Jill Erak is a born Canadian who lived in Los Angeles, USA, for a long time. She is also the first female guest of the Split Tech City podcast!

Like many of us in the world, Jill and her husband Damir have reevaluated their life once the pandemic hit and decided Croatia is a better place for them. Split especially, being a calmer and much less crowded city than L.A. – more tailored to people who call it home.

Upon her arrival in Croatia, the only struggle Jill had was, you guessed it – the bureaucracy! While this is a hassle anywhere in the world, it can be only a minor one if everything works as it should, but turn into a major obstacle if things aren’t working well.

Jill recognized Croatia has some work to do in that department – mainly making it easier for people who don’t speak Croatian to go through any of the necessary bureaucratic processes. Nevertheless, this did not stop her from braving our sometimes difficult bureaucratic system and even starting a company here in Croatia.

She shared her experience and some tips about this topic throughout our interview.

Aside from Split and all its beauty, Jill has a “bucket list” of places yet to see, as well as those she would recommend to anyone when asked about Croatia: “We’ve done a lot of exploring in the vicinity of Split – Omiš, Zadar, Šibenik, Trogir – those are all beautiful towns! We’ve also recently gone up to Pula and Rovinj – and it was beautiful!

So when people reach out to me asking what places they should visit – the more I see of this country, the more uncertain I am about my answer – there is so much to do and so much this country has to offer!”

When it comes to the local community, Jill recognizes the importance of the work Split Tech City does for the improvement of connections between everyone – locals and internationals alike:

“What’s great about you guys, that I haven’t seen elsewhere, is the fact that you’re connecting expats and locals in a meetup, which is very rare.”

If you’d like to know more about Jill and her life and work here in Split, watch the whole interview we did with her!