Adventure Calls
Episode 14: Jazzie Más: An American Stand-Up Comedian in Vietnam
Welcome to Da Nang, Vietnam
It's 9pm on a Saturday night here in Da Nang, Vietnam, and hundreds of people have gathered to see a fire breathing dragon.
Locals and tourists alike crowd the streets surrounding the majestic Dragon Bridge. Lit by 15,000 LED lights and spanning exactly 666 meters across the River Han. The bridge is a sight to behold at all times of day and night. But it's on the weekends at 9pm that the dragon breathes fire, then shoots water out to the delight of the crowds below. It's an impressive show, and this $85 million bridge that attracts over 3 million tourists annually is a symbol of Da Nang's success.
Expat life in Da Nang, Vietnam
Known by some as the City of Bridges, Da Nang is home to 1.1 million people. And although it's Vietnam's third largest city, and a major international port city, there are only about 4,000 expats who live here on any kind of permanent basis. Of those most are fellow Southeast Asian or East Asian expats - very few are Americans or Europeans like you find populating the cities of Hanoi, to the north, or Saigon, to the south.
InternationalLiving.com article: Easy Living and Rents of $350/month in Da Nang, Vietnam
Like in many Southeast Asian cities, life in Da Nang is lived on the streets. Food markets are filled with women and typical conical hats selling fruit and vegetables from stalls or even off the side of their motorbikes. Tourists and locals alike eat from street food stalls day and night. For those expats who do call Da Nang home, like today's guest, Jazzie Mas, you would often find yourself whizzing through town on your motorbike or clinging to the back of someone else's as you criss-cross that River Han, visit 20 miles of pristine beach, visit Da Nang Bay, or take a tour of the Marble Mountains nearby. These five Buddhist shrines are tucked deep inside of caves that sit below pagoda topped mountains. At first glance, it looks otherworldly as though constructed by aliens, or one of Spain's famous surrealist, like Dali or Gaudi.
Scenes from a visit to Hoi An, Vietnam
You might spend a day, or several days, in nearby Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and essentially a living museum that perfectly preserves Vietnamese life from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
In Hoi An, you feel the visceral mix of indigenous Vietnamese life, Chinese temples, Japanese bridges, pagodas, French colonial houses and canals. At night, it is lit by quaint lanterns and you can dine on world class cuisine along the riverside. More in this article: 10 Things To Do In Hoi An on The Guardian.
Meanwhile, Back in Da Nang: Comedy
But you might prefer the nightlife back in Da Nang. You're whipped back into the future with the bright lights of tall buildings reflecting off the water and glowing in the night sky. You could head out to sing karaoke, the unofficial pastime here. Or you might go catch a comedy show. Stand up comedy - in English no less, is increasingly popular in the larger cities in all of Southeast Asia.
Jazzie Moore AKA Jazzie Mas
And my guest in this episode, Jazzie Mas, is a stand up comic from Los Angeles, who started pulling together shows here, as well as doing tours across Southeast Asia.
Jazzie Mas is destined for global stardom, though her path toward it has been anything but direct.
In my conversation with Jazzie, you'll hear about her time as a digital nomad. Her life as a stand up comic, and how she turned a childhood of turmoil, a short time in the prison system, and five years on probation, into an inspiring life lived collecting passport stamps around the world as a speaker, stand-up comedian, and entrepreneur. She also gets me manifesting her future Netflix deal live on the show! And I mean, I'm absolutely certain she's going to get exactly what she wants in the next year or two.
There is almost no story in the world I'd rather share more than Jazzie's. She proves that every change you've ever wanted to make in your life comes from making up your own mind about who you are, and what you can do with this one life.
Links mentioned in this episode
Jazzie Mas on YouTube: @blackdigitalnomad
Video: From Probation 2 Passports : How I Regained my Freedom & Travel Full-Time
Jazzie Mas on Instagram: @jazziemas
Keelah Rose, fellow American comedian in Vietnam.
Full episode transcript
Jessica Drucker
Hi, Jazzie. Thank you so much for taking my call!
Jazzie Mas
Hey, thanks for calling.
