• Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su is launching a nationwide tour to promote good jobs.
• The tour aims to highlight the importance of good jobs in pivotal swing states.
• The initiative addresses job quality through equitable hiring, better pay, benefits, and job security.

Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su is hitting the road — and wants good jobs to follow.

Su is bringing the Department of Labor's "Good Jobs Principles" — a national framework for better working conditions and positions — across the country. And she's hitting several states that may prove pivotal in the 2024 election, with her first stop scheduled in Phoenix. Other stops include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan.

"A good job is one that not only pays family-sustaining wages and benefits, but also one in which workers have a voice, where every worker goes home healthy and safe every day, and where families can get — in the President's words, 'some breathing room,'" Su told BI. "Throughout this summer nationwide tour, I will be highlighting the work that the Department of Labor has done with community partners on the ground to help ensure that every job is a good one, and that every worker feels the commitment that this Administration has made to fight for them."

The tour comes as the Biden Administration faces a continued mismatch between economic reality and perceptions. While the labor market is booming, and wages are still going up, many Americans have felt continually dreary about their economic outlooks over the past few years — what some have termed the vibecession.

But the labor market has emerged as one bright spot and bolstered Americans' perception of the economy in the latest reading of the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index.

"The Biden Administration has made improving job quality for this country's workers a priority—and we're seeing those efforts pay off," Su said.

As part of the tour kickoff, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego will also announce the city's commitment to the Good Jobs Principles. When city officials sign on to the initiative, they commit to the framework as they seek federal funding for different types of projects.

It's the DOL's latest attempt at promoting the idea of "good jobs," and making them more widespread. Part of Su's guiding edicts is to fill the economy with jobs that provide workers security, stability, good pay, and benefits. The Good Jobs Principles framework outlines eight hallmarks of what makes a job good quality; that includes hiring and recruitment from underrepresented backgrounds and doing away with unnecessary educational or credential requirements — a major barrier for many workers. It also includes better pay, benefits, job security, and access.

"It's not just good enough that we have created these jobs when a lot of people can't get to them. So it's embedding equity in the way that we're creating these jobs, " Teresa Acuna, the senior policy advisor and deputy director of the Good Jobs Initiative, said. That could mean everything from training to a transportation voucher to childcare.

"It means taking the more comprehensive look of some of the obstacles that workers have as to why we have a lot of over-representation of people in certain types of jobs versus others," she said.

The tour stops are cities and communities that have already been actively working with the Good Jobs Initiative, as workers receive training and get to work.

"We're not parachuting in," Acuna said. "These are places we have relationships and we're probably going to be revisiting a few times in the next couple of months, but the tour is a snapshot in time of what a lot of this work has been happening already. And that's pretty exciting to us."

Are good jobs a key issue for you in this upcoming election? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.

• Russia knows Putin's Crimea bridge is "doomed," a Ukrainian official told The Economist.
• Dmitry Pletenchuk said Russia is using a new railway because it knows the bridge is in trouble.
• Ukraine has long threatened to destroy the bridge and could use US-supplied long-range ATACMS.

Russia knows its Crimea bridge is doomed, which is forcing it to rely on a new railway for its military, according to a Ukrainian official.

Dmitry Pletenchuk, a spokesman for Ukraine's southern military command, made the statement to The Economist on Sunday.

It came after the US supplied long-range ATACMS to Ukraine, putting higher-value targets, including Crimea's Kerch Bridge, in Ukraine's crosshairs.

The new Army Tactical Missile Systems have a range of 300 kilometers.

Russia stopped using the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia to occupied Crimea via rail and road, to transport military hardware sometime between February and mid-April, experts from the open-source intelligence organization Molfar said last month, based on satellite imagery.

Instead, Russia has upgraded a railway route that stretches from the Russian city of Rostov, along the Azov Sea, passing through the occupied Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Berdiansk, and ending in Crimea, per The Economist.

