Immigrant Conversations

Are you overwhelmed and burnt out during the pandemic. Your health is at risk due to the level of pressure? In this special episode Mehran gives insights on how to manage burnout and provides may solutions to manage emotional, financial, and professional challenges that her audience is facing. This is to create a more peaceful environment for themselves and their loved ones while navigating one of...

Shabnam Lotfi is an immigration lawyer who offers her clients something more than many other lawyers do, her big open heart. In this episode, she shares her journey as a young immigrant and why she chose law as well as her view on our immigration system through her personal and professional lens. Given the present delays on immigration cases, Shabnam continues to support her community around the g...

This week’s guest Dr. Kleanthis Xanthopoulos was a serial entrepreneur whose passion is building healthcare companies focused on innovation. He has over two decades of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical research industries as an executive, company founder, chief executive officer, investor, and board member. Dr. Xanthopoulos has founded four companies, introduced three life science...

How does running a chicken business and a tiger mom who can’t speak any English make a forensic psychiatrist with a degree from Harvard? My guest this week is Dr. Michael Takamura who migrated with his mom at 5 from South Korea. Not only he played the role of a translator at a young age but also he managed their chicken restaurant. In this episode, Michael talks about his migration journey, financ...

Certain cultures are more predisposed to perfectionism and the complications that come with it. In this episode, Mehran shares her research on different types of perfectionism, the impact of culture on raising a perfectionist child, and ways we can mitigate its impact on our personal and professional lives. https://www.mehrans.com/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/tests/personality/perfectionism...

Dr. Mohamad Oskoorouchi migrated from Iran at the age of 25 despite his visa application being rejected over 10times. Once out of Iran, he found his way to the states and is currently the associate dean at the College of Business at California State University-San Marcos. In this episode not only he shares his life story and struggles but also educates our audience on the importance of mindset and...

Born and raised in Afghanistan, Homa Taghizadeh fled her country and through UNHCR found her way to Canada and ultimately to the States. Despite being born in a culture that limited women’s value, she dreamed of becoming an independent, capable woman. That dream became the reality in various stages throughout her life. -When she migrated by herself to Europe -When she fled her country alone and fo...

Dr. Doris Maria Luft Santos Baker was born in Brazil and migrated twice before coming to the States, learning 4 languages and experiencing many cultures. Currently, she is the director of Master in Bilingual education at Southern Methodist University or SMU looking into developing tools and assessments in English and Spanish to improve and monitor the academic performance of English learners with...

In this episode of Empowering conversationZ podcast, Mehran shares the difficulties her community is facing during COVID-19 pandemic. Providing valuable resources and techniques, she inspires them to think back to their immigration journey and utilize the muscles they have developed to overcome the challenges they are facing today. Topics she covers are: Ways to entertain and home school kids peac...

Dr. Nelson Chau is a successful immigrant with contributions in discovering and developing multiple pre-clinical RNA based therapeutics. He is currently serving as Vice President of Discovery Biology and Translational research at Logic Bio Therapeutics. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he shares his challenges during early immigration and beyond. As a minority with English as his second language, Nel...

In this episode of Empowering conversationZ, I interviewed Salma Sarawary. She is the Director of business development at a small company here in San Diego. As an immigrant woman born in Afghanistan, Salma experienced a range of challenges. From being smuggled out of her country at a young age to being bullied in the states and facing many obstacles to graduate from high school. However, these enc...

In this episode of Empowering conversationZ, Shahram Daneshmand (Dr. D) shared his struggles as a young immigrant who left behind the comfortable life he had in Iran and came to the states with challenges that teenagers can relate easily: Challenge of fitting in especially when you look different and speak little English. Now, he is a successful high-risk obstetrician with a passion to help women...

In this episode, Mehran talks about her why and her vision for her podcast.