Jessica Drucker
Yeah. So I am, like, so obsessed with your story. I'm so excited to have you on like I told you offline. I have been wanting to have you on my podcast before I have a podcast because I just knew that I had to help tell your story. Jazzie, where are you right now And how long have you been? where you are?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, I'm in my living room and Da Nang. Vietnam. I've been here for.. it'll be two years in January. So a little while.
Jessica Drucker
Oh, so two years is a pretty long time. So you would you consider yourself an expat?
Jazzie Mas
Yes. Digital nomad turned expat.
Jessica Drucker
Yeah, you have if you have a living room, you know, you have a home. Right? Right. So okay, so you've been there for two years. And we're where else have you lived or spent a good amount of time since you've started this whole traveling life?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, I started in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. And I was there for about 10 months. And then I went to Bali, Indonesia, just for a few months, two months there. And then on to Thailand, for about another 10 months. And I came here for just a visit. And I was supposed to stay here for about three months fell in love. And I've been here ever since.
Jessica Drucker
Can we just start by saying that you do stand up comedy in Vietnam.
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, I'm doing stand up comedy here. And then on Vietnam, and I traveled throughout Vietnam doing comedy currently, for COVID. I was on a 20 city tour or would have been 20 city tour, but COVID happened and everything shut down.
Jessica Drucker
Okay. It's amazing to me. So you're, you're not doing comedy in Vietnamese? You don't I'm assuming that you are not fluent enough in Vietnamese to be doing comedy? How did you start doing comedy? And is that something that you had done before you traveled?
Jazzie Mas
Well not stand up comedy. I was "discovered", on Snapchat years ago, when I lived in Houston. Two comics reached out to me to do a comedy radio show. And I really wanted to do stand up, because they were stand up comedians, and I've always admired it. But it's, you know, the hardest form of entertainment. So I was really scared. But once you move abroad, you kind of get a little more ballsy. And I was like, You know what, I'm gonna start doing all the things that I've always wanted to do. And so yeah, I started doing stand up here. I got a chance to do a three city tour and went well, and I've been hooked ever since.
Jessica Drucker
Who's in your audience? I mean, who comes to the shows? And where are the shows? Like, are there a bunch of stand-up comedy venues around Vietnam?
Jazzie Mas
You know, in Saigon and Hanoi, there are a lot, you know, I just did a competition. It started with 40 of us. And I was in the top six. And that was started in Saigon, and then the finals were in Hanoi. So the fact that there are like 40 comics between those two cities that performed for the competition says a lot. There's not too many shows here in Da Nang, I create shows here. I'm one of the few comics here. There's probably two of us, maybe three, and other people that are trying to do comedy now. But in the bigger cities, yes, it's definitely a scene here. They're also having a festival Comedy Festival here in Vietnam, in Hanoi. So it was shocking to find out that there was so much comedy going on here. And there are expats that do it. And then also the younger generation of Vietnamese who speak plenty of English. We do open my hair and denom and we were doing there's another comic here. Keelah Rose, who started comedy here in central Vietnam. That's what where I got my opportunity from, and yeah, there's plenty in Hanoi and Saigon. It's definitely a scene there. Thailand has a scene - Bangkok, definitely. I performed in Chiang Mai as well. So yeah, it's it's a thing.
Jessica Drucker
No, I think it's amazing. And who are people American that are doing other comedians American as well? Or do you find comedians from sort of all over the English speaking world or?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, they're in the recent competition. There was people from America, Vietnamese people. So some books one from I think he lives in Saigon. There was a girl from South Africa, I believe. People from the UK. Yeah, there is they're from all over doing comedy.
Jessica Drucker
And how do you write these jokes? What a different audience, right? It's like, I guess expats all have certain things in common. So are you writing jokes for like an X pet audience? Is that like the lens?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, well, it kind of goes into ties into so me being black in Vietnam as a joke in itself. And I can relate to.. I mean... I talk about things that the Vietnamese can relate to, and also expats. But yeah, I have so much material from being abroad every day, you know, going downstairs to get my delivery. You know, I'll get jokes from that. Facebook groups, and yeah, just day to day living, there's so much. Just even the different culture, tons of things that we talk about. A lot of them are English teachers. So we talk about that.
