Coming To America

In this episode of Coming to America, the host talks with Esraa Alkhateeb, an immigrant from Amman, Jordan, who moved to the U.S. three years ago and studies biochemistry and molecular biology at Lewis & Clark College. Esraa shares what it was like growing up in Jordan, a safe country amid regional conflict, and how financial constraints led her to seek scholarships. At 16, she left home to attend...

Kjell van Zoen, use they/he pronouns, from the Netherlands and England, came here in 2004. For money, Kjell work as an organizational development and change management coach, and has passion for making and playing music.

GEOFF CRAIGHEAD is, in every sense, a global citizen. Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, he studied at the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University, while also playing Australian rules football with the South Melbourne Football Club. His early career carried him to North Australia, where he worked among indigenous communities, and later to Hong Kong, where he lived alon...

Atousa Gorg, P.E. (she/her) is a Resident Engineer for consultant projects in ODOT - Oregon Department of Transportation. In her time at ODOT, Gorg's project management portfolio includes the Engineering Delivery of Interstate Bridge Replacement, I-5 Rose Quarter,  I-205 Toll Project and Regional Mobility Pricing Project. Gorg has a Master's of Civil and Environmental Engineering from Portland Sta...

David Hurtado was born and raised in Bogota, growing up during turbulent times in Colombian history.  He moved to the US in 2008 for graduate studies in public health at Harvard University. He lived in the Boston, MA area until 2015, when he then moved to Portland, where he works as an associate professor at Oregon Health & Science University, researching occupational stress and workplace health a...

Eleazar Ruiz is a Dominican-born, award-winning brand strategist, creative director, and entrepreneur with over a decade of experience across in-house design teams, agencies, and innovative startups. His expertise bridges brand strategy, branding, user experience design and social impact, culminating in the successful launch of brands that tell powerful, culturally relevant stories. Ruiz is the fo...

Leda Garside is a bilingual/bicultural Latina professional with 42 years working experience. Her career interests center around nursing education, research, health policy, cultural competencies, health promotion, early interventions, best practices in language interpretation services, community health workers initiatives, and health careers mentoring. Being an active member in professional organiz...

Zhou Fang (she/tā/她) Intersectional Group, LLC (COBID certified) Intersectionality Practitioner, Leadership Consultant, Intersectional Living Coach Zhou Fang is the founder and principal consultant of Intersectional Group LLC , a leadership, people and culture practice with a focus on intersectionality, empathy, compassion, intentionality, as well as curiosity.  Zhou is also an Intersectionality...

Jack Phan came to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1978 and has built a career as a serial entrepreneur, startup mentor, investor, and entrepreneur-in-residence in the Portland metro area. He’s the former CEO of an AI SaaS company and is currently building EvolveIQ, a platform designed to help early-stage founders launch and grow their startups. Jack lives in Vancouver, WA with his wife, two daughters, an...

Lou Radha.  Grew up in congo from age 2 to 17. Born In Boston, MA on June 30th (Congo 🇨🇩independence day😊) 1976 while Congolese parents were going to school. He is a consultant, inspirational speaker. Co founded a school in the congo 🇨🇩 serving underprivileged children…24 years strong 💪🏿 Came back to US in 1993 to Ashland OR Married  for 18 years Two boys 17 and 11 Traveling, learning anything...

Simon was born in Staffordshire, in the English Midlands and grew up in Germany and SE England. He attended university in Wales, Edinburgh, Durham and later Chicago. Simon was ordained as a priest in the Church of England. In 1995 he got the opportunity to serve an Episcopal Church in Troy, NY. Since then he has served congregations in Tigard, Corvallis and Salem, Oregon. Simon is currently a chap...

Stefano is the founder of Smile Solution LLC, a company dedicated to enhancing workplace creativity, bonding, and well-being through humor-driven experiential training. With over 20 years of international experience in comedy and facilitation, Stefano has been living in the US for 10 years, has 2 daughters and a wonderful wife, he's cinema freak and loves magic and Martial arts. https://www.stefan...