"The railway along the land corridor is recognition on the part of the Russian occupiers that the Crimean Bridge is doomed," Pletenchuk told the outlet.

"They are looking for a way to hedge their bets because they are aware that sooner or later, they will have a problem," he added.

Long-range ATACMS could be a game changer in Ukraine's quest to retake Crimea, The Economist reported.

Russia illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.

Ukrainian forces used a long-range ATACMS to devastating effect in an attack that took out more than 100 Russian soldiers in Luhansk last month, according to OSINT and military analysts, showcasing their range and power.

And they have the potential to make Crimea "militarily worthless" to Russia, Philip Karber, a military analyst with expertise on Ukraine, told Radio Free Europe in April.

Ukraine has long threatened to make the Crimea bridge inoperable.

Last October, the UK's Ministry of Defence said that the bridge would be a "significant security burden" for Russia going forward. And Oleksii Neizhpapa, the commander of Ukraine's navy, has pledged to destroy it by the end of this year.

• Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges by a New York jury on Thursday.
• Now, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to cut off all federal funding to the state as punishment.
• It's not going to happen — but don't be shocked if other Republicans get on board with the idea.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene now wants to cut off all federal funding to the country's second-largest state.

The Georgia Republican said she will push House Speaker Mike Johnson to "defund" the state of New York after former President Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felony charges related to "hush money" payments he made to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

She made the remarks during an interview with Steve Bannon on the right-wing TV channel Real America's Voice on Saturday.

"I think the American people have turned a corner after they watched that conviction come down in New York, to the point where it's like, you know what? Screw New York," said Greene. "New York doesn't deserve a damn penny. We shouldn't fund them one single dime."

Home to 19.6 million people, the state benefited from $383 billion in federal spending in fiscal year 2022, according to a report from the state comptroller.

It's safe to say that Greene's push won't become reality. The Georgia congresswoman has little formal power in the House, as her recent push to oust Johnson made clear.

Plus, her GOP colleagues from New York — many of whom are relying on the federal funding they've secured to make their cases for reelection — aren't going to stand for it.

There's also an obvious contradiction to Greene's push: Georgia, her home state, is home to one of the four criminal cases against Trump.

The congresswoman has touted the federal funding she's brought back to her district in the past — despite voting against the bill that provided it — and it's difficult to imagine her pushing for all federal funds to be cut off to Georgia.

But Greene's radical brand of politics is still influential among certain corners of the right, and other hard-right Republicans could embrace similar positions amid anger over the Trump conviction.

• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sold more than a million shares last week, per an SEC filing.
• Some of the money will be used to fund the billionaire's chain of nonprofit preschools.
• Day 1 Academies are "Montessori-inspired" schools. The first opened in 2020.

Jeff Bezos sold around 1.1 million Amazon shares last week — and used the money raised to fund his "Montessori-inspired" nonprofit preschools, SEC filings show.

The world's third-richest man sold 431,426 shares on May 29 and 667,260 shares on May 30, with the $117 million raised from the second of those sales going to Day 1 Academies, a chain founded by Bezos.

The nonprofit serves children between the ages of 3 and 5. The first of its schools opened in Des Moines, Washington, in 2020.

Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021 but remains the company's executive chairman and largest shareholder.

The stock has climbed 17% in 2024, meaning it is outperforming the benchmark S&P 500 but lagging some rival "Magnificent Seven" members, including Nvidia, which has racked up triple-digit gains, and Meta Platforms.

Bezos announced his push into education in 2018, when he unveiled his two philanthropic initiatives: the Day 1 Families Fund and the Day 1 Academies Fund. Both initiatives are funded by the Bezos Day One Fund, to which Bezos committed $2 billion at the time, in a bid to create a network of preschools in which "the child will be the customer."

The schools are directly operated by Bezos' fund, which "creates an opportunity to learn, invent, and improve" upon early childhood education, according to its website.

