Avsnitt
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The immigrant experience can be stressful, so stressful that Kris Granger ended up with Stage 4 cancer.
His story is amazing. Inspiring. Humbling.
Kris moved to Sweden from Trinidad four years ago with his girlfriend at the time to further her music career. He was going to be a digital nomad and service his marketing strategy clients from Sweden. She would move ahead with her music career. "I thought I could do anything," he says. Boy, was he wrong?
A couple of months later, Kris was running thrice as fast to keep up with all life was throwing at him. He was losing his clients back home, he hadn't been able to get a job in Sweden, and things were getting desperate.
He ended up getting a maternity cover role at an agency after volunteering with the European Union. But he had to make ends meet, so he still hustled hard for clients back home. He also accepted a guest lecturing position at the University of Gothenburg. This continued for a while.
By the time he got his dream job at Volvo, after applying over 50 times, Kris's life was falling apart.
His marriage was falling apart.
His body was falling apart.
Kris joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about surviving Stage 4 cancer and finding family and community at his Volvo workplace. We also talked about:
* The power of volunteering as an immigrant
* Why making a decision to fall in love with his city was the first step to falling in love with his new life
* The checklist life of an immigrant and how it can lead to dreadful outcomes
* The importance of breaking into the existing friendship circles because these are often the work circles, and more.
This was some episode. My biggest takeaway: if you move in your 30s, seek community. Seek stability. We trivialize all we walked away from in our former life.
Our family. Our friends. Our colleagues. Or the cultural cachets that make it easy for us to approach every day as if it’s nothing.
Moving to a new country resets you. The stress of trying to settle in, get a job, while also being a good parent and partner can literally kill you.
Here’s Kris’s approach to finding his community:1. Seek out spaces where you feel alive. Look for groups or classes that truly interest you – those are the places where real connections form.2. Give first, without asking. When people feel your genuine willingness to help, trust follows.3. Say yes to small, unexpected opportunities. It’s often the smallest steps that open the biggest doors.
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Yawa Degboe moved to Paris, France as a 4yo. Years later, she moved across the Atlantic to Boston, United States.
So, a second-generation immigrant during her time in France. And now a first-generation immigrant in the United States. One would be forgiven to think she would be more French than Togolese because I did.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Yawa is all about embracing her French and Togolese identities. And I agree. Very often, you hear immigrants talk about discarding who they used to be so they can assimilate into the new culture.
You aren't doing yourself any favors if you march down that road.
The advantage of being an immigrant is the unique individual you become when you merge your old self and the new self. You create something so beautiful, so different, so special.
But back to Yawa. She joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about her journey as a first-generation immigrant to the United States. We also explored:
* Dealing with survival mentality
* The various identities we immigrants carry with us
* The advantages of being an immigrant
* How she’s using the lessons she’s learned from her Mom to create a new future for the next generation
* Tips for French immigrants looking to move to an English-speaking country, and more beautiful stuff.
Integrate folks. Don’t assimilate.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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The job market is brutal, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. This can be discouraging for new immigrants to Canada or those looking to move.
I mean, the bills don’t wait. Plus, they can quickly rack up, especially if you’ve got a family or dependents. So, in a bid to make sure you get over this hump as fast as possible, most new immigrants go into an application frenzy.
Is this good or bad? The experts say you should get in as many applications as possible.
Mujidah Sakibu has a slight tweak to this process. Remember folks, jobs might have the same title but different organizational needs. And then you also have the fact that we all have what we are really good at.
However, desperation to get that first offer means we forget this. And that’s okay, honestly.
But what if you could approach job hunting 5X better?
Mujidah joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about the job-hunting process that enabled her to get a six-figure job within seven weeks of landing in Canada. We also chat about:
* Her two failed attempts to immigrate
* Mistakes immigrants make when looking for their first job
* And how settling into Canada was a bit easier because of her experience in Belgium.
I know the job market is tough folks. Sending you love and light. You’ve got this!
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The American mythology is a fascinating study. As a kid born in 1980s Nigeria, the United States was the ultimate dream.
I wanted to go live there. I wanted to see if all I read about in the colorful magazines my Dad brought back home from work was real.
