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The art of arriving home in a new country.

I went the long way, so you don't have to.

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

JACQUELINE PETTIT

I built Life Beyond Borders because I remember the dream of home in a new place with no one to help me plan. Budgeting for cities I had never visited. Too much information and not enough discernment. And fear. That wanting a different life meant I was ungrateful for the one I had. But one life had simply run its course, and the next one was waiting for the version of me brave enough to begin.
I spent more than twenty years building lives in new countries. Learning languages. Navigating immigration systems, cultures, and the loneliness of proving, each time, that you belong.
It felt like I belonged. In senior-director roles for luxury hospitality, where the work was never just service. It was strategy, anticipation, and follow-through at the highest level. Reading what the most discerning people wanted without a word, I built plans that held under pressure, and left nothing to chance. But I could not discern if I was choosing that life or just maintaining it.

Life Beyond Borders HOSPITALITY

I went the long way, so you don't have to.

The skills were real, but the satisfaction had quietly left. What if I took everything I had built and used it for something that mattered? Helping people design the lives they have been waiting to live.
Today I hold citizenship in two countries, and a third on the way. Three languages, and learning two more. Forty countries and climbing. I have answered consular officers in new languages about my finances, my plans, and photos of my grandparents. I have made every mistake, and now it’s knowledge I could not have found in a guidebook or online course.
If you want to move abroad, I know the way, because I have walked it more than once, and built something real and lasting every time.
I’m the navigator I needed and never had. So I became her.

IRISHA STEELE

Wellbeing and Integration

Irisha is known as a catalyst for change. A Spa and Wellness Director with over 15 years of experience shaping world-class wellness destinations across Aspen, Boston, Hawaii, Toronto, the Hamptons, and Palm Springs. Her work, grounded in Forbes Five-Star standards, has been featured in Vogue, The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, and Home & Design.
But credentials only tell part of her story.
Irisha was the first in her family to move abroad. She held onto a vision she had written down years earlier, that she would travel the world and work in the finest spas, and she made it real through moments of self-doubt and deep reflection. Her journey eventually took her to live and work in Indonesia, where everything deepened, and she held onto that vision.
There, she embraced slow living and well-being, learning that true transformation doesn’t come from doing more but from trusting yourself.
Within Life Beyond Borders, Irisha supports clients alongside Jackie to create meaningful, lasting transformation through the emotional and physical dimensions of relocation, the part of the move that planning alone cannot address. She helps you arrive in your new country not just logistically prepared, but genuinely grounded, regulated, and ready to build your new life from a place of calm rather than chaos.

JULIANA GRANDE

Career and Purpose Reinvention

Juliana spent eight years asking herself a question. She graduated in Chemical Engineering and built a career in Human Resources at multinational corporations. While the work and the life were what society wanted from her, none of it answered the question that kept getting louder: “Is this actually what I want, or is this what I was told to want?
In 2021, after a period of depression that finally made the question impossible to ignore, she left. Not for another job. She left for Latin America alone, and moved through countries and cities that had no attachment to who she had been before, and she started to hear what she actually wanted underneath all the years of performing stability. That trip did not give her answers. It gave her back the willingness to live without needing them so urgently. Today Juliana lives as a digital nomad, currently in Southeast Asia, letting new places and unfamiliar rhythms reshape how she understands herself and her work.
Within Life Beyond Borders, she guides clients alongside Jackie through the career and identity questions that international relocation inevitably brings to the surface. When you leave the job, the title, and the country that held your old life together, who are you without it? She helps you make decisions about work and purpose that actually come from you rather than from the expectations you carried for years.

Relocating to a new country changes everything. Where you live, how you spend your days, who you allow yourself to become.

The logistical work is critical. But the recalibration of your sense of self, your relationship to purpose and your career, and your capacity to arrive somewhere new and actually feel at home and feel integrated in your new country—that work matters just as much. That is the work Irisha and Juliana do, and it is why they are part of this.

what I'm known for

Asking the questions nobody else thinks to ask

Turning chaos into a plan

A SUPERPOWER

WHAT I'M KNOWN FOR

Asking the questions nobody else thinks to ask

MY UNPOPULAR OPINION ABOUT MOVING ABROAD

You don't have to hate your country to want something different.

