An Immigrant’s Life

Malika Burieva is a Central Asian influencer. She came on AIL to talk about her parents’ immigration to Miami, Florida, being inspired by her mom’s independence and experience as a news correspondent in Uzbekistan, she too decided to pursue journalism. We also talked about her ability to sing in multiple languages like her dad, volunteering as a translator for Uzbek families that inspired her to p...

Eli Cohen is a mobile bike shop owner. He came on the podcast to talk about growing up in a kibbutz in Dganiya, Israel, what Judaism means to Israelis, his grandparents’ escape from the Nazi invasion, how his Jewish identity carries the pain of the holocaust, covid passports being equated to the “Yellow Star”, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, his family's immigration to Montreal that he rebuk...

🌸 🇯🇵 It’s a Mother’s Day Episode 🇺🇸🌸   I invited an amazing mommy to have a conversation about parenting mixed kids. Momo is a Japanese-American blogger, and despite not planning to be a mom, she ended up having 3 beautiful kids. She told me about getting her Bachelor of Science in Nursing while raising two kids, how motherhood helped her find her lost identify, challenges of raising interracial...

Mustafa Ansari is a Social Entrepreneur. He came on the AIL podcast to explain why despite his comfortable life in Karachi, Pakistan, he still moved to Kingston, Canada for wanting “more.” We also talked about missing our home countries but then getting tired of it quickly, laid back culture of Pakistani business, the rivalry between Pakistan and India, Islamophobia, Ramadan, why Mississauga is Ka...

Kamila Erkaboyeva is an Interior Architect and an artist. She came on the podcast to talk about living in a multicultural neighborhood in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, her immigration to England that was her parents’ dream, learning English from Hugh Grant films and documentaries about the Royal Family, whom she met one of the members during her recovery from "Pancreatic Cancer" surgery when she w...

Dr. Haya Al Khatib is a Nutrition Scientist. She came on the podcast to talk about her family’s emigration to Kuwait as a result of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the confusion of growing up in Kuwait and not feeling Kuwaiti, moving to America to study at Penn State, getting rejected by 19 dental school, which led her to move to London and pursue research instead, being impregnable to peer pres...

Keith Pedro is a Filipino-Canadian comedian and JUNO Awards "Comedy Album of the Year" nominee. He came on the AIL podcast while preparing for his comedy special “Trillipino.” We got to talking about recording an album during the pandemic, Filipinos detrimental fixation with basketball and having a light skin, being wronged for a Mexican while mowing his mom’s lawn, performing stand-up in...

Palak Verma is a Social Media Video Creator. She came on to talk about her “Great life” in Delhi, India, where she lived with her amazing family. We talked about being bad at Math, our love for literature, Feminism in India, her love Shakespeare, working as a Fraud Officer, and thinking employees in corporate world in India are robots, being the Mother Teresa of dogs in India, how peer pressure pu...

Kristian Kabuay is a Filipino American Visual Artist, among other things. He came on to talk about the growing pessimism towards the “American Dream”, his roots from Pasig, Philippines, growing up feeling American until a schoolmate questioned that, going back to Philippines to “find himself”, how hip-hop culture influenced him to propagate the teaching of “Baybayin” the old Philippine script, bli...

Mae Magnaye-Williams is a Chef and Food Blogger. She came on the podcast to talk about growing up in Makinhas, Philippines, how much she appreciates the closeness of its community, in contrast to her life in London, England. We talked about getting beat by our elders, our parents’ immigration to give us a better life, immigrant parents not knowing what retirement means, why she moved to London, pa...

I sat down with TikTok star, Abdulaziz Sharipov. We talked about his life in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, his dad being a famous trauma surgeon in Uzbekistan yet decided to move to America and ended up being a Taxi driver, living in a small apartment in Brooklyn with Buddhist monks, being bullied at school for speaking British English, and having a flat head, gaining weight because of American food, his s...

I had a “chismesan” with the Mental Health Advocate, Tannia Burelo. We talked about her life in Mexico City, her mom's sudden passing when she was 19 that made her seek for affectionate female friends, being raised by a dad with a “very strong character”, meeting her Canadian future husband in Mexico that propelled her to immigrate to London, Ontario, her struggles of adjusting with life in Ca...

