Hi, I’m Diane, your Barcelona insider

I was born in Texas and then moved to Indonesia when I was 3 years old with my family, and then a few years later to Oman, and then Qatar. I learned early on that home is something you build where you are, in yourself and with your community, not just somewhere you're from.

After studying Psychology at CU Boulder, I joined the Peace Corps and spent two years living in a village in Tonga in the South Pacific, it was definitely a tough adjustment to a completely different way of life. After a year, I had become fully fluent in Tongan, and it started to feel like home as I got more comfortable. The experience reshaped how I think about community and belonging. A few moves and chapters later, I landed in Brooklyn NY, for the second time and thought this is it I’ll really settle down now, but a few years in and my heart and intuition led me to Barcelona.

Like every international move, the reality of moving to Barcelona from the US was more complicated than the dream. The visa process, figuring out taxes here and in the US, finding a vet, navigating healthcare, opening a bank account, building a social circle — every step meant figuring something out from scratch, often not in English. What made the difference was the network of people who helped me along the way. Their advice and encouragement pushed me to trust myself more, and now I'm channeling that into helping others do the same.

I’ve always felt like Barcelona has a unique energy, it has a little of everything here from the strong Catalan culture, a storied port city, Modernisme architecture, barrios (what we call neighborhoods here) that each feel like their own world, endless events, hiking groups and language exchanges. It's a lot to take in, especially in the beginning, before you have your people or know much about the way of life here.

This is when I come in: I offer a mix of 1:1 time and connections to my network here, tailored to wherever you are in the process — whether you've just landed or you're still in the planning stages.