In this special episode of Coming to America , we welcome Niisai Botchway , a Ghanaian musician whose life has been shaped by rhythm, resilience, and remarkable journeys. Niisai first came to the U.S. in 1974 as a member of Hedzoleh Soundz , a groundbreaking Afro-jazz group introduced to American audiences by none other than Hugh Masekela . Before international tours and studio sessions in Nigeria...

Aida Rivas is an Executive Coach and seasoned Program Management professional with over 25 years in the tech industry. Parents immigrated from Honduras to the U.S. when she was a little girl. Aida has lived on both coasts and in the heart of the country, but California has been home for most of her life—until recently, when she moved to Portland, Oregon. Aida loves exploring food from different cu...

I this episode of our  Immigrant podcast, I am interviewing Sonia Collier who immigrated to the US from Stockholm, Sweden in 1987. She started her advertising career at the Shalek Agency in Los Angeles and was recruited to Wieden & Kennedy in Portland, OR 1991. 1999 she joined Adidas and finished a 22-year career with them end of 2020. She lives with her partner Joe in Portland, Oregon.

In this episode of Coming to America, we sit down with Elisabeth Tschalaer, who moved from Switzerland to the U.S. at just 17 to study in California. Now, after 32 years in Portland, she’s built a life as an artist, journeyman painter, and business owner of Painting Blue Skies. But this episode isn’t just about immigration—it’s a ride through topics like impulsive politics of democracy, influence...

Welcome to Episode 15 of Coming to America: Austrian in the USA . In this episode, we sit down with Birgit Hayden, whose journey from Salzburg, Austria, to the heart of Northeast Portland, tells a story of courage, adaptation, and cultural fusion. Birgit arrived in the United States in January 2001, spending her first six months in Seattle before moving to Portland in September 2001 with her Ameri...

Oonagh Morgan grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a period of sectarian conflict that ended with the Good Friday agreement in 1998. She is a graduate of Brunel University, London and the Irish Academy of Public Relations, Dublin. She began her career in Dublin at a global PR agency where she worked with a variety of clients from scrappy startups to international tech giants. Like many...

Episode 13. introduces Ricardo Aranda, a marketing consultant with experience in marketing and global brand strategy, comes from Venezuela. Ricardo moved to the U.S. in 2004 to complete his MBA at Cornell University and has built his life here ever since. As a strategy consultant, he helps businesses grow by applying large company skills and tools; he is particularly passionate about the multicult...

In this episode of Coming to America, we’re joined by Angel Trujillo Perez, who shares his incredible journey from Havana, Cuba, to the United States. Angel left Cuba in 1994 and arrived in the U.S. two years later, eventually settling in Portland with his wife and son. Now a Production Supervisor at a manufacturing company, Angel reflects on the resilience and determination it took to build a new...

Leandro, originally from Brasília, Brazil, moved to the USA in 1999 and has been residing in Portland since 2009 with his wife Valerie and their Maltese dog, Jobin. He is a structural engineer and the owner of LSP Structural. https://lspstructural.com  

Our guest is Ivan Hernandez, he came from Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. Ivan came to the USA 25 years ago this September. Came directly to Portland to study at the college and now I work as a Senior SW Engineer at Intel. He is  married to Paola Gagliardo and they have two wonderful boys, Jose Ignacio 24 y/o and Daniel (Danny) 14y/o. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-hernandez-4753162/  

Javier Turek is from Argentina the land of the yerba mate, dulce de leche, and Messi (or football). Came to USA in 2015 for work after finishing his PhD studies in Israel. He now lives in Portland and works as a Research Scientist in AI for Intel. He is married to Natacha and has 2 kids.

In this episode, our guest is "Natasha" from Russia. To protect her identity, we've blurred her face and used a pseudonym, as she still has family in Russia. Natasha is a UX designer who now calls Portland her home.

Benson Nsanzabandi, born in Democratic Republic of Congo and raised in a Refugee Camp in Rwanda. Benson came to the US in 2019 and he is an Accountant at Lewis and Clark college.