So heck, was I surprised to hear Romu Gaboriau say it was same for him in France. America is such a cultural force. Romu moved to the United States 15 years ago after spending a significant part of his childhood wondering if everything was bigger in the U.S.A.
He joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about what it’s like to move from France to the United States. We also talked about:
* The differences between France and America; food, making friends, and doing business
* Struggling with the English Language
* Raising kids with dual identities
* Tips for settling into a new country if you don’t speak the native language.
This was a good one. Enjoy.
Here’s my takeaway for you: Forget about learning the accent. Learn to communicate first. As immigrants, we often trip ourselves up because we want to learn how to speak with the accent. Yes, it probably makes you blend in better.
But…
Learn how to pass your message as clearly as possible before worrying about an accent. It might come in the end. Or you might never have one. And that’s okay.
As long as everyone understands you, you’ll be FINE!
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For some people, and I would say for me to an extent, immigrating meant just leaving Nigeria with no clear idea if we would ever go back. Not for Eyitayo Ogunmola, founder of Utiva, a technology talent development startup.
Eyitayo moved to the United States as an Atlas Corps fellow in 2015. While doing research on tech talent development, discovered there was a need to build a talent development edtech business that could export or outsource African engineers, developers, and similar, globally.
And so Utiva was born in 2018. But as he says on LinkedIn, "I thought this was first a joke. I made so many terrible startup mistakes. Please don't try this at home."
Utiva has gone on to upskill 110K people from 19 African countries and helped over 500 companies source African tech talent.
Eyitayo joined me to talk about the concept of reverse immigration and seeing immigrating as a chance to learn and then bring that knowledge back home. He also shared:
* His go-to playbook for settling into a new country
* Getting intimidated by the accent at his first conference
* The power and beauty of sharing the African perspective
* Adjusting to life in the United States after moving, and more.
Here’s my takeaway for you: You don’t immigrate with cash. You immigrate with a skill.
I agree that I am stripping away some nuance there as cash-flow is an advantage in many ways. But this probably applies more to young folks looking to immigrate.
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Gwen Lafage is what I would call a serial immigrant. She's lived in the UK, the United States, Sweden, and then back to the United States.
And in her words, "Every move changes you."
However, I think one of the most important point she makes in this episode are the tradeoffs you have to make when you move to a new country. Family relationships become fragile. Friendships collapse. You find it hard to make new friends.
Especially if you're someone like Gwen who's always on the move. Being an immigrant can be lonely journey.
Gwen joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about her time at Sweden. We also explored:
* How culture influences our everyday life
* The concept of identity as an immigrant
* The concept of home
* The tradeoffs we have to make as immigrants
* Who she becomes when she gets to France, and more.
This episode was therapy for I and Gwen. And I hope it is for you too.
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If there’s one person that exemplifies that statement, it’s Tobi Oluwole.
Tobi immigrated to Canada against his will. As the first-born in a Nigerian home, he had to grow up quickly. This meant moving on after his dream of being a footballer didn’t work out.
Yes, Tobi the employability and communications coach once went on trials at Chelsea Football Club and West Ham United FC.
This meant quickly figuring out a way to live the life he’s always wanted to live.
And oh, I think he’s figured it all out.
Tobi joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about his move to Canada. We also chatted about:
* Why he’s relocated to France
* How to break out of societal conditioning
* Trying out as a footballer in London. I also share a crazy football trials story of mine I rarely talk about.
* His secret for hitting the ground running when he moves to a new country.
Here’s my biggest takeaway from this episode with Tobi: In life you get unlimited tries. As an immigrant, this is an important heuristic to adopt.
Keep going my friend, you’ve got this.
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The COVID-19 pandemic was a strange time. Loved ones falling sick. Then passing away. The lockdowns. The terror from not knowing who had the virus and who didn't. The social isolation.
And the subsequent breakdown of the first layer of trust that guides how a society behaves in public.
For immigrants like Maryam Atoyebi, this meant settling down into a new society was hard. 2X harder than it should normally be.
I moved in 2021, so I didn't fully experience what it felt like as everyone tried to navigate the new rules for societal interaction. But the little I experienced was emotionally tasking. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for Maryam and others who moved to a new country about that time.
