Why I Left San Francisco for the Basque Coast

I didn't plan to move to France. I planned to keep doing what I'd been doing running WHISK out of San Francisco, building brands, designing experiences, saying yes to many things at once.

I'd been splitting time between SF and other capitals for years. Tokyo, Copenhagen, Paris the kind of travel that starts to feel less like tourism and more like research. I was looking for something, though I couldn't have told you what.

The Basque coast answered the question I didn't know I was asking.

I'd built a career in SF around hospitality and experience design the 86Fund during the pandemic, brand strategy for founders, the particular kind of work that happens at the intersection of food, culture, and place. All of it pointed somewhere. The Basque coast is where it landed.

La Côte de Basque

Moving here on a Talent Passport as a self-employed entrepreneur wasn't simple. But it was right. And five years later, living and working between Biarritz and San Francisco, I can say this: the decision changed everything about how I work and why.