Bryan Lan graduated from Western University in London, Ontario with a Bachelors of Management in Organizational Studies. Bryan is the Director of Annual Giving at one of the largest Universities in Canada and oversees a portfolio of diverse donors.

This episode is part of a series of conversations with first gen kids who went beyond conventional expectations and against the cultural grain for their careers.

Baljit Singh, known as B Singh, is a talented photographer based out of Toronto, Canada. Her background in content creation allows her to work on projects that aim to document brown bodies while exploring themes of nostalgia, immigration, and social issues in the South Asian community. Baljit has been a part of international exhibitions in Toronto, London, and California. Her work has been featured in publications like Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Flare Magazine, National Post, NBC, The New Republic, Huffington Post, Complex, The Fader and USA Today.

Website: www.bythekollective.com 

You can follow her on Instagram: @bsinghh

This episode is part of a series of conversations with first gen kids who went beyond conventional expectations and against the cultural grain for their careers.

Irvin Sidhu is an award-winning photographer with an international portfolio based out of Toronto. Irvin graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a BBA in Finance and works full time as a photographer and an entrepreneur.

Website: https://irvinsidhu.com

Instagram: @irvinsidhu 

This episode is part of a series of conversations with first gen kids who went beyond conventional expectations and against the cultural grain for their careers.

Keerat Kaur is known for her iconic pomegranate art as well as her two and three dimensional art that evokes dreamlike qualities inspired by Punjabi and Sikh culture. Keerat graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Visual and Arts and has a Masters of Architecture from the University of Toronto. She is an architect, visual artist, and student of music.

To view Keerat's art, and to purchase a piece of your own, visit her website: www.keeratkaur.ca

This episode is part of a series of conversations with first gen kids who went beyond conventional expectations and against the cultural grain for their careers.

Editors Notes:

First gen kids are often raised in complex homes where relationships are influenced by trauma that adults carry but are unable to speak about. Over time, these relationships evolve and change impacting our understanding of healthy relationships. In this episode, Ravina and I chat about generational patterns and how these impact our relationships with our family members and ourselves.

As an artist, Ravina uses illustration as a way to convey important messages and inspire change. You can view her art on her instagram page @ravinartoor  and purchase her prints on her Etsy page https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/ravinartoor.

Share your thoughts on this episode or recommendations for future episodes by sending me a message https://anchor.fm/firstgenkids/message.

Hyphenated identities are as diverse as the cultures, nationalities, sexualities, skin colours, and so on, of the people they represent. On each side of the hyphen, there are words describing different aspects of our identities and as first gen kids, we have found a home inside the hyphen. In this episode, Joyce and I explore the challenges and advantages first gen kids face growing up in the middle. 

To read Joyce's article please visit: https://medium.com/ualberta2017/life-in-the-hyphen-7b85e366718c

First gen women are raised in two cultures with competing expectations and gender roles. The identity conflict begins early and is magnified when they are married and enter a new family with different norms. In this episode, Harneet Chahal, Nav Gondara and I, explore the personal, cultural and social challenges faced by daughter in laws.

For many of us video games bring a lot of nostalgia. For immigrant parents, video games provided unsupervised, indoor play. For us as kids, it provided a lifetime of memories with friends and cousins. In this episode, Paul, Harneet and I talk about the evolution of the video game industry and how first gen kids face new challenges as players and as parents. 

Links referenced in the podcast

Behind the scenes at the Playstation factory

Video games and artificial intelligence

Esports in Toronto

Fair and Lovely recently announced that they will be changing the brand's name after being in the market for 45 years. In this episode, Dr. Harneet Chahal and I explore how Fair and Lovely is not just a problematic skincare brand, it profits off of systemic racism.