I had looked forward to having this conversation with Shaya for a while now and it finally happened. Although it took a few tries and it almost did not happen because of you know, life, I'm glad we persevered and made it happened. The conversation took many twists and turns and it did feel like a great one to start season 2 with. Shaya comes from an Iranian-Armenian-Turkish heritage. But was born and raised in the U.S. The stories he shared about his parents' journey were jaw dropping at times. Hearing these stories of what the generation before you had gone through for you to have the life you have now is as always inspiring. He himself had been a soccer fanatic growing up, lived in Germany for a while, and used to sing, which we'll hear about in the Pod.

Shaya and I had connected through soccer less than a year ago at Northeastern. He has this aura about him that you can feel his genuine pure goodness within. He's a jokester at heart, and one can totally understand that when listening to the Pod. Oh, and he loves to take long range shots! (you will not know that from that Pod, oh, wait, actually, if you listen carefully you would ;)). I am grateful that we met and that I got to know more about him in this conversation; I surely learned a lot from his experiences, way of thinking, and communicating. Thank you Shaya.

I'm looking forward to see how you'll navigate through life in the years to come. And will always be a friend to celebrate your victories or be of support through difficulties. 

- Pedram