Tiffany’s Big Moves: Exiting PhD, Embracing Jamaican Life, and African Volunteer Work | Ep. 333
Tiffany Grant reconnects with her audience after a significant hiatus in this heartfelt episode of Tiffany’s Take. Tune in as Tiffany opens up about her life transitions, including why she left her PhD program, her bold move from the U.S. to Jamaica, and her inspiring volunteer experience in Guinea. Tiffany delves deep into the complexities of her health journey, the impact of lifestyle changes, and her newfound perspectives on simpler living.
Key Points
- Tiffany’s reasons for leaving her PhD program in social work.
- Her life-altering move to Jamaica and the positive changes it has brought.
- The health issues that motivated her to relocate and the remarkable improvements since her move.
- A glimpse into her volunteer work in Guinea, helping small business owners and entrepreneurs.
- The profound cultural connections between Jamaica and Guinea, and the emphasis on community in both places.
- Encouragement for listeners to visit Africa and explore different lifestyles.
- Exciting content plans moving forward and a call-to-action for listeners to submit questions.
Connect with Tiffany
Website: https://www.moneytalkwitht.com
Facebook: Money Talk With Tiff
Twitter: @moneytalkwitht
Instagram: @moneytalkwitht
LinkedIn: Tiffany Grant
YouTube: Money Talk With Tiff
Pinterest: @moneytalkwitht
TikTok: @moneytalkwitht
Have any questions for Tiffany? Want to know more about her life updates or need some financial advice? Send in your questions through the website! And don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode.
Transcript
You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money
nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings
Speaker:and open those ears. It's the money talk with Tiff
Speaker:podcast.
Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Tiffany's take, where I
Speaker:answer your money questions right here on the podcast. So to get your question
Speaker:answered, go to www.moneytalkwitht.com
axt tiffany, and I'll be more than happy to answer for you.
Speaker:So, for this episode, I know it's been a while since you've heard
Speaker:my voice on tiffany's take. It's actually been since April 30,
to be exact. I looked before I hit record. I was like, what? It's been
Speaker:that long? But I just wanted to take this episode to just do quick
Speaker:life updates, just so you all know why I've been away for
so long. I missed you so much. I promise I
Speaker:did. And I've missed recording. I haven't recorded
Speaker:all summer, so this is my first time recording. So hopefully
you've been keeping up with some of my previous recorded interviews with some
Speaker:awesome people. If not, I'll make sure I have some of those links in the
Speaker:show notes, or you can just go back in some episodes as you're listening
now. So the first thing that happened was that I
Speaker:quit my PhD program. So, for those of you that didn't
Speaker:know, I was going for a PhD in social work. And
earlier this year, actually around April, was when I decided
Speaker:to not continue the program anymore. And there was a few
Speaker:reasons for that, is that I decided that I didn't want to be a
tenured professor. That was why I was in the program. So
Speaker:that way I can be a tenured professor. And because that was no longer a
Speaker:goal, I was like, okay, what are the other benefits of getting this?
The second reason was that I decided that I was moving,
Speaker:which I'll get more into that with number two. So
Speaker:it just didn't make sense for me to continue the program because it was an
in person program and a myriad of other reasons, but I
Speaker:decided to walk away from that program, and it was a very hard decision
Speaker:because I'm one of those types of people where
once I put my mind to something, I want to finish it out, I want
Speaker:to do it. And making that decision was very difficult,
Speaker:but it ended up being the best decision for me in this
season of my life. Now, who's to say? You know, when I
Speaker:get older, maybe I want to be a ten year professor. Who knows? But right
Speaker:now, in my life that just didn't align with where I was going. So
I decided to quit. So that was number one. Number two
Speaker:was I moved out the country, y'all. So
Speaker:I not only moved like in my city or state or
even the US, I moved outside of the US. And
Speaker:that was a journey. So I've been on this journey
Speaker:since what, I'll say, February of this year was when I made the
decision that I wanted to move and starting to put
Speaker:the pieces into play and everything kind of
Speaker:just happened, you know? So I'm here right now
in my new environment and I love it. I feel like
Speaker:even though it's been a tough summer, don't get me wrong, it's been a
Speaker:tough summer. However, now that I'm settled and
everything, you know, it's getting back to normal. It is
Speaker:the best decision I have ever made in my life. It was the most
Speaker:difficult because I have only lived in the US my
entire life. You know, I was in New York until I was like twelve,
Speaker:and then I've been in North Carolina ever since then. So all of my family,
Speaker:friends, everything is in the US. And so
doing this really took a leap of faith and
Speaker:I am so glad that everything
Speaker:worked out because it could have looked so much
different. So thank God that I'm here, I'm safe.
