A Journey of Breaking Borders

Hi, I’m Ariel, the founder of WorkAnywhereGo.

I was born in China, growing up I’ve been always curious about the outside world.

Later on, I moved to Canada by myself for school, I did what I had been programmed to pursue, getting an MBA, working at big name global companies, etc.

I worked in Toronto as a product manager and project manager in the banking industry for 7 years, and I definitely feel grateful for the great career opportunities in the equitable environment in Canada. To many people, I may have achieved the immigrant dream, and but somehow, I didn’t feel home in this busy city.

When the excitement of dressing up and working in downtown office buildings wears off, I had to face myself in the mundane corporate 9-5 job being stuck with 5 months of winter and 3 weeks of vacation a year.

2 years of the pandemic life made me reflect hard on my life, I asked myself do I see me living the 9-5 life in this city for the rest of my life, and the answer is a big no. Like most people, I always had a dream to travel around the world and see more of the world, I really enjoy learning about different perspectives and how they shaped the cultures in other parts of the world. So I told myself to start taking actions towards building a life that would fuel me with purpose, fulfillment, and community for the long run. 

I decided to connect with my passion and became a digital nomad. I quit my corporate job and started my world tour of traveling and living in the world’s largest digital nomad communities including Lisbon, Barcelona, Madeira, Las Palmas, Bansko, Split, Bali, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Hoi An, Da Nang, Taipei, Medellin, Buenos Aires, and Playa del Carmen.

It was so fulfilling to meet and connect with numerous inspiring people hailing from all over the world that I would not have met if I were to stay in the same city for the rest of my life, from AI indie-hackers to 7-figure location-independent entrepreneurs with super humble beginnings, from tech influencers inspiring millions to industry thought leaders pioneering blue-sky ideas.

As someone who moved from the east to the west, I feel for most of my adult life, I had to play games where the rules are set by others, but now I no longer have to pretend to be someone else in order to fit in a mold, I get to be my true self.

After I quit my job, I went through a journey of exploring different options as a recovering corporate professional, so I understood the transformation to location independence is not easy. Personally, I have transformed so much and learned tremendously about how to run projects independently.

I now work remotely in the Venture Capital industry, while exploring my passion on the side: cross-border projects to make meaningful global impact.

I’m still on a journey, I have tried a lot and happy to share what I learned via the platform of WorkAnywhereGo and inspire more people go pursue a life they would truly love.