Jessica Drucker
So it's interesting, because it sounds like one of the things you're doing is like working through your culture shock. You work through it through comedy.
Jazzie Mas
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Same thing that makes you laugh, and make you cry. So it's like, you can either, you know, laugh about it, you get upset about it, and I choose to make jokes from it.
Jessica Drucker
I love it. I mean, what a smart way, because you know, culture shock can be so hard to process. So even if someone like me, who wouldn't do like the stand-up part, but would sit in the audience and get relief from hearing you say that stuff...like what a relief.
Jazzie Mas
I'm saying what you guys are thinking!
Jessica Drucker
Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. Okay, so that that is just like, the most interesting thing that you're doing right now. But the reason why I'm obsessed with like talking to you and sharing your story is because your whole story is so fascinating. Can we bring it all the way back? So originally, you are from Los Angeles?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, South Central LA. And I say that because I used to lie and say I was from Santa Monica. But now I'm from the hood in LA. I also lived in Pasadena and Altadena, but mostly South Central.
Jessica Drucker
How I found you... I don't know exactly if it's the first thing I knew about you. But you made this video called From Probation to Passports, where you tell your story. And where a lot of people are coming from to move abroad is a leap. But for you it was an evolution and a life shift that some people listening will never have to go through. So that's why I wanted to share it a little bit. You really struggled for a while growing up. And I mean, obviously, if you were on probation, there was a reason. There was a reason. Can you talk a little bit about just like, you know, where's the probation part come from? First of all?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, so um, growing up in South Central LA, you know, I had my struggles: my mom was addicted to drugs, and my dad was abusive. I faced a lot of adversity during my childhood and as an early adult. I struggled with addiction, alcoholism. And that led to me getting in trouble a lot. I went to jail, drunk a lot. And I ended up getting a second DUI in Philly - Media PA, which is right outside of Philadelphia. That led to me doing 15 weekends in jail, 60 days house arrest, and then five years probation. And during that time, there was a 'Aha' moment for me. I was in my probation officers office. And at this point, I had already stopped drinking. And I was trying to get my life together. But I had moved from my apartment to my cousin's, which she lived in Delaware at the time. And Delaware, if you guys are familiar with the East Coast area, Delaware is like 30 minutes from Philadelphia. It literally took me like 27 minutes to get from my probation officers office to my cousin's house where I was staying, and I got a violation.
She printed out a list of homeless shelters for me to go to.
And that was a moment that I was like, wow, you know, here it is. I can't even I don't even have the freedom to stay at my cousin's house. She wants me to go to a homeless shelter for something that happened years ago. I think I had already been on probation for three years. So the charge was maybe four and a half years before that, you know. And so at that point, I realized that a lot of times we come from these rough upbringing games, and there's plenty of reasons to drink behind that, you know. Or you can take responsibility for it, you know, because my mom had been sober by them for many years, and my dad was living his life. And here it was, I had lost my freedom - lost everything - due to drinking, and I blamed my mom and my dad a lot during my adulthood for not providing me with the tools that I needed to succeed.
But that moment was when I was like, Okay, this is your responsibility. You've got to make better choices because look at where you ended up, you know. So, when I got off of probation, after five years of probation, I decided that I would live my life bravely, boldly, fully and freely and do all the things that I wanted to do. When I was on probation, my friend was working in Afghanistan and doing contract work making like $100,000 a year, tax free. And I was like "How? I want to do this." But I couldn't because I was on probation. And I, you know, couldn't get the paperwork. So when I was off, I was like, you know, what, my husband came home one day and said that he wanted to move, leave Texas. And about 15 minutes in, I was like, "You know what, like, I'm not on probation, I can actually do this, like, let's make it happen, you know." And that's was the beginning of the journey that I've had three years abroad now. But yeah, I just had a moment where I was like, I don't want to continue to live my life this way. And I don't want to continue to blame others for the things that have happened to me and really just take responsibility and live my life.
