Perfect Strangers
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Perfect Strangers episodes

  • Couch, Pills and Toys: The intimacy of strangers

    Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti has spent years entering the private worlds of people he had never met. In Toy Stories, he photographed children around the world surrounded by their favorite toys. In Home Pharma, he portrayed people alongside the medicines they keep at home. And for his CouchSurfing project, he traveled through 58 countries, staying with perfect strangers. https://gabrielegalimberti.com/projects/

    In this conversation, Gabriele Galimberti takes us behind the photographs and into the encounters that made them possible. How do you convince parents to let you photograph their children? How do you ask someone to expose something as personal as the contents of their medicine cabinet? And what happens when you arrive in a foreign country and put your trust in someone you have never met?

    We talk about photography as a way of meeting people and crossing cultural boundaries and about what these intimate encounters reveal about our homes, possessions, vulnerabilities and relationships with strangers.

    35 min
  • Prosciutto and Love

    From a childhood love of prosciutto to opening La Jambe in Washington, DC, Anastasia shares a story driven by passion. She left her career in France and reinvented herself in the U.S., building something of her own. Along the way, she faced the shutdown of her bar during COVID while navigating pregnancy and the U.S. healthcare system. Her journey is inspiring.

    32 min
  • You can fall in love with who you want but ...

    Wally's story is a tale of a self made woman in the US, of love at a time in which she couldn't legally get married, of a journey that will bring her back to Italy after a life abroad.

    Music:

    trailer's music: Paris Gipsy Swing By Dieter Van der Westen

    music ending episode: Camille Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre by Kevin Mac Leod

    26 min
  • Being black but not African American in the US

    Kirk grew up in Florida from Jamaican parents. As a child and then a teenager it was a bit complicated for him. He was not recognized as  African American by African American kids  but was seen as one by other kids. He had to learn how to navigate different groups and be accepted. Today  he considers the skills he acquired along the way to have been essential to his success as an adult.

    To reach Kirk Nugent  http://kirkrnugent.com/

    Let's Meet! Grab 15 minutes on his Calendar - http://kirkrnugent.live/bookme

    Join the Community of Support - https://www.kirkrnugent.com/support

    Digital Business Card - https://www.kirkrnugent.com/card

    Music:

    trailer's music: Paris Gipsy Swing By Dieter Van der Westen

    Real Avatar (Jamaica) by Jah Henchman

    music ending episode: Camille Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre by Kevin Mac Leod

    26 min
  • When going Home means being an outsider again

    What can go wrong when you have an American accent, an

    American passport and your parents tell you you are going home after living 7 years in Uzbekistan? You will totally fit in, finally!

    At least that’s what Jessi thought. I discovered her story while reading a blog she wrote for Families in global Transition, an NGO which serves as a forum for mobile individuals.

    I was touched by the very authentic way  she described her 13 years old self facing difficulties she didn’t expect.

     I also discovered that she created a company named Kaleidoscope to help kids that go through the same type of difficult transitions.

    trailer's music: Paris Gipsy Swing By Dieter Van der Westen

    music ending episode: Danse macabre by Kevin Mac Leod

    22 min
  • Portable business for a portable life

    As daughter of a diplomat, Amel moved to new places from the day she was born. As an adult, she wanted to pursue a career in advertizing but it turned out to be incompatible with her nomadic life. Now she helps her clients create their portable business through her own portable company: Tandem Nomads.

    Tandem Nomads https://tandemnomads.com/


    31 min
  • Look at me in the eyes
    Jean-Michel arrived in San Francisco when he was 17. His own family history has taught him that sometimes life throws you lemons. He has worked tirelessly to end homelessness with new programs at Friendship Place since 2006.
    32 min
  • Being kind is not enough

    Jessica moved to the US from China more than 20 years ago . She shares with us how her work as a brand strategist helped her become a community builder and why she is on a mission to transform the public education system.

    Jessica's podcast: Duct Tape Rocket Ship

    31 min
  • Why is it hard to get along?

    Think of us as an elephant with a rider. To understand why it is hard to get along let's look at how human evolution developed our capacity to cooperate inside groups and how our intuitions guide our decisions. In this episode you will find a short summary of the book The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt and his hypotheses on why it isn't easy to get along.

    13 min

About Perfect Strangers

From the publisher's feed

Do you feel the call of the outside world? What is "home" for you? Is there a place where you belong ? In this podcast you will hear stories of people who moved. Expats, migrants, refugees, everyone…