Immigrant Squared

Vanda left Croatia in 1991 during the war and sought refuge in Germany. After she integrated into German society, Vanda joined a political party and became a spokesperson for immigration policy. Helping immigrants and refugees has been top of mind for Vanda, and through networking in Washington DC she met Wendy who has similar goals. Together Vanda and Wendy founded One Journey Festival which is h...

Communism and instability in Albania led Denida's father to move the family to Greece. Denida shared what kinds of candies she tasted for the first time in Greece, and what brought her to the US. She believes that immigrants should not forget where they came from, and her advice is to integrate the best parts of both cultures. "If an immigrant girl from a small country like Albania made i...

Veronica came from Peru to the US as a teenager to get a better education. She ended up re-learning English because in Peru she studied British English. Veronica shared why she had to follow her parents' rules in the US even when they were living in Peru, and how she was criticized in the US by people from her own culture. Additional links to the podcast can be found on our website www.alisade...

A fellow two time immigrant, Yelena, shares her journey from Moldova to Israel and then to Australia. Why she has a gap in her memory between the ages of 9-11, and how classic Russian movies helped her. Yelena's experiences with bullying and suicidal ideation led her to write the book "What's Normal Anyway? The Keys to Unlocking Your Mental Well-Being". The book provides tools to...

Sophia Tupolev-Luz and Ariella Raviv are the Co-founders of The Reboot Startup Nation- A nonprofit organization in Israel helping welcome war-displaced professionals and immigrants into the High-Tech industry. Ariella grew up in Detroit, Michigan where her American mother and Israeli father lived after they met at a Kibutz in Israel. Ariella met her Israeli husband in the US, and together they mov...

Martine was born in Zambia to parents who came from the Democratic Republic of Congo formerly known as Zaire. Martine came on a visitor's visa when she was four years old, and as a teenager she became undocumented. Martine also learned that she was stateless, and spent seven years in deportation proceedings. Martine wants everyone to be able to connect through immigrants' stories, which is...

Yasmin was born in Egypt to a Libyan father and an Egyptian mother. She was five years old when her family sought asylum in the US. Since she was born in Egypt and spoke Egyptian she always thought that she was Egyptian, but coming to the US helped her discover her Libyan heritage. Yasmin was not welcomed by the Libyan community in the US because she spoke Egyptian and felt that she had to become...

Kat came to the US 15 years ago from Eastern Ukraine. Her immigration journey was exciting, but losing her personal and professional network has been the biggest struggle. Kat shared that the support of friends and colleagues in the US helps her to deal with the feeling of helplessness, being in the US when the majority of her friends and family are in a war zone. Kat's advice for immigrants is to...

On the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, I had the honor to host a fellow immigrant squared and compatriot from Ukraine to talk about her immigration story and the impact of the war on Ukrainians abroad. Katya was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and when she was eight years old her family immigrated to France. In 1997 Her family immigrated to the US. In the suburbs of Paris, there was a diverse po...

ולריה עלתה לישראל בגיל 7 מקייב, אוקראינה ב1996 עם כל המשפחה שלה. כשהיא התחילה את בית הספר, ולריה הבינה מהר מאד שכדי לשרוד היא צריכה ללמוד עברית ולהשתלב עם הקבוצה של הצברים. ולריה הייתה טובה בספורט וזה עזר לה מאד להשתלב בחברה. ולריה מרגישה שיש חלק גדול ממנה שהרבה שנים היא הייתה צריכה לקבור ולהחביא. היא הייתה מחולקת המון שנים לכמה זהויות, הזהות האוקראינית דוברת רוסית עם החגים אוכל והמנהגים. מצד שני...

Martin was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and immigrated to the US at the age of 3. Martin calls the US home, even though he never understood where he belongs. For a long time, Martin did not feel comfortable saying that he was an immigrant. Only when DACA came out, Martin started feeling that he can talk about his situation. It was very important for Martin to express who he really was, and since he co...

ליליה נולדה בסיביר וגרה בקזחסטן . לילה לא ידעה שהיא עולה לארץ , ואחרי ביקור בחופשת קיץ ואירוע משפחתי טרגי, ליליה ואמא שלה נשארו בארץ. בגיל שמונה לילה הייתה צריכה להיות חזקה בשביל המשפחה שלה ולהתמודד עם קשיים משל עצמה בבית הספר. למרות הקשיים עם הזהות והרצון לעקור את כל מה שהיה קשור לרוסיה, ההורים של לילה עזרו לה לשמור על השפה והיום היא קוראת הרבה ברוסית. .היום לילה חוזרת לשורשים שלה ועושה ארוחת נוב...