Jessica Drucker
Well, and it's interesting, because that's actually where the freedom comes from. It's not like you can do anything, everybody can do anything they want to. But when you start taking responsibility for your own actions, that's like where freedom comes in. In that amazing video, which I'll share in the show notes, where you share your story, you say a couple things I find really interesting. You talk about how at some point you start listening to like Super Soul Sundays, and you started meditating. Where did that shift come in? Like, because you said you stopped watching, like, like some trash show? I'm sure I forget which one it was, but like some reality show, something where you're just like, that's not the right show... How did that shift come in your mind where you just start listening to Super soul Sundays. And instead of being like, this is bull, you know, being like, No, I'm gonna take this in. Do you remember that time in your life and how you started taking in the good information?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, I just remember consuming certain things like television and the feeling I will get like, riled up and angry. And I would end up you know, having road rage or fighting someone or punching a man in the mouth at a club. AndI just got tired of like, you know, especially that moment in the probation officer's office where I had the homeless shelters, and I was like, wow, is this what my life has become? Am I really gonna have to go to the homeless shelter? I didn't, you know, I went to a friend's house in Philly. But, that was a moment where I was okay, I need to do something different. And what does that look like? You know, and so I just started to consume different things. And it was like, Okay, let me start with Oprah. I guess, I don't know.
Jessica Drucker
It's really that simple. She's basically like, Oprah, you know, her. She's amazing. So let's start there.
Jazzie Mas
When you're ready for certain change, subconsciously, your mind remembers what you've consumed before. Like, okay, maybe this maybe I should try this meditation stuff, or whatever. Um, yeah. And I just decided to use the tools that I had heard about, and they worked.
Jessica Drucker
And then the other thing that you said, which I want to dig into, too, is that so you're in Houston, I guess at this point. And a friend of yours, you're making shea butter something. Right? Body butter, you're making body butter. So I want to talk about all your hustles too, because this is very interesting to me. But and your friend was moving to Southeast Asia. Is that right?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, she called me over to come get some things she was given away, because she was leaving the country to go to Southeast Asia. Just seeing her packing up her house, and she was a single mother as black single mother, and I was like, "wow, I can do this shit." Like, I just knew that I was different when I left her house that day. Something in me shifted, and that's why representation is so important for me online so that people can see like, "Yo, we're out here doing this, you know." But yeah, that there was a shift in me that day that I left there, because I was just amazed that this woman was moving to Southeast Asia with her son.
Jessica Drucker
Yeah, with her son no less, With a dependent. So you, you know that she's going to Southeast Asia, you know what freedom really means. Your husband comes home and says like, I've had it, let's do something else. So you know, it's possible because you've seen someone else do it. And you had the friend in Afghanistan. So that's really important, because I really think the more people you see doing this thing, you believe that it's possible, like you're not crazy.
Jazzie Mas
right? So Even though people think it's crazy, you have to watch that too. I just was like, I'm not listening to you guys. What's your experience in Mexico and they had never been so I was like, I'm not even listening to you.
Jessica Drucker
Well, I wanted to ask you that too. Because so how did you keep blinders on? Because I know for myself, especially like, in low times, negative self talk is huge, right? Like whatever anybody else does is amazing and glorious and like glamorous, but me wanting to do something like that. That's crazy. How did you keep your like negative self talk out of the equation?
Jazzie Mas
Well, that's where losing my freedom and regaining it came back for me, because you know, a lot of us create mental prisons, and they're no different from, you know, having the monitor around your ankle or being on probation for five years, because you're telling yourself you can't do something. But when you legally can't do it, it hits different. And so when you regain your freedom, you have a really take advantage of it. And it means it's feels different, you know. You realize, like, "I can do this, this is not what's stopping me anymore." Something that's legally stopping you, I think it's different than just us thinking that we can't do something. So yeah, the fact that I could legally go was enough for me, and I had already been reading about manifestation and had done vision boards and the things on my vision board come true. So I just started to speak it into existence, and not allow doubt to creep in. I was like, "I'm just going to focus on what I actually want, and not the things that I do not want." And that was it. I will tell anyone who would listen, I remember being a brand ambassador at the time. And I would do samples in grocery stores. And so I would work with different random people. And I would tell them, like, "Oh, I'm moving abroad, I'm leaving America, I'm gonna travel." And I had no idea what we were gonna do, how we're figuring this out, but I was just, you know, visualizing it. And I think that was really important too. And I realized that I've manifested being on probation, you know? All those things I've manifested for myself, through my thinking, my negative self talk and the things that I would say. And that probably came from my father growing up calling me a "thug," you know, and that I wouldn't amount to anything. And so I believe that and I've manifested certain things for me. We're always manifesting things. It's just, is it working in your favor? Or is it not?
