Americans of Bangladeshi descent
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2 episodes with bangladeshi american
2 episodes with bangladeshi american
2 episodes with bangladeshi american
2 episodes with bangladeshi american
2 episodes with bangladeshi american
Support AND/BOTH: Help us offset production costs while we're growingIn this episode of The And Both Podcast, Dr. Ashley welcomes Dr. Noor Ali, a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor turned health insurance consultant, community builder, and beverage brand co-founder. Dr. Ali shares her remarkable journey from immigrating to the U.S. at age five to becoming a surgeon abroad—and later pivoting her career after facing insurmountable red tape while trying to transfer her medical credentials back to the U.S.You'll learn:How to navigate major life and career pivots with resilience and intentionThe surprising health insurance options available to entrepreneurs (and why benefits shouldn't hold you back)Why motherhood and business ownership don't have to be at odds—and how Dr. Ali structures her week to honor bothWhat it means to be a multi-passionate entrepreneur and how to build sustainably across different business modelsHow Dr. Ali defines boundaries, self-care, and visibility in her personal and professional lifeQuestions Answered:What happens when your medical degree isn't recognized in the U.S., and how do you pivot after that?How can women safely and confidently leave corporate jobs without losing access to quality health insurance?What does it look like to create highly curated, impact-driven in-person networking experiences for women?How do you stay focused and productive while running multiple businesses and raising small kids?Why is honoring white space in your calendar and building slow, sustainable businesses critical?Connect with Ashley:Website: https://dovetaildesigns.coPodcast website: https://www.andbothpodcast.com/AND/BOTH Community: https://www.andbothpodcast.com/andboth-communityDovetail® App: https://airtable.com/appn6w6IWipJYIuA3/pagZys7UnECzM46iJ/formSocial:Instagram: @dovetailappFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dovetaildesigns.coLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyblackington/
Karen Richardson, NAWL's Executive Director, is joined by Rahat Babar, Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel of NAPABA, to discuss the current voting restrictions and the challenges faced by communities of color and immigrant communities. Rahat offers invaluable insights into the landmark Shelby County v. Holder case, detailing its impact on Asian and Pacific Islander American communities over the past decade and the ongoing effects of harmful political disinformation. Join us as we discuss some of the most prominent propaganda targeting communities of color this election season.A special thank you to NAWL member Mary Card Mina for making this episode possible. Rahat N. Babar is NAPABA's Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel. In this dual role, Rahat leads NAPABA's advocacy, civil rights, and policy priorities, and he serves as NAPABA's chief legal officer overseeing the legal affairs of the organization.Rahat's commitment to public service and to the Asian Pacific American community has long defined his career. Nominated by the Governor of New Jersey and unanimously confirmed by the New Jersey Senate, Rahat served as a Judge on the Superior Court of New Jersey, the first Bangladeshi American to be a member of the court. Immediately prior to his appointment, Rahat was Special Counsel to New Jersey Governor Philip D. Murphy, overseeing all high-profile litigation impacting the Governor and the Administration. Previously, he was the Director of Community Engagement at the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, where as part of Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal's Executive Leadership Team, he led the Attorney General's efforts to strengthen the office's relationships with community leaders, faith leaders, and the public. Rahat held several other leadership roles within the Attorney General's Office, practiced in a boutique corporate law firm, and taught law and public policy at Temple University Beasley School of Law as an Adjunct Professor.Rahat is a former member of NAPABA's Board of Governors and a former chair of NAPABA's Civil Rights Committee. He previously served as President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania and served on the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey. NAPABA recognized Rahat as one of NAPABA's Best Under 40 in 2018.Rahat earned his undergraduate degree in International Area Studies from Drexel University and his law degree from Delaware Law School, where he served as an editor of the law review. During his last year of law school, Rahat externed for Chief Justice Myron T. Steele of the Supreme Court of Delaware, and after law school, Rahat clerked for Judge Renée Cohn Jubleirer of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
Lalita du Perron talks to CSA-Markaz fellow Zarif Ahsan and Abbasi-Markaz fellow Arwa Faruk, who both identify as Bangladeshi-American, about recent events in Bangladesh.
NYU student-activist and Bangladeshi-American, Adrita Talukder, discusses the protests in Dhaka and why Bangladeshis are celebrating the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasini
Brief summary of show: In this episode of the Motherhood Village podcast, we are joined by special guest Dr. Noor Ali, a Bangladeshi American medical doctor turned health insurance expert, who shares her journey of motherhood and entrepreneurship. Dr. Noor discusses strategies on managing multiple businesses through time blocking, prioritizing tasks, and outsourcing. She also shares the inspiration behind her ventures, including her platform, 'Think Like a Woman,' and her new beverage brand, 'Happy Panda.' Our conversation goes into practical tips for maintaining peace of mind, setting boundaries, and the importance of gratitude in achieving personal and business goals. We talk about: 00:00 Introduction and Guest Background 01:15 Favorite Book Recommendation 03:16 Time Management Strategies 06:27 Google Chrome Profiles for Productivity 08:21 Letting Go of Control 10:46 Outsourcing and Delegation 16:47 Negotiation and Asking for What You Want 18:48 The Birth of 'Think Like a Woman' 19:44 Creating Curated Experiences 24:16 Balancing Ambition and Gratitude 30:04 Introducing Happy Panda 32:58 Final Thoughts and Connection Resources The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan Connect with Dr. Noor https://drnoorhealth.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.noorhealth/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/think.likeawoman/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drinkhappypanda/ Connect with Nicole Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.motherhood.village1/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The.Motherhood.Village1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolegcumberbatch/ https://www.themotherhoodvillage.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNzy4b2WHCxvP1k8lL0dvIA
Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Chaitali Sen interviewed Gemini Wahhaj, author of the debut novel The Children of this Madness. In The Children of this Madness, Gemini Wahhaj pens a complex tale of modern Bengalis, one that illuminates the recent histories not only of Bangladesh, but America and Iraq. Told in multiple voices over successive eras, this is the story of Nasir Uddin and his daughter Beena, and the intersection of their distant, vastly different lives.Gemini Wahhaj is a Bangladeshi American writer living in the US. She wrote her debut novel The Children of This Madness as a new immigrant in the US, while she was a graduate student in the creative writing program at the University of Houston and war raged in Iraq.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com
Dalit Dreamlands Curator Manu Kaur As April is both Dalit History Month and Poetry Month, we bring you a fantastic spotlight of a brand new exhibition that just opened up right here in Oakland called Dalit Dreamlands. We also get talk to Vamsi Matta, a Dalit artist from India whose work “Come Eat With Me,” an interactive theater show highlights how food and vegetarianism is an integral part of casteist discrimination in India and here in the diaspora. As part of our tribute to Poetry Month that is April we also bring you a poignant discussion with Tanzila or Taz Ahmed, a prolific Bangladeshi-American artist and poet from LA talk about her new compilation of poetry, Grasping At This Planet Just To Believe, that she has written over the years, during the holy month of Ramadan. The post APEX Express – April 18, 2024 – Dalit Dreamlands and Taz Ahmed Poetry appeared first on KPFA.
Ever wondered how the subtle comments about appearance within a family can shape a child's perception of themselves? Join me as we unpack the story of Zubi, a young Bangladeshi-American girl grappling with self-worth and body image in the children's book "Beautifully Me" by Nabila Noor, illustrated by Nabi H Ali. This episode is a deep dive into the silent echoes of adult insecurities that resonate with children, and the transformation that occurs when a family confronts their unintended impact on a young mind.Zubi's first day of school adventure and her family's eventual awakening serve as a mirror to our own behaviors and the powerful influence they hold over the young ones around us. The discussion will leave you reflecting on the importance of nurturing positive self-esteem and challenging the pervasive norms of diet culture. Through the lens of Zubi's experiences, "Beautifully Me" brings to light a message of gratitude and the intrinsic value of beauty, inspiring a celebration of diversity and the push for a more inclusive, multicultural education. Let's explore together how we can foster a healthier, more accepting world, starting with the conversations we have in front of our children. COME SAY Hey!! Instagram: @cultrallyjebeh_ Facebook: @JebehCulturalConsulting Pinterest: @Jebeh Cultural Consulting LinkedIn: @Jebeh Edmunds Leave a Review on our Podcast! We value your feedback!Are you ready to take your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to the next level? Sign Up for My Free Workshop: 3 Massive Mistakes To Avoid When Learning About DEIhttps://jebeh-edmunds.mykajabi.com/pl/2148161149Save time and effort with our informative newsletter that offers strategies, tools, resources, and playlists from the culturally competent and socially just educator and creator Jebeh Edmunds! https://jebehedmunds.com/digitalcourse/email-signup/
Dr Chumkee Aziz is a first generation Bangladeshi-American and native Houstonian. She is a board-certified shelter medicine veterinary specialist and currently works for the University of California, Davis' Koret Shelter Medicine Program as a pro-bono shelter consultant. She volunteers with Houston's Street Dog Coalition chapter and supports underserved, Houston-based students who want to obtain post-secondary education training. She is an avid birder, likes to go camping, and loves movies.
Struggling to find your shine amidst the daily grind? We got you! Take a page from Dr. Noor Ali's book as we intertwine wisdom on self-worth, healthy self-care rituals and confidence together. A Bangladeshi-American doctor and health insurance specialist, Dr. Ali opens up about her transformative journey from self-doubt to embracing her true potential.This episode isn't just about finding confidence; it's a celebration of personal growth no matter where you are in your personal journey. Noor also openly shares about the often glossed-over conversation surrounding women and money, reinforcing the importance of de-stigmatizing profit goals, financial ambition and owning our financial narratives without guilt.As the episode progresses, expect to leave with a message of kindness—to yourself and to others—as you courageously step forward on your path. Connect with Dr. Ali here: https://drnoorhealth.com/
Join Paulette and Dr. Noor for this conversation on "There's options for every situation, don't feel lost of discouraged. Find a professional you like and trust and work with them. " About Dr. Noor: Dr. Noor is a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor turned health insurance expert from NYC. She currently runs her own health insurance consulting practice out of Tampa, Florida offering healthcare insurance strategy to female founders all over the nation. Dr. Noor is also the founder of Think Like A Woman, a platform designed to amplify the aspirations and ambitions of female founders, worldwide. She hosts a highly curated roundtable business networking brunch called The Empresaria Brunch Experience. When she is not working on managing her current businesses or building her next retail venture, you can find her curled up in bed with a good fiction book. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thebetterdivorcepodcast/message
On this episode, Naushad UzZaman discussed cybersecurity, distortion of public opinion, and the use of artificial intelligence and data analysis to combat them. Naushad holds a PhD along has over two decades of experience in Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing, and has applied expertise in both academic research and social enterprise that comes from time spent at leading firms such as Nuance, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Bosch - and now at Blackbird.AI. Naushad is responsible for the development of Blackbird's Narrative & Risk Intelligence Platform, and along with his team, has built a unique series of scalable AI and network analysis modules that detect rare risk signals of threats. The real-time AI-powered narrative detection and risk intelligence platform is used by leading enterprises, Fortune 500's, and large government organizations, globally. In this session, we learned about: Naushad's personal background and how he came to be in this space His career, key companies he was part of, and experience building teams, products, and businesses Deep dive into how Blackbird AI was founded and built Thoughts on Bangladesh and how to connect the ecosystem with NRBs like himself
In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Dr. Noor Ali about the future of healthcare and health insurance. Dr. Noor (https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnoorhealth/) is a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor turned health insurance expert from NYC. She currently runs her own health insurance consulting practice out of Tampa, Florida offering healthcare insurance strategy to entrepreneurs all over the nation. Check out all of the podcasts in the HCI Podcast Network! Check out the HCI Academy: Courses, Micro-Credentials, and Certificates to Upskill and Reskill for the Future of Work! Check out the LinkedIn Alchemizing Human Capital Newsletter. Check out Dr. Westover's book, The Future Leader. Check out Dr. Westover's book, 'Bluer than Indigo' Leadership. Check out Dr. Westover's book, The Alchemy of Truly Remarkable Leadership. Check out the latest issue of the Human Capital Leadership magazine. Each HCI Podcast episode (Program, ID No. 627454) has been approved for 0.50 HR (General) recertification credit hours toward aPHR™, aPHRi™, PHR®, PHRca®, SPHR®, GPHR®, PHRi™ and SPHRi™ recertification through HR Certification Institute® (HRCI®). Each HCI Podcast episode (Program ID: 24-DP529) has been approved for 0.50 HR (General) SHRM Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCPHR recertification through SHRM, as part of the knowledge and competency programs related to the SHRM Body of Applied Skills and Knowledge™ (the SHRM BASK™). Human Capital Innovations has been pre-approved by the ATD Certification Institute to offer educational programs that can be used towards initial eligibility and recertification of the Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD) and Associate Professional in Talent Development (APTD) credentials. Each HCI Podcast episode qualifies for a maximum of 0.50 points.