Maryam joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about all the feels while trying to settle down during the pandemic. We also chatted about:
* Her biggest mistakes
* How to use informational interviews to build your confidence when job hunting and interviewing
* Handling the loss of identity that comes with being put into a box when you move to a new society
* And intersectionality as a skill set.
I’ll leave you with this great piece of advice from Maryam: Understand that every piece of advice you get from other immigrants is contextual. It’s often coming from a good place, but its colored by their experience, their bias, and their perspective or view of the world.
Your job is to apply your context to what you hear.
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Two months ago, Nelly Kawira shared a hilarious thread on Twitter about all she’s learned and achieved since moving to London two years ago.
Well, she’s published an updated version on The Newcomers, with some great images to boot.
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What is the Canadian workplace culture? How do we immigrants adjust to the unspoken expectations of our colleagues and bosses in an indirect culture?
I’ve made my fair share of mistakes. Thankfully, they haven’t been so costly yet. I hope. So, this conversation with Matt Adolphe was God-sent.
Born in Calgary, Canada, Matt moved to Asia after university and lived there for years. After moving back to Canada with his family, he found it hard to re-integrate into the Canadian workplace. In his words, "It wasn't an easy transition."
This experience, plus listening to the stories of immigrants and others who were struggling to understand the Canadian workplace culture inspired him to write THE BOOK on mastering the unspoken rules of the Canadian workplace.
I think his book is a seminal piece of work. A must-read for anyone who’s looking to work in Canada. Immigrant or not.
Matt joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about his book and its impact. We also chatted about:
* Why the Canadian work culture won’t change dramatically despite immigration
* The differences between the Canadian and American workplace culture
* Steps to take to help you adjust to your Canadian workplace
* How to have hard conversations in Canada
* Why being culturally adaptable is a superpower
* And the concept of bringing our whole self to work.
This was such a good good episode. Jeez.
I’ll leave you with this: You don’t lose your sense of identity when you adopt a new culture. You become a much better and rounded individual.
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Resources:
Here’s Matt’s book: Canadian Workplace Culture: Mastering the Unspoken Rules
He’s also got another one: Would You Hire You?
Did you read it?
Two months ago, Nelly Kawira shared a hilarious thread on Twitter about all she’s learned and achieved since moving to London two years ago.
Well, she’s published an updated version on The Newcomers, with some great images to boot.
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Where is home? Your place of birth? Or where you feel loved and at peace?
I prefer to think it’s the latter.
And for Helen Agbonison, founder of Africans & African Descendants in St. Albert, it's the same. She's never felt a strong attachment to any place, but since moving to St Albert, she's found her calling. Her home. Her community.
Helen joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about moving to Canada 14 years ago, using Yahoo Answers to find friends in Canada as she and her family prepped for the big move. We also chat about:
* What it felt like to move to Canada 14 years ago
* Why St. Albert is HOME
* Why African immigrants struggle to integrate
* Why she launched the Africans & Africans Descendants in St. Albert community, and more.
It was so good to hear her talk about all the work the community is doing to preserve the African culture.
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The past few weeks, probably months, have been an interesting one for international students looking to immigrate to Canada for their studies.
Nothing is as it seems.
And while this can leave you feeling panicked. And tempted to do anything to get into the country before the "doors close on you," Olufemiloye thinks otherwise.
Olu moved to Canada as an international student over nine years ago, and has since dedicated himself to helping people find their way to Canada. Legally!
He joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about moving to Canada before japa (Nigerian slang for ‘to migrate’) became japa. We also talked about:
* Three plans you MUST have in place before immigrating as an international student
* The downstream effects of the Canadian system of governance on international students such as:
* The school in Atlantic Canada that took in so many students they had to start taking lectures in a cinema hall
* Tips for international students looking to move to Canada
* Why you should immigrate with a clear plan of action, and more.
Folks, I get it. Things look crazy right now. But be kind to yourselves. Look before you jump.
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When we talk about immigrating to a new country, we often focus on how to get a job ASAP, finding a house, and all the other similar issues we have to deal with as we feel our way into the new society.
