Between Two Worlds with Dr. Phebe

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Season One may be officially over but Dr. Phebe is not leaving you hanging! Enjoy these notes as she prepares for the upcoming season of the podcast. Have a topic you’d like covered in the upcoming season? Send an email to [email protected]!

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!

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Between Seasons: Notes From an Immigrant Daughter.

Season One may be officially over but Dr. Phebe is not leaving you hanging! Enjoy these notes as she prepares for the upcoming season of the podcast. Have a topic you’d like covered in the upcoming season? Send an email to [email protected]!

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!

Send us Fan Mail

What can a 7-year-old teach us about identity, culture, and belonging? More than you might think.

In this special episode of Between Two Worlds with Dr. Phebe, I’m joined by my youngest and most honest guest yet…my oldest son, Kwame.

Kwame and I explore what it feels like to grow up between cultures through the eyes of a child. From being Ghanaian and American to family traditions, names, school, and the little moments that shape identity, this conversation is funny, heartfelt, and surprisingly profound.

As immigrant parents, we spend so much time teaching our children where they come from. But how often do we stop to ask who they’re becoming?

His answers reminded me that bridging cultures isn’t just about passing down traditions. It’s about listening, staying curious, and allowing our children to shape the conversation, too.

Whether you’re an immigrant parent, an adult child of immigrants, or someone raising children across cultures, this episode will leave you smiling, reflecting, and maybe even reaching for the phone to call your parents…or your kids.

Because sometimes the greatest teachers are the little voices we’ve been trying so hard to guide.

🎙️ If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review, share it with someone you love, and join the conversation on social media.

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!

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What if you’ve become so good at adapting to everyone else’s expectations… that you’ve forgotten who you are?

In this episode, Dr. Phebe Brako sits down with author, finance professional, and Stories Beyond Borders host Urmi Hossain for an honest conversation about growing up between cultures, chasing success, and searching for an identity that feels like home.

They unpack what it means to be fluent in multiple languages but struggle to express your own emotions, the pressure immigrant children face to prioritize stability over self-discovery, and why so many high-achieving immigrant daughters secretly battle guilt when choosing themselves.

They also explore:

Why success doesn’t automatically lead to self-worth

How code-switching can shape your identity

The hidden emotional labor of constantly adapting

What self-love looks like beyond motivational quotes

The immigrant habits that never leave you, no matter how successful you become

If you’ve ever felt too much for one culture, not enough for another, or wondered which version of yourself is the “real” one, this conversation is for you.

Because sometimes the hardest language to learn isn’t English, French, or Bengali…

It’s learning how to speak honestly about your own needs.

🎙️ Tune in for a conversation that will leave you laughing, reflecting, and maybe texting your sibling, “Did they secretly interview our family?”

Learn more about Urmi and her amazing work at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZoiI0SGU0Xo9_lNjtLWtgg and follow her on IG @urmamio

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!

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Have you ever felt guilty spending money on yourself?

Do you panic when your savings account drops below a certain number?

Do you secretly feel responsible for making your parents’ sacrifices “worth it”?

If you’re an immigrant child, this episode might hit a little too close to home.

In this powerful and deeply relatable conversation, Dr. Phebe sits down with money trauma therapist Diana Mena, LICSW of Esperanza Counseling & Consulting PLLC, to unpack the hidden emotional cost of growing up in immigrant families where money was never just money.

Here’s the tea:

• Why so many immigrant children tie their worth to achievement and financial success

• The guilt of saying “no” when family members need help

• What happens when children become the family’s retirement plan

• The emotional impact of watching parents sacrifice everything while still sending money home

• How financial parentification shapes adulthood

• Why setting boundaries can feel like betraying your culture

• How to support family without losing yourself

Whether you grew up hearing “Do you know how much we sacrificed for you?” or you’ve ever felt torn between honoring your family and living your own life, this conversation will leave you feeling seen, understood, and less alone.

Because healing money trauma isn’t about abandoning your culture.

It’s about learning that your worth is not measured by how much you produce, provide, or repay.

🎙️ Listen now and send this episode to the sibling, cousin, or fellow immigrant child who became the family financial planner before they were old enough to open a bank account.

Learn more about Diana and her amazing work at www.esperanzacounselingpllc.com and follow her on IG at esperanzapllc

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!

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Who Takes Care of the Daughter?

She’s the translator.

