Where We Land

In this episode we tackle Richard Linlater’s 1995 film Before Sunrise. We talk about how Luciana tried to reenact as many scenes as possible in her own life, Claudia has a gripe with Celine carrying a backpack all day, and why the listening booth and the failure to brush away Celine’s hair are the best moments in the movie. And as always, we share our favorite multicultural moments and pieces of c...

Hoangmai (Mai) Pham is a Vietnamese American refugee and physician, founder of the Institute for Exceptional Care. In our conversation she shares how her family escaped from Saigon before the fall, what it was like adapting to an American life, the challenges of understanding her identity when no one would talk to her about the past, and how she ended up moving back to Vietnam for a year to get an...

One of the downsides to living abroad is being far away from friends and family. So when people you love suffer an accident, go through a prolonged illness or pass away, you don’t always get to be there for them in all the ways you wish you could. In this episode we discuss our experiences with long-distance grief and how it's shaped us. WATCH on YouTube! REACH OUT: Send us your questions to: Wher...

Nathan Davis is a chef and policy advocate who grew up in North Dakota on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. Through his work Nathan has had to navigate his Native culture in non-Native spaces within the US. As immigrants, Luciana and Claudia found a surprising amount of similarities with Nathan as they also find themselves constantly living between cultures. Nathan will be one of the chefs a...

In this episode we discuss Sofia Coppola’s 2003 film Lost in Translation, for which she won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. We share what we love about this movie, delve into its themes of loneliness and alienation in a foreign country that are so familiar to the immigrant experience, and go through all our favorite bits of culture depicted in the film. Anyone else want to go to Japan after...

Neha Shah is a nutrition practitioner from India, and Founder of Diaspora Nutrition. When her husband told her he had a job opportunity that would move them to Seattle, Neha was excited to leave India and have the space to raise her children on her own terms. But it was being away from India that made her see Indian cuisine, ingredients, and nutrition in a new way, leading her to build a business...

In this episode we talk through different scenarios for moving abroad for a guy. From falling in love with a foreigner to your partner getting a job abroad, navigating these situations can be overwhelming, stressful and difficult to sort through your own feelings about it. Plus, there’s so much more to consider beyond wanting to move or not, like your career and job opportunities, visa and immigra...

When Laura Peruchi suggested her then boyfriend get a job in New York she was excited about the possibility of living abroad. What she didn’t count on was that immigrating as a dependent wouldn’t allow her to work for several years. Originally a journalist from Brazil, Laura became a content creator to “keep busy” during the years she couldn’t work. When she finally obtained her Green Card, Laura...

In this episode we share the Latino stereotypes we've heard of most, the ones that’ve been told to us personally, and whether we think there's some truth to each of them or not at all. From guys asking us if we can teach them to dance, to people calling us spicy (whatever that means?) we get into all the truthful, funny and simply bizarre stereotypes we’ve heard about being Hispanic. WATCH on YouT...

Whether it’s writing scripts, producing short films, waitressing or being crowned a beauty queen, our reigning Miss Peru Karla Bacigalupo, is doing what it takes to get her acting and producing careers off the ground. Originally from Lima, Karla moved to the US to study acting and producing at UCLA. In this episode Karla shares how she went from the corporate world to acting, how her relationship...

In honor of International Women’s Day, in this episode we discuss our favorite famous ladies that immigrated to the United States. From Sofia Vergara and Dua Lipa, to Shakira and Lupita Nyong'o, we share what we admire about these women. Who are your faves? Let us know in the comments! WATCH on YouTube! REACH OUT: Send us your questions to: WhereWeLandPod@gmail.com. FOLLOW: *Follow WWL on IG: @whe...

In this episode we discuss Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar nominated film: One Battle After Another. Set in the backdrop of a government-waged war on immigration and the revolutionaries fighting to stop it, the movie is ripe with themes of multiculturality, immigration policy, and resistance.  We also talk about the movie’s surprisingly comedic moments, its stellar cast, and everything we loved about...

