Immigrantly

Season 11 premiers as we begin our exploration of spirituality & religion in the modern world. Today we unpack Christianity. As the long-standing dominant religion, it’s impossible to deny the Christian influences on American culture. Kathy Khang gives a progressive take on Christianity. Kathy is a writer, speaker, yoga teacher, & lover of Jesus. She is also an activist who utilizes her fa...

The last episode of season 10 is with Khadjiah Johnson. She is a writer, animation enthusiast, & successful home cook. She writes for Black Girl Nerd Problems & Funimation, with previous experience on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert & Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Stay tuned for season 11, which will start on June 29th. Producer & Host: Saadia Khan Associate Producer: Kyle...

Lyana Blount is the founder of . It is a meal prep and delivery service which started in a homely kitchen in the Bronx during the pandemic. When Covid hit, Lyana decided to make such meals available to the masses. With over 33k followers and sold-out boxes and prep kits, Black Rican Vegan may be an infant in the food world, but it sure is making a splash. Producer & Host: Saadia Khan Associate...

Saira Rao is the co-founder of and is vocal about activism, especially when it comes to politics & speaking up against anti-Black racism. We spoke to Saira and Regina Jackson, the founder of Race2Dinner, in early March 2020 about their organization. Today, we build on the conversation further. Saira has a book coming out called “White Women: Everything You Already Know about Your Own Racism &a...

Leila Milki is an award-winning Lebanese-American singer, songwriter, and classical-pop pianist. She is the talented mastermind behind “Enjoy Your Meal, " a song from Disney Junior’s Emmy-nominated series, “The Rocketeer.” Her music explores rich dualities in a contemporary pop-alternative setting. Leila’s artistry is centered around providing a healing platform for emotional and cultural empowerm...

Today we’re continuing the conversation on AAPI representation in the National Hockey League (NHL). Our guests Harnarayan Singh & Amrit Gill, are the hosts of Hockey Night Canada Punjabi. After its launch in 2008, it became the most popular non-English iteration. Harnarayan & Amrit talk about their experiences navigating this space. Harnarayan Singh is also the author of the book "One Game...

In honor of May being the Asian and Pacific Islander Month (API), the NHL and Immigrantly joined forces to bring you two exceptional episodes celebrating the role of the API community in hockey. Today's guests are Lali Toor and Dampy Brar (NHL’s Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award recipient). They are the founders of APNA hockey. Apna Hockey, which translates to ‘our’ in Punjabi, is the first South-...

Today's guest, Irisa Xiong, founder of Innermade and a yoga practitioner, sees mindfulness and self-created potential as powerful paths to healing and growth. Much of her philosophy comes from her family and Eastern traditions and remedies. She is every bit creative and driven. She is someone who offers incredible attention and renewed views to how we take care of our bodies and what agency we hav...

Sweta Chakraborty is a renowned scientist, consultant, communicator, and activist. She has appeared on MSNBC, CBS, spoken at TedTalks, runs her own podcast and works full-time as a consultant to public and private organizations on risk management.   This episode is sponsored by Baxtor Glasses. Click on the  to get a special discount. Producer & Host: Saadia Khan Associate Producer: Kylee Rober...

Serena Rasoul is a writer, actress, and founder of Muslim American Casting, who, in their own words, are “creating spaces and adding new faces.” Serena has made appearances on House of Cards, Veep, and America’s Hidden Stories. I got to pick her brain on what makes representation truly authentic. This episode is sponsored by Baxtor Glasses. Click on the link below to get a special discount. https:...

Craig Doble is British. He moved to the U.S. in 2015, fell in love with his wife, a U.S. citizen, and started to settle down. However, he mistakenly didn’t fill out a page in his visa renewal application, which led to his arrest by ICE. What ensued was a series of crazy events. Some of these include being listed as the wrong race twice, accidentally opening up an investigation against a cook who w...

Diya Khanna is the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Manager at Amazon in Seattle. Diya has a Bachelors in Journalism & a Masters of Education in Anti-Racist curriculum. She is truly a global citizen and has lived and worked in Canada, the US, Singapore, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, & Japan. We spoke about diversity, food, and the importance of humility and empathy. Producer & Host: Saadi...

