This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jennifer Lankford, the 45-year-old CEO of Lankford Communications, who relocated to Costa Rica. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m the CEO of Lankford Communications, and I live in Jaco, Costa Rica. I formerly lived in Portland and the Bay Area. My company is remote.
I’ve spent the past 20+ years in strategic communications and PR. I worked for several tech companies before becoming a senior marketing manager at Intel. When my business unit dissolved, I took a role at a startup called Buoyant in 2017, and then was poached into a senior role at a high-growth security startup, which, at the time, felt like I “finally made it.”
It seemed like a prestigious role, and I was really starting to move up the ladder in my career with a big role at the hot new startup in town. Things didn’t turn out the way I expected, and I was fired from the security startup in January 2019.
I had previously consulted between roles, so I dove back in and built my own PR consultancy. I also decided to leave my life behind and move to Costa Rica. I’m so happy here.
I was fired a few months before the startup’s acquisition
Being let go from an exciting startup was jarring. It happened abruptly and sent me into a spiral of self-doubt. In hindsight, it was simply a bad fit, and one I should have seen sooner. The culture’s values didn’t align with mine.
I had tied much of my identity and self-worth to my success in that role, but once the initial shock wore off, I realized I felt more relieved than angry. Instead of rushing back into another similar job, I asked myself a more fundamental question: For what kind of life am I actually optimizing?
Within days, I launched my website. I signed my first clients quickly, and by January 2020, had leased my first office in Portland. That only lasted a few months before the COVID-19 shutdowns, but the business took off. Suddenly, the validation I’d once sought from titles and bosses was coming from building something that was genuinely mine.
An idea I’d considered for years finally felt realistic: relocating to Costa Rica, which I had visited a few times. Surfing was my first love before my career got in the way, and the pandemic proved that remote work could support the kind of lifestyle I dreamed of. By the end of 2020, I gave myself permission to design my work around my life, rather than the other way around.
I’ve never been happier
Jennifer Lankford
I’m no longer willing to organize my life around systems or organizations that treat burnout as ambition and constant growth as the only measure of worth.
I design my schedule around focused, high-impact strategic work rather than constant availability. I’m more selective about the people and companies I work with. I choose leadership teams that value diversity, transparency, and long-term thinking, and products that solve real problems.
I hike regularly, surf almost daily, and spend most of my time outdoors. I’ve adopted two rescue dogs who bring structure and joy to my days. I’m more fit than ever, less stressed, and more present than I’ve ever been.
Perhaps most surprisingly, my work has improved in ways that matter most to my clients with clearer strategy, stronger positioning, and more impactful outcomes.
In Costa Rica, days are simple, and my mornings start early
I wake up around 5:30 a.m. to the sound of birds, make coffee, and begin the day with a hike or a long walk on the beach with my dogs before the heat sets in. After that, I sit down to do my most focused work: strategy, writing, and client collaboration.
I rarely take meetings late in the day, and usually work around 25 hours Monday through Friday. My output, however, is higher than it ever was when I was working twice that. I’m earning six figures, too.
In the afternoons, I’ll cool off with a swim, practice Spanish, read, or take a nap before wrapping up work and heading to the beach for sunset. I have a ton of friends here, and it’s a very international community.
Living closer to the equator has reset my relationship with time and rest. I’m usually in bed by 8 p.m. and up with the sun.
To others who feel stuck in their careers, I’d tell them to question the assumptions they’ve inherited about success
Reconsider the idea that stepping off the ladder, even temporarily, means failure. I always encourage women to build their careers and create real financial security — I couldn’t have made this move without doing that myself. I had a cushion, large retainers, and a booming business, so I wasn’t too worried about money. I later refinanced and sold my house in Portland to buy a home here.
Where I urge more caution is in how much weight we give to titles, prestige, and momentum inside systems that don’t return the same care or loyalty. Staying longer than necessary in environments that drain you can be its own trap. When companies fail to value their people, choosing to work for yourself can be a direct path to autonomy and greater joy.
You don’t need to blow up your life to make a change, but you do need to be honest about what your job is costing you physically and emotionally. For me, walking away wasn’t giving up; it was choosing my physical and mental health. The goal isn’t to reject success, but to define it more carefully. What kind of lifestyle do you actually want to live, starting when?
If personal pursuits need to rank higher in your life than they do now, make room for them. Sometimes the most meaningful shift isn’t a big move, but a decision to stop postponing the life you actually want.