• Rupert Murdoch married Elena Zhukova, a 67-year-old retired biologist, this weekend.
• The billionaire former News Corp. chairman announced their engagement in March.
• His former wives include entrepreneur Wendi Deng and model Jerry Hall.

Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch married his fifth wife, Elena Zhukova, at his Moraga Vineyards in California this weekend.

Murdoch, 93, had announced his engagement to the 67-year-old retired molecular biologist in March, less than a year after he called off his last engagement, to Ann Lesley Smith, a former model and police chaplain.

In all, the founder of News Corp. and Fox News been married five times.

His love life, including high-profile marriages to entrepreneur Wendi Deng and model Jerry Hall, has often made headlines throughout his career. His split from his second wife, Anna, has been cited as one of the most expensive divorces in history, with reports claiming she earned a staggering $1.7 billion in their divorce settlement, though that figure has been called in to question, per The Guardian. In 2024, Murdoch and his family are worth almost $20 billion, according to Forbes.

Here's a timeline of his marriages.

• Murphy Pizza, burdened by $250,000 in student loans, left academia due to low and inconsistent pay.
• Pizza is an ALICE — asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed.
• She now pays $40 monthly under Biden's repayment plan but still faces financial hardship.

Murphy Pizza has accepted that she may never pay off her student loans. But she's anxious about her other expenses, like credit card bills and rent.

The 51-year-old has about $250,000 in student loan debt. She completed her doctorate degree in 2009 and worked for over a decade as an adjunct professor at various colleges in the Twin Cities, where she lives. The cost of her education is something she has "learned to live with," she said.

"That's the least of my worries, the student loan debt," she said. "It's the other stuff from day to day that I have to negotiate: credit card debt, medical expenses, or just rent bills."

She is what economists call an ALICE — asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. Like 29% of US households, Pizza lives paycheck to paycheck, but her income is too high for most government assistance, per Census Bureau data and cost-of-living estimates analyzed by the nonprofit United Way. This compares to 13% of Americans who live at or below the federal poverty line, which is $15,060 for an individual.

Teachers and adjunct professors are especially vulnerable to being ALICEs. Sixty percent of adjunct professors make less than $50,000 a year, despite most of them holding at least a master's degree, according to a 2022 report by The American Federation of Teachers that surveyed 1,900 adjunct professors across the US.

"There are many teaching college who are hungry and can't go to the doctor," Pizza said in an email to Business Insider.

Pizza could make about $45,000 a year when she taught classes, but she had no steady income over the summer or winter breaks. She also didn't have health insurance and "never went to the doctor," she said.

If there weren't enough students enrolled in her courses — which focused on history, anthropology, and religion — Pizza was often dropped from her fall or spring position with minimal notice. She had to work side hustles to support herself: teaching at three schools simultaneously, scoring exams online, and more. At one point, she was working five jobs to afford housing, food, healthcare, and her student loan payments. She once had to declare bankruptcy because she couldn't take on a sixth job.

Adjunct professors often feel like "over-educated gig workers," she said.

And, after thirteen years, she quit teaching because it was unsustainable for her finances.

Pizza left her adjunct role for less pay, but it's worth the stability

When Pizza left academia, she took a customer service job at a tech nonprofit making $30,467 a year, according to documents reviewed by BI. She still lives on a tight budget, but she is grateful for the security of a 9-to-5.

Early in her academic career, she thought she could get her degrees, earn a full-time professor salary, and maybe join the steady tenure track. She's been trying to get a better-paying job for 15 years, but she said the positions aren't available — even with a Ph.D.

Her nonprofit job has offered some relief.

"I'm making less money, but I know when I show up at work now, five days a week, there will be a paycheck," she said. "That's done a lot for my own sense of self."

Shortly after starting the job, she needed surgery. She was relieved to have consistent health insurance for the first time in her adult life, but couldn't afford out-of-pocket medical expenses. Her best friend set up a GoFundMe to help with the costs not covered by insurance.

