About Me

Hi there! This is the part where I tell you more about myself, which is easy, because I truly am an open book. I am an author, writer, speaker, researcher and economist.

Personal Background

I jokingly call myself an expat since birth. I was born in Karachi, Pakistan, I took my first steps in Manama, Bahrain and I attended my first school in New York City, in the United States. By the time I was ten years old, my global childhood meant that I had grown up in three countries, in two languages and was constantly correcting the pronunciation of my name. If you’re curious, this is how I pronounce it on namecoach. Click the icon below.
When I was 19 years old, I left my home in Karachi with a blue suitcase and a one-way ticket to Boston’s Logan Airport. I have since lived in ten countries as both a Third Culture Kid (TCK) and an expat adult: The Kingdom of Bahrain, the United States (NY, MA, TX), Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Ghana and Portugal. Please don’t ask me which country is my favorite; it’s like asking me to choose my favorite child.

My Journey

Ten countries and four continents later, my life on the move is messy. A 40-foot container, an expat husband from another corner of the world and three children born in three different countries, 3,000 miles apart with three nationalities have added complexity, challenges and many joys to living a multicultural, multilingual and multi-mobile life. I truly hope you are never stuck behind me or my family at any government office or embassy, because we are that family who takes the longest!
 
I currently live in Cascais, Portugal with my half German, half Italian husband and my German-Pakistani-Italian kids, who were born in Singapore, Dubai and Lisbon. With the five of us born in five different countries, home is anywhere we are all together. Passionate about languages and cultures, I speak fluent Urdu, English, Hindi and German along with some Italian, Danish, Arabic, Twi and Portuguese on the side. After endless rounds of bureaucracy, I have also accepted Italian citizenship through marriage. It is my life’s biggest irony that I get to call myself Italian without having ever lived in Italy! This fact confuses a lot of people, including myself sometimes.

Academic & Professional Background

I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in the US, and I specialized in Economic Development at the University of Sussex in the UK. My corporate career saw me work in different roles, from investment banking in the US to an Economist in oil trading in Denmark. I made a huge career change to a full-time writer in 2012 when I moved to Singapore as an expat partner; five months pregnant and unemployed. But it took me yet another international move to Dubai in 2015 to start my blog ‘And Then We Moved To’; a way to support other expat individuals and families facing constant transition.
 
My expat life has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) for Super Soul Sunday and my expat blog ‘And Then We Moved To’ was shortlisted for ‘Best Parent Blog 2017’ by Time Out Dubai Kids. I enjoy giving talks on global relocations and my advice has appeared in several relocation companies and websites such as on Santa Fe Relocation, Expat Woman.com, Anglo Info, The Matador Network and more. I regularly collaborate with relocation companies to create awareness for the needs of globally mobile families.
 
I am a regular speaker at international organizations and corporations around the world such as the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP), Volkswagen Global Mobility Program, and the Forum for Expatriate Management. I am also a regular speaker at bilingual and international schools around the world. I have given many talks on handling transition in international schools and raising Third Culture Kids (TCK), speaking at:
  • The British School of the Netherlands in The Hague, Netherlands
  • The International School of Utrecht in the Netherlands
  • NIST International School in Bangkok, Thailand
  • Lincoln Community School in Accra, Ghana
  • The American International School in Johannesburg, South Africa
  • The American International School in Pretoria, South Africa
  • CJD International School Braunschweig-Wolfsburg in Germany
  • Fordham University in New York, keynote speech at the New York Bilingual Fair
  • TASIS Portugal in Sintra, Portugal.
I have also been a conference speaker at the Families in Global Transition (FIGT) conference in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2017 and 2018, as well as in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2019 and have completed a two-year term on the Board of Directors for FIGT from October 2019 to October 2021 in the capacity of their Membership Director to serve globally mobile families.

Writing Background

I am the co-author of two books Export Success and Industrial Linkages in South Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and Insights and Interviews from the 2017 Families in Global Transition Conference (Summertime Publishing, 2018). I have been the Content Editor for Fuchsia Magazine in Singapore, and my expat writing has been published in Expat Connect Dubai, Global Living Magazine, Expat Living Singapore, Expat Living Hong Kong, The Huffington Post, Sassy Mama Dubai, Among Worlds Magazine, Hiraeth Magazine, Wherever Magazine and FIDI Global Relocation.
 
My debut non-fiction book This Messy Mobile Life: How a MOLA can help globally mobile families create a life by design (Springtime Books 2019) was released worldwide on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Raw, honest, inspiring and uplifting, This Messy Mobile Life comprises personal reflection, expert advice and survey research to help global expatriates navigate their international journey. The learnings in this book are particularly relevant for HR professionals, global mobility specialists, relocation companies, international schools and bilingual/multilingual educators to provide focused support and assistance to their expat clients around the world.
 
Since then, I have made the scary jump to writing fiction. Living in my new home country of Portugal inspired me to write The Guilty Can’t Say Goodbye which is my second book, but my debut novel. Every time I leave a country, I write a goodbye letter to it, but this time, I’ve decided to write an entire book instead; I consider this book to be my unofficial love letter to Portugal. ​