In this captivating episode, host Mike C-Roc welcomes the remarkable Dr. Noor Ali, MD, MPH, CPH to share her extraordinary journey from a promising surgical career to becoming a health insurance expert. Dr. Noor, a Bangladeshi American medical doctor, offers a unique perspective on her experiences and challenges, providing insights into her resilience and unyielding optimism. Dr. Noor runs her health insurance consulting practice in Tampa, Florida, focusing on providing healthcare and strategic solutions to female founders nationwide. She is also the visionary founder of Think Like A Woman a platform dedicated to elevating the aspirations of female founders globally. The episode delves into her role as the host of the curated business networking brunch, the "Impresaria Brunch Experience." The conversation takes an intriguing turn as Dr. Noor discusses her love for fiction books as a form of escapism. The dynamic between host Mike C-Roc and Dr. Noor unfolds with humor and camaraderie, showcasing their shared appreciation for the power of storytelling. As the episode unfolds, Dr. Noor shares the deep personal challenges she faced during her medical studies in Bangladesh, highlighting the culture shocks and perseverance that shaped her into the resilient individual she is today. The narrative explores her upbringing in New York City, the influence of her grandfather, and the pivotal moments that led her to pursue medicine. The episode takes a reflective turn as Dr. Noor delves into her persistent optimism, a quality she attributes to her innate nature. Listeners gain insights into her unwavering positive outlook, even in the face of adversity and cultural challenges. Dr. Noor candidly shares her experiences of culture shocks and reverse culture shocks, emphasizing her ability to thrive in demanding situations. The conversation shifts to her accelerated medical program in Bangladesh, where she faced hardships like language barriers, food struggles, and resource limitations. Despite these challenges, Dr. Noor excelled in her studies, graduating among the top three in her class with a promising surgical career ahead. Listeners are treated to a deeper understanding of Dr. Noor's unique journey as she narrates her decision to leave Bangladesh and return to the United States. Her story takes an unexpected twist as she recounts a whirlwind romance that led to a sudden marriage, providing a fascinating insight into her life choices . As the episode unfolds, Dr. Noor discusses the struggles she faced upon returning to the U.S., including a pivotal moment where she failed a licensing exam by a narrow margin, leading to a profound reevaluation of her career path. The narrative explores her transition to Florida, her decision to enter the field of health insurance sales, and the resilience that fueled her transformation. This episode is a powerful exploration of Dr. Noor Lee's journey—highlighting her challenges, triumphs, and the unshakeable optimism that defines her approach to life. Listeners will be inspired by Dr. Noor's resilience, courage, and commitment to empowering female entrepreneurs in the realm of health insurance and beyond. Website: https://thinklikeawoman.co/ https://drnoorhealth.com/ Social Media Links/Handles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnoorhealth/ https://www.instagram.com/think.likeawoman/ https://www.tiktok.com/@think.likeawoman
Dr. Noor Ali simplifies the beast of United States health insurance—and shares insider tips for making the most out of yours. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) How to evaluate the biggest non-salary piece of your compensation. 2) Why you shouldn't limit yourself to your company's health insurance. 3) What most people overlook when it comes to insurance. Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep920 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT DR. NOOR — Dr. Noor is a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor turned health insurance expert from NYC. She currently runs her own health insurance consulting practice out of Tampa, Florida offering healthcare insurance strategy to female founders all over the nation. Dr. Noor is also the founder of Think Like A Woman, a platform designed to amplify the aspirations and ambitions of female founders, worldwide. She hosts a highly curated roundtable business networking brunch called The Empresaria Brunch Experience. When she is not working on managing her current businesses or building her next retail venture, you can find her curled up in bed with a good fiction book. • Website: DrNoorHealth.com — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Book: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig — THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • UpliftDesk.com. Build your dream workstation and get 5% off with promo code AWESOME See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Ever wonder what makes people take that leap and pivot into a second or even a third act? My Boston-based guest moved from a successful career in consulting to non-profit leadership, and now to landscape design! So inspiring to hear how this dynamic and passionate Bangladeshi-American has jumped into new fields and established her own business. I'm particularly partial to this topic as a plant and garden design nerd myself, and I hope you'll take away some inspiration to plan your own garden for next spring, or even your own career pivot!Listen in as Shoma shares tips on successfully switching into a new career, and also ideas for making your outdoor space more sustainable and wildlife-friendly! Hear our chat now on your favorite podcast app, Spotify or iTunes and please take a second to rate us wherever you're listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 86:Read more about Shoma's work on her website and follow her on instagram Doug Tallamy's books and Homegrown National Park websiteBBC Gardener's World (available via Britbox in the US)Books we discussed:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of PlantsThe Garden Tourist: 120 Destination Gardens and Nurseries in the NortheastKitchen Garden Revival: A Modern Guide to Creating a Stylish, Small-Scale, Low-Maintenance, Edible GardenPlanting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient LandscapesQuestions? Comments? Get in touch @theindianeditpodcast on Instagram ! Want to talk gardens? Follow me @readyourgardenSpecial thanks to Sudipta Biswas and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!
Mentioned in the Intro... Try my absolute FAVORITE nutritional yeast, Noochylicious HERE.Make sure you register HERE for the Thrive Against All Odds Summit [FREE]!------------------------------------------“My dollar is my vote. I tell my students that every day when they feel helpless. You're not! Everything you purchase, everything you consume, everything you use... That is your contribution to society. And I think when you make that choice every day, every moment, leading with someone else being at the forefront of your decisions. That's a selfless life. That is a life that I am proud to be a part of, because I feel like we are on the right side of history.” -Shabnam IslamI'm especially excited to be sharing today's episode with you, because I got to meet my guest, Shabnam Islam, in person for the first time just a few months ago at the Vegan Women's Summit where she was speaking. And it seems crazy that we hadn't met, because as you'll hear (or see if you're watching on YouTube), we get on like we've known each other for years which makes for a super fun and deep conversation. Stay tuned until the end to learn about The Vkind experience… a plant-based fully immersive epic event coming up November 11th and 12th in Los Angeles. Check out the show notes for a link to learn more and code for 10% off your tickets. Some of the topics we cover:How Shabnam came into the vegan lifestyle, and her fascinating life and career journeyThe advice Shabnam has for her students when they are feeling like they don't know how to make a difference in the worldThe intersectionality of injustice and what we can do about itIntriguing science on metabolism, disease, dietary fat, protein, and sugar So much more!Shabnam is a global health educator and first-generation Bangladeshi-American vegan, a Professor of Kinesiology, Clinical Exercise Physiologist, television host, and spokesperson for health-based projects across the country. Shabnam is currently completing her Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy where she continues to develop sustainable and affordable public health programs for communities in need.VIEW THE FULL SHOW NOTES AND GUEST BIO & LINKS HERE ---------------------------------------Please LET'S CONNECT!
Dr. Noor is a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor turned health insurance expert from NYC. She currently runs her own health insurance consulting practice out of Tampa, Florida offering healthcare insurance strategy to female founders all over the nation. When she's not working on her health insurance company, she is hosting events for Think Like A Woman, a platform designed to amplify the aspirations and ambitions of female founders, worldwide. She lives with her toddler son and husband in sunny Tampa, Florida. In this episode of Takin' Care of Lady Business®, Jennifer Justice and guest Dr. Noor Ali delve into the complexities of healthcare coverage, discussing everything from the challenges foreign-trained doctors face to the benefits of private versus public insurance. Dr. Noor, a healthcare expert, shares her knowledge of the industry and offers guidance on how to navigate the sometimes-confusing world of health insurance. Dr. Noor introduces listeners to Think Like a Woman, a platform empowering woman in business to reach their full potential and make meaningful connections. Here is what to expect on this week's show: Why working with a health insurance advisor can help in choosing the best plan by conducting a needs-based analysis and finding coverage tailored to individual medical needs and budgets. How insurance brokers play a crucial role in the healthcare industry, providing ongoing support, advice, and policy writing expertise. Ways "Think Like a Woman" aims to empower career-driven women by offering curated business networking events and a private Slack community for connecting with like-minded individuals. Quotes: "Don't give up hope. There are options out there for small business owners, and it's important to keep exploring until you find the right one for you." – Dr. Noor Ali "Remember that obstacles and challenges are part of the journey, but they don't define you. Keep pushing forward and never give up on your dreams." – Dr. Noor Ali https://drnoorhealth.com https://thinklikeawoman.co https://www.instagram.com/think.likeawoman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is TRT World's Daily News Brief for Friday, June 16. *) Greece criticised for watching refugee boat disaster in the Mediterranean Nine survivors of a refugee boat sinking in the Mediterranean have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling as hope faded for hundreds of other passengers still missing. Attention has now turned to Greece, who is accused of failing to act before the overcrowded ship capsized. The trawler may have carried as many as 750 passengers, including women and children. Greek authorities were criticised for not acting to rescue the refugees and migrants, even though a coast guard vessel escorted the trawler for hours and watched helplessly as it sank in minutes. Greek officials argued that the migrants and refugees repeatedly refused assistance and insisted on continuing to Italy. But legal experts said that was no excuse for Greek officials' non-interference. *) US holding talks with Iran to lower tensions — report The United States is holding talks with Iran to sketch out steps that could limit the Iranian nuclear programme, release some detained US citizens and unfreeze some Iranian assets abroad, according to Reuters, citing Iranian and Western officials. These steps would be cast as an “understanding” rather than an agreement requiring review by the US Congress, where many oppose negotiating with Iran. Having failed to revive a 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Washington hopes to restore some limits on Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran says it has no ambition to develop a nuclear weapon. The willingness to restart discussions illustrates the rising sense of urgency in Western capitals about Iran's programme. *)Trees uprooted, roofs blown off by cyclone in India's Gujarat Roofs were blown off houses and trees and electric poles uprooted in several parts of India's western state of Gujarat as a severe cyclone Biparjoy made landfall overnight bringing heavy rain. No casualties were reported as of Friday morning. More than 180,000 people were evacuated in India and Pakistan in the last few days as authorities braced for the cyclone. *) Attacks in 2023 displace ‘nearly 1 million' in the DRC Attacks on civilians by non-state armed groups have increased, displacing one million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo since early 2023. An estimated 6.1 million people are internally displaced, a 17 percent rise from October 2022, the International Organization for Migration said. As the conflict intensifies, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, and millions are facing acute food insecurity as well as other critical needs, the UN agency added. The agency said at least 46 people, including children, were killed in an attack earlier this month by members of the CODECO militia at a refugee site in Ituri province. And finally… *) Nusrat Jahan Choudhury is first Muslim woman to serve as US federal judge The US Senate has confirmed along party lines Nusrat Jahan Choudhury as the first Muslim woman and the first Bangladeshi American to serve as a federal judge. Senators approved Choudhury's nomination in a 50-49 vote with one Democratic senator siding with all Republicans who voted in opposition. Choudhury will now be a US District Judge in New York. Choudhury previously served as a legal director at the A-C-L-U rights group. She graduated from Columbia University, Princeton University, and Yale Law School. And that's your daily news brief from TRT World. For more, head to trtworld.com
Dr. Noor is a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor turned health insurance expert from NYC. She currently runs her own health insurance consulting practice out of Tampa, Florida offering healthcare insurance strategy to entrepreneurs all over the nation. When she is not working on building her businesses, you can find her curled up with a book or coloring with her toddler. Connect with Dr. Noor: Free 15 min Consultation Website Instagram Join the Embrace Community on Instagram here: www.instagram.com/embrace_your_bravery My mission is to inspire women to live a life they LOVE by embracing their bravery and following their dreams. This Podcast shares the stories of women who dream and aspire to live fully as their favorite versions of themselves—dreaming big + living out their purpose + passions along the journey of life. What I'm LOVING... Like Minded Collective, an amazing group of female founders/entrepreneurs who inspire and collaborate on this FREE social networking platform where we build genuine relationships + weekly workshops! Join us here, https://www.likemindedcollective.com/?ref=robyntaylor1 XO, Robyn --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robyn-taylor95/support
Hi there, Today I am delighted to be arts calling Anuradha Bhowmik! (www.anuradhabhowmik.com) About our Guest: Anuradha Bhowmik is a Bangladeshi-American poet and writer from South Jersey. She is the 2021 winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize for her first collection Brown Girl Chromatography (Pitt Poetry Series, 2022). Bhowmik is a Kundiman Fellow and a 2018 AWP Intro Journals Project Winner in Poetry. She earned her MFA from Virginia Tech. Her poetry and prose have appeared in POETRY, The Sun, Quarterly West, Nashville Review, Indiana Review, The Offing, Bayou Magazine, Crab Orchard Review, Zone 3, The Normal School, Copper Nickel, Salt Hill, and elsewhere. Brown Girl Chromatography, now available: from University of Pittsburgh Press! https://upittpress.org/books/9780822966920/ from Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Brown-Girl-Chromatography-Poems-Poetry/dp/0822966921 My sincere thanks to Anuradha for taking the time to have this powerful conversation. -- Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com). If you like the show: leave a review, or share it with someone who's starting their creative journey! Your support truly makes a difference! Go make a dent: much love, j https://artscalling.com/welcome/
When it comes to going full-time in your business, one of the scariest things (at least in the US) can be figuring out where to get health insurance. Because healthcare (for now, at least) is tied to employment, going full-time in business means navigating the often hard-to-understand world of insurance - or even forgoing it entirely and hoping for the best. In this episode, I'm talking to Dr. Noor of Noor healthcare about navigating the world of health insurance as an entrepreneur. Dr. Noor is a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor turned health insurance expert from NYC determined to turn the health insurance industry on its head. She has done this by redesigning the customer experience journey when it comes to purchasing health insurance. She currently runs her own health insurance consulting practice out of Tampa, Florida offering strategy to entrepreneurs all over the nation. Dr. Noor offers all her consultations at no charge. She uses her clinical education and training from Bangladesh, experience in studying healthcare systems globally, and years of public health practice to offer services that place the consumer at the core. Download Dr. Noor's Health Insurance Guide here or schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation here. Learn more about The Strategic CEO group program and get a free Strategy Session to learn how to grow to consistent $5k months at www.by-sasha.com/the-strategic-ceoGo to https://betterhelp.com/strategy for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help. Support the showPart of the Boundless Audio Podcast Network