Pizza also lives alone in her St. Paul apartment and gets discounted rent because she's been in the building for about 20 years. She said her income is currently too high for SNAP, and her friends will help cover her groceries to make sure she eats.

She's still paying off her student loans, but has been able to enroll in SAVE, President Joe Biden's income-based repayment plan. Pizza pays around $40 a month right now. Still, because of interest, she said her debt total isn't getting any smaller.

Although Pizza is used to transitions, she's not sure what will happen next. Lately, she's been working on some grant-funded anthropological research and archiving, which allows her to continue dissertation work and earn some extra income.

The dream, she said, would be to make all the money she needs from just one job. She also wishes she could build savings.

Pizza said many people living paycheck to paycheck feel lonely and isolated. She is especially grateful for her friends, who have always made sure she has food in her fridge and is able to visit the doctor when she's sick.

Community is "gold," she said.

"If somebody's out there in the same situation that doesn't have friends or community, just figure out a way to reach out," Pizza said. "Because there will be people that will care about you."

Do you live paycheck to paycheck? Are you open to sharing how you afford food, housing, and other expenses? If so, reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.

• I left an office job 10 years ago because I wanted more flexibility. 
• Now I'm self-employed and while I get to do things when I want, I don't know when to retire.
• I want to have time to do the things I want to do. 

When I started my business 10 years ago, after leaving my position as the executive vice president of a large public relations agency, I did so because I wanted to have the freedom of being my own boss. I worked from home (a rarity then), made my own hours, and had unlimited vacation and sick days. Plus, it would be a perfect way to ease into retirement when the day came.

But with business slowing down, I'm wondering if it's time to close up shop, semi-retire, or keep trying to rebuild my business.

I had a number in mind, but it wasn't my age

When I thought about retirement, I had a specific number in mind. Not an age, although I knew working until 70 would allow me to maximize both my Social Security benefits and my 401(k) distributions. The number in mind was the amount of money I'd need to maintain my lifestyle. I would eventually need to lower some expenses, but I didn't want to have to downsize or move to a less expensive area. Plus, I wanted to travel as long as I was physically able to and continue going to the theater regularly.

But, as my workload lightened, I started to think about semi-retirement. My work hours were flexible, but I always kept my laptop and phone close by just in case. When COVID-19 gave me more free time, I decided to test out an official four-day workweek. I let my clients know I was no longer working on Fridays, except for anything urgent or pressing. I flexed back to five days when I was offered a lucrative project with a tight timeline; when the project ended, so did my full workweek.

Retiring now will allow me to pursue my passions

I'm thinking about retiring even with all that flexibility because it's hard to stay relevant in a constantly changing field. When traditional media gave way to social media, I adapted. Now, AI is changing the way everyone does business, and I'm not sure if I'm willing or able to climb the steep learning curve ahead.

PR is also a young person's field. I've enjoyed working with and mentoring young colleagues and clients. But, more than once, I've heard "OK, boomer" in the voices of junior team members.

I'm also tired of selling myself. I always disliked sales, but having a heart for my work made it easier. However, continually searching for and pitching new business can be disappointing and time-consuming, with little reward.

The final — and perhaps most compelling — reason for me to retire is so I can pursue my passions. A few years ago, I renewed my love for writing and started writing personal essays and a memoir. Any writer will tell you it's hard to take the time to sit down and write, but it can be difficult to find that time when you're trying to squeeze it in between emails and Zoom calls.

I love my work

Why not retire? Finances are the most obvious answer to that question, but I also love the work: the variety — no day has ever been the same as the one before — as well as the people I meet, the ability to be creative and to continually learn, and the gratification from knowing that I am an expert in my field.

Again, I have flexibility. If I ease back now, who says I can't pick things back up again? I don't need to announce my retirement, throw myself a retirement party, or give myself a gold watch.