But we seem to forget or rather, we seem to gloss over understanding and adapting to the spoken and unspoken cultural nuances that guide social and professional interactions.
Code-switching. Adapting to the communication style and tone of the new country. Same thing.
And it’s not about learning to speak with the accent. Because you can speak phoneh, and still end up not passing your message across when it matters.
Code-switching isn’t about speaking with the accent. It’s you adapting your communication style to suit your new environment. And it’s a necessary skill.
One you’ll need to survive, especially at work. You can't play it by the ear. You MUST invest time in learning how to communicate or else you are always going to feel frustrated.
However, the fact that you are code-switching doesn't mean you should lose yourself in the process. Or allow everyone and anyone run roughshod over you.
Rotimi Fawole, lawyer, DJ, and writer joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about code-switching, and how it’s a key element of settling down.
We also chatted about:
* Moving to the UK as a student, heading back to Nigeria because of the lure of Africa rising, and then moving back to the UK
* Managing your communication style at work as an immigrant
* Why it’s crucial to build a community of people who are an example of who you want to become in your new home
* Why it’s so hard for immigrants to bring their full selves to work
* Tips that can help you improve your communication style, and more.
Remember, we are products of how we are raised, so spend some time learning how things work.
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For an immigrant startup founder, fundraising is probably one of the hardest nuts to crack.
They lack the usual social capital they had back home, which means they can't access the life-saving Family, Friends, and Fools round, fondly called FFF. And I do think they mean Fools in a good way because of what it takes to back an unproven idea.
The sad thing about being in this position is the FFF round is absolutely important. It gives the founder time to test out the idea, hopefully get some revenue going and take the first steps towards product-market fit.
So what to do?
Rebecca Johnson, Investment & Operations Associate at BKR Capital, joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about how we can kick-start the FFF rounds for immigrant startups.
We also talked about:
* Why immigrant founders need to learn storytelling
* The beautiful things she’s seeing happening in the immigrant founder ecosystem
* Why we immigrants need to build things
* The differences she’s seen between the Nigerian tech ecosystem and the Canadian tech ecosystem, and more.
Folks, we need to build things. Real things. Economic power is everything. It’s one of the best ways to get a foothold in the society.
P.S. I think Rebecca’s episode is a good follow-up on my interview with Eric Agyemang of Maple Bridge VC earlier this year:
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Nigerians who immigrate often move to the United Kingdom, the United States, or Canada in recent times.
Nosa Ayanru has moved to two of those countries. And he thinks Canada is a much better place to live as a Nigerian immigrant.
He moved to Manchester, UK with £278 in his wallet to study, and after 6+ years, moved to Canada with his family. And a larger purse this time around.
Nosa joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about:
* His biggest cultural shocks
* Why he never liked living in the UK
* Why you don’t immigrate with money, but a skillset
* Culture as a way of understanding a people
* Building the Nigerian brand in Canada via arts and culture, and more.
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There are a many reasons why we immigrants pack up our bags and move to Canada.
But the biggest reason is probably a better life for our kid(s). That's if you have kids.
So, if you are looking to move to a country where you believe your child is going to have a better future, isn't that enough reason to get involved in building that future? Because the bright future isn't going to magically appear.
It has to be built. Brick by brick.
This is why Shilan Zade, who's running to be the next Conservative candidate for Burnaby North - Seymour thinks we all should get involved in building Canada's future.
Shilan joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about:
* Managing cultural misunderstandings as an immigrant
* Why she’s running for office
* The impact of language barriers
* The power of our voices
* Settling into Canada 20 years ago, and more.
People, there is no perfect moment to get involved in building the Canadian society of our dreams. Start now!
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Fellow Nigerians, Aakansha Jain speaks pidgin. She said, “Oya,” and it was perfect.
Aakansha moved to Nigeria from India as a teeny weeny kid. She remembers her father telling her she struggled to settle in and cried a lot because everyone looked different.
But over time, Nigeria became home.
Then, she had to move back to India, and it was tough. "I had to prove how Indian I am every day," she says.
She moved to Australia four years ago and can't believe how easy it was for her to settle into the Australian culture. She posits that it's probably because a considerable proportion of the population are immigrants, and they understand what it means to feel like one.
She joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about her immigrant journey. We explored:
* The beauty of the Nigerian culture
* Nature vs. nurture
* Settling back into India as a kid who grew up in Nigeria
* Why feeling in-between cultures is a strength, not a weakness
* How her heritage has changed, and more.
Enjoy. This was a fun one.
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How do you deal with the fear of the unknown when immigrating? What does it feel like to be right about where Nigeria was headed?
I call Nwachukwu Edgar Onyeagba the man who saw the future. After his daughter was born, he took one look at everything that was going on with Nigeria and decided to leave. In his words, “things were looking like they weren’t going to get any better.”
Sadly, he was right.
Edgar joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about his experience living in Canada for the past eight years. We discussed:
* The mental exhaustion of code switching
* Dealing with the fear of the unknown
* Dealing with Canadian experience
* He also shares the two questions your resume must answer
Edgar works in Human Resources, so if you want to get the gist about resumes, you can find that from 28:00.
Survival mode can be a strength
The following is based on a recent episode with Kaveri Srivastava
As an immigrant, it's easy to feel stuck in survival mode. You need to focus on immediate needs, and it's hard to do that while identifying and pursuing longer-term growth opportunities.
What if your greatest asset was survival mode?
Here's Kaveri Srivastava's view of survival mode after 13 years as an immigrant:
* Embrace the blank slate. You've got nothing to lose. Take risks. Sensibly.
* Pay your future self first. Save 20-30% before spending, or find your number and save that first.
* Use your cultural strengths as an advantage. Were you raised to focus on education? Turn that into a passion for learning. Anything can be a competitive advantage.
You've got this.
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📅Date: September 26, 2024📍 Location: Hotel Arts, 119 12 Avenue Southwest, Calgary, AB T2R 0G8🎫 Early Bird Pricing: $100
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I’ve come to realize that the best way to hit the ground running as an immigrant in a new country isn’t necessarily the usual things people talk about—finding a job to keep you going while applying to 500 roles weekly and the like.
The most impactful things you’ll need to do when settling down are mindset-related.
Keep an open mind. Be adaptable. Drop any sense of entitlement. And be willing to reset and start from the beginning.
One caveat, though: don’t lose your identity in the process.
After 12+ years in Canada, Kaveri Srivastava is well-placed to speak about this mindset shift. She joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about:
* Her hit-the-ground running playbook
* Dealing with survival mentality as an immigrant
* Balancing the need to experience new things while saving for the future
* Her Indian heritage, and more.
My biggest takeaway: While it’s cool to experience new things, you should form the habit of paying your future self first.
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I need your help
I am working with an immigration expert to create content around the most common questions about the Canadian immigration process. Could you please hit reply and send in any questions you might have?
Danke!
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If you ask anyone planning to emigrate from Nigeria what country or city they plan to settle in as their new home, you would hear Canada, England, Australia, the United States, and even Germany.
But you would rarely hear someone say, Glasgow, Scotland.
But Chris Ogunlowo is built differently. This xenophile decided to study in Glasgow because he was fascinated by its culture.
He joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about:
* Expectations vs. reality
* The need to make your new country work because you aren’t a tourist, and so you have no return ticket.
* Spotting opportunities as an immigrant
* Cultural integration and the work we need to do as immigrants to integrate, and more.
My biggest takeaway is that integration is a two-way street, with both the host nation and the immigrant responsible for fostering an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect.
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Komal Faiz, a UX researcher par excellence and founder of Wanderlite, the gear rental marketplace, moved to Canada as a student more than nine years ago.
Once school was over, people told her it would be stupid to leave Canada after her MSc program, so she stayed back. And in her words, her immigration journey has been like fine wine.
I do love a good wine analogy.
Komal joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about:
* The advantages of immigrating as an international student, even though you are always broke
* The Wanderlite origin story
* The immigrant’s existential struggle for belonging and a sense of identity
* Her biggest lessons, and more.
This was a fun one. But the best part for me was when she said:
“We set such high standards for ourselves. But give yourself some space. You are good. You are doing okay.”
You can find that from 31:58.
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