Speaker:I moved with my two youngest kids. My oldest
Speaker:son, he is in high school, so he's staying there to finish up high
school. But so far so good. We all love
Speaker:it. It's been the best decision. And I made
Speaker:that decision for a few reasons too. One, and one of the
main concerns was health issues. So the end of last year,
Speaker:beginning of this year, I was having a myriad of
Speaker:health issues, mainly stemming around my
heart, blood pressure, things like that swelling. None of the
Speaker:doctors could figure it out. I went to all types of special to
Speaker:cardiologists I've been to, you know, the kidney doctors, I can never
say their name. Nephrologist, I think it is. But
Speaker:anyway, I went to all of those types of doctors. I was
Speaker:hospitalized a few times the end of last year and
nobody could figure out what was wrong with me. And so when I went to,
Speaker:you know, out the country the first time, I noticed that
Speaker:I had stopped taking on my blood pressure medicine and my blood pressure was
fine. I. And so I'm like, what is it that is
Speaker:not getting along with me here in the states? And after being
Speaker:away for so long, I went back and visited in July
and I realized what it is. It's the food. It's the
Speaker:food, it's the environment. There's so many things that are
Speaker:killing people in the US, and it's not like that in other parts of
the world. And so that was one of the main
Speaker:reasons. Another reason was just to give my kids a new experience.
Speaker:They have been loving it so far, doing things that they've never done. Even
me doing things that I've never done before, y'all, I hand wash
Speaker:clothes and put them on the line. Like, that is the
Speaker:simple living that I have been craving for so long.
We also are outside more, and I noticed that
Speaker:here, where I'm living now, everybody's outside,
Speaker:everybody's active, everybody's doing something, even the older
people. Like, there's an older guy in my neighborhood, he's like,
Speaker:in his sixties, and he's doing backflips and front flips,
Speaker:you know? And so I was like, this is somewhere
where I would love to be, and I would love to raise my kids as
Speaker:well. So again, there's other reasons
Speaker:I decided to make that move. But all in all, it
has been a great experience. There's a lot that I have learned, and of course,
Speaker:being in a different culture, I learned every single day new
Speaker:things. But I do feel like home.
And I am working on my citizenship as
Speaker:well. So that's an update. The third
Speaker:thing is, I went to Africa over the summer, so I
spent two weeks in guinea, and I was over there helping
Speaker:small business owners, entrepreneurs, create a business
Speaker:plan, create goals, things that I talk about all the time on the podcast
and the blog. I had the privilege and the opportunity
Speaker:to do that over there as well. And it was part of a
Speaker:volunteer assignment, but it was all expenses paid. I
just had to go create the material, teach it, and that
Speaker:was a wonderful experience. I highly recommend. I went through
Speaker:Windrock International. It's a legit thing. I did
it. So I'll make sure I have the link, and I'll
Speaker:also make sure that I'll include my recruiter as well, so that way you
Speaker:can reach out to her directly. But it was a very
fulfilling experience, and I loved it so much.
