The MITA Podcast

What makes a good leader? In this episode, Tatjana speaks with DZ Tan about leadership across cultures - and how living between Singapore, Australia, and Germany shaped his understanding of communication, trust, hierarchy, and human connection. Together, they explore the hidden emotional layers of leadership: what it means to create psychological safety, why people often leave managers rather than...

What if the border isn’t a line - but a way of life? In this conversation, Tatjana sits down with Robie and Alejandro Flores, siblings and filmmakers who grew up on the U.S.-Mexico border, where crossing between countries was part of everyday life and identity was never singular. Through the lens of memory, grief, and storytelling, they reflect on what it means to live between cultures, languages,...

What if sound could help restore balance in the body? In this episode of The MITA Podcast, Tatjana speaks with Australian sound healing practitioner Robin Hart about discovering crystal bowl therapy after the devastating Black Summer bushfires. After witnessing the grief and trauma in her community and experiencing unexplained health issues herself, Robin began exploring vibrational sound as a for...

In this episode of The MITA Podcast, Tatjana speaks with architect Ngata Tapsell about Māori identity, ancestry, and belonging in modern Aotearoa New Zealand. After 12 years abroad, Ngata returned home to reconnect with his cultural roots. Together, they explore growing up between Māori and European heritage, the resurgence of te reo Māori, language loss, indigenous knowledge systems, and the stru...

In this deeply personal conversation, Tatjana sits down with Soledad, who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border at four years old after the sudden loss of her father. For nearly two decades, she lived in the United States without legal status - growing up undocumented in the country she would come to call home. This episode tells the human story behind the label “living undocumented in the U.S.” Beyond p...

Nearly 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today - and up to 1,500 could fall silent within this century. Tatjana sits down with Mandana Seyfeddinipur, linguist and director of the Endangered Languages Archive, to explore why language loss is never just about words - but about identity, power, and human diversity. Growing up between German and Persian shaped Mandana’s path toward documenting e...

Tatjana sits down with Patricia Grasmann, a Third Culture Kid who grew up across seven countries, to examine how a life shaped by constant movement forms identity without a single place to call home. Patricia reflects on growing up between Venezuela, Asia, and the U.S., the adaptability this lifestyle demands, and the often-unspoken grief of repeated, abrupt goodbyes. Together, they explore langua...

Welcome to The MITA Podcast A few years ago, I gave a keynote at Creative Mornings about roots. It opened up something I'd been thinking about my whole life: what does it mean to grow up between cultures? I grew up in Germany as the child of immigrants, speaking two languages, feeling connected to two places. It was beautiful, but frankly, it wasn't always simple. I was expected to hold on to my f...