So, for now, I will stay semi-retired. I can use my spare time to write essays and jump into work as it comes. Who knows, maybe I'll even end up working past 70.

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back! Lifestyle creep can get the best of us, but it can lead to some serious financial stress. A Harvard professor shares tips for nipping it in the bud.

In today's big story, we're looking at China's strict approach to overseeing its AI development and the threat it poses to the world.

What's on deck:

• Markets: How one of the top hedge funds in the world runs its internship program.
• Tech: Layoffs are back at Google.
• Business: American Express is Gen Z's newest status symbol.

But first, AI, but make it in our vision.

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The big story

ChatCCP

We've heard about the dangers of AI running wild, but what kind of risks come from the tech being highly regulated and controlled?

For the Chinese Communist Party, that's the plan. The country's history of censorship and surveillance is extending to its approach to AI, writes Business Insider's Linette Lopez.

The CCP's plan for AI is about shaping reality and enforcing its power, according to internal documents. To that end, the government has final sign-off on large language models and the data they were trained on.

In short, it's less "move fast and break things" and more "proceed in a government-approved fashion and avoid upsetting the status quo."

China's push to exert control over AI comes at a critical juncture for the country.

As Linette has previously reported, China's bright economic future has dimmed considerably. And its recovery plan — China shock 2.0 — won't come easily or be welcomed by the rest of the world.

So, as AI chatbots become the new method of receiving information, it's no wonder the CCP is making sure AI is getting accurate its messages across.

However, this isn't a call for a libertarian approach to generative AI.

As we've seen recently, a lack of guardrails comes with its own set of problems. The end results range from funny (don't make your pizza with glue) to infuriating (AI misusing creative work).

And in the face of these mishaps, the response from the people in charge rarely exudes the confidence of someone completely in control. Instead, it feels like we're all going along for an AI-led drive and hoping for the best.

So putting in some types of rules around the tech — albeit not to the degree the CCP has — seems like a good idea.

But that poses another issue. How can we expect lawmakers, who often struggle with the basics of tech, to grasp something people on the cutting edge can barely wrap their heads around?

In the meantime, China could extend the AI tools of control and surveillance it creates to other regimes with similar ideologies.

It's a distressing outcome.

"The digital curtain AI can build in our imaginations will be much more impenetrable than iron, making it impossible for societies to cooperate in a shared future," Linette writes.

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3 things in markets

1. Here come the interns. Ken Griffin's Citadel and Citadel Securities welcome more than 300 interns for their 11-week program that starts today. BI got a look at how the firms recruit and run a program that draws over 85,000 applicants and has a 0.5% acceptance rate.
2. What to do ahead of May's jobs report. Permabull Tom Lee said it's a great time to buy stocks — shocking — with a new jobs report set to drop on Friday. Stocks' slight decline last week and April Core PCE data showing cooling inflation means investors can get in ahead of the next rally.
3. GameStop surges again. Shares in the retailer almost doubled ahead of Monday's opening bell after trader Keith Gill, also known as "Roaring Kitty," revealed a $116 million position.

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3 things in tech

1. More layoffs hit Google, this time in its Cloud unit. The company announced it was cutting jobs across several Cloud teams, according to an internal document reviewed by BI. The layoffs appear to be more sweeping than Google's more surgical cuts to other teams in recent months.
2. This anti-Instagram photo-sharing app is grabbing the tech world's attention. Launched in 2023 by two former Instagram staffers, Retro is a social media app that isn't chasing AI hype. Instead, it's focused on building a cozy, small-scale user experience that's wooing many Silicon Valley figures.
3. It's been a tough start for Amazon's Shopify killer. Launched over a year ago, Buy with Prime has seen mixed results so far, according to sellers who spoke with BI. Internal Amazon emails discussed "dissatisfaction," with sales off target "by a wide margin."