I had a “chin-wag” with the Digital Artist, Laji Sanusi. We talked about our preference between Instagram VS Tiktok, his parents’ immigration from Nigeria to the United Kingdom in the 60’s, his odyssey back to Nigeria despite not speaking the language and being treated differently, why he feels Nigeria is “home”, his mom’s 40 siblings, growing up with immigrant parents, his dad’s recent passing an...

This week, we have the Mindset & Energy Coach, Zara Bagramian. We talked about why it took her 30 years to learn to ride a bicycle, her family’s immigration from Armenia to Ukraine, a country that she didn’t feel at home in, going to school in England, our affinity for accents, wanting to live in a multicultural society that led her immigration to Toronto, the “real reason” of her immigration,...

I talked to Rapper, @itsonce.official . We talked about his life in Gabon, his alcoholic step-father who made possible his miraculous immigration to Canada, despite being welcomed in Fredericton, he was bullied at school, wanting to fit in led him to a life of crime & substance abuse, being sent to a Juvenile detention multiple times, losing his mom to Cancer, wanting a change he moved to Mont...

I had a “beseda” with the Entrepreneur, Dána Utembayeva. We discussed her life in Astana, Kazakhstan, the history of Koreans in Kazakhstan, different types of immigrants, free education in communist Russia, negative effects of Borat on the Kazakhstani community, why she chose to immigrate to Maine over Pennsylvania, her bouts with dual identity crisis, individualistic Western values, cutting famil...

I had a gespräch with Business Development Manager, Lawin Ileto.   We talked about his unusual name, growing up with a single mother, the adaptability of Filipinos, and their hospitable culture that makes them great nurses, living in Vietnam with a family that couldn’t speak English, moving to the Netherlands and how peeing brought him to Aachen, Germany, challenges of dating in Europe as an Asian...

I had a conversation with the host of Modern Immigrant, Vero Wall. We talked about her great life in Caracas, Venezuela, before political instability forced her to immigrate to America, the “Ms. Universe Pageant” and how it affects little girls' perception of beauty in our countries, her experiences being an “Au Pair", studying in the US and the difference between American and Venezuela sc...

I hang out with the host of @Vienna_inmilan podcast, Vienna Legaspi. She told me about growing up in a rice field town of Biñan, Philippines, being a bully, her mom’s sudden death from measles at the a very young age, being raised by her Lola and her aunts, her complicated relationship with her dad, her immigration to Milan, Italy, her clever way of how she fought homesickness, Italian's view...

I had a sit-down with the other half of “The Overseas Dream”, Emmanuele Rotondi. We talked about how we love helping people, growing up in a small town in Southern Italy that can feel claustrophobic sometimes, Italian men stereotype in the US, our love for basketball and the good and the bad things that comes with it, how he learned discipline from basketball training, and of course, our Top 5 bas...

I had a “tsismisan” with historian, Jacob Ira Vijandre. We talked about him growing up in Olongapo City, Philippines without parental supervision, that fruits an adventurous childhood, his family’s immigration to America on the day of 9/11, how Lockheed Martin fucked their American dreams that forced them to be undocumented immigrants, his admiration for his dad who taught him martial arts and eve...

🎄🇵🇭 Maligayang Pasko! 🇪🇸🎅🏽 I talked to Food Blogger, Carla Chicharro. We talked about how her family from Barcelona, Spain ended up living in the Philippines, going to school and being segregated with the “foreigners” away from the “regulars”, being bullied for being different, being a victim of racism from a teacher, feeling some “White guilt” for Spain’s colonization of the Philippines, the c...

I had a “historiefortelling” with the Thai-Norwegian singer songwriter, Nate Zeth. We talked about him living in the jungle of Thailand and growing up dirt poor, being sent by his mom to be raised by his nuclear family, going on vacation with his mom and his new family and coming home to find out that his grandma passed away, and the same day his mom left him to go back to Norway, his immigration...

I talked to cartoonist, Trinidad Escobar. We talked about her heroine's journey, being adopted and the traumas that came with it, why making comics is a great artistic challenge, the importance of comics in Filipino culture, The Filipino Super Hero “Darna” that reflects how much Filipino culture embraces the strength of womanhood, why women are the glue to Filipino society, our mutual love for...

I had a conversation with the founder of @kahaani.io media, Niki Aggarwal. We talked about the story behind her name, being born in Napierville, Illinois but growing up in Vienna, Austria, being a strait-laced-school-loving-shy girl, living in a bubble and not able to integrate to Viennese society, meeting other “brown kids” at school that don’t have anything common with her, being surrounded by e...