A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. This Thursday APEX Express proudly presents “South Asians and The Labor Justice Movement.” This episode highlights Sandhya Jha, a pastor, founder and former Executive Director of the Oakland Peace Center, and racial, housing, and labor justice activist. In the first half of the episode, we discuss Sandhya's life, their path into organizing, and what they're up to now. The second half is dedicated to their recent project with the South Asian American Digital Archive's Archival Creators Fellowship Program. This episode was interviewed, produced, and edited by Swati Rayasam Follow @Sandhya Jha on Facebook and check out Sandhya's website https://sandhyajha.com/ APEX Express is a weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Listen to the episode live on KPFA 94.1 in San Francisco, 89.3 in Berkeley, and online at KPFA.org. References throughout the Show and Links: Without Fear Consulting Interfaith Alliance Oakland Peace Center Book – Blueprint for a Revolution Book – The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad Podcast – Bending Toward Justice: Avatar the Last Airbender for the Global Majority The Alliance of South Asians Taking Action – ASATA Bay Area Solidarity Summer South Asian American Digital Archive Archival Creators Fellowship Program Sandhya Jha's project, you can listen to all of the oral histories here. Solidarity Forever Online Exhibit Arab Resource and Organizing Center Block the Boat No Tech for Apartheid University of California Labor Center Equality Labs California Trade Justice Coalition NAFCON – National Alliance for Filipino Concerns Filipino Community Center Madhvi Trivedi Patak Transcript: South Asians and Labor Justice [00:00:00] [00:00:00] Swati Rayasam: Good evening everyone and Happy Thursday, my name is Swati Rayasam. While I'm usually in the background of APEX Express editing, this week I'm honored to bring you a piece from a dear friend of mine Sandhya Jha. We explore Sandhya's background as a mixed race kid, a housing, labor, and racial justice organizer, and a faith leader. [00:00:50] Swati Rayasam: And then we dive into an amazing project, Sandhya did for the South Asian American Digital Archive's Archival Creators Fellowship program. Stay locked in.[00:01:00] [00:01:00] Swati Rayasam: I'm really excited actually today to talk to Sandhya Jha, who is a really close friend of mine. Hi Sandhya. Hi there. Sandhya is, a Pastor is a consultant and has been working on this really amazing project with the South Asian American Digital Archive that will get into later in the episode. But yeah, Sandhya I'm just really excited to learn more about you and to hear more of your story and, let's just dive in. [00:01:26] Swati Rayasam: Absolutely. [00:01:27] Swati Rayasam: We should first talk a little bit about how we know each other, you have this long organizing background. I've been in the Bay Area for the past seven years and I would be totally lying if I said I have not historically been, or I'm not even currently an active fangirl of yours. You are literally a pastor. You are a movement worker, how did you get involved in organizing? [00:01:53] Sandhya Jha: Yeah. So I am the product of my parents who were generous, compassionate [00:02:00] people who thought about the world beyond themselves, but were never involved in organizing or activism or anything like that. I think for anybody who comes from immigrant backgrounds, it's hard to tell our stories without naming who we come from. Right. And so my father was Sunil Kumar Jha from the village of Tildanga in West Bengal. My mother, who is still alive is Jeanette Campbell Jha. She is from Glasgow. So I come from a mixed religion and mixed race home. My parents chose not to name me Sandhya Campbell Jha not to give me that kind of grounding, but I was called Sandhya Rani Jha, which is a lot to live up to, well, yes, Rani does mean Queen. But it was actually handed down to me, part of the reason they wanted that middle name was it was my aunt's name, Durga Rani Upadhyay and she was the one who really [00:03:00] brokered my mother's acceptance into the Indian family and I think that there was something about being accepted on the Indian side of the family and not for many, many years on the Scottish side. That caused my parents and particularly my mother to double down on making sure I knew who I came from and who I came from was my people in the village of Tildanga. [00:03:23] Sandhya Jha: I grew up in Akron, Ohio, so we immigrated to this country when I was a toddler, in the late 1970s, which was a complicated time for Asian immigrants to be in the Midwest because it was a time that the rust belt was rusting and there was a growing sense that we were the reason. But also I grew up alongside folks who were trying to figure out how to put food on the table. So I think that landscape shaped me in a lot of ways. And I also come from people who grew up in poor working communities. And[00:04:00] when I went off to college, there was an organizing campaign. The board of directors of the university had created a for-profit corporation with the exact same board. [00:04:15] Swati Rayasam: Oh wow. [00:04:16] Sandhya Jha: So that the universities could subcontract all of their catering, all of their custodial work to this… basically Shell corporation. [00:04:28] Swati Rayasam: Are we telling on the university? [00:04:29] Sandhya Jha: Mm, Yeah. Why not? It was Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and I think that's relevant because the tension between Black communities next to Johns Hopkins Medical School and the school itself were very real because this was part of a very long history of exploiting community members. So the workers were organizing, and you know, I had read about activism, I cared about it. I paid as much attention as I could for a high school student. But when I got to college, this organizing [00:05:00] campaign was going, and the workers were really clear, Hey, college kids who are excited about this, we do have a role for you. It's to fill the crowd. It's to cheer us on. It's to when we ask you communicate to the university that our well-being matters to you because they will listen to you in different ways. But the campaign centered the workers and was really clear with us about what our role was because we were the folks with all the privilege by getting to be there, right? We had tons of privilege and it was a really good lesson for me. I am so grateful. The first organizing campaign I was a part of was a labor campaign that understood what it meant to center the people who were the most impacted by injustice and I think that shaped the rest of my career. [00:05:46] Swati Rayasam: And that's so special too because I think for many people who come into organizing, and I will definitely cop to this myself, like coming up and organizing through high school and college level organizing. When you are a student, nobody ever [00:06:00] tells you that actually you are the least useful kind of organizer that exists. Right. You are in this incredibly enclaved community. Your oppressor, the university, all they have to do is wait for you to graduate institutional memory will not keep you. Yeah. Right. And I think that it is, it's this perfect storm of, you have actually sometimes cool ideas, sometimes very rudimentary ideas, but you also have this turnover issue and you have this sense of self import, which often comes with your teens, early twenties. Yep. As you're just figuring all of that out. So Yeah, self differentiation, right? It's a narcissistic phase in our development. . [00:06:46] Swati Rayasam: It absolutely is and I think that's so important, and I can't imagine how my life would be shaped if I didn't have to spend a lot of time unlearning the self import and narcissism that I had gained through student [00:07:00] organizing. [00:07:00] Sandhya Jha: Yeah. No, I am really, really grateful for it. [00:07:02] Sandhya Jha: My first job outta college was working for a member of Congress, which sounds super fancy and pretentious, but, a member of congress from Akron, Ohio. So put that all in perspective. His name, believe it or not, was Tom Sawyer. Oh, wow. What I loved about Tom was back in those days, he believed very strongly that 80% of legislation was nonpartisan and that was the part that he spent most of his time on. He would weigh in with his party, when they were dealing with that 20% pretty consistently. But he was more interested in the stuff that everybody could agree on and I remember for about 15 years after I worked for him, I looked back and found myself thinking that was so naive. How did he not understand where we were about to head with the divisions between the political parties? But at this point in my life, I realize the people I respect most in organizing work keep pointing out that the binary of [00:08:00] left and right actually doesn't serve us very well. One of my biggest heroes in the movement right now is the Reverend Dr. William Barber, [00:08:07] Swati Rayasam: Hometown hero of mine. Yes. [00:08:09] Sandhya Jha: Poor People's campaign from North Carolina. And he always talks about how it's not about right and left. It's about right and wrong. And it turns out that when we engage in organizing with the awareness that there are huge swaths of things that most of us are well served by, we can do better organizing. And that was actually how Tom was legislating. And at a certain point I realized that my deep passion was around racial justice, but the distinct experience I had in a multi religious household was an awareness of how religion was being used as a weapon. I had an obsession. Every paper in college I wrote was about the Christian coalition, this right wing, organizing body in the nineties. So a friend of mine [00:09:00] said, You know, there's an interfaith organization working against the Christian Coalition. And it was called the Interfaith Alliance. Her mom had been a superintendent in Washington state in eastern Washington and was a pretty conservative person by my standards. [00:09:18] Sandhya Jha: But, Dr. Chow believed in multiculturalism and believed in teaching evolution. And the Christian coalition had organized to push her out of her position as superintendent and the Interfaith Alliance of Washington State had supported her in that time. [00:09:38] Sandhya Jha: And so Liz said, you know, they've got a national chapter, a national office. And that's where I ended up, cutting my adult organizing teeth which was great because talk about learning lessons for our current moment where religion is being weaponized in ways that are anti-trans, that are anti-queer, that are anti-women, that [00:10:00] are anti reproductive rights, that are anti-immigrant and refugee. I am really grateful to have experienced the power of multi-faith organizing, around a lot of those same issues. So that was what I did in the early two thousands and then I went to seminary and public policy school, and then I ended up out here pastoring a congregation of 10 people in a building of 40,000 square feet. [00:10:29] Sandhya Jha: And long story short, that's how the Oakland Peace Center was born, was out of this dream of cultivating deeper collaboration among nonprofits who were dedicated to a shared cause. The Oakland Peace Center, which is a collective of 40 different nonprofits committed to dismantling the root causes of violence in our community. I was the founder of that organization and it was when I was pastoring First Christian Church of Oakland that I asked the handful of folks who were members of that church, what they wanted to [00:11:00] contribute to the community, and they said they wanted to contribute peace in the midst of violence. And for a dozen folks to have given birth to a space that in non pandemic years, saw over a hundred thousand people do things like the Lawyers for Black Lives Conference and to do Kingian non-violence training and to be a part of food and clothing distribution, to participate in all the very diverse ways that we can create peace is pretty impressive. [00:11:30] Sandhya Jha: And a couple of years ago, I left the Oakland Peace Center because a colleague of mine said, Anybody can run a non-profit. We need you to do what you're actually good at, and what she meant by that was we need more people of color doing diversity, equity, and inclusion work that is actually grounded in power analysis. That isn't just how do we be nicer to each other in the workplace, but how do we recognize the ways that systems of white supremacy [00:12:00] unconsciously often shape the culture of our workplaces? And what do we do to dismantle that white supremacy culture so that we can be building nonprofits and institutions of higher education and faith organizations, and even corporations that are dedicated to our full liberation, our liberation, the lands liberation. [00:12:23] Swati Rayasam: I mean coming, especially from the place that you come in grassroots organizing and in faith based organizing, what is it actually to transition into this kind of consulting space around racial justice and really interface with a lot of people that I feel like as organizers, we don't really talk to? [00:12:42] Sandhya Jha: One of my favorite things about this shift in my work is I love getting to work with folks who don't think of themselves as organizers, who, it turns out are organizers, Right. I think we sometimes create a cult of here's what an organizer looks like, you [00:13:00] have to be a Martin Luther King or a Cesar Chavez and what I love is getting to work with moms and with teenagers and with folks who think of themselves as caring, compassionate, individuals, and when I go into an organization and work with their handful of folks who care about this issue, the DEI team, I get to teach them how to strategically organize. I get to teach them how do you create culture shift over time? I get to teach them how do you figure out who your allies are? How do you figure out how to move people who are neutral? It turns out that there are a lot more organizers out there than we realize if we don't create one definition of what an organizer needs to look like. [00:13:45] Swati Rayasam: I have been reading this political scholar Eqbal Ahmed, who really talks about the way the burden is on those of us who are deeply committed to movement work, narrow definition people, the burden is really on us to try and [00:14:00] create a liberatory future that feels both achievable. Mm-hmm. and safe for everybody. Because when people engage in mass struggle and in revolution, there are people who are a hundred percent willing to put their lives on the line. People who are willing to die for the cause. And we absolutely need those people. And there are many people along the spectrum who, if you can create a future that feels like it's within their grasp, they will come with you. [00:14:30] Sandhya Jha: Yep. I teach a lot of organizing classes and have gotten a chance to teach alongside my beloved colleague BK Woodson at Allen Temple Baptist Church, they have a leadership institute there. And one of the books we use is Blueprint for a Revolution by Srđa Popović. And I feel like I learned a lot as we read that book together and thought about how to apply it to the work we're doing in Oakland. They talked about how by engaging in nonviolent direct action, [00:15:00] they created space for elders to be a part of their work and youth to be a part of their work and families to be a part of their work. By making the movement playful. They gave people hope and gave people courage because dictators are terrified of being mocked. [00:15:17] Swati Rayasam: Yeah, exactly. And I think by being really restrictive or narrow about who we view as actually valuable organizers. And I think labor movements teach us this a lot, right? We really cut ourselves off at the knees on our ability to build a network or to be in touch with the general population, many of whom are more connected than we ever give them credit for. [00:15:41] Sandhya Jha: Yeah. Yep. it's part of why I love labor organizing. I talk with a lot of people who are disenchanted with organizing who ask me how I can have stayed involved for the past 25 years. And why I've been able to stay in it is cuz I'm organizing alongside workers and they have [00:16:00] full lives. And the work that they're doing in the movement is so that they can live their full lives. And there's something about having that perspective and recognizing the why all the time instead of getting lost in the weeds of the what. Is so important in this work. I think that has been a big theme of my organizing life is how do we build to the greatest common denominator? As my friend BK often says how do we build towards those shared values that often get erased when we are engaged in the right versus left debate. [00:16:39] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. I think that it is so important and I also think that it's really hard in this moment of what feels like constant trauma and re trauma. [00:16:51] Swati Rayasam: And to some extent especially when we're talking about the left right dichotomy there are real concerns [00:17:00] about safety. Yep. And there are real concerns about security and who you are in community with and who you can find even the smallest level of acceptance from to ensure that you won't have violence visited upon you. And I think that these conversations of united front organizing, Right. trying to bridge across difference mm-hmm. for a shared goal, for a shared liberatory future Yep. Are really important. And they feel kind of impossible to achieve right now. [00:17:31] Sandhya Jha: It's interesting cuz I think that in many ways that is true. There are a lot of conversations that I think people with privilege expect, people who are marginalized to engage in. And those expectations are unfair, what I found very frustrating was the number of people with a lot of privilege who would be like, Ugh, I just can't talk to those people. And I'm like, Then who's going to? Exactly. and so I do think that some of this is about being willing to have [00:18:00] hard conversations in the places where we have privilege and recognizing who's at actual risk and showing up in ways that are protective of who is at risk. But that doesn't mean walking away from people who aren't where we are. Right. Because the fact of the matter is everybody's on a journey. And I have watched at the same time some of the disposability culture in movements write off people without giving them any way to address harm, repair harm, and find a pathway back into community. [00:18:41] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. And I think that's why, at least I am feeling really hopeful about, what I've seen over the past couple of years, this really important track into transformative justice and restorative justice, to acknowledge that there is harm that has happened, there are harms that happen every day between people. [00:19:00] And also we