An Immigrant’s Life

Burak Yilmaz is a published author and a Registered Nurse.         Abandoned by his mother at a young age, he was sent to live with a family that physically abused him, landing him in the ICU. From there, he was shipped off to a religious boarding school where he suffered sexual molestation and beatings, and then sent away again. He lived on the streets and endured homelessness.         Despite th...

Christy Kioko is a Creative, a philanthropist, and a proud Seattleite. As the daughter of Kenyan immigrants, she’s fortunate to have parents who nurtured her artistic talents. However, despite this fortunate upbringing, Christy still experienced the challenge of identity crisis between two cultures, and the insecurities that come with feeling different from her classmates. Her complicated relation...

Drew Thach is a Digital Artist of Ahhdru Art and a professional Dad.     He spoke about how his parents fled the violence in Cambodia only to settle in another violent place, Detroit, Michigan. He also discussed how the war's ugliness affected his family, causing his father to abandon them when he was only two years old and leaving his siblings to raise him while their mother worked tirelessly...

Nicholas Leffel is a filmmaker from Madison, Wisconsin. He was adopted from a Russian orphanage as toddler by a couple from Washington DC area.       As an adoptee, he shared how he struggled with identity issues growing up and often felt like an outsider. However, he used videomaking as a way to express himself and communicate his experiences. He also talked about how taking a DNA test gave him a...

Growing up in Burundi, Stecy Baragengana had to avoid landmines and bullets, but somehow, it helped her be grateful. Her childhood was filled with fear and uncertainty, yet she still looks back at those times as fun. However, as She grew older and started to face the harsh reality of the world. It wasn't until She sought therapy that She began to understand the impact of her childhood had on h...

Brendan Moriarty, who comes from a respectable line of Ivy Leaguers, chose to pursue the art of filmmaking because he not only had the talent for it but also the drive to balance it with business. Was raised dirt biking through Cambodia despite being originally from New England. After visiting the Tomb Raider movie set, he was motivated to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker. We talked about...

Kamilla Fayz is the founder of Ikat Wear was raised in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where she learned the art of haggling from her mother. However, she had a "confusing" childhood because of the influence of her two grandmothers. At 16 years old, she won an exchange student scholarship that brought her to Farmersville, Texas. Despite that it didn’t match her expectations of what America looks lik...

Erick Widman is an immigration lawyer who grew up in Cupertino, California. When he was 13 years old, he went on an exchange student program to Japan, which changed his outlook on life. After earning his law degree and attempting to defer the real world, he moved to Hungary to teach business law, where he met his wife.   We talked about challenges of long-distance relationships, trying to balance...

Vicheka King is a Cambodian film star that’s currently living in the US for only six months. She came on the podcast to talk about joining beauty pageants, starring in a feature film in Cambodia called “My Hero Teacher”. We also discussed having her miracle baby, motherhood, and the challenges and perils of raising an American boy.         🎤ALL LINKS BELOW 🎧   YouTube: https://bit.ly/3g0qe2g   A...

Dr. Salvatore Forcina was a former vascular surgeon who is now an author, joined the podcast to talk about his World War II experiences in Scauri, Italy, and his family's immigration to Argentina. He was sent to the Redemptorist priests to live and study for seven years when he was just 11 years old due to his impoverished circumstances. While there, he discovered a passion for classical music...

Afoali Ngwakum a video content creator from Montreal who is originally from Cameroon but grew up in seven different countries, and I had such a wonderful and insightful conversation. We discussed the thrill of making new friends and the challenges of breaking off relationships with long-time friends, our shared love for Montreal, how she developed her passion project, "Turn up Tuesday," ou...

Vikta Paulo is the weathercaster for CBC Ottawa and the voice of Ottawa basketball, but we didn’t just talk about the weather in this episode, we also talked about how the Civil war in Uganda drove his family to immigrate to Canada, how he is using basketball as a bridge to mentor the next generation of African-Canadians, his opinion about “Diversity Hire”, announcing Drakes OVO Bounce basketball...

I had a fun filled conversation with the actress and filmmaker Giovannie Espiritu. Born in the slums of Tondo, Philippines and later immigrated to California, her life has been full of colors and textures to say the least.      After learning that her step-dad had molested her, her mother expelled her out of the house, forcing her to move in with her grandparents. After some time and the passing o...