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3 things in business

1. Meet Gen Z's newest status symbol: an AmEx card. American Express credit cards aren't just for your rich, boomer dad anymore. AmEx's new benefits are targeting Gen Z and millennial customers by offering Uber ride rewards and special access to events like Coachella. So far, it's working.
2. Why Americans don't exercise. Many of our collective crises — depression, loneliness, and anxiety — are made worse by our tendency toward a sedentary, shut-in lifestyle. Research shows that exercise can help. So why have we given up on trying to be active?
3. Boomers and Gen Z are feeling happy-lonely. New studies show that happiness and loneliness both peak early and later in life, with a decline in middle age. We spoke with adults who feel happy and lonely at the same time — and researchers on how that works.

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In other news

• A Sequoia partner announced he's backing Donald Trump following his felony conviction, highlighting a political shift in Silicon Valley.
• Loyalty at work no longer pays — and it's employers who are to blame.
• Here's everything you need to know about Big Tech's AI models and tools but were too afraid to ask.
• Swifties are some of the best tippers, Lyft CEO says.
• A single customer made up 19% of Nvidia's revenue last year. UBS thinks it's Microsoft.
• These parents wouldn't let their teens have phones. Here's what happened.

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What's happening today

• IATA's annual report on the air transport industry will be released today.

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The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago. Annie Smith, associate producer, in London.

Manuel Medrano is a former member of the Arizona Mexican Mafia, also known as the New Mexican Mafia, a US prison gang. He was in and out of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry for 20 years and served time for armed robbery and drug trafficking.

Medrano speaks with Business Insider about the gang structure and hierarchy, as well as ties to the cartels. He covers gang tattoos, language, and rivalries with the Border Brothers. He also talks about the loose alliance the gang had with the Aryan Brotherhood. Medrano discusses corrupt prison guards and offers his opinion on mass incarceration and US drug policy.

Medrano now runs Phase Two of Life, a charity in Arizona. He also runs the YouTube channel Chronicles, where he speaks with former gang members.

The Mexican Mafia, also known as La Eme, originated in 1957 in the California prison system. According to law enforcement, the gang is splintered into the New Mexican Mafia, founded in Florence, Arizona, around 1974, and other factions. Many prison gangs in the US take the name Mexican Mafia, including the Mexikanemi, or Texas Mexican Mafia.

Find out more: phasetwooflife.org
https://www.youtube.com/c/CHRONICLES1

• Arielle Francois moved from the Miami metropolitan area to Dallas for a job.
• She's been living in Dallas since 2022; she talked to BI about how it compares to living in Florida.
• She thinks it's more affordable than being in South Florida for someone her age.

Arielle Francois, 24, would tell her past self it's fine to be nervous about making the move from South Florida to Dallas.

That move at the start of 2022 came with the unknown of what her "first big girl job" would be like. Francois 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 hadn't been to before.

"There was no initial excitement or happiness at all just because it was an unknown city to me," Francois told Business Insider.

She had been living with family in the Miami metropolitan area; she also attended college in Florida. Francois moved to Florida from Haiti because of the earthquake in 2010.

Fast-forwarding to the end of 2021, she had to consider moving for a job offer to take part in a program at PMG that required the relocation to Texas. She told BI she only had a short time "to find somewhere to stay, to learn about Dallas, to even figure out if I wanted to move to Dallas."

Francois studied criminal justice but changed interests toward the end of college after getting a taste of digital marketing work as a college side hustle. "The program is specifically designed for post-grad students who are looking to kick-start their career in digital marketing," she said.

After successfully completing the program, she works as a digital marketer on the influencer marketing team at PMG.

Francois is among the many people who moved to the Dallas metro area in 2022. Nearly 91,600 more people moved in than out of the Dallas area from elsewhere in the US during the period of July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, data from the Census Bureau showed.

"I find Dallas is up and coming," Francois said.