Jessica Drucker
Well, that's the thing. I think what you realize, and you know, is hat you are so powerful, whether it's to destroy your life and be destructive, or to be constructive. You are. Someone like you, you've now harnessed this power of yours, you're so powerful. You've harnessed it to live, what most people would say, is a fascinating, glamorous, very interesting life. It's amazing. So you move to Mexico. Now, what are you doing when you first go to Mexico to have income? Because I got to imagine you don't have $500,000 in savings at this point?
Jazzie Mas
No, no. So actually when we left, it was going to be temporary. We're like, okay, three to six months, you know, so we budgeted out living there for six months without working. I was still doing health coaching. So I would sell these things, my detox kits, and do coaching online, but for the most part, I was just enjoying myself. And that iswhen I realized, like, well, what are we going back to? After running on the beach and doing yoga and eating fresh mangoes every day? You're like, "Wait, is this... can I create this life? And how can I sustain myself?" So then I started to talk to other expats. They are people who have been living in Mexico for a while, and learned about teaching English online. And I started doing that when we got to Thailand. So we were living off of our savings and just kind of small things I was doing. I had a retreat in Mexico, a wellness retreat. In Thailand, I started teaching English online and doing some acting and things and yeah, it wasn't just as it as I live the life I was presented different opportunities, because you're talking to new people that have been, you know, doing this longer than you. So yeah, sometimes if you take the leap, you know, there are things that I wouldn't have learned sitting at home on my couch, I tried to research this and figure this out. There are things that I learned through talking to other people and doing it and getting in that, you know.
Jessica Drucker
But also I think people don't realize but like life in America is very expensive. Yeah, it's expensive, because the cost of losing it is also extremely expensive. Like, you know, it's like in order just to maintain your life, it costs a lot of money. Whereas if you move to Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand, Bali, you can live off of much less money, because also making a mistake is less costly, like a mistake, but like taking a risk and having it not work out. You're like, Okay, well, I'll try this and then it's not like you're you're out 1000s of dollars, the way that you might be in the US. Question for you. What you mentioned that being being black in Vietnam is a joke in itself. What is it like for you to be in Southeast Asia as a black American which, because I want to ask about like identity wise, right? Like you you are black, you're outside of America, you're American. What is life like as a black American in Vietnam versus a black American at home?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, for me, it's night and day. So the police came by one day to check my passport and I don't even have it because I was getting an extension. And I wasn't terrified when they came to my door, you know, and they were really kind to me, my neighbor came by to help, there was a language barrier there. And I remember them just leaving and waving. And I was like, "Wow, if this was America, I would have been terrified. There's no telling how this would have ended up." Now the people who are very curious, so they look, they stare, you know, but I wave and they're like, Hi, I wanted to take pictures or touching my hair. And I'm with a remember that in America is such a melting pot, that we have the privilege of seeing all different types of people from everywhere. And here, this is a homogenous country. So you know, not that everyone looks the same, but they don't look as different as myself. So with that, I realized that like, I'm in the small town here, I'm walking through a very local neighborhood, it's no different from your street. If someone was walking, you would be like, Who was this person? You would, they would stand out to you. So yeah, I think mindset is really important. And not to take it personal not to think it's racism, because no one's disrespectful to me. They're really kind. They're extremely helpful. They're just curious. You know, I look a lot different from the people here. So fun. I'm having the time of my life. I don't fear for my safety. You know, sometimes it's annoying, you know, but I just act like they've seen my Netflix special that's coming out eventually, when I get one. And manifesting right now live. Like, oh, you know, I'm somebody so I'm just waving, you know, almost as if I'm a celebrity or something. But yeah, I don't let it bother.