After being abandoned in a Russian orphanage shortly after his birth, Joshua Breaux was adopted by a Cajun couple and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.   After a DNA test, he was finally able to validate his real identity, as well as discovering that he had a biological half-sister in Kansas that had also been adopted.   His approach to dealing with being abandoned and his social media account Cul...

As a result of her parents’ deaths from a car accident, Maria Flores siblings devised a plan for her to immigrate from Abancay, Peru to Montreal as an asylum seeker, but she was captured in Cuba and was imprisoned. After that, she then tries to immigrate to the United States illegally through Mexico, a story she will include in her upcoming biographical book. We also talked about her early struggl...

In a philosophical conversation with Jeannie Neth, an aspiring film writer/director, we discussed the current state of Cambodia, the positive effects of French colonization versus the detrimental effects of the Khmer Rouge, the weaponization of social media. Additionally, she spoke about how living in London gave her the freedom to appreciate her own culture more, about her “Mirror technique” that...

I had chill conversation with the award-winning filmmaker Jinji Sayson. We discussed meditation, people's aversion to self-reflection, being certified in “Adult Mental Health First Aid”, Racial Imposter Syndrome, Filipino machismo & colorism mentality, and her award-winning short film “All That Glitters is Bronze.”             🎤ALL LINKS BELOW 🎧   YouTube: https://bit.ly/3g0qe2g   Apple:...

Femi Oso is a Fashion Photographer. After living a fast-paced life in Lagos, Nigeria, where he began his photography career, he decided to explore the world and immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba where he learned to adjust to its quiet life and slow-paced work culture with the help of his “folks.” During our conversation, he discussed the intricacies of doing street photography in Lagos and how he b...

Instead of being forced into marriage, Laziza Tolkunova decided to immigrate to New York to escape the social pressure of her community in Tashkent, Uzbekistan; however, moving away from her family brought new challenges. As a result of culture shock, she developed weight issues, fall into depression and suffer from panic attacks. After 6 months, she decided to hit the reset button and she visited...

Spencer MacIntyre is an accountant turned actor. In our conversation, he talked about his rough upbringing in a small-town North of Toronto, precipitated by his strict immigrant Lithuanian father, being bullied for his red hair, finding his love for acting at the age of 6 that he had to stopped because of his immigrant parents. After moving to Toronto at 17, he worked in the music industry, starte...

Sohee Riboss is a Junior Marketing Manager that is originally from Uzbekistan but now resides in Germany. We had an open conversation about her parents’ divorce, her complicated relationship with her dad, and her beautiful relationship with her mom. We also discussed the importance of self-evaluation, rules for living a happy life, the contrast between Uzbek culture and European culture, her strug...

Sokai Yoon is a Cambodian American Visual Artist of Khmer Krom origin born in a refugee camp in Thailand. As a child growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, he was exposed to racism from Blacks, Whites, even from Cambodians, while navigating its gang-ridden streets. After his brother was murdered, he decided to change his life and focus on acquiring an MFA in visual arts which he uses to connect to KhAmer...

Naz Meknat is a Celebrity Stylist & Author of the book “7000 Miles to Freedom”.    We discussed how she grew up in a George Orwellian life in Tehran, Iran under an Islamic extremist regime, her daring escape from Iran and her long journey to the US with her family’s aide, which inspired her to write her memoir, and she also explained why YOU should be aware of the current revolution in Iran.  ...

Jahsee Pickering is a New York Firefighter. We discussed his childhood in the projects, being raised as a Rastafarian, being bullied for his dreadlocks, and suffering from imposter syndrome. We also talked about his melanoma scare, how journaling and exercise help him remain grounded, and working as a member of the New York Fire Department Ladder 10.            🎤ALL LINKS BELOW 🎧   YouTube: http...

Taylor Murahashi is a Sex-Trafficking Survivor Therapist. She discussed her experiences of being half Filipina and half White in rural Idaho, inheriting her Lola’s gun that she used to use shoot guerrillas with, Filipino parties and the art of “balot”, how being a victim of bullying led her to martial arts, and working with sex trafficking survivors.            🎤ALL LINKS BELOW 🎧   YouTube: http...