I moved from India to Canada for love. I felt like a trailing spouse, but 3 steps helped me rebuild my identity.

Vaishali Gauba moved to Canada in 2022.

Courtesy of Vaishali Gauba

• After moving to Canada to study and be with her boyfriend, Vaishali Gauba started to feel lost.
• She had to rebuild her professional identity to feel less like a "trailing spouse."
• Gauba now feels like she has a fulfilling career, while being physically present with her partner.

I'd known my boyfriend for 14 years, but I felt butterflies in my stomach at the thought of reuniting with him after a year of long-distance dating.

We met in India at Montessori school and got together at the age of 13. In February 2021, he moved to Canada for his MBA. I decided to join him in August 2022, and a few months later, we were married and thrilled to be starting a life together in Toronto, both of us age 28.

Clouded by excitement, I didn't fully comprehend the challenges that come with moving for love.

After leaving my family and friends behind and recalibrating my career, having built up five years of professional experience in India, I began to feel a loss of identity. I saw myself as the "trailing spouse" — adjusting my career and location for my partner — and even resented him for those adjustments at times.

It took a while, but after living in Canada for 3½ years, I can confidently say I've rebuilt my professional and personal identity in a new country. These were the three steps that helped me do it.

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First, I built my professional identity in Canada as an entrepreneur

Before moving to Canada, I'd spent two years working as a self-employed public relations consultant in India. I came to Canada on a student visa, pursuing a master's in digital media at Toronto Metropolitan University. I'd been wanting to do further studies for a while, and options in Canada made sense since my boyfriend was already there.

While I was still studying, I landed a Toronto-based communications job, but after starting it in 2023, I realized it felt misaligned with my identity and goals. I'd already worked for myself in India, so autonomy and flexibility were vital to me. That said, the idea of working for myself in a new country was daunting. I had no knowledge about how to reach out to potential clients, build a network, or even file my taxes.

After only three months in my job, I began trying to land some of my own clients in PR, so I'd have more flexibility than a full-time job offered.

This was around the same time I received my Canadian permanent residency. The stability of this new status made starting a business feel more straightforward. After researching federal and provincial business laws and consulting an accountant, I officially launched my boutique PR agency and consulting business, Vaishali Gauba Media.

Although being an entrepreneur comes with countless challenges, from understanding finances to dealing with self-doubt, it's allowed me to harness a professional identity that feels true to myself and that I'm proud of.

Had I gone down a traditional 9-to-5 path and not made this career move, I think I would've held my husband responsible for me having to give up my more flexible self-employed status in India.

I actively pursued my creative and social interests

My husband and I have different interests. I enjoy reading, meeting new people, and writing, while he prefers to play sports and read about history. When I moved to Canada, the friends he made on his MBA course quickly became my friends, and while this felt easy, I couldn't make time for hobbies that enriched me.

After roughly a year in Canada, I actively sought out activities and clubs that stimulated me intellectually and socially. I joined a book club and a gardening community, and also made new friends at strength training and yoga classes.

These communities allowed me to have my own social life independent of my husband and his friends, which furthered my sense of personal identity. I felt more enriched when I could connect with others with similar interests, and it also felt more like I was carving my own path, rather than trailing behind my partner.

My husband and I establish a middle ground wherever possible

As an entrepreneur, my professional life and routine is quite flexible, whereas my husband's job is more structured. Early on in our marriage, we accepted that we'd likely decide where to live based on where his career took him.

I've grown to love my life in Canada, but I also really love to travel, and at one point, I worried I'd miss out on it after following him to a new country. I prefer doing longer workcations, spanning a few weeks, as they help me manage my work schedule while also thoroughly exploring new cultures. But my husband doesn't always have that liberty. I opened up to him about how important travel was to me, and after a few discussions, we decided to find a middle ground wherever possible.

At the end of last year, my husband was able to work remotely for two weeks, and we spent that time in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, away from the brutal Canadian winter. When he can't join me on trips, particularly to visit our families in India, I travel alone. In 2024, I also took a solo trip to Vietnam for three weeks. Doing things independently helps me feel that my identity and decisions aren't always defined by my husband's career or schedule.

Unlike me, my husband enjoys shorter vacations and utilizing long weekends, which I can usually do because of my flexible work schedule. Openly communicating our preferences while having an adaptable mindset has allowed us both to enjoy what we like without feeling resentful.

