First Generation Episodes

Alba Contreras was born in Venezuela but moved to Boston when she was 9. Being undocumented did not stop her from dreaming to go to college or going to law school. Today she is a mom of two, a Latina lawyer who helps Latinx lawyers build their own law firm on their own terms. This is her story.

Dr. Deniz Enverova was born in Bulgaria but moved to the US when she was 10 years old. She knew from a very young age that she wanted to be an archeologist. While her parents were trying to navigate the American dream, Deniz did whatever she needed to make sure she became an archeologist and fulfil her dream only to realize the limitations that go with it. This is her story.

Trish Ahjel Roberts is a Self Actualization coach and a Happiness expert. She left her corporate job in finance and sales to author three self help books. In this episode she talks about what prompted her to leave her corporate job, the affirmation that she uses everyday and the steps to mind blowing happiness. This is her story.

Evie Prete is a chingona born and brought up in Southern California but her mother came over from Mexico. Even though money was tight, education was important and Evie was the first one in her family to go to college. In this episode Evie talks about being the only one of two women of color in her college engineering class, finding the courage to leave an abusive relationship and starting her own business. This is her story.

Karishma Asthana is a young professional of Indian origin born and brought up in the US. Her mother was born and brought up in India but her father was brought up in Africa. Karishma is the host of the newly minted podcast Missteps to Success. In this episode she talks about learning to make life decisions on her own, leading a disability awareness program and learning the importance of being financially independent. This is her story.

This vivacious, cultured and multi-faceted individual grew up in New York City. Her childhood neighborhood in Brooklyn was an ethnic mosaic of Italians, Irish, Russians, Blacks, and Hassidic Jews. Her multicultural heritage and pre-disposed inquisitive nature made it very easy for Claudine to relate to the diverse denizens of her surroundings. Her unique and enviable upbringing has allowed her to become fluent in 5 languages. She will humbly admit, that through music as a child, she taught herse...

Alishba is a 17-year-old machine learning, robotics and blockchain developer who has a strong passion to leverage technology to solve hard and important problems in the world. At 15, she co-founded Honestblocks, a blockchain platform to track medication and put an end to counterfeit medication in supply chain systems for 2 million people in rural India. This platform was integrated into IBM Blockchain. She has worked with various companies such as TD Bank, Pngme, and Vestergaard on developing ...

Joanna Munoz originally from the Domincian Republic is a NICU nurse that is also starting her own business. In her own words: "Overcoming a toxic relationship with my mother, becoming a Nurse and having a baby while in nursing school and now pursuing my other passion and starting my own business in refinishing furniture, DIY and home decor. Despite the many negatives, it made me who I am. Someone who’s determined to not just work a 9-5 to pay bills but rather allow myself to follow ALL of my dre...

37 - Mandeep Kaur is an e-commerce seller who successfully left her full-time (9-5) job during Covid-19 to manage and expand her e-commerce business. Mandeep Kaur is a 42 year old mom of 3 who stumbled upon e-commerce in 2019 after feeling frustration from the lack of opportunities at her 9-5 job. After launching 2 failed products, her 3rd product took off. Did you know 50% of products sold on Amazon are by 3rd party sellers like her? Mandeep uses Amazon's FBA model (Fulfilled by Amazon) to ma...

33 - Sana Saiyed is a PhD student at the University of Notre Dame studying human-monkey relationships in India. She is interested in the various ways humans and animals shape each others lives. Sana is a former high school science teacher and is passionate about science education that challenges Western notions of science and nature. Sana's articles Contact Sana

22 - In this episode we are speaking with Melissa Neacato. Melissa is a Speaker, writer, and coach. She has a vision that with more information college students don't need to graduate drowning in debt. A vision that parents who wish to, can take a year off to spend time with their newborn children. As a 33 year-old wife and mother of two. She was the mastermind in planning her families debt pay off plan. Together her family paid off over 100k in debt in just 3.5 yrs and saved their first 100...

19 - Dr. Mallika Sarma is a Human Biologist specializing in adaptation to extreme environments and is currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Human Spaceflight Lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is a PH.D. graduate of the department of Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame. She is an advocate for intersectional feminist and anti-colonial practices in spaceflight research, STEM, and society in general. Mallika is also a Bharatanatyam dancer, competitive olympi...

15 Supriya Rao, MD is a board certified physician in internal medicine, gastroenterology and obesity medicine. She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and gastroenterology fellowship at Boston Medical Center. She is a managing partner of her GI practice, Integrated Gastroenterology Consultants, located in Chelmsford, MA. She is also the Director of Med...

009 - Sonali Mishra is an Odissi dancer, writer, and researcher currently based in Odisha, India. Born and raised in the United States, Sonali was initiated into Odissi dance in her early teens by Smt. Chitralekha, Smt. Ellora, and Sri Devraj Patnaik in Toronto. Since 1995, she has been travelling regularly to Orissa, India for further study and refinement. Sonali received her initial training in India at the Orissa Dance Academy under Gurus Sri Bichitrananda Swain and Sri Ramesh Chandra Jena, ...

004 - Isabel was born and raised in the East New York section of Brooklyn, NY and is the daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York University in 1988 and in 2007 a Master of Science Information Technology degree in Information Security & Assurance from Carnegie Mellon University. Isabel started her career as a Structural Design Engineer for the F-14 at Grumman Aerospace in Bethpag...

002 - In episode 2 meet Sleep revolutionalist, Dr. Aarti Soorya. A 1st generation Indian American who talks about her journey from the anxiety of traditional path of medicine to the joy of integrative medicine and healing from the inside out. Hope you enjoyed this fun conversation and remember to hit subscribe!