are all on our own journey to unlearn the things that we have been taught either directly or indirectly by our upbringing, by our environment and that you cannot easily dispose of people and that people are able to come back into community. Now that comes with a very important caveat that like they recognize the harm. Mm-hmm. that. They have done or how they've been party to it, that they acknowledge that there is healing work that needs to be done both with the person that they harmed and also probably in internally. [00:19:35] Sandhya Jha: Well, and the community, folks who don't do RJ on a regular basis tend to skip the community aspect. Yeah. That there is actually repair that needs to be done with community and there's work community needs to do to figure out how to re-embrace reabsorb people who have done harm in ways that still protect the person who's been harmed. [00:19:55] Swati Rayasam: Exactly. In ways that do not erase the harm that has happened, but [00:20:00] acknowledge, contextualize it and say, Okay, we are patching this and we are working to move forward in step with each other. Absolutely. [00:20:09] Sandhya Jha: Can I just say that one of the other things that I think you and I have in common is a real passion for bringing joy back into the work of Justice I quote Fabiana Rodriguez a lot on this particular thing, because I was at an event she was doing eons ago, and she looked out at us and most of us were activists and she said, Listen, y ‘all you keep inviting people to a struggle. I'm on your side and I don't wanna join a struggle. I want to join a party. And that was like a call to arms for me when I heard her say that. I was like, Oh my gosh, you're right. We are so much more fun. Like, I've hung out with people who are anti-trans and anti queer and anti-immigrant and anti refugee. They are not fun people. No, no. We have all of the best parties. So I don't know why we don't [00:21:00] capitalize on that more. So I think the role of joy and justice is so important. And this is why I was so excited to have you on the podcast that I launched recently. [00:21:11] Sandhya Jha: Right. Bending Towards Justice Avatar the last Airbender for the Global Majority. [00:21:15] Swati Rayasam: So literally like bringing it together. Two of my favorite things right, is like TV shows, wholesome TV shows like Avatar, The Last Airbender that I deeply love and organizing. Yes. All the work that I love. And I think it's true You know, what is actually really the important work is to work to build toward a future that is desirable Yep. That people want to be a part of. Yeah. That people can see happen. Yeah. And I think that is a lot of the difficulty that I have seen in some organizing circles. We are so well versed in what we are against and all of the things that are bad that so many people have a really hard time seeing or visioning or communicating [00:22:00] what it is that we are fighting for. Yeah. Right. And it's not enough to say, I'm fighting for a world where we can all be safe. Right. Yeah. I'm not, I'm fighting for a world where we can all take long naps in the middle of the day if we'd like to do that. Right. Yeah. But like really building and visioning that future of like, in this world in which we are all safe, there will be harm that happens. How do we deal with that? Yeah. What do we do with that? How do we make sure that it is able to keep everybody safe and also able to account for the times in which it is not able to keep everybody safe. [00:22:38] Sandhya Jha: Visionary does not have to mean naive. And we need it to be visionary. And sometimes I forget to do the visionary stuff. I've got a colleague, Dave Bell, he's a farmer who is also an anti-racism trainer and we do a lot of work together. He's a white guy who lives in White Swan, Washington, on the reservation and I remember being at a training with him and I [00:23:00] was all fired up and I was so excited about the conversations we were having and the people were really ready to do the hard work and roll up their sleeves. And Dave says to them, I would like to not have to do this work. And I'm like, What is he talking about? This is amazing. We're doing such good work. And he says, I would like for us not to have to talk about racism all the time. I would rather be farming. I would rather be, taking care of the cows in my field. [00:23:26] Sandhya Jha: I would rather be talking about my pottery work that I'm doing badly but learning how to do, I would rather be doing anything than have this conversation. But I don't get to be on the farm with the wheat, with the cows, with my bad pottery until we figured out how to do this anti-racism work. And it was a really humbling moment for me because I also get into that like I'm an organizer, that's my identity space. And it was this reminder of Dave's doing this. So he gets to live in a world where he gets to hang out in the fields and he [00:24:00] gets to, love on the cows. There's something about being reminded that we're doing this so that eventually we don't have to do it. That I think is actually visionary in its own way and it's important. [00:24:12] Swati Rayasam: Moving into a little bit more of the grit of like why I asked you to be on the show today. I met you originally when I moved to the Bay Area when you were the executive director of the Oakland Peace Center because At that time I was doing organizing work with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, which is a 20 year old bay area based organization, that was really founded around the Laki Reddy Bali Reddy sex trafficking. Yep. Caste and labor exploitation case that happened in Berkeley in 1999. And I was just so thrilled to be around and have in community so many rad desis. And you also did work with ASATA, right. Historically and are actively doing work with us. [00:24:56] Sandhya Jha: Absolutely. One of the places I think I invested the most [00:25:00] energy in where we got to spend a lot of quality time in the kitchen was one of the projects, Bay Area Solidarity Summer, an organizing institute, camp, however you wanna refer to it. [00:25:10] Swati Rayasam: Political education, Summer camp. [00:25:12] Swati Rayasam: Yeah, exactly. For young South Asian Americans who are committed to activism. What I think was the most beautiful part of that program when I was involved in it, and it's still the case today, is for young South Asians who think that they're the only ones who care about justice issues, who haven't met other people, who are South Asian, and identify as justice seekers first to meet each other and realize that there are people just like them. Then to look around and realize that those of us who are usually 10, 15, 20 years older than them are also committed to the work and have been doing it for decades. And then for them to get exposed to the long history of radical visionary organizing and activism of South [00:26:00] Asians here in the US and also in the homelands of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and diasporic countries all over the world. [00:26:13] Sandhya Jha: There's something about realizing, Oh, you have contemporaries, oh, you have elders, oh, you have ancestors. Mm-hmm. Especially in the face of the model minority lie that so many of us have had imposed on us, this lie that all we are all we're supposed to be is cogs in this larger capitalist machine that are non disruptive, which is why we're allowed to survive. And if we are non disruptive enough, we might even be able to be comfortable. And to discover that there's more to our story than that is so exciting and I love, love, love being a part of that. [00:26:52] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. I think that is like fundamentally one of the most important kind of activities that [00:27:00] happens in the ASATA universe, I was a kid who also grew up thinking that there were no other South Asians like me, or there were no other folks who were interested in justice. I spent a lot of time doing, reproductive and queer justice in the south; I always think about what would it have meant if I came in, BASS for 18 to 24 year olds. Yep. what would it have meant if I had come in at a fresh 18 and been able to basically be apprised of the fact that I have this history Yeah. That it's not just me. And that actually, immigration and white supremacy and neo-colonial culture has created this project of assimilation that all of our parents have been in on, in a way to survive Yeah. And to be safe. And I tell my, I tell my mom that a lot because she's always a little surprised about the organizing work that I do. And I was just like, Your job was to survive. My job is to liberate. Yeah. [00:28:00] You know? Yeah. And I could not do that if you were not so focused on creating that environment for me. [00:28:07] Swati Rayasam: I love that. [00:28:07] Swati Rayasam: we'll drop in the show notes, but, BASS – Bay Area Solidarity Summer is solidaritysummer.org. So we'll put that in the show notes as well as ASATA, the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action is ASATA.org. And yeah, I think that is a really good segue into how we got involved in this amazing project. [00:28:31] Swati Rayasam: You're tuned in to APEX express at 94.1 KPFA and 89.3, KPFB in Berkeley. And online@kpfa.org. [00:28:43] Swati Rayasam: I think it was Fall 2021 that you and I were talking. Yep. And you were telling me that you were involved in this amazing archival fellowship project. Is run by the South Asian American Digital Archive and [00:29:00] that you were going to do your project about labor. Mm-hmm. and South Asians. Yep. And my immediate, incredibly naive response was, how many South Asians are there in labor? [00:29:12] Sandhya Jha: Exactly. And it's not naive. It's interesting cuz I think that this project actually emerged out of my favorite part of BASS, which was when the young adults would ask what their opportunities were in the world of justice. And I would say, you know, there's a place for us in labor justice. It had never crossed most of their minds. Right. We don't think of ourselves as having a role especially in formalized unions. And so SAADA, the South Asian American Digital Archives has an archival fellows project. And the whole purpose of it is to diversify their archives and collect the stories that are usually overlooked in the telling of South Asian American stories. [00:29:56] Sandhya Jha: And they have done a great job over the years of collecting the [00:30:00] stories of informal organizing, like the Punjabi Taxi Drivers campaign, the Bangladeshi Nail Workers Campaign. Those were informal labor organizing campaigns. That have been really well archived and they're amazing stories. I wanted to make sure that the next generation of South Asian activists knew about the South Asians who were actually part of the formal organized labor movement. [00:30:30] Sandhya Jha: And so I spent this past year interviewing, maybe a half a dozen or so South Asian American workers. Generally, not always, but mostly what would be classified as low wage workers who found a pathway into formal organizing bodies, unite here or the building trades or any number of the formal unions that keep [00:31:00] the labor movement alive across the country today. And I'm really proud of the fact that we do have South Asian workers who have moved up the ranks to be official organizers or to be at negotiating tables. And so that's part of the story I thought it was worth us telling. [00:31:19] Swati Rayasam: And I am, I'm so excited that we get to dive deeper into this project and I really love your framing too, around the three large bins that you have, solidarity, spirit and struggle. [00:31:34] Swati Rayasam: Right? Yeah. Yeah. [00:31:35] Sandhya Jha: I started out with certain assumptions about what I was going to learn, partly because I've been doing labor solidarity work for 25 years at this point. I really thought I knew what I was gonna hear. And what I discovered was there were these consistent themes across, the interviews. that there were these notions of, Oh, what's meaningful to me is [00:32:00] getting to organize across cultures, getting to organize with people who, on the surface and even deep down are very different than me, but we share this vision of what our lives can be. And so that solidarity message I found really powerful. Also, and admittedly because I come out of a spiritual background, was probably looking for it. I was really struck by how many of the interviews ended up talking about the role of spirituality and shaping people's values. And in a couple of instances, organizers said, what my religion taught me was that religion needs to be challenged. And building up that muscle was what helped me challenge systems of injustice in other places. But others said that their journey with their faith tradition was what guided them into the work of labor organizing. [00:32:52] Sandhya Jha: And then that third bucket of struggle, I think is the lived experience of how [00:33:00] hard it is to take on oppressive systems of capitalism, how hard it is to take on decks that are stacked against us and what it means to have somewhere to turn in the midst of those struggles. I will say there were also a couple of lessons I was surprised by because my South Asian identity is so central to my organizing work, I was expecting to collect stories of people who were proud South Asians, who were also proud to be involved in the labor movement. And I assumed that they would see connections between those things because I certainly do. But what I discovered is for the most part, they were like, Yeah, I'm South Asian. I'm not saying that doesn't matter, but it's not super relevant to my organizing work. My organizing work is about [00:34:00] our cross-cultural solidarity. And that was something I hadn't been expecting that emerged as I did those interviews. Interesting. And I'm really grateful that the South Asian American Digital Archives likes telling all of the stories because I think I promised them that what they were going to get was, we're proud to be South Asian organizers. And what I got was, yeah, we're South Asian, we're proud to be organizers. And the that SAADA is like, yeah, that's part of our story too. [00:34:28] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. And I think that's, that I think is incredibly important. We have this really, amazing series of audio clips from your SAADA interviews that really represent a lot of the themes that you were highlighting about solidarity, spirit, and struggle. And I'm just really excited to play them as we talk through these larger themes in your larger project and the experience of South Asian labor organizers. [00:34:55] Swati Rayasam: This clip is from somebody that you and I both know, which [00:35:00] is Prem Pariyar. I was so thrilled that Prem was a part of your project. I think Prem is an incredible organizer, so yeah tell our listeners a little bit about Prem. Prem [00:35:09] Sandhya Jha: It was pretty exciting to get to work with him you know, he moved here from Nepal and in Nepal he had been a Dalit activist and he came to the United States and had this notion that in the United States there is no caste and he was disabused of that notion very quickly as a restaurant worker dealing with anti Nepali bias in Indian restaurants, dealing with caste bias in Nepali restaurants, well dealing with Caste bias in all the restaurants. [00:35:35] Swati Rayasam: Hey, everyone, Narrator Swati here, I just wanted to put in an explanatory comma, a la W Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu to talk about some terms you just heard. Sandhya referenced that Prem was a Dalit activist and also talked about Caste bias. For those of you who don't know, Caste is a violent system of oppression and exclusion, which governs social status in many south Asian countries, although it is [00:36:00] most commonly associated with India. It works on an axis of purity and pollution, and it's hereditary. At the top of the caste system are Brahmins, by the way Sandhya and I are both Brahmin, and not even at the bottom, but completely outside of the system are Dalits who were previously referred to by the slur untouchable and Adivasis who are indigenous to South Asia. [00:36:25] Swati Rayasam: Despite being “illegal” Caste bias, Caste Oppression, Caste apartheid, are still prevalent, both in South Asia and as Sandhya references, in the United States. It manifests in many ways that people experience racial injustice, via socioeconomic inequality, systemic and interpersonal violence, occupation, and through the determination of marriage and other relationships. You can learn more at EqualityLabs.org and APEX currently has a show in the works that delves into this more deeply. Now. Back to Sandhya [00:36:58] Sandhya Jha: What is [00:37:00] delightful to me is Prem went on to get an MSW and is building out amazing mental health resources for Dalit communities for the Nepali community. Seeking to build out a program where there are more and more people in Nepal who are trained with MSW skills. [00:37:21] Sandhya Jha: I met with one of his professors from CSU East Bay where he got his degree and she said, You know, that the entire Cal State system is adding caste to its anti-discrimination policies thanks to the work he started at CSU East Bay. And it was really beautiful to hear that because the focus of my conversations with him were more around how his experiences in the restaurants led him into the solidarity work with nail salon workers. [00:37:53] Swati Rayasam: To just, kick back to the caste abolition work that Prem has been doing, that caste abolition work [00:38:00] at CSU East Bay has been such critical work in these ongoing conversations around caste that have been in the South Asian community primarily, but have been percolating elsewhere. [00:38:13] Swati Rayasam: You know, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Cisco systems Yep. For caste discrimination in their workplace and there have been all these conversations around caste and tech work and interplay that with the no tech for apartheid work. Right. That has been happening in Palestinian liberation circles. Yeah. And really building that solidarity movement. So I think that Prem is an absolute powerhouse Yeah. In that regard. But yeah, let's listen to this clip. [00:38:42] Prem: During that time, I got connected with other community organizer, like workers group. I got connected and so I was connected with nail salon workers, who were exploited at their workplace and with them, [00:39:00] I got to go to the capital in Sacramento. And so I thought I need to advocate for the restaurant workers. that was my first experience, like