HOW I STOP THE WORLD

Scuba diving

Dirty vodka martini

ALWAYS ORDER ME A

The airport

CHRONICALLY EARLY TO

THE ONE THING I'D MOVE ACROSS THE WORLD FOR

A good affogato for dessert

CURRENTLY LEARNING

French, Italian, and when to stop working

Testimonials

Jackie and Life Beyond Borders to me are a perfect synthesis of her life and business experiences. She is one of the most trustworthy people I have known. For anyone exploring a life-altering change of relocating to another country, I can think of no one more empathetic, experienced, and trustworthy. She and her team know the importance of delivering world-class client service by cultivating lasting personal relationships. She remains in constant contact to ensure a personalized experience. My own daughter has mentioned country relocation for her and her husband, and I will unhesitatingly recommend that she seeks out Jackie when she’s ready.

Jackie’s proven competency in strategic planning for complex projects, coupled with her tactical skills and attention to details all translate into what she does for clients. And during times of great stress, she always keeps her cool. How blessed and fortunate her clients will be to have Jackie with them every step of the way. Jackie is truly a kind, loving, trustworthy person who is quietly helping the world be a better place

Wayne Henderson

Jackie has supported me during a move to a location that was far more expensive and atypical than where I was leaving. I would have had a much more difficult time, and been more lost, frustrated, and cash-strapped, without her expertise. If you struggle with detail (as I do), or if you’re far too busy with daily existence to carefully plan and prepare your next steps, you would do well to seek her assistance and advice.

There are few people in the world I trust the way I trust Jackie! She is the rare person who exhibits both great competency and genuine care in equal measure. She has a deep well of personal experience with international relocations and bureaucratic navigation that is beyond indispensable.

Jackie knows what it’s like to build a career and community in unfamiliar cultures. I can’t recommend her highly enough to you. Let her guide you through all the gnarly, complicated, non-intuitive tasks, so that you can focus on the vision for your life in your new corner of the world!

Kip Taylor

Jackie has a knack for cultivating relationships and really getting to know her clients – she truly makes her clients feel heard and takes pride in getting to know you. And she will be honest with you when something might not be the right fit.

If you’re about to work with Jackie for the first time, you’re in really good hands. Moving to a new country is a lot. But Jackie has done it and understands how challenging it can be. She’s ready to help you navigate the process, and she’ll probably see things about your situation before you do. Jackie handles every detail, and nothing slips through the cracks.

For a move like this, she’d be the first person I’d call. She’ll help you figure out not just the next step, but why it’s the right one for you.

Erin Barr

I truly appreciated the professional but extremely warm approach that Jacqueline provides. She is extremely knowledgeable and also very responsive, which has meant the world to me as I am planning my move to Brazil!

I have had a few real hiccups, and she has been so supportive! Anyone who can get her service would be lucky to have them guiding them in the transition to moving abroad!

Alain E Fleurancois

I would never hesitate to recommend Jackie. Whether you want a sounding board for your own ideas, or a hand to hold through the many ways a plan has to shift over time, Jackie will be an integral part of your journey.

She is exceedingly capable from bird’s eye view, to on-the-ground minutiae. She will meet you where you are in your journey, whether you have a plan, or had to scrap the plan, or need reassurance about the plan. Her empathy means she has been where you are emotionally (if not also geographically: she has lived and traveled everywhere!), and has made it through the red tape and bureaucracies with grace.

Sometimes these shifts in life require vulnerability too – there is no one I would rather open up to about my dreams. I trust her discretion, and that trust leads directly to accomplishing my goals. Don’t hesitate to open up and ask for exactly what you need. Jackie knows how to get the job done.

Erin Britt

Jackie is one of the most thoughtful, hands-on leaders I’ve had the opportunity to work with. She has a rare ability to manage even the smallest details while making people feel completely taken care of and supported. She’s fully present, patient, and genuinely invested in the outcome.

If you want to work with her, you’re in incredibly capable hands. Jackie brings a deep level of knowledge, especially of travel, logistics, and navigating complex decisions, but what really sets her apart is how she shows up: calm, responsive, and solutions-oriented, even in moments that feel overwhelming.

She approaches everything with care, integrity, and a true sense of responsibility. You feel that she’s not just guiding you through a process, but truly looking out for you. If someone I cared about was relocating internationally, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend Jackie. She’s exactly the kind of person you want by your side: someone who not only understands the logistics, but also the emotional journey, to guide you through both with confidence and care.

Meredith Phillips

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