From identity and standards to the brand
How the Fire Started vs How It's Burning: Jaylana's Edition
This isn't your usual "here's all my education and work experience" page because I am allergic to corporate.
(If you really want to read all of that, hop over to my LinkedIn page! I'm not going to stop you!)
However, I would rather tell you how and why it all started because, frankly, that's far more interesting ...
Alexandria, Egypt — 2009
The first rebirth
At 26, I walked away from everything familiar — family, friends, my apartment, my job. I was done being boxed in by expectations and drama. After one final blow-up with my mother, I made a split-second decision that surprised everyone except me. Egypt had been calling to me since the moment I first visited; resisting it only made the pull stronger. I was moving there – and one way or another, I was going to make it happen.
Those lightning-bolt decisions have been directing my life ever since — usually toward exactly where I was meant to go, even when it looked insane from the outside.
Everything came together, almost like magic. The money showed up. My mother didn’t even get in my way. I found a job immediately.
My time in Egypt was the first time I ever truly spread my wings – and I’ve never looked back since.
I survived the 2011 revolution, lived some of my most expansive moments, and a few of my most painful ones. I trusted the wrong people. I said yes to a man who I believe was “The One.”
When the universe began dismantling everything around me in 2012, I knew that it was time to go.
Those moments where everything falls apart, telling me it is definitely time to move on, have been my other guiding forces — and they've never been wrong.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — 2013
The second rebirth
If you’d like to know what a terrible romantic match looks like, try moving to two countries with a man whose family despises you. That brief chapter in New Zealand and Australia taught me one essential lesson:
Always have your own income.
Always maintain your own financial sovereignty.
Bonus lesson: if he’s not defending you to his family, it’s never going to work long-term. Pack your bags and go.
You can thank me later.
Kuala Lumpur welcomed me with a promising job, a vibrant social circle, and what I thought would be stability. It was certainly a breath of fresh air.
Spoiler: it wasn’t. I had unknowingly walked straight into a hornet’s nest cleverly disguised as a “family” work environment.
Through three workplaces I experienced there across eight years, it didn’t take long to learn:
Your coworkers are not always your friends — choose wisely.
“We’re like family here” often means zero boundaries and maximum toxicity.
Overworking yourself only guarantees being underpaid and undervalued.
I tried escaping the rat race more than once, but it had claws. Every attempt to break free pulled me right back in.
Meanwhile, KL gave me my first real taste of luxury — the kind that rewires you permanently. I just didn’t know it yet.
Tirana, Albania — 2022
The third rebirth
I arrived in Tirana in 2021 with one suitcase.
I left a year later with two suitcases and zero tolerance for disrespect.
My housemate’s attitude throughout our months living together had slowly slid from appreciation to entitlement – and one night, after one dismissive comment too many, something in me snapped.
It lit the first fire in me to establish my own standards of how I will allow people to treat me. I wrote them on my phone as a manifesto to myself.
That night I learned the most important lesson in life:
You teach people how to treat you.
If you let them disrespect you, they will.
Our final clash in February was the last straw. I drew the line:
“You do not get to speak to me that way. Ever,” I declared. She did not dare cross me again.
That same week, the president of Ukraine decided he wasn’t taking anyone’s BS either — and faced impossible odds head-on. His resilience lit something in me and he has inspired me ever since.
Lesson learned: never give up. Even when the odds look impossible.
Olympia, Washington, USA — 2023
The fourth rebirth
I walked out of the rat race and never looked back.
One decision.
One email.
One phoenix forever unleashed.
Stepping away wasn’t the hard part — deciding what to build next was.
For the first time in years, the question wasn’t “How do I survive?” — it was “Who do I want to become?”
Being multipassionate is a blessing and a beautiful kind of chaos. For years, I wanted to help everyone. Which meant, of course, helping no one.
But the truth was undeniable:
I was here to empower women.
I was here to break cycles.
I was here to rise — and take others with me.
I just had to figure out how to make that happen.
I am Jaylana Saraya — one creator with two worlds.
I empower women to free themselves from identity blocks,
burn down the soul-sucking jobs that drain them,
and build the businesses they dream about.
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I elevate luxury accommodation by revealing what guests feel before they ever say it,
refining the details that define their stay,
and transforming properties from pleasant… to unforgettable.
Because at my core, I am two things:
a world traveler, and a fiery femme.
Both worlds empowered me. Both worlds made my brands come to life.
And none of it would exist without the rebirths that came before.