Moving for love has been an empowering experience

Although my confidence and identity were in flux when I first moved to Canada, building a business, seeking social and creative experiences, and having clear communication with my partner about my preferences have been key to a fulfilling journey.

Being a "trailing spouse" bothered me at first, but over time, I've realized it has been an empowering choice, allowing me to pave a path to a meaningful career while also being physically present with my partner.

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Starbucks is heading to Nashville — and it's part of a bigger fast-food migration south

Starbucks' Nashville expansion is part of a broader fast-food migration to the Southern US.

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• Starbucks and In-N-Out have recently announced plans to build corporate offices in Tennessee.
• The moves are part of a broader southern expansion across the fast food industry.
• New and legacy brands are expanding in the South due to demand, lower costs, and easier hiring.

Starbucks is planting a corporate flag in Nashville. In-N-Out is building an Eastern hub in nearby Franklin, Tennessee. And across the South, a long list of fast-food names — like Whataburger, Cava, and Jersey Mike's — are expanding.

From Texas to Florida, burgeoning and legacy fast-food companies are clustering their offices and growth bets in the region, chasing lower operating costs, easier hiring, and a customer base that's clamoring for more options.

Recruiters and consultants who work across the restaurant industry say the move has been building for years, but is now accelerating.

"It's the old adage of follow the money," Mike Vigna, president at the recruiting firm RestaurantZone, told Business Insider.

A quieter shift south, years in the making

Post-pandemic population growth, suburban expansion, and new development are creating a new territory for chains to scale. As workers leave hubs like Silicon Valley and Seattle, restaurants follow — and so does the corporate infrastructure.

Whataburger is actively expanding across the region, with plans to open over 50 new locations in Georgia and 30 in Alabama by 2028. Jersey Mike's is also growing rapidly in states like Florida and Texas as part of its plans to open between 400 and 450 stores this year.

Cava, Dave's Hot Chicken, and smaller chains like Huey Magoo's Chicken Tenders are following suit.

For franchise operators, the math can be stark.

"You could really be opening up two locations somewhere in the South for the same cost as it would be for one location out in California," said Austin Titus, president of Accurate Franchising.

Wages and the cost of living also show "a dramatic difference" compared to the West Coast, Titus said, lowering the barrier to expansion and making it easier to operate profitably.

At the same time, the South offers another factor that's just as important: clear signs of demand.

"It's a relatively untapped market," Ray Camillo, founder and CEO of Blue Orbit Restaurant Consulting, said of the Southeast, compared with more saturated coastal regions. He added that "there's an awful lot of unmet demand" since chain expansion hasn't kept pace with soaring population growth.

According to 2025 Census data, among counties with populations of 20,000 or more, nine of the top 10 fastest-growing counties were in the South, as were 45 of the top 50.

Why Nashville — and why now

Nashville and the broader Tennessee market have become a magnet thanks to a combination of business-friendly policies and a high quality of life, making relocation easier to sell to employees.

"There are a couple of things that make Tennessee attractive for employers and businesses," said Melissa Montero, a recruiter at Goodwin Recruiting whose own family relocated to the state five years ago to follow her husband's job.

She pointed to no state income tax and a "pro-business tax environment" as particularly compelling reasons for corporations to move. For workers, she said, it's simply a better place to live.

"It's a significantly easier place to live in so many ways," Montero said, citing lower costs, quality schools, and strong infrastructure — factors that can help companies move talent without losing them.

Before the pandemic, companies often struggled to convince employees to leave major coastal hubs. Now, that dynamic has flipped.

"I don't have anybody who wants to move to New York City or California," Vigna said. "Everybody either wants to move out of there or move around in the South."

Remote and hybrid work have accelerated that shift, widening the talent pool and making it easier to build teams outside traditional headquarters cities.

Not all employees are convinced of the benefits of moving South: Three Starbucks corporate staff members who spoke to Business Insider said the mood in their office was somber in the wake of the company's announcement that it would open a satellite office in Nashville.

"It's just confusing because last year the message was to be in the office in Seattle for office culture, and now they've introduced this new mini HQ," one Starbucks corporate staff member said.