Jessica Drucker
Did they take their do they take pictures of you and stuff like that, too? Did they ask to take selfies with you? Yeah.
Jazzie Mas
Yeah. But to see, this is what it'll be like, and how are you going to react to these things? Like, are you going to feel like it, are you not? I'll always have time for fans.
Jessica Drucker
Right, exactly. Um, so you, I believe I read an article of yours as well, where you, you talk about, like, not really feeling guilty about leaving the US during the time where other people are fighting. Yyou get tired of fighting? Can you talk a little bit about that? Because some people stay, and they fight. And some people are like, why do I need to fight? I totally respect people that fight. But why do I need to fight with my life? And so I just wanted to hear that, from your perspective, because I think it's very important to share.
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I think it's called fight or flight, the article. And I was basically just saying that there are so many people fighting for basic human rights, especially as black Americans. I feel like it's just a country that is not for me, and for the favor doesn't work in favor of a lot of people of color, and to march and continue to fight for basic rights when you do have the freedom of leaving. Yeah, I just don't think it's for me, I do like you're saying I respect people who do want to march and fight and fight for their rights. But I decided to leave and I think that that can also empower other people. You know, you see me living abroad gives you the opportunity or the the courage to do the same thing versus marching, decade after decade after decade of the same shit. So Excuse me, but um, yeah, I just got tired. I don't want to do it. And I'm not going to and I love my life abroad. And I think then we're black Americans who feel stuck and frightened should try a life outside of America.
Jessica Drucker
So do you ever think about moving back home? Like what is five years look like for you? Because when you make it, like I'm just saying, in comedy, for example, wouldn't LA seem like such an obvious place to be?
Jazzie Mas
And that's what I was thinking at one point. But now that I've like been doing comedy in Asia, I'm like, I don't really know if I would have to go back. Now they record Netflix specials all over the world. Someone did theirs in Singapore recently. But I would go for work, you know, but to live there full time. I don't think that it's a place for me. Now that I've gotten a taste of the rest of the world and seeing how it goes. And naturally, like my aunt was like, Oh, are you sure you don't want to come here and do comedy? And I was like, Oh, do you know someone you know, you're someone you can get me connected with? Oh, no, I just thought you could do it. If he's like, well, that's what I'm doing here. You know, so, um, yeah, I'll go home to work and do different things. If someone wanted to book me for a job. I would do that. But as far as living there full time. Absolutely not.
Jessica Drucker
Five years, 10 years from now, do you see yourself being in Vietnam? I know that's like a ridiculously long amount of time. But
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, like and it's hard because I'm so about being in the present moment. Because Have you asked me a year ago what I or not a year ago, I've been here almost two years. So three, four years ago, if I would even be in Vietnam, Vietnam was never on my list. So I like to remain open. And that I think that's the best way for me to live. I don't know where I'll be in five years. I know, I'll be, you know, living the life of my dreams, because I'm working so hard on those things. And the opportunities that I've been presenting to me have been amazing, but I don't know where I'll be. And I love to remain open to things because we don't know. And I think that's one thing about COVID is showing us that life is very uncertain. And when we remain open to things and not try to control too much. The endless The possibilities are endless. So yeah, I'm just open. I'm very open. I don't know. I could be anywhere in five years.
Jessica Drucker
But how do you feel like you know, now that you've done this so many times, do you feel like you could be you can move anywhere? Like, do you just feel like you could pick up right now if someone said, you have to leave Vietnam, and you can just pick up and move and go somewhere else?
Jazzie Mas
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, there are things I already know, I'm going to pack on my Osprey bag and my puppy and we're out.
