So, what are you?

04/04/2022

The FINAL episode of Season 1 has arrived! 🥲

A recap of the first season:

🎧 1,000+ listens

🌎 Listeners from 18 different countries

🏆 11 brave, insightful guests

💁🏽‍♀️ 1 amazing sister and co-host

💡 Tons of inspiration for next season

Listen here:
https://anchor.fm/theswaypodcast

Want to be the first to know when Season 2 is being released?
https://tally.so/r/nreXlw

03/10/2022

Announcing the winners of the SWAY 2022 survey $25 raffle!! 🎟 🎉🎉 Check out some of their feedback, do you agree? 🙂

Congrats to the winners Rodd Talebi , Kasra Sarhadi, Chavadith Tantavirojn , Jason, and Victoria 🏆 And thank you to the rest of the community for providing meaningful feedback as Ida Milani and I plan out the next season of the podcast. More raffle opportunities to come! Stay tuned...

03/07/2022

🚨 Episode 11 out now! 🚨

Ana Gabriela is the founder of Chica Mala, an eco-friendly textile and lifestyle shop handcrafted by artisans in her home country of Guatemala. We start off the conversation with some history on Ana’s childhood growing up in Guatemala, the “colorism” that exists in the country, and the inspiration she drew from her two strong, but different, grandmothers. She then talks about her transition from Guatemala to Gilroy, California, some of the struggles she faced fitting in, and how she noticed that more opportunities came her way as she made more friends that were white or white passing. Finally, she tells us how all this led to her starting a social impact business called Chica Mala, which uses a unique business model focused on equity, providing significant financial opportunities to the indigenous Guatemalan women of her home country.

Support Ana's clean, equitable business:
https://shopchicamala.com/

02/22/2022

🚨 Episode 10 out now! 🚨

Nate Grapes is a bay area rapper and father originally from Berkeley, California. He starts off the episode by walking us through his childhood having a single mom and being the only black person in his family, and how his mom often being out of the house working led him led him to find friends and community in the streets. He shares his thoughts on the diverse Berkeley culture and how he formed deep relationships with people from all different types of backgrounds, and how he was really forced to pay attention to race when he entered the prison system to survive. Enjoy the raw, unique story brought to you by Berkeley’s finest, Nate Grapes.

02/07/2022

🚨 Episode 9 out now! 🚨

Farid Holakouee is a clinical psychologist and host of podcast “In Session with Dr. Farid Holakouee” -- you may also know him as the son of the renown Iranian radio show host, Dr. Farhang Holakouee. We start in his early days at Beverley Hill High School where 30% of the school was Persian, not feeling cultural pressures from his family, and how his initial passion of becoming a physician transitioned into his career in clinical psychology. In the latter half, we jump into some of the juicy topics, like the most common themes of therapy sessions with the Persian population, the role and effects of parental control present in Persian and other cultures, and the concept of perfectionism. Enjoy the show!

02/04/2022

📣 Quick Announcement 📣

Our official 2022 SWAY survey is live at the link below ($25 gift card opportunity)!

https://tally.so/r/np5q8m

The vision for "So, what are you?" is to create a encouraging discourse around the topics of and . Our 2022 survey is your chance to tell us what's going well, what we can change, and a sneak peak into some of the ideas we have for 2022.

It should only take around 5 minutes. We will randomly choose 5 respondents to reward with a $25 Visa Gift Card as a token of our appreciation ❤️ Thank you all for your support and get ready for SWAY's evolution in 2022 🌱

Made with Tally, the simplest way to create forms.

01/17/2022

🚨 Episode 8 out now! 🚨

Taneen Taeed is a Berkeley native and the co-founder of UK company MobiSkip. In the episode, we hear about Taneen’s thoughts on labels, and how society’s urge to label everyone and everything has fundamentally negative effects on living an authentic life. He talks about being told by his teacher that he will never make it to a four year college, how Eminem inspired his passion for language and using words with intention, the irony of racial segregation in the quad at Berkeley High School, and a lot more. Sit back and enjoy a truly unique and organic story!