Nik Sharma is a renowned food writer, recipe developer, and photographer with Bombay roots and currently resides in LA. His entry into the food scene was his hit blog, A Brown Table. Since then, he has published two bestselling cookbooks, including The Flavor Equation, just this past October. Nik writes for San Francisco Chronicle, Serious Eats, and Food and Wine Magazine as their food columnist....

Our guest today is sure to bring an expansive perspective on the topic of accent bias. Professor Rahul Chakraborty is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist who teaches at California State University, Fullerton, in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department. As a linguist, his research has been featured in many scholarly journals, much of which has focused on accent bias's social implicat...

Sharing today, we have Karina Ambartsoumian-Clough and Ekaterina, an alias used by our guest to protect her identity. What about their situation is so unique, you may ask. Well, Karina and Ekaterina have one crucial thing in common - that is their stateless status. Karina has a birth certificate with Odesa as the birthplace, a port once under the USSR. Ekaterina immigrated to the U.S. on a Soviet...

   Shazia Sikander is a self-proclaimed citizen of the world. She is a world-renowned multidisciplinary artist whose career spans over three decades. Her work offers a more inclusive way that addresses geopolitical borders' arbitrariness & radically disrupts assumptions around national, political, & historical boundaries.    The episode is sponsored by Indiana University's Muslim Voices Pr...

Tanvi Misra is a multimedia journalist primarily focused on immigration. Her work has been featured at The Fuller Project, Bloomberg CityLab, CQ Roll Call, The Atlantic, NPR, and BBC. We had the chance to dig deep into the narratives on migration within American political discourse and touch upon how immigrant communities make sense of their layered identity. Producer & Host: Saadia Khan. Cont...

Dating is complicated. But what role does identity play in it? We sat down with Andrew and Ayesha to hear their experiences navigating the dating scene while balancing racial perceptions and cultural/religious expectations. The conversation is humorous, engaging, and informative. Sit back, relax, and prepare to laugh. Producer & Host: Saadia Khan.  Content writer/Associate Producer/Co-host: Sa...

Sahaj Kohli is the brains and energy behind Brown Girl Therapy, a mental health platform that is the first and largest of its kind. What started as a passion project turned into a worldwide community for first and second-generation immigrants who seek a space to understand and affirm their emotional and mental experiences.  Producer & Host: Saadia Khan. Content writer: Yudi Liu/Saadia Khan Edi...

Nilo Tabrizy is a video journalist for the New York Times. Before that, she produced for Vice News and wrote for Al Jazeera. From an interview with Iran’s Foreign Minister on the Nuclear Deal to reporting on family separation at the border, Nilo lends ordinary faces to crucial voices. Nilo’s episodes mindfully expose stories. Although she covers politics and developments within the U.S, she applie...

Sabreet Kang Rajeev is the author of the bestselling memoir, She is a second-generation Indian American. Sabreet is also a full-time social science researcher and is currently completing her doctorate at the University of Baltimore. We spoke about the American dream myth, classism within the South Asian community & the erasure of the blue-collar working class immigrant identity.  

Brandy X Lee is the President of the World Mental Health Coalition and a psychiatrist with Yale University. She has written Op-eds for outlets like the New York Times, the Independent, and Politico. Bandy's NYT Best Selling book "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" describes the dangers that Donald Trump's mental health poses to the nation & individual well-being. We spoke about President Trum...

Wajahat Ali is a Pakistani American journalist, author, public speaker, parent & someone who chooses change over disillusionment; his socio-political commentary is every bit biting and hopeful. We spoke about his Muslim identity, the controversy surrounding his OpEd for The Atlantic, "A Muslim Among Israeli Settlers," & his idea of perception vs. reality.

Season 9 launches with our interview with two fantastic guests. Eithne Luibheid & Karma Chavez are the editors of "Queer and Trans Migration: Dynamics of illegalization, Detention, and Deportation," a thought-provoking collection of the personal narratives of queer and trans migrants as well as activists. The interview covers a vast array of issues, including the intersectionality of migration...

With a new Season, Immigrantly is making a promise: we’re going to continue to shine a light on the nuances of this human experience. This time, we're not holding back. We spoke with a wide range of guests including, journalist Wajahat Ali (NYT, The Atlantic,) professors Eithne Luibheid, Karma Chavez, and psychiatrist Bandy X Lee.  Our conversations will continue to push boundaries that address th...