working with other workers and with the assembly members and like other other policy makers I shared what is happening what kinds of discrimination happening at the workplace. So I advocated for the restaurant workers at that time. I shared my stories and I supported the rights of nail salon workers. I was there to support them and they supported me as well, and it was wonderful. And finally that advocacy worked. And the bill was drafted and it was passed finally. And so it was huge achievement at that time. [00:39:49] Swati Rayasam: I love that. I think that is such a perfect story of when you win, we all win. [00:39:56] Sandhya Jha: And what I also love about it is he goes on [00:40:00] to talk about how he has remained in relationship with those nail salon workers. That they show up for each other, that they take each other food, that they show up to each other's baby showers and birthday parties, and there's this sense of community that emerges out of this shared struggle. And so that's a cross-cultural campaign. They were mostly Vietnamese. There were some Bangladeshi nail salon workers, but it was mostly people from a different culture than his. [00:40:27] Sandhya Jha: But somebody at the Asian Health Services program that he was at, saw his gifts, saw his passion, and he really responded to that in exactly, the most powerful way. I can imagine. [00:40:38] Swati Rayasam: And I think one of the nice things as well about that is that person at Asian Health Services connected Prem in and the Nail Salon Worker group, California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, Prem came from Nepal, I'm not sure, but the extent to which his organizing background and how comfortable he was in the US organizing space around labor [00:41:00] issues was probably significantly less that worker group took it upon themselves when they saw Prem come in to say, Oh, you are advocating on behalf of restaurant workers. Great. Why don't you join us? Let's help support and so the nail salon workers saw Prem, saw solidarity with Prem and said, It is our responsibility mm-hmm to bring you into this space to connect you in and to move in, struggle together. Yeah. Toward our shared goals of safety, of health, of rights. Yep. [00:41:35] Sandhya Jha: Exactly. [00:41:36] Swati Rayasam: So, we have this clip from Daljit, tell me a little bit about Daljit. Daljit [00:41:42] Sandhya Jha: Yeah. Daljit was an attorney who now reads tarot for people because she needed a break from the toxicity of that career and how it was taking her away from her family. Daljit is a deeply spiritual person and, [00:42:00] as I mentioned before, this theme of spirit showed up in some really beautiful ways in some of the interviews. I loved the way she understood her Sikh tradition as foundationally being connected with the land and foundationally connected with the people who work the land. [00:42:15] Daljit: Agriculture is our culture and the religion that I was born into, Siki, the founder of that faith was a farmer. And so a lot of the scripture, the analogies, the metaphors, the poetry, the music, the songs, the boon, the traditional folk songs, that can be taunting and teasing banter, all that stuff the land is the framework for that. And my most favorite line from the Guru Granth Sahib, our holy book, is, [speaks Punjabi] and that basically means that, the waters our guru, the airs our father, but our mother is Earth. And that's the greatest of all , and that's adherence to ecosystem. That's the [00:43:00] indigenous Cosmo vision that should be paramount. And that's what I try to teach my children. And so I think that's what I was taught as a kid without necessarily being able to pinpoint it, but it was just infused throughout our songs, our music, our food, the Harvest, there's two times a year that our celebrations, whether it Baisakhi or Lohri. It's so connected to the harvest and what is coming out of the soil or not. And you're connected to the cycles of nature. [00:43:28] Swati Rayasam: The connection between nature land, spirituality the way that it shows up in so many faith backgrounds and so many faith organizers, I think is really, really beautiful. [00:43:41] Sandhya Jha: And I love that Daljit Kaursoni who was raised in this tradition, has found her way to Buddhism and is raising her kids with those connections, but without ever losing this grounding in the liberation of the land, the liberation of the [00:44:00] people. [00:44:00] Sandhya Jha: And for that to be a key element of her spirituality, even as her spirituality evolves, I think it's pretty powerful. Tafadar [00:44:08] Sandhya Jha: One of the other people I got to interview ,Tafadar, he's a Bangladeshi American in the building trades and is a deeply committed Marxist. For me, this was a particularly exciting interview because I'm Bengali, so from West Bengal, before partition, Bangladesh and what's now West Bengal, were one state. And so it was fun to get to talk with him and to say, Hey, this is our legacy as Bengalis is radical worker organizing. [00:44:40] Sandhya Jha: And I remember saying to him, Some people in the building trades are not super excited to be working with brown people. And some people in the building trades are a little biased against women. And as a very, very progressive South Asian? How do you navigate that [00:45:00] space? [00:45:00] Sandhya Jha: And he said, Here's the thing is, yeah, I organize alongside some moderate to conservative white folks from New Jersey and he said, but in the building trades, if that moderate to conservative white guy from New Jersey decides he doesn't like my feminist politics, or he doesn't like my brown skin, if he decides that's a reason not to train me, he might die. And it was really interesting because even though I've been doing labor justice work for a long time, it was one of those moments I was like, Oh, right. Your work is very dangerous and you all have to rely on each other whether you like each other or not. That is the magic of organizing that no one ever talks about. This is why we can do cross class, cross-cultural work because literally you have to trust each other with your lives. Right. That was a really clarifying moment for me. And it was one of those interesting moments where I was like, [00:46:00] Solidarity is not a romantic thing. Uh, it is very much a matter of life and death. [00:46:05] Sandhya Jha: And I think that is really important and that exact thing that you brought up, you don't even have to necessarily trust somebody. Right. But you do need them. Yep. Right. And like that really clear understanding that like your fates are intertwined and it is truly in everybody's best interest. If you are trained well, irrespective of whether or not at lunch, I'm interested in sitting anywhere near you. I think that's really great. [00:46:32] Sandhya Jha: One of the things that was really exciting about talking with Tafadar was the reminder that labor organizing and formal union organizing at its best can be in solidarity with other movements really worker justice and housing justice and racial justice are inseparable, on some level. And so, one of the most inspiring stories I got to hear across all of these interviews [00:47:00] was a campaign that brought together folks across the anti- gentrification, the immigrant rights, and the labor justice movement. [00:47:14] Tafadar: It's ironic, building affordable housing with deadly exploitation. And, um, to do this, the de blassio administration, they embark on massive major rezonings of poor areas to relax the local zoning laws to be able to bring in these developments. And a couple of years ago, my, my union in local 79's. Took a very sharp turn towards a community organizing approach because labor can't win on our own, and that's the perspective that all of labor should adopt. In order to fight against the sweatshops in our industry. We united with a lot of community organizations in the South Bronx. [00:47:53] Tafadar: We formed the South Bronx, Safe Southern Boulevard Coalition. And along with these groups, we [00:48:00] protested and did a whole lot of activism, lobbying, community organizing to stop the rezoning of Southern Boulevard, which is a massive stretch in the South Bronx, while the De Blassio administration had succeeded in another part of the Bronx where there's like massive displacement still underway right now. And we were determined to stop it there. And it was a beautiful thing that we can unite because on our end as labor, we had to prevent all these trash companies from coming in and exploiting workers. And we were working with these tenants who are afraid of being displaced. And people generally, we do need revitalization of our neighborhoods. We do need investment. We do need things to be changed and made better. For us. If it's not for us, if it's done without us, then eventually we're not even gonna be here anymore. So we had that alliance going on and not only did we manage to stop that rezoning, we also educated the local city councilman on why his position was wrong and supporting the rezoning. And he eventually completely flipped this [00:49:00] position. And now chairs the land use committee of the city council from the perspective that we educated him on, which it's just been a very interesting dynamic. But, there's a lot of rezoning battles all over the city that's like the main front of anti gentrification struggles. And I've been watching those kinds of campaigns go on since I began organizing about 15, 16. I've seen very different approaches to them, but I've never seen any model really work until that one kicked in where Labor and the community came together. So that was one of my favorite campaigns because of that lesson that we were able to concretely put into practice and set as an example for not only for community movements all over New York City, but also for Labor. [00:49:43] Sandhya Jha: I think this hit me in particular because I've done so much work around antis displacement in Oakland, and my experience has been. [00:49:53] Sandhya Jha: That while for most of us on the ground, the connection between housing justice and labor justice is really clear. When you [00:50:00] start getting into the technical policy issues and the funding issues, the folks who are running labor and housing justice or affordable housing, struggle to find ways to collaborate. And it's been one of my consistent heartbreaks for at least a decade at this point because I work at the intersection of those things and sometimes I despair of us being able to find ways to move forward together. And so to hear a story like this one and to be reminded at core, those justice issues can and must be we already knew, must be, but actually can function together to build a better community. That was actually really life giving for me to hear. [00:50:45] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. I a hundred percent agree. And I think the point that Tafadar as well brings in the clip of just saying we knew that we could do this, but we knew we couldn't do this without community organizing. Right? Yeah. That labor couldn't do this alone. Yeah. [00:51:00] And I think that is a lot of what, when we talk about solidarity politics, it's not just a backdoor way of inclusion for inclusion's sake, we have to all do this. Actually, it is integral that all of us are involved in any of these campaigns because it impacts all of us. And because we are not going to win with only a single constituency and in the very same way that, Tafadar was identifying that labor couldn't do that alone. in community organizing spaces that you and I have been in mm-hmm. , like we are constantly talking about how we cannot do any of this without labor. Yep. And I think a beautiful example of that is the Block the Boat campaign yeah that the Arab Resource Organizing Center, started back in 2014 and then again during 2021 to block the Zim ship from the port of Oakland. And like this community organization [00:52:00] AROC could not do that without working with the longshoreman to collaborate with the port workers. And I think that when we see the marriage of community organizing and labor organizing, that is when we get the power of grassroots organizing. [00:52:16] Sandhya Jha: Something I wanna mention about the SAADA Fellowship that I was really grateful for: two things. First off, they did a really good job of making sure we got trained in grassroots oral history. So they took really seriously what it meant for this to be justice work. And they made sure we had exposure to methodology that was gonna lift up and honor and foster the voices of people whose stories don't get heard often enough. And that was a really big deal to me. The other thing is they made sure that we had an advisory board, people who are in this [00:53:00] work who could help us, figure out who to talk with, who could help us build out an event strategy. And you helped me build out my advisory committee. Anibel Ferris-Comelo who is with the University of California Labor Center, [00:53:14] Swati Rayasam: Prem Pariyar, a Nepali Dalit restaurant worker, organizer pushing for Caste as a protected category with Equality Labs, a Dalit feminist organization, and a social worker supporting the mental health needs of his and many other South Asian communities in Alameda county. [00:53:31] Swati Rayasam: Will Jamil Wiltchko with the California Trade Justice Coalition, Terry Valen who I did a lot of organizing with at the beginning of the pandemic, around the struggles that seafarers were facing with the onset of COVID-19. And he's the organizational director of the Filipino Community Center in San Francisco. The president of NAFCON which is the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns and just an all in all amazing organizer [00:53:57] Sandhya Jha: the last thing I wanna mention [00:54:00] is SAADA also helped me set up a digital exhibit with Art by Madhvi Trivedi Patak and I wanted to give them a shoutout because they're an incredible artist, but also they grew up in a working class family and didn't get exposed to what it looks like to do labor justice. And so as they developed the artwork to go with the digital exhibit, they got to experience the possibilities of labor solidarity that they hadn't gotten to experience as a child. And so I really loved that Madhvi was a part of this project as well [00:54:38] Swati Rayasam: All of the clips that you shared really identifying, again, these like huge fundamental pillars of solidarity and spirit and struggle. these clips were amazing. They are so rich and so layered with all of these people's varying and different experiences. Really showing in [00:55:00] all of these different walks of life at all of these ages with all of these experiences, that all of these people have this unified and shared identity in struggle, in spirit, and in solidarity for liberation. [00:55:14] Sandhya Jha: And one of the things that I think is worth celebrating is whether they see it as part of their South Asian identity or not. People who do identify as South Asian now have this resource that says there's a home for you in the labor movement. Yes, there are. There is a value to your voice. There is a value to your wisdom, there's a value to your experience in the labor movement. [00:55:36] Swati Rayasam: I think it's a beautiful project. Sandhya, I think it has been an amazing amount of work I've watched you do over the past year. These stories are so wonderful. I really encourage people to check it out. Where can they find your project? [00:55:49] Sandhya Jha: The website's www.saada.org/acfp [00:56:00] /exhibit/solidarity-forever. We'll put that in the notes. We'll definitely put that in the show notes. [00:56:05] Swati Rayasam: I just wanna make sure that we replug your podcast Bending Toward Justice Avatar, The Last Air Bender for the Global Majority and you can find that at tinyurl.com slash ATLA podcast, Capital P (tinyurl.com/ATLAPodcast). And then the last thing that I also wanna make sure that we plug is Without Fear Consulting. [00:56:27] Sandhya Jha: I love working with folks who know that their organization could be a little more liberative, and are, just not quite sure where to start. I love working with a team of folks who want to be about the work of incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into the DNA of their organization and I love setting them up so that they can keep doing that long after I'm working with them. So please do find me withoutfearconsulting.com. If you're interested in that. [00:56:58] Swati Rayasam: Amazing. Sandhya [00:57:00] Jha, Pastor, Racial Justice consultant, podcast host, archivist, singer songwriter, amazing cook. You can do it all. I think you deserve a nap. it has been amazing talking to you. I am so glad to be able to hear about your project and also to hear a lot more about your life. [00:57:23] Sandhya Jha: Yay. Thank you so much. [00:57:25] Miko Lee: Please check out our website, kpfa.org backslash program, backslash apex express to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. Apex express is produced by Miko Lee Jalena Keane-Lee and Paige Chung and special editing by Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the KPFA staff for their support have a great night. The post APEX Express 1.5.23 South Asians and The Labor Justice Movement appeared first on KPFA.
In Episode 21, I chat with Dr. Rubayat Qadeer about his experience as a first-generation Bangladeshi-American, how he found his “why” as a Family Medicine Doc, and what it means to actively cultivate a more diverse, anti-racist physician workforce.
On this episode, Naina and Isabel are joined by Mohuya Khan. She is a first-generation Bangladeshi American and founder of the Labyrinthave clothing brnad which combines storytelling and art to empower the Desi community. She's also a co-host of the Difficult-ish podcast where she discusses a range of topics from a South Asian perspective such as mental health, cultural appropriation, etc. In this interview, Mohuya talks about representation during her upbringing, and her journey becoming the representation she never had for herself.
Anuradha Bhowmik is a Bangladeshi American poet and writer from South Jersey who currently lives and works in Philadelphia. She is a 2022 Kundiman Fellow and a 2018 AWP Intro Journals Project Winner in Poetry. Her poetry and prose have appeared in POETRY, The Sun, Copper Nickel, Pleiades, Indiana Review, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from Virginia Tech, and she has received awards from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Frost Place, among others. Her new book, Brown Girl Chromatography is the winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize.