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing a fellow Immigrant Squared, and the Co-Founder and COO of Immigrant Food, Tea Ivanovic. Tea was born in Belgium to immigrant parents from the former Yugoslavia and came to the US on a tennis scholarship. Tea feels like she is from everywhere but from nowhere at the same time, and calls both Serbia and Belgium home. Speaking both of her native lan...

Maame immigrated to the Netherlands from Ghana to join her husband. Her immigration challenges began back home when had to take a test in Dutch in order to be able to immigrate. Immigrating to the Netherlands in the winter added to Maame's culture shock, and her feelings of loneliness. One of the biggest challenges she faced was speaking Dutch. She was afraid that if she mispronounce something, pe...

Elena immigrated from Russia to the US as a teenager with her mother and struggled with getting used to a new culture and norms. Throughout middle school and high school, she tried very hard to fit in, and always felt like an outsider. Joining the swim and softball teams in high school was the turning point when she finally started feeling a sense of community.  While studying at Old Dominion...

לקראת נובי גוד (השנה האזרחית החדשה) ובדיוק מתי שלובה עלתה לארץ עם משפחתה לפני 32 שנים היה לי את העונג לארח אותה שוב בפודקאסט שלי והפעם בעברית. לובה סיפרה על מסע ההיגרה של המשפחה שלה מאוקראינה. הקשיים בדרך, והאובדן הגדול איתו היא עדיין מתמודדת- ההתאבדות של אבא שלה. כיום לובה עוזרת לאנשים אחרים להתמודד עם האובדן דרך כתיבה ויצירות., וזה מאד מרפא גם בשבילה. לובה בחרה לעבור טיפול בכתיבה כחלק מההתנדבות...

Aleem was born in Kuwait to a Pakistani family. During the Gulf war, and the Iraqi invasion, his family was forced to flee Kuwait. Aleem was two years old when his family immigrated to the US. While he watched his parents struggle to adjust to the new life, he was able to integrate into American society and culture much faster. Aleem believes that it is very important to stay connected to your roo...

Daniel was born and raised in Guatemala and comes from a long lineage of immigrants. Some of his ancestors escaped the holocaust and immigrated to Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua. When he turned 23, Daniel decided to immigrate to Israel and serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). After four years in Israel, he immigrated to the US and is pursuing his studies at NYU. Daniel shared the dif...

Ianeta is the daughter of Samoan immigrants and an immigrant from New Zealand. She grew up to see the beauty of her blended cultures, and at 17 decided to immigrate to the US via a water polo scholarship at Arizona State University. After graduating, Ianeta's drive to create opportunities for herself and keep growing kept her away from her family in New Zealand, and she experienced loneliness. Ian...

Sharon was born in Paris, and at the age of seven immigrated with her family to Montreal, Canada. She is very thankful to her parents for giving her and her brother a great childhood despite the struggles of immigration. Sharon considers herself a citizen of the world, and has three places she calls home, Paris, Montreal, and now Tel Aviv. During the pandemic, Sharon started her social media agenc...

Mariam immigrated from Morocco in pursuit of her studies. She faced her biggest challenges after college while working in the corporate world in marketing and advertising, as an immigrant and woman of color. Mariam struggled to adjust to a different culture and a way of life. We discussed how corporations can help immigrants, by being more human, and understanding that there is much more that defi...

Nikki is an industrial organizational psychologist and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. During high school, Nikki felt like an outsider due to cultural differences, but her six very resilient aunts and strong mother empowered her to embrace her uniqueness. During her Ph. D. program, Nikki discovered inequities in the Venture Capital field and decided to help VCs to make the right choices based...

Jen was born in Canada, and for the first few years in the US, she was undocumented. Jen never felt like an outsider and thanks to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 she was able to get her green card. She spent 15 years as a college volleyball coach and realized that race in sports is not talked about in the way she wanted. So she decided to leave and founded her first company, Jen Fr...

Alexandra is a child of immigrants that escaped a dictatorship in Haiti and started a new life in Canada. Despite having to conform to different household rules than her peers, such as not being able to participate in sleepovers, Alexandra learned resilience and grit from her parents, which she leans into during hard times in her life.  While she had a very good and comfortable life in Canada...

Nejat grew up in Eritrea and moved to Ethiopia when she was in high school. She later came to the US to pursue a Master's degree. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs with eight siblings, the most difficult part of her immigration journey was being away from family. Luckily she found a community among other international students at her university. Nejat believes that if she is truly going to b...