Arielle Francois, 24, thinks it’s okay to be nervous about moving from South Florida to Dallas.
This movement The start of 2022 arrived with the unknown of what her “first big girl job” would be. Francis would also have to figure out rent and finances, how to meet people and everything else needed to thrive in a city and state she’d never been to before.
“There was no enthusiasm or happiness at first just because it was an unknown city for me,” François told Business Insider.
She lived with her family in the Miami metropolitan area; she also attended college in Florida. François left Haiti for Florida because of the 2010 earthquake.
Fast forward to the end of 2021, she had to consider relocating for a job offer to attend a program at PMG that required a move to Texas. She told BI that she had little time “to find a place to stay, to learn more about Dallas, and even to figure out if I wanted to move to Dallas.”
François studied criminal justice, but changed interests towards the end of his studies after getting a taste of digital marketing work alongside university. “The program is specially designed for postgraduate students who want to start their career in digital marketing” she says.
After successfully completing the program, she works as a digital marketer on PMG’s influencer marketing team.
François works for PMG. Skylar/Courtesy of Arielle François
Francois is one of many people who have moved to the Dallas metropolitan area in 2022. Nearly 91,600 more people than left the Dallas area from elsewhere in the United States during the period of 1 July 2021 to June 30, 2022, according to data from the Census Bureau showed.
“I think Dallas is booming,” François said.
François sees several benefits to living in Dallas, including more exposure and opportunities as a content creator. As more Gen Z moves into full-time employment while baby boomers retire or leave full-time jobs, François spoke to BI about advice for anyone uprooting their life to move to a new place.
Leveraging Social Media
François advises people moving to make sure they do their research. She also discovered that social media can be helpful when moving — not only to see what life is like where you’re headed, but also as a way to reach people.
For example, François said he used the Smart City to find housing. She said it’s a service where you connect to a “locator to help you find the apartment you want in the location you want.” Francois said he learned about this “through a Dallas resident I contacted on social media while doing my research. This highlights the importance of asking locals for advice and leveraging social media while the moving process.
“I feel like social media is the perfect place to learn about a city because you have a ton of content creators creating amazing content about the good, the bad, the pretty and the ugly of the city ” she said.
Beyond browsing posts on social media and apartment sites, you also need to think about rent and costs.
“I recommend budgeting and saving as much as possible — your future self will appreciate it,” she said for other Gen Zers living alone for the first time. She added that this can include not spending too much on second-hand furniture and items.
Moving to a new city can also mean figuring out how to make friends. Francis said not to forget that others might be new to the area and looking for new friends.
“Making friends can be intimidating, but there are often many social groups on Facebook or platforms like The Nudge that organize social events and provide listings of activities in your city,” she told BI . “Social media is also a great way to meet new people and discover local events.”
How his life in Dallas compares to that of Florida
“I think I would definitely say my favorite thing about the city is how helpful and open everyone is,” Francois said of Dallas.
She said hanging out with her co-workers was one of her favorite things to do in the area. For example, she went to her very first baseball game with her colleagues.
Francois also found Dallas to be a good city to live in as a content creator compared to Miami. “The exposure I got in South Florida was very limited just because there were so many other creatives in terms of models, artists and content creators,” she said .
Meanwhile, in Dallas, she feels like she has more exposure as a creator, “which has actually given me a lot more opportunities here,” she said. “For example, I get invited to a ton of designer events in Dallas with some brands that I use personally, and I just feel like a designer here just because I have that exposure as a designer, and so I’m treated like I’m a creator I’m a creator.”
Additionally, Francois said she thought it was more affordable to live in Dallas than in South Florida for someone her age. According to Zillow data at the time of writing, the median rent for a one-bedroom property is $2,700 in Miami and around $1,400 in Dallas.
Francois, who didn’t have roommates when she lived in Dallas, paid nearly $1,600 a month in rent, including fees, for her first apartment in the city. She moved into a new apartment building earlier this year, where she pays more than $1,800 a month.
She said she had “everything you could need” in her current home. “For me, the rent increase was worth it, but I know not everyone would necessarily agree.”
Plus, she finds Dallas to be quieter than Miami. “I remember when I lived there, I said, ‘I live where you vacation,’” François said.
“If you want to party, you go to Florida, whereas I don’t think if you want to party, you would consider Dallas to be the go-to city for that,” Francois said. “And I’m totally okay with living in a place like that because of where I’m at mentally, professionally and all that.”
Although she misses being close to the beach, a personal benefit of living in Dallas is seeing the differences between seasons and climate changes.
“Because I grew up in the Caribbean islands, I’m very used to sunny weather and basically summer weather all year round,” Francois said. “So I really like the fact that in Dallas I can see the seasons change.”
She also misses the Haitian community in Florida and says if she’s craving Haitian food, she won’t really find it in Dallas.
“Because South Florida is so close to Haiti, you will find a huge population of Haitians in South Florida,” she said. “So when I moved to Florida, I didn’t feel like I was too far from home because there were so many Haitian restaurants, so many Haitian churches. There’s even Little Haiti in South Florida. Haitian culture is therefore very present there. “.
Given the mix of things she misses about South Florida and the perks of being in Dallas, Francois said she would tell her past self who was preparing to move, “It’s okay to be nervous because change is uncomfortable” and it’s an uncomfortable feeling. live this new chapter of life alone.
“It’s okay to feel what you feel, but if you only knew what was on the other side of all that fear and anxiety, you would quickly wipe away your tears and start packing your bags ” she said.
Did you leave Florida or move to Texas? Share your moving experience with this reporter at mhoff@businessinsider.com.
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