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One With Munjireen - On Life As A Muslim Bangladeshi-American AcademicMunjireen is a dear friend and brilliant colleague whose degrees and work experience speak for her. She is passionate about neuropsychology, mental health, and wellness.Munjireen shared her experience as a second-generation Muslim Bangladeshi- American living in America with her parents and the culture shocks and differences she went through. We saw these similarities even as Nigerians. We learn why her parents migrated to the USA, her experiences as an academic and how those have been shaped by her religion and nationalities, and how and why she is in public health, mental health, and refugee care. Oh, and listen to how she and Ayomide gushed on and on about Ms. Marvel and all things nerdy!
"Christian nationalism" is being mentioned more and more in the news: Religious right-wing Christian members of Congress and candidates for public office are openly embracing the divisive concept. After hearing the very moving ad by "Mothers Against Greg Abbott" (opposing the Texas abortion ban) and the song "Heaven" set to a Rupert Brooke poem, we hear Bangladeshi-American author, activist and producer Bonya Ahmed describe how she is promoting science and freethought in Bangladesh and the rest of the world.
Hey Neighbors! On today's program, we speak with Mahir. Mahir is Bangladeshi American and moved to the US when he was a young child. Growing up in California, Mahir found that most of the people around him didn't know much or anything about Bangladesh. Now that he lives in New York City, however, Mahir might be closer to finding different communities that connect with him on multiple levels. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/newneighbors/support
According to Kaiser Foundation data, around 49 percent of the country's total population receive group health insurance – health benefits provided by the employer. The remaining 51% have to figure out their healthcare coverage on their own. This can be a tricky slope to navigate, especially with evolving regulations around state laws. The ACA made sweeping changes to the industry in 2008, but that has only created pools of beneficiaries; not necessarily widespread solutions. Having the support and guidance of a professional advocate in the field can make all the difference to a positive research experience. But, as a business owner and business founder, with a rapidly growing and scaling business, how can you offer the kinds of benefits that attract and retain top talent? And how can you afford health benefits for a rapidly expanding workforce? And, how do you make smart choices for your employees, and your business? Today, we'll speak with Dr. Noor Ali, a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor who champions the way for business owners and business founder, and creates fresh perspectives on health insurance options from an inside lens. —> Are you ready to join the most impactful community of extraordinary women in the world? Accelerate your success by defining your vision, growing your leadership, expanding your influence, and leaving a lasting legacy. Learn more: https://leadhershipglobal.com/join-us/
We sit with Bangladeshi-American music producer Sajeeb Saha, known by his stage name, Jai Wolf. To support or to shop, visit: www.brownhistorypodcast.com Sign up: Brown History Newsletter
Razib Khan is a Bangladeshi-American writer in population genetics and consumer genomics (wikipedia). He identifies as a Coconut, and is a repeat member of Club Cancel, getting denounced by friends and associates approximately every 6 months. He and the Dorx start the episode by erasing as many ethnicities, religions, and genders as they can. Then Khan recounts the sorry tale of Scientific American (a science fiction magazine) and late great biologist E.O. Wilson. Our smart and funny guest is all bravado and self-confidence until Nina asks him to define “woman,” the question that brings even the toughest intellectuals to their knees. Setting the record straight: open letter on E.O. Wilson's legacy: https://razib.substack.com/p/setting-the-record-straight-open --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heterodorx/support
Sohla El-Waylly is famous for her cooking videos for outlets like the History Channel's “Ancient Recipes,” Bon Appetit's “Test Kitchen,” and so, so much more. She also writes a column at Food52 and contributes to the cooking section at the other big-time Times newspaper (the one on the East Coast).Today, we do another crossover episode with our sibling podcast “Asian Enough,” where El-Waylly talks about food appropriation, her inspirations and much more.Hosts: Johana Bhuiyan and Tracy BrownGuest: Chef Sohla El-WayllyMore reading:Babish expands as pandemic boosts YouTube cooking showsVulture: Going SohlaSohla's website
Razib Khan is a Bangladeshi-American writer in Population Genetics & Consumer Genomics. He is a Public Intellectual & works at Insitome & has written publications for The New York Times, City Journal, India Today, National Review, Quillette, The Guardian & MIT Technology Review, etc. Razib Khan: https://razib.com ; https://razib.substack.com/ Sanjana Singh (The Host): https://linktr.ee/sanjanasingh ; sanjanasingh.substack.com The Naked Dialogue Podcast: https://linktr.ee/TheNakedDialogue --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sanjanasinghx/support
Jenn (she/her/hers) is the founder of @in.full.bloom.coaching. As a Liberation Coach, she is on a mission to help Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and immigrant leaders who are exhausted from systemic oppression break free from shame, guilt and fear and fully step into their power, light and brilliance. She works with clients in 3 ways: a 12 week private coaching program; professional development workshops centered on equity and belonging for companies/organizations; and public workshops as well as master classes. A first generation Bangladeshi American immigrant from a working class community in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY). Jenn created and launched In Full Bloom Coaching because, like many BIPOC and immigrant women of color, her story was one of survival. She needed to learn how to navigate systems of oppression through code switching, playing a "good hard worker" and placing the needs of others above her own. We'll focus on aspects of her long journey of inner healing and self understanding; the tools and practices she teaches to support clients on their own journey towards liberation; and what it means to be an "unconventional" Bangladeshi (and why we need more of that in our community).
I am flying solo in the hosting chair again today to bring you another very special episode with a VERY special guest: first-generation Bangladeshi-American activist, entrepreneur, author, self-care expert, beauty guru, and mother-to-be, Nabela Noor! We discuss maintaining your mental health in the public eye, cultural and generational differences when it comes to discussing mental health, and Nabela shares the incredible journey she faced to become a mother-to-be. We shared our feelings of invalidity facing fertility struggles, the trauma of miscarriages, overcoming fear and learning to enjoy pregnancy after miscarrying, and what we hope we can instill in our future children. I am so honored she joined me today for this amazing conversation, and I hope you enjoy as much as I did! If you'd like to pass on the incredible message she shared to her future baby, check out Nabela's children's book, ‘Beautifully Me' anywhere books are sold. For more information on mental health, learning how to help a loved one, developing coping skills and more, visit the Mental Health Coalition's Resource Library at thementalhealthcoalition.org/resources Because Life is a Dear Media Production in association with Scale Productions. Follow Because Life: @becauselifewithsydel Follow Me: @sydelcurrylee Follow Nabela Noor: @nabela Produced by Dear Media
The boys bring on a guest to celebrate the 10th episode of Brown Boy Chronicles. Meet Raif "Onik" Hossain, a Bangladeshi-American rapper and designer from New York. Check out Onik's music: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vGtX4qWhmRuhpQEiDhFpV?si=Zymj0fDXSwu4zd6yzNTiAg&nd=1 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/onik3 Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/onik/1510035112 Social Media: https://linktr.ee/onik Instagram: @onik3 @hillswestny --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thebrownboychronicles/support
In this segment of Brown Art Network, Sneha and Keerthi interview Cathy Gomes, founder of 700 River - a global, ethical, and sustainable lifestyle brand that creates high-quality products by Bangladeshi artisans who have escaped human trafficking. Their products are made from natural ingredients local to South Asia. Cathy dives into how she started 700 Rivers, how she incorporated her passion for spreading good in the world with her career, and how her hyphenated identity allows her to appreciate her roots and be prideful of her Bangladeshi background. As she shares with us her story and being Bangladeshi American, she also dives into the important work she does with 700 Rivers in spreading Bangladeshi culture and traditions. She also goes into the impact of 700 Rivers providing the opportunity to women to help themselves find a way to have a second chance at life after their traumatic experiences. To support 700 Rivers you can buy their products here: https://www.sevenhundredrivers.com/
Ms. Tania is a writer for the Bengali Mental Health Movement. She describes the movement she is a part of as well as her experience as a first-generation American.
Today's guest in the room is Bangladeshi American, Bushra Mollick. Bushra is a writer and the Crisis Communications Manager for NYC Emergency Management. She is writing a biography highlighting her mother's life in Bangladesh and as an immigrant in New York City in the early 90s. She enjoys bird watching, cooking, and researching outdated blasphemy laws. She hopes to empower and inspire fellow Bangladeshi women to fulfil their dreams and put themselves first. In this episode we discuss our bengali community, culture and the wider Desi community followed by a heart wrenching reflection of the sudden death of her estranged father. Bushra often talks about how our community is not a monolith on social media, this captured my interest because as someone who was ostracized by some Bengalis but largely the wider South Asian desi community that I speak like a white girl and was the brown girl living on the white council estates, I wanted to unpack what it means to not make assumptions about our unique journey in life, we conclude that ultimately we are not a monolith that we all have our own experience of the world and that it would be helpful to not make assumptions about lives we have never lived. Bushra takes me through her childhood growing up in NYC and how she grew up watching her father who was a taxi driver by day and a creative by night, a writer and photographer in the bengali community. Bushra reflects that you can mourn a parent that you are estranged from, that everyone wants to be loved and that although they were estranged due to the lack of parental guidance she names the fact that she still loved her father and that's what makes estranged relationships between a parent and a child so unique, that she will never stop loving him and wishing that he was a better father in life. Bushra has written a beautiful heart wrenching tribute to her father on her blog http://www.bushramollick.com/ please do give it a read, there is a stunning black and white photo of Bushra and her sister Susana with their dad, the last picture taken of them together. You can find Bereavement Room on social media give us a follow: https://www.instagram.com/bereavementroom/ As promised some hotlines, resources and support groups in NYC and surrounding areas; https://nycwell.cityofnewyork.us/en/ https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/domestic-violence-support.page https://www.naminys.org/mental-health-support/suicide-prevention/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/groups/grief/new-york https://greenwichvillagefuneralhome.com/grief-support/counseling-bereavement-services/#.YPQVqxNKiCQ https://copefoundation.org/grief-resources/ https://www.inclusivetherapists.com/bengali https://www.laalnyc.org/ https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ As promised some helplines, resources, support groups in London and surrounding areas; https://directory.childbereavementuk.org/ https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem/where-to-start/ https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/mental-health-and-stigma/help-and-support https://youngminds.org.uk/ https://myh.org.uk/ https://mbss.org.uk/ https://www.baatn.org.uk/find-a-therapist/ https://giveusashout.org/ https://mindout.org.uk/ As always thank you for listening, Your host Callsuma Ali
Sharbari Zohra Ahmed is a Bangladeshi-American writer and was on the writing team for the ABC show Quantico, making her the first woman of Bangladeshi origin to write for a network show.We talk about why she never thought she would get picked to walk into the writers' room for the show, why the show didn't focus on Priyanka Chopra's cultural background, the reason she was heavily trolled online for an episode she didn't write, why there is still a lack of diversity behind the scenes and how that affects stories revolved around minority families, and the reasons South Asians still have a hard time supporting one another when it comes to the arts.We discuss the reason her family fled from Bangladesh while she was just 3 weeks old, how that move shaped her life and inspired her creative journey, and why identity and a strong female protagonist has been a central theme in a lot of her writings.She discusses her debut novel, Dust Under Her Feet, and her current projects including Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Bose Perkins, which she adapted for the screen.
Rais Bhuiyan is a Bangladeshi American who was shot by a white supremacist as retaliation for the attacks of September 11th, four months after arriving in the United States. He joins us on this episode of American Muslim Project to share his remarkable story and mission to promote empathy and compassion. Rais was thrilled to start his own American dream in Dallas after being granted a visa from the State Department's lottery. He relays how his life instead became an “American nightmare” as Mark Anthony Stroman went on a killing spree, murdering two other South Asian men and nearly killing Rais in an attempt to hunt Arabs. We talk about that horrific day and how he called out for his mother, like George Floyd. Miraculously Rais lived, but the incident cost him his home, fiancé, job, sense of security, and the sight in his right eye. We learn of the hospital discharging him after he regained consciousness because of insurance and the Red Cross only allotting him a week's worth of groceries. Instead of campaigning for personal justice, however, Rais engaged in a fight for clemency for his attacker. Joined by a team backed by Amnesty International, Rais describes why and how he petitioned to save Stroman's life, going all the way to the Supreme Court and also taking on the lethal injection manufacturer in Denmark. Discover how his request for mediation with his attacker played out and both of their transitions after the crime. At the same time, Rais founded World Without Hate, a nonprofit working to prevent and disrupt the cycles of hate and violence through storytelling and empathy. He shares the promise he made to Allah for letting him live and the Quran verse that inspired him. Find out how the campaign played out and about the mentorship Rais now has with Stroman's son. Check out his website and follow World Without Hate @worldwithouthate and @WWHforgive as they work toward a 9/11 hate crime resolution, among other projects. If nothing else examine your own ability to forgive, then spread the ultimate story of compassion to better this country—ours and Rais's—that he still somehow manages to love. American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC. Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt Music by Simon Hutchinson Hosted by Asad Butt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's session I coached an established business owner who wanted to attract more clients. Although she was already attracting 1 or 2 new clients every week, she couldn't see how to get to her next level of success which was to attract 1 or 2 new clients every day. She had been stagnant for some time and was feeling frustrated, but she didn't like the option of running paid ads like she'd been advised to. Listen to the session to find out how I helped her to shift the cause of the frustration as well as get a totally different perspective on running ads which left her both free of worry and ready to scale. Dr. Noor is a Bangladeshi-American medical doctor turned health insurance advisor working with entrepreneurs all across the USA. She's a perpetual optimist and book lover. Find out more about her and her practice at drnoorhealth.com If you yourself are a purpose-driven business owner who is getting in your own way of success, and you want to find out how I can help you to become the person you would love to be and create the financial prosperity, freedom & fulfilment that your soul desires, then head to www.aimeecteesdale.com/book-a-call and schedule a time for us to speak. Because getting to your next level of success just requires less fear, & more love - and that's exactly what I'm an expert at helping you to do.