01/03/2022

🚨 Episode 7 out now! 🚨

Nina Maria holds a Master’s in Public Administration and currently works at Clari as a talent recruiter and an independent college admissions advisor on the side. In this episode, Nina talks about her deep Italian roots, starting with her family’s emigration from Sicily to the United States back in 1958. She reflects on the patriarchal aspects of Italian culture, attempts to fit in in the Los Altos school district through academic achievement, the curse of curly black hair and much more. Hope you all enjoy this candid and insightful conversation with Nina! 🙂

12/13/2021

🚨 Episode 6 out now! 🚨

Bruna Costa Pinheiro is currently a Master's candidate in school psychology and a friend I've spent hours talking to about mental health and culture. In this episode, Bruna touches on growing up culturally different but white-passing at school, some of the less progressive views Brazilians have on topics like mental health and sexuality, and the importance of letting kids express their feelings and opinions. Given she is in a longterm relationship with a close Persian friend of mine, she sheds some light on her experience around Persian culture and the positive aspects that she hopes to preserve from both Persian and Brazilian culture in the future. Hope you enjoy! 🙂

https://anchor.fm/theswaypodcast

11/29/2021

🚨 Episode 5 out now! 🚨

Reetu Sandhu is an Organizational Therapist and recent transplant from Seattle to the Bay Area Peninsula. In this episode, we talk about the challenges around multi-cultural relationships and weddings; things like introducing her non-Indian significant other to her parents and family, the strict requirements on her lipstick color during her wedding ceremony, having an Indian wedding and a "white" wedding, and a lot more. We also talk about tradition, which hills to die on when confronted with cultural pressures or expectations, and the importance of choosing the people you give energy to carefully.

https://anchor.fm/theswaypodcast

11/15/2021

🚨 Episode 4 out now! 🚨

Rubén is a 31 year old User Experience Designer at a large U.S. tax preparation company — but he's far more than that. His story starts off inside his mother's womb, being snuck across the Mexican border in an enclosed, hollowed out section of a truck right by the engine, for 4 hours straight. And that's just the beginning. Rubén talks about being born into the Mexican mob and gang life, the "machismo" that is present in Mexican culture, spending 6 months with the rich kids at Palo Alto high school, and a lot, lot more. Get ready for a heavy hitter.

https://anchor.fm/theswaypodcast

11/02/2021

🚨 Episode 3 out today! 🚨

Preston is a 29 year old Machine Learning Engineer based out out of San Jose, CA. He grew up with Chinese parents who split up when he was young -- his mom subscribing to a "just do your best" mentality and promoting independent thinking, while his dad found meaning in Faith and exists with more of a "scarcity mindset" influenced by humble upbringings in SF Chinatown projects. Preston details his journey, from a non-academic wandering into college trying to appease parental and cultural pressures, to ironically self-choosing to get a second Bachelor's and eventually his Masters in AI from Stanford.

https://anchor.fm/theswaypodcast

10/18/2021

🚨 Episode 2 out now!! 🚨

Ayan is a 25 year old Agricultural Engineer based out of San Jose, CA. Having spent his childhood in the United Arab Emirates as a racial and religious minority and later moving to the U.S. with his family, Ayan is no stranger to being the odd man out. In this episode, Ayan dives into his experiences being different both in the Middle East and in Silicon Valley, his life changing 3-month "fast" from entertainment, and his thoughts on how culture can limiting. Enjoy! 😊

https://anchor.fm/theswaypodcast

10/04/2021

To all the 2nd generation immigrants out there, at one point or another, we've all had the experience of having someone look us up and down with a confused look on their face to finally ask..."what are you?". The SWAY podcast features two Persian-American siblings, Faraz (entrepreneur) and Ida (therapist), who dissect the challenges of growing up straddling multiple cultures in America. In Season 1, they invite guests from a range of cultural backgrounds to share their stories. Check out the first episode below and subscribe to be notified about new episodes every 2 weeks!

The "So, what are you?" podcast features two Persian-American siblings who dissect the challenges of growing up straddling multiple cultures in America. They invite guests from various backgrounds to share their stories about having parents who are immigrants, managing the expectations of multiple c...