In July 2025, Starbucks required many remote employees to relocate to Seattle and return to the office four days a week or be fired, Business Insider previously reported. Company executives have said the Nashville location will support "in-office cultures across our geographic footprint."

The economics of moving south

For fast-food chains — which operate on thin margins — the South's cost structure is hard to ignore.

As other companies consider expansion, lower taxes, fewer regulations, and lower buildout costs all factor into their decisions. So do rising costs elsewhere.

Operators in higher-cost states are dealing with "higher regulation, higher policies, higher food costs, higher inflation," said Matthew Rodgers, CEO of RestaurantZone. Moving or expanding south can help offset that pressure.

And once companies plant a flag, they tend to double down.

"They set up their hub, and then they start to really onboard and flesh out their corporate support teams," Roberts said, adding that he has seen hiring demand in parts of the South jump as much as 50% or more in the past year.

That creates a feedback loop: more companies move in, more talent follows, and the region becomes more attractive for the next wave.

None of this means companies are abandoning places like Washington, where Starbucks remains headquartered, or In-N-Out's California home.

"It's not like a divestment," Titus said. "There's still a lot of business to be done in California."

Instead, companies are shifting where they expand — and where they base operations — to balance costs and growth opportunities.

In other words, they're spreading out.

"They're going into regions where they're following the population," Vigna said. "It's not a fad."

That doesn't mean every chain will move, or that every move will pay off, but the direction of travel is clear.

As Camillo put it, companies are looking at the region and asking a straightforward question: "Why not go ahead and pitch a tent here?"

For an industry built on thin margins and constant expansion, the answer is increasingly pointing south.

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America's real estate market is facing another cruel summer

A Cursor developer says engineers need to set 'clear expectations' as AI lets product managers build prototypes

Eric Zakariasson, an engineer at Cursor, said that AI is enabling product managers to build prototypes more easily.

Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• A Cursor engineer says AI tools let product managers build prototypes without backend systems.
• But engineers should set "clear expectations" to improve the workflow, says Eric Zakariasson.
• His comments come as the role of product managers and engineers shifts in the AI era.

While product managers are spinning up prototypes with AI-assisted coding tools, engineers are left to make them production-ready.

Eric Zakariasson, an engineer at Cursor who focuses on developer experience and product, said at the AI Engineer Europe 2026 conference in a recording published Tuesday that setting "clear expectations" between engineering and product teams could help smooth workflows.

That includes defining "what engineers kind of want from the product organization and what's most helpful for them," he said.

"Maybe not vibe coding complete SaaS products is the most efficient thing," he added, referring to fully functioning apps.

Zakariasson said product managers can now create interactive prototypes without touching backend systems using AI-assisted coding tools.

Those prototypes can show how a product should behave — what happens when a user clicks a button or submits a form. However, these products don't need to be fully working, "just enough, to like, your engineers can understand," Zakariasson said.

Product managers become AI builders

Product managers are increasingly expected to build their own prototypes, experimenting with vibe coding as the lines between product and engineering blur.

Business Insider reported in February that some Meta product managers have started calling themselves "AI builders," reflecting how AI coding tools are expanding who can build software inside the company.

This shift also comes from a broader leadership push. During Meta's Q4 2025 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said AI tools would fundamentally change how work gets done across the company in 2026.

"We're investing in AI-native tooling, so individuals at Meta can get more done," Zuckerberg said. "We're elevating individual contributors and flattening teams. We're starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person."

Other companies are also rethinking traditional roles. Last year, LinkedIn said it would scrap its associate product manager program and replace it with training focused on coding, design, and end-to-end product development.

While AI tools are changing what product managers can do, some engineers say AI-assisted coding is making their jobs more demanding.

Siddhant Khare, a software engineer at ONA, told Business Insider in February that although AI has boosted his productivity, it has also changed the nature of his work.

"We used to call it an engineer, now it is like a reviewer," Khare said. "It feels like you are a judge at an assembly line and that assembly line is never-ending, you just keep stamping those PRs," he added, referring to AI-generated code changes.

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Read Amazon's 6 internal tenets for AI adoption: 'Cutting edge, not bleeding edge'

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

Bloomberg/Getty Images

• Amazon's massive retail arm has formalized its AI approach in 6 internal engineering tenets.
• The list emphasizes a pragmatic approach that balances speed, cost, and control.
• The tenets are part of a broader AI push to improve coding speed and efficiency.

