role in the experience of the expat community. They’re there to work. They don’t have as much social connections as here. People here came to enjoy life.
You come to Portugal because you love, you know, the beautiful weather that gives you time to go out more. So the intention also determines the atmosphere within the expat community. So when you’re moving to a new country, you also have to consider that. What’s the reason for the majority of the expats?
For instance, you’re in Mexico. I know in Mexico, many retired people from the North American So you will find more people within the expat community that are the same, they have the same races are moving. So the energy with amongst them connects them. So it’s definitely important to know what the majority of the expats in a new country what’s the reason for them being there and that will pretty much give you an idea also what you can expect because if everybody’s there just to work, they’re not going to have as much time to, play around and do fun things. So yeah, so yeah, I have not lived in other, I mean, when I was in the US I wasn’t an expat.
I was a student. And then I worked for.
Emily: No, it’s a completely different age but comparing Portugal with Spain it’s very competitive place in regards to, you know, retirees and expats in Spain lately came with good digital nomad visa. It’s not only for digital nomad, but I mean for different type of visa to attract more expats from different countries.
And I know that you have connection with Spain. What do you say about expat communities and dynamic. In Portugal versus.
Korra: Yes, I know that it’s Spain is similar weather wise. And culture wise, there are similarities. It’s not the same because the Spanish are much more vibrant, much more much more energized than the Portuguese.
The Portuguese are more subdued, much more relaxed. But you, I do see people that have lived in Spain who have moved here and they give us then the difference, what they encounter and basically it’s more. They’re choosing a more relaxed lifestyle here as opposed to in Spain.
And I also know some people that have lived in Spain say the tax, tax benefits in Portugal are better than in, in Spain. So those are also reasons sometimes people move from one to the other. For us now, the community that we have, it’s, now it’s building up, so it’s still small compared to, the Madrid community But I think, it has similarities, but still it also depends what part of Spain you are, because Valencia, for instance, has been noted as the number one place for amongst internation expats of where they are most happiest.
So that experience living in Valencia will be different than living as an expat, for instance, in Barcelona or in in Madrid. So, Different Culturally, it’s different. So it’s, it’s, you cannot say it’s, it’s just like comparing the lifestyle here in Lisbon to the lifestyle in Algar, for instance. It’s also, it’s a different lifestyle within the same country.
So you have to do a lot of research and I would always say, what’s your intention? What is your intention for moving? That has to be what guides your decision in choosing the right place to, to align. With what you want, because if your intention is one and you’re going to a place where the whole atmosphere is different, you will not find a match.
So you need to find your intention with the environment has to have a yeah, a connection. It has to match. It’s like finding a partner. It’s the same thing. The partner may look very handsome and very appealing, but if he doesn’t align with your values, and what you want out of a relationship, it’s still not gonna work, no matter how beautiful it is.
The same thing is with countries.
Emily: Wonderful comparison. And Korra, tell me please, with latest changes we’re all experiencing like in cost of living, in some other factors real estate you know, prices in Portugal. Do you see some change in the dynamic? Maybe some people are moving out or some people moving in? I’m speaking about expats now.
My question, how it’s affecting expat communities?
Korra: Yes, the prices have gone up a lot over the last, I mean, since I’ve been here, I see that the, especially a rent prices in Lisbon have gone up, but not only that you don’t find places. So it’s very difficult to find available housing and the quality also of the housing that you find may not be what you expect for the price that you’re paying.
So that has been, it’s become a very challenging issue.
Emily: Most people are renting, like most people in the community are renting.
Korra: And now, especially because the golden visa is no longer applicable here in Portugal, you don’t have as much reason to purchase. Before you have to purchase, invest a half a million and then you will be able to get your golden visa, but that that no longer applies.
So that has also played a role in the real estate market. So we don’t know how it’s going to play out in the near future, if it’s going to affect prices, yes or no. I mean, I cannot look in a crystal ball and I wish to know what’s going to happen. So far, the prices are still the same but there’s much more demand than there is availability.
Especially if you want to be in the major cities. If you want to be outside of the major cities, in small areas, there are still great bargains. There’s, I mean, I’ve seen in the north of Portugal still places for under a hundred thousand euros. that you can buy houses, not apartment houses.
Emily: But most of the expats actually are renting, I understand.
Korra: Most of the expats are renting.
Emily: Single women and things like for the time being and yes, I’m just thinking about like this category, what, how they experience all this and, and if they manage to have online work, some business may, maybe like you, it’s one story, but if they are relying on the, you know, pension savings and cost of living is changing.
So it might be some dynamic, you know, in the future.
Korra: Yes, it may be. Yes, because it’s do a lot of research. I would say, don’t just move. If you’re on a budget, move it out, thoroughly researching the market, the prices, because you can get, you know, very disappointed when you come here. I know of people that came here expecting to get around on their pension.
