Member Spotlight: Jasmine Ras - Quitting Corporate to Live Between 2 Countries

There's a word Jasmin uses that stays with you. Not "nomad," not "remote worker," not even "free." The word is calibration — a daily spoken-word practice she picked up at an online event in Canada, a quiet ritual she carries everywhere she goes, from Rotterdam to Cascais to wherever she lands next.

It's a fitting word for someone who spent 12 years in corporate HR before deciding, very deliberately, that she was not going to be one of those people who looked back and wondered what if. Jasmin left a senior management role to become an online transition coach — working with people who feel exactly as stuck as she once did — and built a life that now splits, roughly 50/50, between the Netherlands and the Portuguese coast.

We sat down with her to talk about Caribbean roots, cold Rotterdam winters, the Cascais house she can't stop returning to, and the phrase she kept coming back to throughout our conversation: these are my freedom years.

You're based in Rotterdam — but you're also from somewhere quite different. Tell me about that. 

Yes. I'm Caribbean. I was born in Curaçao, which is a small island — an old Dutch colony, basically. When I was very young, my family moved to the Netherlands. I still have sisters there and my parents are in Curaçao, so family is very much what keeps me in the Netherlands for now. But Rotterdam is its own thing too. It's a different city from the rest of the Netherlands — a pretty cool city, actually. I've been here almost ten years now.

When did you start thinking you didn't have to stay? 

I used to work in a very corporate environment. I was an HR manager, in the management team — a cool company, a good role. Did that for about seven years. But I've always been a traveller. I always knew I wanted more of that. When I hit a point where I was like, okay, I genuinely cannot do this anymore — the rat race, the hustle culture, the unsustainability of it — I decided to explore something different. Now I'm an online coach. I work with people who are in a transition: people who feel stuck in the life they've built and need help figuring out what they actually want and how to move forward. Their true desires are covered under years of past hurts, unprocessed emotions and limiting beliefs. Layer by layer, we together remove the masks and get to their real passion.

How did you make the leap? Seven years in, senior role — that's not an easy thing to walk away from. 

I was already doing some coaching within my job, also used my knowledge of applied psychology and I noticed that was the part I was actually into. When I hit a very low point, I realised this wasn't sustainable. And yes, I was making good money — it was scary. But I feel that when you're creative, a lot is possible. I had a house that was going up in value, so there was a safety net. And then there's the other thing: there's never a right time. There's never the right time. I didn't want to be one of those people who looks back and thinks, I wish I'd done that. My parents are getting older, life gets more complicated. So I thought — right now, these are my freedom years.

And you found Outsite at that point. 

I think so, yes. I was Googling co-living situations, looking at how to combine travel with meeting people. And I found Outsite. My first trip was to Lisbon — August or September 2023, about ten days. It was so much fun. Such a fun crowd. I just kept coming back.

You've been to several locations in Portugal now. Do you have a favourite? 

Cascais. Definitely Cascais. The spaciousness. The garden. The view you wake up to every morning. It just feels like a retreat. Every time I'm there, I think, this is so beautiful. It genuinely feels like home in a way that's hard to describe. A hotel doesn't do that.

What kind of people have you met there? 

So many different people — I don't know how to pinpoint it. The only thing they seem to have in common is that they're adventurous. Doing their own thing, or searching for their own thing. Some are entrepreneurs, some are still very much in the daily grind. Some are escaping, a bit. Very different, but that shared energy of — I'm here, I'm choosing this, I'm curious. That's the thread.

Has it helped your coaching business? 

Not in the direct sense. I don't come to Outsite to network or find clients — it's not really that. But it enriches me. I talk to all kinds of people, hear different points of view, understand what people are going through. That feeds into everything. And more fundamentally, the way I operate at Outsite — being somewhere that takes care of you, that feels good, that lets you be yourself — that's just the most natural way for me to go through life. It makes it possible for me to do my work well, if that makes sense.

You mentioned a daily calibration practice. Where did that come from? 

There was an online event through Outsite — I think it was last September — with an astrologer named Natalie. It was a really beautiful session, and someone shared a short morning calibration as part of it. It's a spoken-word thing. I listen to it every day: a reminder of certain states, certain intentions, a way of checking in with myself. It travels with me wherever I go. I don't have a strict routine, but that's the one thing I do every day.

What's next for you? 

I'm thinking about selling the house in Rotterdam, actually. Not being there as much in winter — I just don't function well in cold and grey. Coming season will probably be Portugal again. And then maybe South Africa, the Caribbean to see my parents, perhaps Latin America. I haven't found anywhere else that quite does what Outsite does, to be honest. Not yet.

Last thing — you used the phrase "freedom years" earlier. What does that mean to you? 

It means this is the time when I'm allowing myself to make choices for myself. Before life gets more complicated, before there are more reasons not to. Right now, I have the flexibility, the courage, and the curiosity. I didn't want to look back one day and wonder why I didn't enjoy my freedom to the fullest. So I am.

Jasmin is an online transition coach working with professionals who are ready to stop feeling stuck and start designing a life that actually fits. She splits her time between Rotterdam and the Portuguese coast.

This interview was conducted by Rebecca, Outsite's Head of Marketing.