This week we spoke with Dr. Mohammed Reza, a Bangladeshi-American infectious disease doctor in north Florida, where COVID variants and vaccine reluctance both run rampant. During this pandemic, Dr. Mo (as his patients call him) has been thrust into the local limelight as an unwitting community educator. Despite his schooling, credibility, and experience, he was a bit surprised to become the trusted face of coronavirus intel in his hometown, performing over 100 interviews. Perhaps because the day after Trump took office he was ordered to go back to his country while buying his staff donuts. Regardless, an authority he is, and he breaks down mutations of the virus, the reason India is currently in crisis, and what we know we don't know. Myths about vaccines are dispelled. Our government is given a letter grade for their COVID response. Along with a psychologist and a tech friend, Dr. Mo co-founded CovidIQ early last year—a free tracking system that identified potential hot spots quicker than tests could. Despite the number of physicians involved and time and money they volunteered, politics and cost curtailed the project. Many states didn't want to know the rate of infection or be told when to wear (or not wear) masks, it turns out. We speak about minorities having the highest rates of disease and the worst access to care in this country, along with some appalling stats. On the flip side, Dr. Mo shares his approach to patients and bedside manner (will you be our doctor?). Furthermore, we cover poignant anecdotes of his family's humble beginnings and the reason he decided to go into medicine: a harrowing story about traveling from Bangladesh to Singapore at 18 to try to save his father's life, which dwarves every challenge we've ever faced. Finally, we offer you the lessons his multicultural family preaches: Be good to others, regardless of their background. And celebrate every holiday. American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC. Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt Music by Simon Hutchinson Hosted by Asad Butt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ms. Sylvana Q. Sinha, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Praava Health, is a Bangladeshi-American lawyer and entrepreneur. Ms. Sinha built Praava Health from scratch after experiencing the challenges facing the Bangladeshi health system first-hand. Praava's “brick-and-click” healthcare platform integrates digital health and in-clinic experiences convenient to where everyone lives, works, and clicks. Tripling growth every year since launching in 2018, Praava's tech-forward model is designed to be efficient, accessible, and scalable across emerging markets, where 85 percent of the world live. In 2020, Praava was recognized by Fast Company as a World Changing Idea. Praava Health is a patient-driven company disrupting the standard for healthcare for Bangladesh's 170 million citizens. Ms. Sinha is Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a graduate of Columbia Law School, Harvard's Kennedy School, and Wellesley College.
Our featured guest today is a Bangladeshi - American medical doctor and surgeon who grew up as an inner New York City immigrant kid. She currently owns her own agency and manages teams out of Tampa, Florida but works with clients nationwide. Her mission now has become to educate and inform growing entrepreneurs about their health insurance options and how to navigate the healthcare systems of America, so the patient/customer always wins, not big insurance. In addition to a strong clinical background, a thriving business practice, she is also active in the public health sector and just published a research paper that talks about the gap in resources for infertility services for women attending higher education. This is a topic that is extremely near to her heart. She has a one-year-old son and motherhood, COVID-19 parenting and all the challenges of wanting it all has given birth to a new being a mompreneur who champions the way for other moms in science who want it all. Welcome to our Featured guest, Dr. Noor Ali. This is an episode that is surely worth exploring every minute of their discussion. Tune in and listen. #kut2thachase #podcast #unscripted #unbridled #episode4everyone #E98 #mompreneurofscience #satx #sanantonio #sanantoniopodcast #sanantoniopodcaster #sanantonioinfluencer --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kut2thachase/support
Margari Aziza Hill shares the story of how the created the series "East of La Brea." They created a non-traditional writers room for non industry writers to a tell this story authentically. "East of La Brea" tracks the untold stories of LA through the lives of two very different Muslim women from working class backgrounds. Aisha, a Black Muslim, and her Bangladeshi-American roommate, Farha. "East of La Brea" can be seen on Powerkeg's Instagram. Additionally, Margari is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of "Muslim ARC" (The Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative. Margari is also an adjunct professor, blogger, editor, and freelance writer with articles published in How We Fight White Supremacy (2019) Time, Huffington Post, Al Jazeera English, Islamic Monthly, and MuslimMatters. She has five years full-time experience working full-time in community organizations, and five years experience in administration and technical writing in Silicon Valley small businesses and startups. She has over 15 years teaching experience at various capacities including substitute teacher, instructor, curriculum design, school policy, teacher training, as well as teaching assistant and teaching fellow. She taught Writing and Literature at Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy for two years, developed instructed an Art and Literacy class for Clara Muhammad Summer Camp and worked as a Lead Teacher and Curriculum Developer at United Muslim Masjid Summer Madrasa. Her fellowships in organizing, non-profit management, and policy include Bend the Arc’s Community Organizing Residency, Women’s Policy Institute County Fellowship, PICO National Leadership training and, Next Generation Leaders of Color-Inland Region. Most importantly, Margi is an Anti-Racism trainer. https://www.muslimarc.org/
In this episode, Diana talks to S. Nadia Hussain, a fierce activist, mother and Senior Campaign Director at MomsRising. In a candid conversation a day after Kamala Harris became our nation's VP, Diana and Nadia, who is Bangladeshi-American, talk about why representation matters and what this historic win means for children (both white and of color). Nadia shares why she decided to run for school board with an infant at home, why parents must raise their voices and why storytelling "saves lives and changes the world." Nadia lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children. You can follow her at @vivalanadia .
In this episode, I speak with author, screenwriter, and actress, Reema Zaman.Reema Zaman is a Bangladeshi-American author, screenwriter, and actress. She is the author of the memoir I Am Yours and the dystopian novel Paramita. I Am Yours was adopted into the curriculum of several high schools through an innovation grant by the Oregon Department of Education, and is currently in development to become a movie. Reema's essays have been published in Vogue, The Guardian, Salon, and other major outlets. She writes about family, relationships, love, sex, politics, science, social justice, feminism, and anti-racism. Reema was born in Bangladesh, raised in Thailand, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with her rescue teacup chihuahua, Fia the Fierce.
Bangladeshi-American hip-hop artist Anik Khan chats with Azadi Records co-founder Uday Kapur in this ultra-fresh episode of Fresh Out The Box.
Ameera Khan (formerly known as Ameer Khan) is a Bangladeshi-American originally from St. Louis, Missouri. After memorizing the Qu'ran as a young adult, Ameera began to deal with both his/her sexual and gender identities. In this show, we have a candid discussion about Ameera's spiritual journey along with how Ameer became Ameera. If you are enjoying the content, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/SultansandSneakers. Every dollar helps! In addition to Patreon, please continue to support Sultans and Sneakers by following me on my various social media channels, leaving a 5 star review and letting your friends know about the show. I have a website now as well and you can access that at: https://sultansandsneakers.com/ You can also follow the show on our respective social media: IG: www.instagram.com/SultansandSneakers Facebook: www.facebook.com/SultansandSneakers Twitter: https://twitter.com/SultansNSnkrs TikTok: @sultans_and_sneakers YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC8nN9RSnLs08M87yEZppwaA My personal social media links: IG: www.instagram.com/mahinthepodcaster Twitter: https://twitter.com/MahinDaPodcastr
While much of the country grapples with racial justice, equity in the business space, and a shifting narrative around diversity and inclusion, Black and Brown women are creating and holding space for the amplification and the affirmation of their experiences in life and in business. Guest Kastoory Kazi shares with us her experiences as a Bangladeshi-American woman navigating the business world. We discuss the unique challenges women of color face when navigating career growth, authenticity in their work lives, and the nuances of being a Brown versus Black woman in business. Kastoory is a skilled marketer working at the intersection of creative and growth marketing for many years in NYC. She's an amazing businesswoman and a friend.
Welcome to “Spilling Chai” with Anushay & Friends. You may know Anushay Hossain as the Bangladeshi-American cable news commentator who debates toxic masculinity with Tucker Carlson on Fox News or maybe you've read her articles on CNN about toxic white supremacy. While Anushay may be a pro at giving her opinion and analysis on the headlines, something you don't get to hear her do is ask the questions and talk about something other than the news. This podcast, “Spilling Chai” is about conversations. Anushay wants to feel inspired, and radio is such a great medium to have really in-depth conversations and to take the time to have them. In this show, Anushay is going to be talking to brilliant writers, passionate activists, and amazing artists and she wants you to join us! “Spilling Chai” is also a PSA on behalf of all Brown people that in most of Asia and the Middle East, chai is not a latte. Instead, it's the best kind of tea and on this podcast, we are all about spilling it. So pour your cup and pull up a seat!
Where is all of the literary love for Queens? It’s right here at LIC Reading Series. Join them each week for stories, readings, and discussions with acclaimed writers, recorded with a live audience in the cozy carriage house of a classic pub in Long Island City, Queens, New York, and hosted by founder Catherine LaSota. This week, the podcast features the reading and panel discussion from the LIC Reading Series event on December 12, 2017, with Abeer Hoque (Olive Witch), Sarah Perry (After the Eclipse), and Jason Tougaw (The One You Get). Listen to this week's reading here. Abeer Hoque is a Nigerian born Bangladeshi American writer and photographer. She published a book of linked stories, poems, and photographs called The Lovers and the Leavers, and a monograph of travel photographs and poems called The Long Way Home. Her memoir, Olive Witch, was published by Harper360 in 2017. She is the recipient of a 2018 Queens Council for the Arts grant, a 2014 NYFA grant, a 2012 NEA Literature Fellowship, a 2007 Fulbright Scholarship, and the 2005 Tanenbaum Award, and has received writing fellowships to attend Sacatar, Saltonstall Arts Colony, SLS St. Petersburg, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Millay Colony, and the Albee Foundation. Sarah Perry holds an M.F.A. in nonfiction from Columbia University, where she served as publisher of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art and was a member of the journal’s nonfiction editorial board. She is the recipient of a Writers’ Fellowship from the Edward F. Albee Foundation and a Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education, and has attended residencies at Norton Island in Maine and PLAYA in Oregon. Perry’s prose has appeared in Blood & Thunder magazine, Bluestockings Literary Journal, Elle.com, and The Guardian. Her memoir After the Eclipse was published in Fall 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She lives in Brooklyn. Jason Tougaw is associate professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York. He is the author of The One You Get: Portrait of a Family Organism and Strange Cases: The Medical Case History and the British Novel. He blogs at californica.net. * This event was made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Where is all of the literary love for Queens? It’s right here at LIC Reading Series. Join them each week for stories, readings, and discussions with acclaimed writers, recorded with a live audience in the cozy carriage house of a classic pub in Long Island City, Queens, New York, and hosted by founder Catherine LaSota. This week, the podcast features the reading and panel discussion from the LIC Reading Series event on December 12, 2017, with Abeer Hoque (Olive Witch), Sarah Perry (After the Eclipse), and Jason Tougaw (The One You Get). Check back Thursday for the discussion! Abeer Hoque is a Nigerian born Bangladeshi American writer and photographer. She published a book of linked stories, poems, and photographs called The Lovers and the Leavers, and a monograph of travel photographs and poems called The Long Way Home. Her memoir, Olive Witch, was published by Harper360 in 2017. She is the recipient of a 2018 Queens Council for the Arts grant, a 2014 NYFA grant, a 2012 NEA Literature Fellowship, a 2007 Fulbright Scholarship, and the 2005 Tanenbaum Award, and has received writing fellowships to attend Sacatar, Saltonstall Arts Colony, SLS St. Petersburg, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Millay Colony, and the Albee Foundation. Sarah Perry holds an M.F.A. in nonfiction from Columbia University, where she served as publisher of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art and was a member of the journal’s nonfiction editorial board. She is the recipient of a Writers’ Fellowship from the Edward F. Albee Foundation and a Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education, and has attended residencies at Norton Island in Maine and PLAYA in Oregon. Perry’s prose has appeared in Blood & Thunder magazine, Bluestockings Literary Journal, Elle.com, and The Guardian. Her memoir After the Eclipse was published in Fall 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She lives in Brooklyn. Jason Tougaw is associate professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York. He is the author of The One You Get: Portrait of a Family Organism and Strange Cases: The Medical Case History and the British Novel. He blogs at californica.net. * This event was made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Today my guest is Fatima Hye is a Bangladeshi-American who grew up in Houston. She got her BA and MA from the University of Houston, majoring in Philosophy, minoring in Psychology and Media Production. She also teaches Philosophy and Humanities at San Jacinto and Houston Community colleges.
Samina Sattar (@saminasattar) is a speech-language pathologist in Atlanta, Georgia. Samina identifies as a bilingual, Bangladeshi-American, and Muslim. She shares with us her experience growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta, her college experience, a Muslim organization she's been a part of for the past 8 years, a challenging experience she had during her student teaching, and some advice she would give her younger self. Note: There are some portions of this where the audio quality cuts in and out due to poor internet connection. The @slpsofcolor Interview Series aims to share the experiences of speech-language pathologists who are people of color because visibility and representation are incredibly important. ASHA reported in 2018 that "8.2% of ASHA members, nonmember certificate holders, international affiliates, and associates are members of a racial minority (compared to the 27.6% of the US population)." We want their voices to be HEARD, and to inspire the next generation of speech-language pathologists. Follow us: Instagram @slpsofcolor Twitter @slpsofcolor FB @slpsofcolor Follow Samina: Instagram @saminasattar --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/slpsofcolor/message
Akash Samad is an old friend of mine. He is a Bangladeshi American. In this podcast, he shares his life story and opinions about arranged marriage, parental pressure, relationships, family responsibilities, and Bangladeshi culture.
I had so much fun recording this episode with Stella Simona (@stellasimona), co-founder of jewelry brands @amarilo & @haatichai. She shares her experience being a 1st generation Bangladeshi-American, how she started designing jewelry, her favorite skincare products, & her unique perspective on self care. You can follow my shenanigans on Instagram @noore & send your questions to @arabamericanpsycho via DM or arabamericanpsycho@gmail.com. New episodes every Sunday!
This week, we had the pleasure of chatting with special guest, Bangladeshi-American hip hop artist and rapper Anik Khan (@AnikKhan_). He shares with us his touching story of growing up in the projects in Queens to getting his own billboard in Times Square. We talk about how his immigrant experience influenced his art and also his love of food. Check out his music and follow us @noflylistpod. Please give us a five star rating on iTunes. Also, check us out on Patreon for exclusive video footage of this episode! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-no-fly-list/support
We continue our 2018 Miami Book Fair series with Obama National Security Council Alum Rumana Ahmed who is one of eighteen former Obama administration contributors to “West Wingers: Stories from the Dream Chasers, Change Makers and Hope Creators Inside the Obama White House“. Rumana Ahmed interned in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence before becoming a full-time staffer. She then was a liaison to Muslim American and other communities in the Office of Public Engagement, where she also worked on highlighting community-based efforts to address issues like gun violence. Later, as Senior Advisor in the Office for Global Engagement and Strategic Communications in the National Security Council, she worked on advancing relations with Cuba and Laos. A Bangladeshi-American and Muslim who wore a hijab since she was twelve, Rumana was the only (and possibly the first) hijab-wearing staffer in the West Wing. She played a key role in President Obama's visit and speech at a Baltimore mosque in response to anti-Muslim hate crimes.
