An Immigrant’s Life

I had a conversation with the founder of @kahaani.io media, Niki Aggarwal. We talked about the story behind her name, being born in Napierville, Illinois but growing up in Vienna, Austria, being a strait-laced-school-loving-shy girl, living in a bubble and not able to integrate to Viennese society, meeting other “brown kids” at school that don’t have anything common with her, being surrounded by every “flavor of white”, her conscious decision not to be shy anymore because it made her feel trapped, how the “Yoni Ki Baat” group helped her find her people in college, quitting her job to start a company were she can write a historical narrative that is not Eurocentric. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: https://bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: https://bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

Links to Kahaani: 

Website: https://www.kahaani.io/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kahaani.io

I kicked it with the comedian Eva Alexo. We talked about her Greek-Brazilian roots, her constant lying growing up, her family’s obsession with calling the police for the inanest things, her self-diagnosed ADHD and autism, immigrant family's disbelief of learning disabilities, experiences in a Christian Camp, her food addiction, her weight loss surgery that changed her life for the better but brought new challenges, how she started comedy, Cancel culture, the comedian Mike Ward’s case, and why she started her comedy show Kickback MTL. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

Links to Eva’s accounts: 

https://www.instagram.com/evaalexocomedy 

https://www.instagram.com/kickback.mtl 

Be kind and laugh with us by sharing and subscribing

I had conversazione with the co-founder of "The Overseas Dream", Eugenio Rotondi. We talked about growing up in Montesarchio, Naples, Italy, why not making the military academy propelled him to immigrate to New York, how his goals helped him stay in the US, his opinion regarding NY Pizza VS Neapolitan Pizza, the importance of asking for help, being a consistent Dean’s Lister and still have time to volunteer at a soup kitchen, his eventual moved to Paris, how not practicing a language makes it goes away, how songs from our native lands speaks to our souls, how traveling/immigrating doesn’t always equal happiness, learning French makes it hard for him to enjoy living in Paris, how immigration made him stronger, and his advice for hopeful immigrants. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

Links to The Overseas Dream accounts: 

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/TheOverseasDream 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theoverseasdream 

Join the community and please share and subscribe. 

I had an enlightening talk with human rights advocate Izzy Joseph. We talked about her growing up in Palestine, her opinion about the conflict between Palestine and Israel, the oppression of the “colonizers” towards Palestinians, her luggage being stabbed at an Israeli checkpoint, being given a 30-minute warning by the army to go home or be shot dead (yes, even young children), her story of being caught in the streets and facing a bulldozer carrying Israeli armies, her neighbors being executed and their house being bombed for him wanting to smoke on his own rooftop, her trauma and being in a constant state of fear to this day, the importance of taking a break for the sake of your mental health, why she had to explain to multiple people why they need to immigrate to Canada, how systemic racism/classism in Canada propagates peoples fear of immigrants, why living in Canada doesn’t makes you automatically wealthy, being pressured to get married that cause her to fall in to a deep depression, divorcing her husband after a year, and how it led her to be happy again, being an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and the importance of addressing people with they preferred pronouns. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

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I had a proverbial “high tea” with the artist, Henna Bakhshi. She talked about her experiences growing up in a big loud Desi family in Kent, England. How the movie “Blinded by the Light” perfectly portrayed her childhood, growing up with dual-identity or what she called “split personality”, her badass mom, her grandad’s openness to educate her daughters in a strict Asian society, her experiences living in Bogota, Colombia, her Pakistani Cowboy dad’s wanderlust, two types of people talking about immigrants, the truth about the Hijab, why the word “Paki” became a derogatory word, preparing her young daughters for this crazy world, Sarah Everard’s murder, educating boys and men about toxic masculinity, and her IG account @Browngirlart that allowed us to cross path serendipitously. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: https://bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: https://bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

Links to Henna’s accounts: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/browngirlart/ 

Website: https://linktr.ee/browngirlart 

Be a friend and please share and subscribe. 

The 1st Year Anniversary Episode Available Now!  

We are bringing back the Safari Rāṇī, Shital Patel. She just came back from Kenya and wanted to talk about her experiences living there, and how much she loved it. We talked about our opinions how adaptive immigrants are, how traveling to 35 countries prepared her from living in Kenya, how she didn’t get “homesick”, why expect craziness when you live in a developing country, the Kenyan idea of “polepole”, and how she loves and embraces the chaos of Kenyan life. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

How to get in touch with Shital: 

Website: https://www.spcopywriter.com/ 

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I had a conversation with my long-lost friend, Johny Andrew. We talked about his parents’ complicated immigration story, being sent away from his family at a young age to Cornwall, Ontario, being homeless when he was a teenager, and his arduous road to his eventual success.

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

Thank you for your support, please share, and subscribe. 

I talked to Digital Marketer, Marivii Giminez. We talked about her experiences being a Canadian Argentinian, being told as not “Latina enough”, being judged as a brown girl at an Evanescence concert, taking care of her family at an early age when her mom fell ill, the friction between the vaccinated VS the unvaccinated, the state of live music performances after Covid, and how it affects her work in the music industry, and her struggles of balancing art and business. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

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I had a storytelling session with journalist & filmmaker, Gelareh Darabi. We talked about who inspired her to be a journalist, her family’s opportune escape from Iran before the revolution, her rebellion against her parents’ confusing parenting ways, our similarities of growing up in a matriarchal household, her reporting about the Amazon rainforest and whale sharks in the Philippines, her creative approach of how to save the planet, her concept of “Outing Your Shadow”, the situation and her connection with Afghanistan, the “Healing Generation”, and the power of storytelling. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

Everything Gelareh:  

Instagram: bit.ly/39yU2Ai 

Afghanistan's Female Park Rangers: bit.ly/3kzBiXJ 

GoFundMe Link for Afghanistan's Female Rangers: bit.ly/39w93Tz 

Please support those Afghan Female Rangers and their families.

I talked to real estate agent, Jean Dumont. We talked about his experiences living in Gatineau, Quebec and Côte-des-Neiges, racism in the 80’s towards Haitians, how diversity helped him to be a better person, teaching his daughter about racism, and he introduced me to “ubuntu” philosophy. 

👇🏽 ALL LINKS BELOW 👇🏽 

YouTube: bit.ly/3g0qe2g 

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/34KNRa2 

Spotify: spoti.fi/2S9eQJx 

Redcircle: bit.ly/3yZWX0m 

Instagram: bit.ly/2SW06Oc 

Facebook: bit.ly/3x0QLDP 

Be a friend and please share and subscribe.