Start with Your Name

Start with Your Name

By Lee KaplanSociety & Culture
Download on the App Store

Start with Your Name episodes

  • Season One Wrap-Up

    Here's a short look back at the first seventeen episodes from the inaugural season of the Start with Your Name podcast. We're already in production on season two and look forward to sharing many more of these stories with you.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    3 min
  • Episode 17: "Zeyd, Part II"

    Fleeing Kyiv with his girlfriend, Zeyd must decide where he wants to make a new life, away from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Fulfilling a childhood dream, Zeyd decides that this is the moment to move to Amsterdam and embrace a life in the Netherlands.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Denys Kyshchuk, Leigh Robinson & olexandrmusic

    17 min
  • Episode 16: "Zeyd, Part I"

    Answering to the name "Zeyd" is new for this week's guest, who is originally from Azerbaijan and was studying in Kyiv when the war broke out. Zeyd's journey is an exploration of life as a refugee from his own country and from war-torn Ukraine.

    Trigger warning: this episode contains discussion of domestic violence and abuse.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Denys Kyshchuk, Oleksii Kaplunskyi, Oleksii Kalyna, Sergei Chetvertnykh, Nate Loper & Rockot

    23 min
  • Episode 15: "Lee, Part II"

    Guest host Sofie van den Enk talks with Lee about the challenges of living abroad, what he's learned from other podcast guests and about their approach to naming their own child.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Dvir Silver, Laurent Buczek & Trygve Larsen

    15 min
  • Episode 14: "Lee, Part I"

    The host becomes the guest as Lee's wife and the executive producer of the podcast, Sofie van den Enk, takes the reins. Sofie speaks with Lee about the long history of their relationship, the email that changed everything and Lee's journey moving from Brooklyn, New York to the Netherlands.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Julius H., Ashot Danielyan, Pavel Bekirov, Anastasia Kir & Christian Scholl

    19 min
  • Episode 13: "Lior, Part II"

    Securing asylum in the Netherlands proves more challenging for Lior than for many others, mostly on account of her time in the U.S. military. Her path will take her into Kazakhstan and Russia before she makes her way back to the Netherlands.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Praz Khanal, Oleksii Kalyna, Ashot Danielyan, Denys Kyshchuk & Sergei Chetvertnykh

    25 min
  • Episode 12: "Lior, Part I"

    Born and raised in the capital city of Azerbaijan, Lior discovers two things at a young age: she's meant for a life abroad and she wants to know more about her Jewish roots. Our conversation is as much about her refugee story as it is her nearly lifelong pursuit of a Jewish life. After finishing her college career and spending time abroad studying in the U.S. Coast Guard, Lior returns to Azerbaijan and finds that she's no longer welcome there. She's jailed and released, seeks asylum and knows the situation will escalate if she doesn't find a way out.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Sergei Chetvertnykh, Anastasia Kir, Praz Khanal & primalhousemusic

    22 min
  • Episode 11: "Lina Part II"

    "Here. Now." This is the meaning of the tattoo that Lina bears on her right arm and the mantra that guided her through her journey away from Kyiv.

    We resume Lina's story as she's fleeing her home. It's February 2022 and the war in Ukraine has begun. Lina is headed west with a group of others she's just met in a bomb shelter in Kyiv. We follow her journey into Poland and, ultimately, to the Netherlands, where she contends with insomnia, an unexpected confrontation with a fellow Ukrainian and her desire to help those in need.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Zakhar Valaha, Oleksii Kaplunskyi, Yevhenii Kovalenko, olexandrmusic, Denys Kyshchuk & Aleksey Chistilin

    23 min
  • Episode 10: "Lina, Part I"

    Lina spent her childhood living in western Ukraine before moving to the capital city of Kyiv for university. She remained in Kyiv working in public relations and then took up freelance photography. Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2013 was a devastating blow for her country and for Lina's family, who'd spent many summers at their home in the peninsula. Less than a decade later, Lina awoke on February 24, 2022 to a world irrevocably changed.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Anastasia Kir, Denys Kyshchuk, Oleksii Kaplunskyi & Rockot

    24 min
  • Episode 9: "William, Part II"

    Arriving in the Netherlands, William discovers that his newfound freedom comes with its own set of risks and dangers. He spends a year navigating being a part of the refugee system and, soon after, alters the course of his career as the war in Ukraine begins.

    Theme song by Oleksandr Savochka

    Additional music by: Sergei Chetvertnykh & Luca Francini

    18 min

About Start with Your Name

From the publisher's feed

Each episode of the ”Start with Your Name” podcast features an immigrant / refugee / asylum-seeker who is starting from scratch and forging a new life in a land far from their own. The podcast offers each guest an opportunity to delve into their past and describe the circumstances that led them to make this change in their lives. The episodes afford you a moment to listen and hopefully to gain a better understanding of the immigrant / refugee experience. At a time when millions are being forced from their homes due to war, climate change and/or oppression, this is an opportunity to get to know someone from an entirely different culture who’s made a great sacrifice in search of a better life for themselves and their families.