Jessica Drucker
Why is it because like, what makes it so easy now? Because I really do think that there's a blueprint, like once you do it once, you can always do it. But what do you think...Why can you just so easily do it? And for someone who's never done it? Like, what's the hurdle that they're facing that you now don't have?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, well, again, I have mastered the art of letting go and being so fully present in the moment that when you're fully present in the moment, you're going to live fully. And I just trust that the next place... Everywhere I've gone, I've done extraordinary things. I've done things that I've never thought I would do. For example, the retreat, wellness retreat in Mexico, I was acting in Thailand, I did music, music videos and dance shows and Bali, Indonesia, I started comedy here. So wherever I go, I'm going to bring myself and um, yeah, the experiences have just been so amazing that I'm just excited for life and whatever. The wind wherever the wind blows me next, I know that it's going to be amazing, because it's been this far.
Jessica Drucker
Do you ever think about going to India because you know, it's so easy to get into like a Bollywood movie as a foreigner? Do you ever think about going to India and trying to do acting and comedy there?
Jazzie Mas
Someone else told me about that when I was in Chiang Mai, and I was definitely going to go perform comedy in India before COVID happened. But um, yeah, if there were opportunities there, I would definitely be open to that.
Jessica Drucker
I know that, you know, having a having a plan, even for the next year is so hard. But what are you looking to do for the next coming years in terms of like, so you're working on comedy, you're trying to get a Netflix special? You're writing a book, you know, what are you looking to create for yourself and for your business in the next few years?
Jazzie Mas
Yeah, well, I definitely am thinking of going somewhere ducked off in Mexico so that I am closer home when my book is released. So I can do a book tour there. And hit up different cities, do comedy in Mexico and more retreats and things. Now the part about that sucks about being so far in Asia, is I do miss my family. And when I lived in Mexico, I had a lot more visitors. Only one person came to visit me in Thailand. People were going to come to Vietnam, but COVID happened or at least but I don't know, if they're even going to really, really come you don't know. But that's what they say. But in Mexico, for sure people came. So I would like to go to Mexico and do some things for a little bit, just because it's closer to home. And I can see my family a little more. But other than that I'm just remaining opened and whatever opportunity presents itself. I want to be able to take advantage of it.
Jessica Drucker
I love it. I love your story. I love the transformation. I think that you know when your book comes out, it will be not just like a great read, but such a helpful read for so many people. I think you can be that what you saw, like, Oh, well, it's Oprah. So I'll start there. I think that Jazzie is a story where a lot of people can start and be like, well, she could do it...
Jazzie Mas
Yes. And that's gonna be... I need to be who I need it, you know, and empower other people to never give up and not stay hindered or feel hindered by their circumstances. And note that at any point, you can change, totally change your life. Had you told me that day my probation officer printed out that list of homeless shelters that I would be living here in Vietnam living my dream, I would never have believed you. So it's amazing. It's so amazing. And it just starts with with changing within. So it's definitely doable. And that's what I want people to know. That's one takeaway.
Jessica Drucker
That's wonderful. In the meantime, until we see you on Netflix, and as the number one bestseller in the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal and Amazon, where can people find you for now? How can people keep up with you right now?
Jazzie Mas
Yes, on Instagram, I'm ranting on my stories at @blackdigitalnomad and I also have resources for people who are interested in moving abroad at blackdigitalnomad.com, and also on YouTube I do videos and that's also Black Digital Nomad.
Jessica Drucker
Thank you so much. It was so great to talk to you.
Jazzie Mas
Yes, I love chatting with you. Thank you and thank you for speaking things into existence with me. I love that!
Jessica Drucker
Adventure Calls is produced, edited and written by me, Jess Drucker. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, then head over to iTunes or wherever you listen to podcast and rate review the show. Every single rating helps so much for me to reach and inspire more people. If you're feeling really inspired and want to start thinking about how you can actually make your move abroad, pick up a copy of my book on Amazon. How To Move Abroad And Why It's The Best Thing You'll Do is essentially a masterclass in book form. Taking my 15 years experience living abroad and distilling that into 300 pages, you'll get step by step tips on how to move abroad in 90 days, how to get your paperwork together, how to get a visa, advice on how to blend in like a spy, how to learn any language in the world and more. Head to amazon.com and pick up your copy of How To Move Abroad And Why It's The Best Thing You'll Do, today.
*Transcription via Otter.ai. Please excuse any errors.