The caretaker.

The peacekeeper.

The responsible one.

The cultural bridge.

But who takes care of her?

In Part 2 of this powerful Immigrant Daughter Q&A, Dr. Phebe Brako explores the invisible labor many immigrant daughters carry and the emotional weight that often goes unseen.

Together, we discuss:

✨ Parentification and caretaking

✨ The pressure to hold families together

✨ Aging parents and guilt

✨ Navigating multiple cultural identities

✨ Why immigrant daughters struggle to rest

✨ Reclaiming joy, boundaries, and self-worth

This episode is equal parts validation, healing, and a love letter to immigrant daughters everywhere.

Because you shouldn’t have to lose yourself while taking care of everyone else.

🎙️ Listen now and send this to the immigrant daughter who is carrying more than she lets on.

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

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Part 1:

Immigrant Daughter Q&A: Why Does Choosing Myself Feel Like Betrayal?

Have you ever felt guilty for setting a boundary?

For moving away?

For choosing a life your parents didn’t envision for you?

For wanting peace?

In Part 1 of this special Immigrant Daughter Q&A, Dr. Phebe Brako responds to anonymous questions, confessions, and experiences submitted by immigrant daughters from around the world.

We unpack:

✨ The guilt of choosing yourself

✨ Why boundaries feel so difficult

✨ The pressure to be the “good daughter”

✨ The struggle between obligation and authenticity

✨ How to build confidence in your decisions without waiting for permission

If you’ve ever felt torn between honoring your family and honoring yourself, you’re not alone.

This episode is a reminder that becoming your own person isn’t betrayal. It’s growth.

Listen now and share with an immigrant daughter who needs to hear this.

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!

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"I Sacrificed Everything So You Wouldn't Have To. So Why Are We Still Missing Each Other?"
"I gave up everything for you."

If you grew up in an immigrant household, you've probably heard some version of that sentence. But what happens when a parent's greatest act of love becomes a child's greatest source of pressure?

In this powerful episode of Between Two Worlds with Dr. Phebe, Dr. Phebe sits down with a respected elder from the community - Dr. Emmanuel Anusiem, to explore the heart behind immigrant sacrifice, the fears that drive parental expectations, and why so many immigrant families struggle to feel understood despite loving each other deeply.

Together, they unpack:
• What immigrant parents hoped their children would gain from their sacrifices  
• The fears hidden beneath pressure around education, careers, and success  
• Why younger generations are choosing happiness, purpose, and mental health differently  
• The tension between gratitude and guilt  
• What both generations wish the other understood

This isn't a conversation about choosing sides. It's about understanding the love, fear, hope, and pain that often get lost in translation between generations.

If you've ever felt torn between honoring your parents and becoming yourself, this episode will stay with you long after it ends.

🎧 Listen, subscribe, and share with someone who needs this conversation.

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!

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Have you ever been told you’re “too American”… by the very people who raised you in America?

In this episode of Between Two worlds with Dr. Phebe, she sits down with Dorinda (Follow her on IG: nurturinggnature)  for an honest, funny, and deeply relatable conversation about growing up between cultures. Together, they unpack the unique experience of being raised with one set of values at home and another everywhere else.

From code-switching and cultural expectations to identity, belonging, and being told you’re “too Western,” this episode explores what it means to navigate two worlds while never feeling fully at home in either.

You’ll laugh, nod your head, and probably think about that one time your parents said:

“That’s not how we do things back home.”

Even though “back home” wasn’t where you were raised.

If you’ve ever felt too American for your family, but not American enough for everyone else, this conversation is for you.

At the end of the day, adapting isn’t betrayal and honoring your culture doesn’t mean losing yourself.

Listen in, and don’t forget to share this episode with someone who’s spent their life translating between worlds.

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!

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You walk into a function, minding your business… and suddenly your love life is under community review.

In this episode, Dr. Phebe Brako explores the infamous question many immigrant daughters know too well — “Where is your husband?” — and what it really means beneath the surface.

There's a special appearance from Mama Ceci and we unpack marriage expectations, cultural timelines, and the pressure that turns your personal life into public conversation.

If you’ve ever been single for five minutes and suddenly “time is going”… this one is for you.

Send your questions, topic ideas, and sponsorship requests to [email protected] or slide in my DM's on Instagram @drphebebrako

Remember we can only grow our audience with your support. Please share with your community!