At the second edition of Media Rumble, Bangladeshi-American author Rafida Ahmed speaks to Kanchan Gupta about the shrinking space for religious critique in Bangladesh and the rise of religious extremism. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Photographic walking tours to writing workshops, “disruptive” art to small groups talking through modern masculinity—our 2018 Inside/Out Neighborhood Residents created some of the most interactive programs in Town Hall’s history. Now, Town Hall invites you to take part in their capstone evening as they reflect on their experiences during this experimental year. Join this season’s Residents—Jordan Alam, Peter DiCampo, Erik Molano, and Shin Yu Pai—as they share a behind-the-scenes look at the triumphs and challenges of their Residencies. Each of our Residents offered us a presentation on the season’s surprising and inspiring moments: Peter DiCampo presents a visual exploration of his photography-centered events, with a focus on the power of representing everyday truths through a visual medium. Shin Yu Pai brings author Donna Miscolta back to the stage for a conversation reflecting on their 4/13 event, History is An Act of the Imagination. Erik Molano presents a recollection of his events elevating the stories and futures of Capitol Hill and the Central District, along with community conversations on the nature of masculinity. Jordan Alam has left Seattle to attend grad school (and we wish her the best of luck!). She will not be present for a stage appearance, but instead she offers us a video reflection of her time programming for our season accompanied by a live presentation from her collaborator, Nic Masangkay. Jordan Alam is Town Hall Seattle’s 2018 Inside/Out Resident representing Hillman City and Columbia City. She is a writer, editor, doula, and social change educator who grew up at an intersection of Bangladeshi American, Muslim, queer, and femme identities. Her work focuses on social forces such as poverty, racism, and trauma, and finding ways to articulate how those experiences live in our bodies and shape the course of our lives. Jordan urges us to engage with subtle moments of transition and transformation in our own lives and the lives of others. Peter DiCampo is Town Hall Seattle’s 2018 Inside/Out Resident representing the University District and Ravenna neighborhoods. Peter is a documentary photographer whose goal is to contribute his work to a dialogue on international development and perceptions of Africa. He began his career as a Peace Corps Volunteer and a traditional photojournalist—now, his work seeks to deconstruct that experience. He is a co-founder of Everyday Africa and he is a regular speaker in classrooms and workshops on media stereotypes and the promotion of localized storytelling. Erik Molano is Town Hall’s 2018 Inside/Out Neighborhood Resident representing the Capitol Hill and the Central District neighborhoods. Erik is a graphic designer, prolific event organizer, and co-founder of Photon Factory (a hybrid organization that is half design studio and half community space). He lends his design background to connect Seattle’s creative professionals with social justice organizations. His current focus is on building authentic human connection while understanding and transforming toxic masculinity. Shin Yu Pai is Town Hall Seattle’s 2018 Inside/Out Resident representing the Phinney Greenwood neighborhoods. Shin Yu is a poet, cross-media artist, and curator for the collaborative global exploration project Atlas Obscura. Her poetic origins inform an artistic style that has grown beyond the written word—manifesting in photography, installation and public art, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and sound. She encourages us to reflect upon the essential questions of our own lives, and to explore how we see that interrogation expressed or mirrored around us. Nic Masangkay, who has just released an EP “A Hundred Setting Suns,” creates music and performance poetry that explores the challenging relationship to their own body as a queer Filipinx femme. Donna Miscolta is an author currently based in Seattle whose writing has been featured in over a dozen journals, including Seattle Magazine, America’s Review, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, and others. She is the author of the story collection Hola and Goodbye and the novel When the de la Cruz Family Danced. Recorded live at The Summit by Town Hall Seattle on Thursday, June 7, 2018.
Artists Imani Sims, Tani Ikeda, and Jordan Alam share a passion in creating work relating to the ways personal experiences are held in the body. We’re thrilled to welcome them to present their narratives through film, prose, and poetry explorations of the events of their lives that have impacted their bodies, and how those changes have affected their encounters with the world. First we hear from local poet and author Imani Sims, who has been hailed as a “cultural ambassador, leader and powerhouse in our community” (Priya Frank, Seattle Art Museum). Then Jordan Alam, Town Hall’s Inside/Out Resident representing Hillman City and Columbia City, takes the stage to share her prose centered on the topics that inspired her to curate this event. And Emmy-winning director Tami Ikeda presents a screening of her film highlighting the resilience of survivors. Join these three innovative artists as they engage different mediums to tell us the stories of their life experiences that are imprinted in their bodies. Imani Sims spun her first performance poem at the age of fourteen. She has gone on to teach performance poetry to youth and adults, publish her first collection of poetry entitled Twisted Oak, and founded an interdisciplinary arts production company, Split Six Productions. Her latest book of poetry, (A)live Heart, was published in October 2016 by Sibling Rivalry Press. (https://irsims.wordpress.com/) Tani Ikeda is an Emmy-winning director who creates narratives, documentaries, music videos, and commercial films. She was recently selected as one of Sundance’s 2018 intensive screenwriting lab’s fellows. Tani Ikeda co-founded imMEDIAte Justice, a nonprofit that fosters the talents of young women artists working in virtual reality. (www.taniikeda.com) Jordan Alam is Town Hall Seattle’s 2018 Inside/Out Resident representing Hillman City and Columbia City. She is a writer, editor, doula, and social change educator who grew up at an intersection of Bangladeshi American, Muslim, queer, and femme identities. Her work focuses on social forces such as poverty, racism, and trauma, and finding ways to articulate how those experiences live in our bodies and shape the course of our lives. Jordan urges us to engage with subtle moments of transition and transformation in our own lives and the lives of others. Recorded live at Rainier Arts Center by Town Hall Seattle on Sunday, April 29, 2018.
Mobilize producer Betsy Nagler spoke to Bangladeshi American community organizer Mazeda Uddin about her work, including organizing World Hijab Day, defending an immigrant from ICE, and leading a multicultural contingent to help shut down JFK in response to the first #MuslimBan. https://www.mobilizehere.com/podcast/mobilize---episode-15---knowledge-is-power/
I was introduced to Rais Bhuiyan randomly. As I was leaving a meeting with one of my clients, he introduced me to Rais and I was blown away by his story, as you will be too. Rais has an incredible story to tell. But, what is amazing about Rais is not just what happened to him, but how he used the obstacles and hate he experienced, to create growth opportunities. A bit more about Rais. He is a Bangladeshi American working as a technology professional in Dallas. He also served in the Bangladesh Air Force, so he is a performer in a number of ways. He left Bangladesh to move to New York City to study computer technology and then found himself in Dallas, Texas where he was employed at a gas station. After the September 11 terror attacks, Mark Anthony Stroman walked up to that gas-station and shot Rais in the face. Incredibly, Rais survived but lost sight in one of his eyes. What happened next is incredible. Compassion. Empathy. Power. All extremely impactful words. All of those words are part of Rais' story. But, this is also a story about love and how to have an impact on the world. Rais is on a mission. He lives intentionally. He wants to make the world a better place. And he is. To learn more about Rais you can check him out here: http://worldwithouthate.org/ Twitter: @Rais4peace , @WWHforgive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldwithouthate?fref=ts Thanks to Rais for coming on and being so open. Thanks to all of you for your continued support! Brian
Join us for an evening with authors from Kaya Press, the group of dedicated writers, artists, readers, and lovers of books working together to publish the most challenging, thoughtful, and provocative literature being produced throughout the Asian and Pacific Island diasporas, with special guest Abeer Hoque. The Secret Room In Kazim Ali's wildly inventive novel The Secret Room, written as musical score for a string quartet, he asks: How does one create a life of meaning in the face of loneliness and alienation from one’s own family, culture, or even sense of self? During the space of one single day, the lives of four people converge and diverge in ways they themselves may not even measure. Sonia Chang, a violinist prepares for a concert. Rizwan Syed, a yoga teacher who gives so much to others, makes one last panicked attempt at reconciliation with his own family. Jody Merchant tries to balance a difficult and stressful work-life with a dream she abandoned long ago. Pratap Patel trudges through his life trying to ignore the pain he still feels at old losses. Just like the real musical quality of a string quartet, these four characters weave in and out of one another's experiences in a raw, fluid song that mimics the hidden lives that exist within us all. Praise for Kazim Ali “Here are new organizing principles; to allow ourselves to be organized by music; to be scored. This is a text that suggests not to worry about how to read it. Rather, it extends an invitation to allow the text to happen with us (and/or for us to happen with the text), and this is a Revolutionary Hermeneutics: to open to the experiences of pain and awe. Text as ambient drift we can move through (the same space where healing and magic happens). The way a line divines another, a voice divines a voice, and the emergent conversation, and how this conversation is a hidden music, the music we have been waiting for.”-- Selah Saterstrom, author of Slab and Ideal Suggestions: Essays in Divinatory Poetics "Kazim Ali has managed to render into the English language the universal inner voice." -- Lucille Clifton Kazim Ali's books include five volumes of poetry, The Far Mosque, The Fortieth Day, Bright Felon, Sky Ward, and All One’s Blue: New and Selected Poems; three novels, Quinn’s Passage, The Disappearance of Seth and Wind Instrument; a collection of short stories, Uncle Sharif’s Life in Music, and three collections of essays, Orange Alert: Essays on Poetry, Art and the Architecture of Silence, Fasting for Ramadan and Resident Alien: On Border-crossing and the Undocumented Divine. He has translated books by Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi and Marguerite Duras. He is an associate professor of Comparative Literature and the director of the Creative Writing Program at Oberlin College. The Flayed City Hari Alluri is an author who, according to U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, “carries a new, quiet brush of multi-currents, of multi-worlds to paint this holographic life-scape.” In The Flayed City, Alluri gives an intimate look into the lives of city dwellers and immigrants, imagining the souls that reside in “broom-filled nights”, “skyscrapers for buoys”, and under an “aluminum rising sun”. The charged poems in The Flayed City sweep together “an archipelago song” scored by memory and landscape, history and mythology, desire and loss. Driven by what is residual—of displacement, of family, of violent yet delicate masculinity, of undervalued yet imperative work—Alluri's lines quiver with the poet's distinctive rendering of praise and lament steeped with “gravity and blood” where “the smell of ants being born surrounds us” and “city lights form constellations // invented to symbolize war.” Praise for Hari Alluri “Hari Alluri is Michaux for our time. Which is to say: he is the poet who is able to find myth in our days of sorrow and displacement, when so many lose homes and identities, Hari Alluri offers a new music. When cities are destroyed by fire, Hari Alluri offers lyric fire that heals the heart, that lets theimagination save us. When there is nothing left to say and the page of our drive to stop the pain is brightly-lit and blank, Hari Alluri brings a few words that sing, brings them by the hand, gives them to us—not just words but images, sparks, from which the fire comes, from which whole villages are alive again. This is the poet to live with."-- Ilya Kaminsky, author of Dancing in Odessa [Hari Alluri] carries a new, quiet brush of multi-currents, of multi-worlds to paint this holographic life-scape; a most rare set of poems—with jazz beat word lines, long-line wisdom and open space scenes where you can widen your eyes, scrape your hands and rush into colliding worlds. Bravo, many bravos!” Hari Alluri, who immigrated to Vancouver, Coast Salish territories at age twelve, is the author of Carving Ashes (CiCAC, 2013) and The Promise of Rust (Mouthfeel, 2016). An award-winning poet, educator, and teaching artist, his work appears widely in anthologies, journals and online venues, including Chautauqua, Poemeleon and Split This Rock. He is a founding editor at Locked Horn Press, where he has co-edited two anthologies, Gendered & Written: Forums on Poetics andRead America(s): An Anthology. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Diego State University and, along with the Federico Moramarco Poetry International Teaching Prize, he has received VONA/Voices and Las Dos Brujas fellowships and a National Film Board of Canada grant. Hari currently serves as editor of pacific Review in San Diego, Kumeyaay land. Photo by Cynthia Dewi Oka Olive Witch (Harper 360) In the 1970s, Nigeria is flush with oil money, building new universities, and hanging on to old colonial habits. Abeer Hoque is a Bangladeshi girl growing up in a small sunlit university town where the red clay earth, corporal punishment and running games are facts of life. At thirteen she moves with her family to suburban Pittsburgh and finds herself surrounded by clouded skies and high schoolers who speak in movie quotes and pop culture slang. Finding her place as a young woman in America proves more difficult than she can imagine. Disassociated from her parents and laid low by academic pressure and a spiraling depression, she is committed to a psychiatric ward in Philadelphia. When she moves to Bangladesh on her own, it proves yet another beginning for someone who is only just getting used to being an outsider – wherever she is. Arresting and beautifully written, with poems and weather conditions framing each chapter, Olive Witch is an intimate memoir about taking the long way home. Praise for Abeer Y. Hoque “Told with vivid lyricism yet unflinching in its gaze, Abeer Hoque's memoir is the coming-of-age story of migration on three continents, and about the pain, rupture, and redemptive possibilities of displacement.” --Tahmima Anam, author of The Bones of Grace "An unflinching yet luminously beautiful take on family, race, sex and the treachery of memory. Don’t be fooled by the frangipani beauty of Abeer Hoque’s prose. Its razor-sharp edges can draw blood."--Sandip Roy, author of Don't Let Him Know Abeer Y. Hoque is a Bangladeshi-American writer and photographer. Her first book of fiction, The Lovers and the Leavers, was published by HarperCollins to critical acclaim. She also has a book of travel photographs and poems, The Long Way Home. She lives in New York City.
May 21, 2014. Bangladeshi-American poet Tarfia Faizullah read from and discussed her first collection of poetry, "Seam," which explores the history of the Birangona, Bangladeshi women raped by Pakistani soldiers during the Liberation War of 1971, and the ethics of interviewing. For transcript, captions, and more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=6522
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