Camila Vidal is a Peruvian filmmaker based in LA. In this episode Camila shares how she got her love of filmmaking from her mom, moving to Buenos Aires for film school, making it as a successful director-for-hire of commercial projects, what an MFA at Cal Arts really gave her, hustling to get a visa and pay off her student loans, and all the projects she’s working on now, including the script for...

In this episode we discuss Marcello Hernández’s debut comedy special American Boy (on Netflix). Marcello is a comedian and actor you may know from SNL where he famously plays the character Domingo. He was born and raised in Miami. The son of immigrant parents: his mom is from Cuba, his dad from Dominican Republic. Immigrant and multicultural themes are at the heart of his comedy special so of cour...

In this episode we discuss everything we loved about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show performance, all the easter eggs we were able to pick up on, the significance of Benito’s song selection, the meaningful cameos, and our own feelings as Peruvians watching along, dancing and cheering him on. It won’t come as a surprise to say we thoroughly enjoyed it. Watch our conversation to learn all the r...

Originally from Sweden, Hanna Bergström moved to LA to do a semester abroad in college and never left. After falling in love with the entertainment industry, she hustled to get her work visa and is now Marketing Manager at Redrock Entertainment. In our conversation Hanna shares how LA ended up being a more seamless cultural fit than Sweden, the cultural gaps she’s experienced at work as well as wh...

In honor of Bad Bunny’s upcoming Super Bowl halftime show performance we dive into his six-time Grammy nominated album Debí Tirar Más Fotos ( I should’ve taken more pictures ), its themes around multicultural identity, immigration, and why it’s not just meaningful to Puerto Ricans, but to Latinos across the region. We discuss how, though the album is thoroughly Puerto Rican, multiculturalism is al...

In this episode we’re breaking down the hot, Canadian breakout hit: Heated Rivalry. We discuss all the different cultural aspects, like dating a guy from another country, Ilya navigating his immigration status and his complicated relationship with his home country of Russia while living abroad.  But before we get to all that, we share what we loved about the show. WATCH on YouTube! REACH OUT: Send...

In this episode we share the Peruvian New Year traditions we’ve participated in over the years, from burning life-size dolls to flowering baths, we get into all of it. We also discuss our New Year’s resolutions and our shots at making them stick. Claudia shares the culture clash she experienced with the term 'cuffing season' and Luciana talks about how she's started the year in a decluttering phas...

Claudia Helms is the Program Director for Latin America & the Caribbean at the D.C. based think tank Global Financial Integrity. Originally from Peru, Claudia has been in the US for over a decade. Claudia shares how her career led her to immigrate, how a planned move to Australia was thwarted by a trip to D.C. and how a planned move to Boston was derailed when she met her husband. We also talk...

To close out the year, we share the origin story of the podcast: why we started it, how we put it together, and the difficulties along the way. We also talk about unexpected moments, what made us the most nervous, our favorite episodes to record and many more behind the scenes details.  Where We Land will be back with a new episode on January 11th (8 pm EST). WATCH on YouTube! LINKS TO EPISODES ME...

After spending her childhood in Haiti, Farrah Daniel moved with her family to the US. The next few years were marked by her struggle to quickly learn English, find her place within Black culture in America, obey her religious upbringing, keep up with her French and Creole, and do as her parents’ asked. It took several years, but Farrah has managed to navigate her way through, sort, and reckon with...

As immigrants living in the US, we haven’t always been able to go home to Peru for the holidays. While it can be rough to not go home, it also opens the door to celebrate in new ways. In this episode we share our experiences spending all kinds of holidays and important occasions far from home, and even family. WATCH on YouTube! REACH OUT: Want to share your immigration stories or have a question?...

At 30 years old, Marianna De Luca, a successful lawyer in Costa Rica, had just purchased a new apartment and had no plans to ever leave her home town of San Jose. Until, during a girls trip visiting a friend in DC, she fell in love. But how do you leave your life behind for the chance at something new? Watch our conversation with Marianna about taking a chance on a different life and the challenge...

Nobody Wants This is a show we binged each season of and couldn’t help but relate to the cultural differences and culture clashes shown on screen. In this episode we explore the complicated nature of dating someone with a different cultural background and the negotiations that come with that. We also discuss our favorite pieces of culture depicted in the show, and of course, we dive into what we e...