Francois sees several positives to living in Dallas, including more visibility and opportunities as a content creator. With more and more Gen Zers moving into full-time employment while baby boomers enter retirement or leave behind full-time jobs, Francois talked to BI about advice for anyone uprooting their lives to move somewhere new.

Leveraging social media

Francois advised people who are moving to make sure they do their research. She has also found social media can be useful for moving — not only to see what life is like in the place you are heading to but as a way to reach out to people.

For instance, Francois said she used Smart City to find a place to live. She said it's a service where you connect with a "locator to help you find the apartment that you want in your desired location." Francois said she learned about this "through a Dallas local I reached out to on social media while doing my research. This highlights the importance of seeking advice from locals and leveraging social media during the moving process."

"I feel like social media is the perfect place for you to discover a city because you have a ton of content creators who are creating amazing content about the good, the bad, pretty, the ugly about the city," she said.

Beyond scrolling through social media posts and apartment sites, there are also rent and costs to think about.

"I recommend budgeting and saving as much as possible — your future self will appreciate it," she said for other Gen Zers living on their own for the first time. She added that can include not spending too much on furniture and thrifting items.

Moving to a new city can also mean figuring out how to make friends. Francois said not to forget others may be new to the area and seeking 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 lists of activities in your city," she told BI. "Social media is also a great way to meet new people and discover local events."

How her life in Dallas compares to Florida

"I think I would definitely say that my favorite part about the city is how helpful and open everyone is," Francois said about Dallas.

She said going out with her colleagues is one of her favorite things to do in the area. For instance, she went to her first-ever baseball game with her coworkers.

Francois has also found Dallas a good city to live in as a content creator compared to Miami. "The visibility I got in South Florida was very limited just because there were so many other creatives in terms of models and artists and content creators," she said.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, she feels she gets more visibility as a creator, "which has actually resulted in much more opportunities for me here," she said. "For example, I get invited to a ton of Dallas creator events with some brands that I personally use, and I just actually feel like a creator here just because I get that visibility as a creator, and so I'm treated like I'm a creator."

Additionally, Francois said she feels it's more affordable to live in Dallas than South Florida for someone her age. According to Zillow data at the time of reporting, the median rent for a one-bedroom property is $2,700 in Miami and around $1,400 in Dallas.

Francois, who hasn't had roommates while living in Dallas, paid nearly $1,600 a month in rent, including some fees, for her first apartment in the city. She moved earlier this year to a new building, where she pays over $1,800 a month.

She said she has "everything you could possibly need," at her current place. "To me, it was worth the increase in rent, but I know not everyone would necessarily agree."

Additionally, she finds that Dallas is quieter than Miami. "I remember when I lived there, I would say, 'I live where you vacation,'" Francois said.

"If you want to party, you go to Florida, whereas I don't think if you want to party, you would think of Dallas as the go-to city for that," Francois said. "And I'm totally OK with living somewhere like that because of where I'm at mentally, professionally, and all of that."

While she does miss being close to the beach, a personal pro for her of living in Dallas is seeing the differences in seasons and the changing weather.

"Because I grew up in the Caribbean islands, I'm very used to sunny weather and just basically summer weather all year long," Francois said. "So, I actually like that in Dallas I'm able to see the seasons change."

She also misses the Haitian community in Florida and says that if she's craving Haitian food, she won't really find it in Dallas.

"Because South Florida is so close to Haiti, you'll 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 away from home because there were so many Haitian restaurants, so many Haitian churches. There's even Little Haiti in South Florida. So, Haitian culture is 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 getting ready to move that, "It's normal to be nervous because change is uncomfortable" and it's an uneasy feeling to experience this new chapter in life alone.

"It's fine to feel how you feel, but if only you knew what was on the other side of all of that fear and anxiety, you would quickly wipe your tears and get to packing," she said.

Have you moved out of Florida or moved to Texas? Share your moving experience with this reporter at mhoff@businessinsider.com.