Assyrian Podcast

Episode 73 - Wilfred Bet-Alkhas is an Assyrian activist, political observer, and a lecturer of the Assyrian language and history at San Jose State University.  He was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to the United States in 1979. He joined the Assyrian American Association of San Jose when his family moved from Connecticut to San Jose in 1982.  It was here when he met his Assyrian mentors "Dr. Ashur...

Episode 72 -  Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Joseph Danavi is the Director at GISHRU where he is responsible for steering the operations of the organization. He has been active in the Assyrian community since his undergraduate years when he co-founded the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Student Movement based in Chicago. Since then, he has held a variety of leadership roles for Assyrian organizati...

Episode 71 - Atorina Zomaya is the founder of Assyrian Kitchen. Through food, art, language, and family style settings, Assyrian Kitchen displays so much of our culture for people who are unaware, and offers the familiarity and comfort Assyrians have grown up knowing. Listen to how Atorina got this wonderful idea started, and evolved it into what it is today. Web: AssyrianKitchen.com FB: Assyrian...

Episode 70 - The topic of drug addiction is a stigma in our community, but there are people coming together to change that. Dr. Ashurina Ream is a licensed psychologist and Nicole Shamon is an affected family member of drug addiction. Together, they join us in this week’s episode to talk about the opioid epidemic and how to help a loved one that is battling with drug addiction.  Dr. Ashurina Ream...

Episode 69 – Akkad Saadi is a software engineer and lives in Qamishly, Syria. He is the president of BET KANU, an organization that aims to build a foundation to advance the endangered dialects of the Syriac language, by creating all types of media products. In this podcast Akkad talks about life in Syria and the difficulties our people face in the Syrian conflict. He also explains why he returned...

Episode 68 - Lt. Col. Sargis Sangari turned a twenty-plus year US military career into his own project, the Near East Center for Strategic Engagement (NEC-SE). Listen and find out what motivated him to enlist, and what drives him to work for a free and independent Assyrian nation. Website: https://nec-se.com/about/ceo-biography/

Episode 67 - Francis Dinha This week we meet a highly accomplished visionary Executive with domestic and international experience in operations, P&L management, strategic product positioning, technology development, business planning, and fundraising with both startup and growth organizations! Francis Dinha is a decisive leader with proven success in new market identification, strategic thinking,...

Episode 66 - This week we meet Andrew Nosrati. He grew up in Turlock, CA and after living in Los Angeles and New York City, he decided to move back to Turlock and get involved in local politics. He was elected as a council member in November of 2018 for a four year term. In this episode, he talks about his decision to run for office, politics, governing, leadership, and where he thinks humanity is...

Episode 65 - Dr. Ramon Georges is the son on Murassa Daniels - the first Assyrian to produce a record in 1929. Born in 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, he along with his cousin Gary E. Daniels join us to retell the story of their family’s journey starting from Iran, fleeing to the British internment camp of "Baaquba" in Iraq, travelling by boat with stops all over, before finally settling in the U.S. Fa...

Episode 64 - Yasmeen is a rising singer-songwriter currently living in Los Angeles, CA. Her powerful vocal range and impressive songwriting have been on display with the release of her first 5 singles. She has been featured prominently on multiple Spotify Curated playlists and her current single Half of Me (Acoustic) is fast approaching 2 Million Streams on Spotify. She has also garnered great pre...

Episode 63 - This week, we feature Marian Kaanon, President & Chief Executive Officer, of the Stanislaus Community Foundation. A first generation Assyrian-American, Marian Kaanon grew up in Modesto, California and graduated from UC Davis. In this episode she talks about her passion for community engagement, overcoming a language barrier and how the Assyrian nation has a call to action. Based in Mo...

Episode 62 - Adrenna Alkhas is an author, college professor, wife, and mom. She has recently teamed up with Maryam Shamalta of Shamiram Media to offer a talk series aimed at serving women in various cities, bringing together Maryam’s work to empower Assyrian women and Adrenna’s book aimed at empowering young women, based on her book EmpowHer. In this episode she talks about family, feminism, and h...

Episode 61 - David Younan Australia’s David Younan is a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), winning and placing in competitions  all over the world, including the Australian and State Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, World Abu Dhabi Pro and the European Open. While David confesses he wasn’t the “perfect” student at school (in fact, far from it), he speaks about the people who changed...