And when they arrived, they saw that, yes, they can find something for their pension, but it’s nothing compared to what they’re used to. And then they become disappointed because they have to go to live , in a far below standard of living than, than what they’re used to. Check out. I would do like a scope scouting trip and go to some real estate.
So go spend some time come to like a two, three weeks and make appointments with real estate agents just to look at what’s available within your price range to see if you can live comfortably with the budget that you have in the places that you would like to live.
Emily: Are you helping people with this kind of scouting discovery tours and connecting with the local professionals who might advise?
Korra: Yes, connecting them with a real estate agent setting up appointments if they want to talk to tax lawyers to just get an an idea of what they can expect if they do move here drivers that can drive them around different parts of the cities to explore different areas and neighborhoods because it, it’s so diverse, you know, you can be in Lisbon, but within Lisbon, you have so many different different feelings in different parts of the city.
So if you’re by yourself, you don’t know where to go and but if you have somebody local that can drive you around, it will save you so much more time and energy. And you can ask so many questions while you’re exploring with somebody local.
Emily: Thank you very much, dear. So tell us please how to find you, how to connect with you other than LinkedIn profiles that I already kind of put for people to see how else people can connect with you.
Korra: Yes, they can go on my website. It’s called GlobalLifebyKorra. com. Global Life by Korra. And they can send me an email as well. They will find that on my website. And I’m also on Instagram on Global Life by Korra. So yeah, those are the three places.
Emily: Thank you very much. It was a real pleasure for me again to meet and speak with you.
I learned a lot and I believe our listeners and followers, yours and mine, will learn as well. A lot of advices observation. And really, whatever you’re doing, it’s it’s an example for many of us. And I wish in every country where there are a lot of expats, it will be, no, it cannot be like Korra.
It will be somebody else, but I really praise you for what you’re doing. And I wish you all possible success in all the projects. And I know that you’re now seriously considering it as a business. Obviously, whatever you’re doing, it’s what people need. So, good luck to you, and thank you very much for your time.
Korra: Thank you for the invitation, and all the best to you as well.
With over 20 years of international experience shaping my journey, I’ve recently planted roots in Amsterdam and am actively seeking new career opportunities. Known for my entrepreneurial spirit and skilled project management abilities, driven by adaptability, strategic thinking, and the expertise to foster enduring connections. My experience is rooted in:
✅ Global marketing and international network development.
✅ Demonstrated expertise and a strong inclination towards service-based companies in an international context.
✅ Prefer smaller team settings, especially in leadership or consulting roles.
My goal is clear: to make substantial contributions to visionary organizations, particularly those dedicated to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, all while advancing my own development in the global arena.
Remember the lockdown? Stuck inside, questioning everything…well, for one woman, it became the push she needed to ditch the familiar and leap into a brand new adventure in Portugal!
Meet Korra Juliana, who used the forced downtime to rethink her life.
Kids flying the nest, businesses uncertain, she realized – “There’s gotta be more!” And she was right. Taking a bold leap of faith, she rented out her home, packed her bags, and landed in sunny Portugal.
Think charming towns, friendly locals, affordable living, and weather that makes you wanna trade your parka for a sundress. Exactly! But more than the sunshine, she craved connection. Stepping into a new country solo can be daunting, so she did something amazing.
She realized that she was not alone in her journey. Many other women moved to Portugal for different reasons. Some were looking for love, some were looking for work, and some were looking for adventure. They all had one thing in common: they wanted to connect with other women who understood them. She decided to start a club for expat women in Lisbon, called the Happy Woman Club. She wanted to create a space where women could meet, talk, and support each other.
The club was a hit. Women from all over the world joined the club and attended the monthly events. The events were themed around different topics, such as health, beauty, travel, and business. The women shared their experiences, learned from each other, and had fun. The club became more than just a network, it became a sisterhood. The club also expanded its vision, offering mentorship and guidance for women who wanted to start their own projects or businesses. It became a source of inspiration and empowerment.
In addition to expats, local women are also welcome to join the club. It was hoped the club could learn from the Portuguese women, who had their own stories and wisdom to share. The club invited local women to join the events and share their perspectives on the culture, values, and traditions of Portugal. It became a bridge between cultures, creating a richer and more diverse experience for everyone.
Korra is happy with her life in Portugal. She feels like she has found her home and her happiness, and plans to stay in Portugal for as long as she can, and maybe even get a residency. Her goal is to reach more women and grow the club. She hopes to inspire and help other women who want to make a change in their lives. In her opinion, anything is possible if you work hard for it and have a dream.
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada, Email: info@emilybron.com
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