Speaker:I learned so much about not only Africa, but the ghanaian
Speaker:culture. I've also learned how
similar the culture is over there and where I'm at
Speaker:now. So let me just tell you where I'm at. I'm in
Speaker:Jamaica. So I moved to Jamaica. And if you know me, you know I'm
half jamaican, my dad is jamaican. So that's where the citizenship and everything is
Speaker:coming from. But I realized how closely
Speaker:tied guinea and Jamaica
is when it comes to food, when it comes to culture, when it comes to
Speaker:just relationships and things like that, in both
Speaker:places, it's really community based. And I've started to
learn that about pretty much the rest of the world outside
Speaker:of cultures. It's very
Speaker:community based, it's very community centered. And so everybody
helps everybody. Everybody looks out for everybody, and it's just
Speaker:an awesome feeling. So even though in guinea, you know, it's a
Speaker:french speaking country, I don't speak French. They still
keep in touch with me. They may send me a bonjour or a bon
Speaker:soie, like, how are you? You
Speaker:know, and, you know, I have to go to Google translate to make sure that
I can communicate back and forth. But even with a language
Speaker:barrier, the quality of relationships and the
Speaker:people checking on you and things like that, it's just an awesome
feeling. So I highly recommend that
Speaker:everybody, especially black Americans, take a trip to
Speaker:Africa, y'all, at some point in your life, because
it was a very eye opening experience. And then you also
Speaker:realize that you can live with way less than what you
Speaker:have. So when I moved, I literally moved in
suitcases for the most part. I shipped one barrel,
Speaker:but outside of that, which was mostly food, which we
Speaker:can get into that another time. But I moved in
suitcases, so that's all I have. And I don't
Speaker:miss any of that stuff that I had in the US
Speaker:at all. Like, I have no desire to
accumulate that much stuff again. But you just realize
Speaker:how much you have there and how that can also cause
Speaker:a lot of stress, too. So realizing that other people
in other countries aren't living in this way. So all
Speaker:of that to say, it has truly been an eye opening
Speaker:summer for me. And even though I missed you all so
much, I can tell you that this has really
Speaker:expanded my purview, and I have even more content
Speaker:ideas to share with you, especially about being an expat and
moving out of the country. So if that's something you're interested in, let me
Speaker:know. So send me a message on moneytalkwitht.com and
Speaker:I can start creating content around that as as well. Please
send in your questions, too. So any questions you have for me, whether
Speaker:it be about things I talked about in this episode or any money,
Speaker:business, or career questions, be sure to send those in. I'll be
going through. Starting next week, I'll be going through all of the questions that
Speaker:were submitted in my absence. I'm so glad to be back, and I'm
Speaker:so glad that you're still listening. I have a ton of gems
to share with you as we move forward, so make sure that
Speaker:you're subscribed, make sure you like share
Speaker:all of those good things so that way you don't miss any of these episodes.
And of course, as always, on Thursdays we have the interviews.
Speaker:Those will still be pumping out as well. So I got a lot of content
Speaker:for y'all, so make sure you check it out. And then also make sure you
check out the blog too. Because even while I was away, I was still
Speaker:posting blog content as well. And there's some good information
Speaker:there and I might turn some of those blogs into podcast episodes. So we'll
see. Anyway, I just thought it would be good to share with you what I
Speaker:had going on and why I was away for so long. But now
Speaker:that I'm back, I'm ready to rock and roll. I'm ready to give you some
more good gems. So anyway, I hope you all
Speaker:have a wonderful rest of the day and I will see you next week for
Speaker:Tiffany's take on Tuesday. Bye. Thank you
for listening, joining and being a part of the Money Talk with TIFF podcast this
Speaker:week. You can check TiFF out every Thursday for a new Money talk
Speaker:podcast, but if you just cant wait until next week, you can listen to
previous podcast
Speaker:episodes@moneytalkwitht.com or
Speaker:follow TIFF on all social media platforms at
moneytalkwitht. Until next time, spend wise
Speaker:by spending less than you make a word to the money wise is
Speaker:always sufficient.