San Jose Destination Consultant
It was probably inevitable that British expatriate
Sandra ended up living in Silicon Valley. Much of her early career was in the computer industry. She worked for some names that are now often forgotten – Atari, Acorn, Sinclair and Cambridge Computers. She moved to California in 1989, started working for Atari, and settled in the South Bay area.
A graduate of the University of Leicester in central England, her professional life was spent mainly in sales and marketing in the high-tech arena. While in the US, she has also been raising a family, which led her to volunteer work in an elementary school.
‘I know first hand how overwhelming it can be to move to a new country,’ she tells us. ‘Life in Silicon Valley is fun and challenging at the same time. Finding a home, acclimatizing, buying a car with no credit history, finding a school or (if a partner) a job, can be daunting. Having said that, once you get over the initial hurdles, you will find that California has much to offer. There are beautiful beaches to visit all year round, great skiing, superb food and wine, wonderful art galleries and museums – the list goes on and on.’