Amazon is stepping up its push to make AI central to its engineering culture.

As part of that effort, its massive retail business, known as "Stores," has formalized how teams build with AI, distilling its approach into a set of internal "AI-native engineering tenets," according to an internal document obtained by Business Insider.

The internal guidelines outline a pragmatic playbook. Rather than forcing AI into every use case or adopting every new model, Amazon emphasizes balancing speed, cost, and control, with clear expectations around transparency.

The tenets are central to Amazon's broader "AI-native" strategy, aimed at scaling usage across thousands of teams and closely tracking adoption, as Business Insider previously reported.

"Amazon's Stores engineering teams found that integrating AI across the full development lifecycle — not just bolting it on as an afterthought — delivers the most meaningful gains in what we're able to invent for customers and how quickly we can deliver it," Montana MacLachlan, an Amazon spokesperson, told Business Insider.

"We've also identified opportunities for improvement, and those results, along with our proven approach to AI adoption, informed the ambitious goals we've set for some Stores engineering teams in 2026," she added.

Here are the 6 tenets:

• Delivery first, cost second: We prioritize working, effective solutions over cheap ones. This means we will build now, then optimize for compute cost later.
• AI-native is not AI-exclusive: We will use the best approach to solve the problem we face. Sometimes that will require AI, and sometimes the AI will be an LLM, but not always.
• Cutting edge, not bleeding edge: We will not try to keep pace with AI technology. We will evaluate and retain flexibility to switch if the benefits outweigh the costs; sometimes foregoing the newest improvements.
• With you, not for you: We will rely on existing teams' expertise and will not become domain experts in your area. Participating in our pilots requires bringing your domain expertise and time investment.
• Not all preferences are requirements: Although we will aim to delight our customers, we will not accommodate all their preferences. Instead, we will optimize for hundreds of teams, not just a few.
• No black boxes: All the solutions we deploy must be auditable, understandable, and traceable. We will forego performance and cost improvements to maintain human understanding and traceability.

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America's biggest career hurdle: Being a daughter

Oil prices inch up as peace talks between the US and Iran fail to materialize

The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, keeping oil and energy costs high worldwide.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

• Oil prices crept up on Sunday as the US-Iran conflict nears two months.
• Trump said Saturday he won't send a delegation to Pakistan for a new round of negotiations.
• The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and the US Navy continues to blockade Iran's ports.

The price of oil inched upward on Sunday as a second round of peace talks between the US and Iran never materialized.

Brent crude oil futures and West Texas Intermediate rose around 2% in overnight trade, to $107.60 a barrel and $96.27, respectively, at 2:30 a.m. ET.

An end to the conflict, which has lasted nearly two months, remained uncertain this weekend. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Islamabad for negotiations during a press briefing on Friday.

However, an X post by Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said no meeting was scheduled between the US and Iran.

Then, on Saturday, an Iranian delegation left Pakistan, and President Donald Trump said he would cancel Witkoff's and Kushner's trip. In the end, no new round of talks was held.

"I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going to Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians. Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday.

He added: "Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!"

Vice President JD Vance traveled to Pakistan on April 11 to negotiate with Iran, though those talks ultimately failed after 21 hours. On April 19, Trump said negotiations with Iran would resume that week, but hours later, Iran's official news agency said it would not participate.

Despite the failed talks, the US and Iran have so far held to a ceasefire. Trump said he extended the ceasefire in a Truth Social post on April 21.

As peace talks between the US and Iran remain elusive, the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway off Iran's coast through which a fifth of the globe's oil and liquefied natural gas passes — has remained closed. Iran initially closed the strait in late February following the US and Israel's attacks, but briefly reopened it in April as part of a ceasefire deal.

However, after the first round of failed peace talks in Islamabad, Trump announced the US would implement a naval blockade of Iran's ports. In response, Iran again closed the Strait of Hormuz.

The closure, compounded by damage to major oil hubs across the Middle East, has sent oil and jet fuel prices skyrocketing worldwide. The price of oil surpassed $100 for the first time in nearly four years in March, prompting some countries to adopt energy-saving measures to address rising costs. The Philippines, for example, implemented a four-day workweek for federal employees and began seeking out alternative sources of petroleum products.

In the US, the national average price for a gallon of gas climbed to $4 in late March.

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