Episode 60 - Dr. Robby Edo is the founder of Rinyo Inc. You’ve likely heards the songs of Rinyo Toons on YouTube, filling the ears and mind of a child nearby with the sounds of our language in both dialects. Find out how the creative process behind Rinyo works, the inspiration behind it, and what you can expect to see and hear from them in the near future. Facebook: Rinyo YouTube: Rinyo Inc and Ri...

Episode 59 - On this episode we meet Eidit Choochage!@eidit_live2align She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with over 12 years of experience working in the mental health field. She received a B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Northridge and Master's in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Southern California. She’s an expert at treating depression, anxiety, trauma...

Episode 57 - Mark Elisha, who was diagnosed with MS at the age of 24. Born and raised in Dubai, Mark’s family moved to Australia after his diagnosis to seek the best possible course of treatment for him. Mark is an advocate for people with MS and is involved with a peer support group that helps Australians with MS find others who have the same struggles and provide support to each other. In this e...

Episode 56 - John Alamshaw is a retired lieutenant of the Las Vegas police department and a retired private investigator. He tells us about his career in law enforcement and how he became the hero of the national bestselling book by John Huddy called “Storming Las Vegas: How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down the Strip to the Tune of Five World-Class Hotels, Three Armored Cars, and Mi...

Episode 55 - Malek Younan has been recognized as 2018’s number one residential real estate agent in Australia. This is a massive accomplishment, considering Malek was up against more than 53,000 other real estate agents across the country! Most recently, Malek’s accomplishments also saw him become director of his own agency. Find out what drives Malek to succeed both in his professional and person...

Episode 54: Ever since she was a child herself, Mona Antwan has spoken up for other children. In 2017 she took another step toward her calling by establishing Mindfulness Leader. Currently a High School elective in Chicago, the program teaches students the art of mindfulness, to help students achieve a clear, and positive mindset. You can learn more at mindfulnessleader.org and follow Mindfulness...

Episode 53 - Maryam Shamalta is an Assyrian media personality and the founder of Shamiram Media, LLC: an independent Assyria media platform and video production company dedicated to promoting and preserving Assyrian heritage in diaspora and in Assyria. In this episode you’ll learn about Maryam’s life growing up in Iran and the Netherlands, how her talent was discovered, her journey in media and he...

Episode 52 - Adessa Kiryakos is the co-founder of the Assyrian Podcast and serves on the board of the Bet Nahrain Assyrian Heritage Centre. In this episode you’ll learn about her educational journey and how it led to her relocation and career path, her love for music, and how her journey to Bet Nahrain changed the course of her life in more ways than one. Email: aekiryakos@gmail.com Support for th...

Episode 51 - Steve Netniss is the founder of the Assyrian Podcast and the author of, “Potential: The Assyrian Quest for Identity: What Does It Mean to Be an Assyrian from a Christian Perspective?”. He currently resides in the Bay Area, California and works as a technology specialist. In this episode you will learn about life growing up in Turlock, Steve’s spiritual journey, and what led him to cre...

How did the Assyrian Podcast get started? What are we about? Find out on this episode as we tell the story of the first year of the Assyrian Podcast. We’ll learn from our co-founders, Steve & Adessa, how this thing got started, where it went, and where it will go. Thank you to everyone who has been apart of this amazing journey. It has been a blast and we look forward to more episodes of the Assyr...

Episode 49 - Brother Awgin is one of the first monks of the Assyrian Church of the East since over 700 years ago. Brother Awgin resides in Phoenix, AZ where his monastic life at St. Peter’s Sub-committee Charity Missionary and Education Center includes prayers, woodwork projects, meditation, fasting, discipleship, ministry, refugee assistance, drug addiction support, prison ministry, healing minis...

Episode 48 - Dr. Mariana Markos is an Assyrian Artist and Dentist who is originally from Ankawa but is currently living in Bonn Her family left Iraq because of the political situation and has been living in Germany since 1997. For her, both Dentistry and Painting, are forms of Art. Especially the destruction of ancient Assyrian artifact inspire Mariana to preserve her heritage by painting Assyrian...