Sharing the stories and experiences of fifteen New Zealanders from migrant and former refugee backgrounds, this series is a community-led collaboration in partnership with Belong Aotearoa, Sport Waitākere and Storyo, hosted by Elina Ashimbayeva. Elina is the co-creator of Storyo, and moved to New Zealand from Kazakhstan in 2011.
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Visit storyo.co.nz for a transcript of the episodes!
Ricardo Menéndez March is a dedicated activist and Member of Parliament for the Green Party. His own experiences working low-wage jobs as a migrant shaped his deep understanding of the barriers in Aotearoa’s employment sector. His advocacy centres on policy and regulation, pushing for fairer systems that protect the rights of migrants and former refugees. Ricardo champions a future where every worker, no matter where they come from, is treated with dignity and respect.
15 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 15: Kat Eghdamian
Dr Kat Eghdamian is an Iranian-Kurdish New Zealander and former child refugee. She has six degrees and works as Lead Advisor for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner. Kat shares stories about her country of birth, her journey to Aotearoa, and her work on migrant exploitation and modern slavery. She and Elina discuss how to go about changing hearts and minds, and the importance of guilty pleasures!
15 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 14: Nina Santos
Nina identifies as a first-generation migrant from the Philippines and is a passionate advocate for ethnic communities, migrant rights and gender equality. Nina has been recognised by the Asian New Zealand Foundation and YWCA as a young person to watch, and in this episode, Nina shares her work with the “Mind The Gap'' campaign and ethnic pay gap reporting.
15 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 13: Ajaz Patel
A New Zealand Cricketer, Ajaz Patel made his international debut for the Black Caps in October 2018. In this episode, he and Elina talk about his culture and identity, faith, having a sense of belonging, and the secret role of food in creating inclusive sport environments.
15 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 12: Marie Ysabel Landingin
Marie was born in Manila, raised in Auckland and currently works on major infrastructure projects at Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. She is a 'third culture kid' dreaming of inclusive cities and is a part of the Multi-Ethnic Young Leaders Network and Authenticity Aotearoa. Marie explains urban planning and her passion for putting an ethnic lens on it, and she and Elina discuss identity and her feelings of not doing enough when it comes to activism and migrant relationships with tāngata whenua.
15 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 11: Ashley Petau-Ah Poe
Ashley is of Samoan-Chinese heritage and spent her childhood in Hong Kong before moving to Aotearoa when she was six years old. She and Elina talk about Ashley’s feelings of being displaced, her connections to her roots and culture, the importance of finding community, and what good (and bad!) leadership looks like.
13 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 10: Suki Xiao
Suki is a Chinese-New Zealander, Career Coach and Founder of "As You", empowering women of colour to have confidence and clarity in their career and leadership. A former Agile Coach at Xero and other tech companies, she is now mentoring people to find their purpose and redefine their grind. She and Elina talk about impostor syndrome in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space, defining yourself as an Asian woman coach, bringing your whole self to work, and what femininity means to them.
13 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 9: Lovely Dizon
A 1.5 generation Filipino-Kiwi who grew up in Aotearoa, Lovely is currently a PhD candidate and her research focuses on supporting 1.5 and second-generation Southeast Asian migrant adolescents as they negotiate their ethnic identity. She is passionate about youth health and ensuring that Asian young people have access to culturally safe health services, in particular mental health services. She and Elina talk about living in 'in-between' spaces, mental health, deconstructing faith, and dating!
8 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 8: Medulla Oblongata
Meet Medulla, a drag queen performer who competed in the first season of House of Drag and a non-binary former refugee from the Maldives who lived in Malaysia, before finding their home in Aotearoa New Zealand. Elina and Medulla talk queer culture, living their truth, behind the scenes of drag, and discrimination.
8 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 7: Andrew Tui
Andrew Tui is a podcaster and a career practitioner who loves coffee and a ukulele jam. In this epsiode, he and Elina explore Andrew’s Samoan-Chinese heritage and his connections to faith and the rainbow community. Andrew shares some practical insights and advice that organisations can and should take when it comes to equity, diversity and inclusion, especially around Pacific youth.
8 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 6: Nilofer Faizal
Nilofer Faizal recently moved to Auckland and has travelled and lived in India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Morocco. She and Elina discuss Nilofer’s travels, culture, sense of belonging as a Muslim woman and how her headscarf makes her feel empowered.
8 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 5: Sun Min Elle Park
Sun has a research background in postcolonial theories in racism and is currently a union delegate. In this conversation, she and Elina talk about Sun’s upbringing and Korean culture, her research, union work, and Sun’s own recent journey with ADHD and autism.
2 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 4: Maria Khaydar
In this episode, Elina speaks to Maria Khaydar, a self-described “capitalist girl-boss by day and anarchist by night”. Maria currently works in the tech industry and is actively involved in amplifying ethnic voices and advocating for refugee and asylum seeker rights. She discusses her Syrian-Azeri-Russian identity and the expectations that come with that mix, and she and Elina examine the way they, as women of colour, police themselves and reject the notion of being a trail-blazer.
2 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 3: Vira Paky
A young Congolese-Kiwi-South African woman, Vira is Chairperson of the New Zealand National Refugee Youth Council, advocating for, engaging and supporting refugee background youth around Aotearoa. Vira is an outstanding poet who writes about intersections of feminism, race, and African identity among other topics. In this episode we talk about Vira’s poetry, being true to her voice, black-kiwi representation in New Zealand, and what it means to be an advocate in this day and age.
1 May 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 2: Ola Shahin
Ola is a Palestinian-Kiwi engineer and a community football coach at Manukau United Football Club. In sharing her inspiring journey, she speaks candidly about her experiences with depression and anxiety, bringing honesty, transparency and grit to the conversation around identity and of being a New Zealander. She and Elina discuss the complex nature of belonging, as well as football and cake...
Trigger warning: this story deals with topics of self-harm and suicide.
29 Apr 2022
Pass The Mic Episode 1: Pok Wei Heng
Pok is a climate change consultant by day, working on regenerative cities centred on learning from indigenous wisdom, and a climate justice advocate by night. Pok recently moved to New Zealand from Singapore and is passionate about decolonisation, identity, connecting climate justice with diversity, equity and inclusion work. He and host Elina discuss the pros and cons of collectivism, migrant relationships with Te Tiriti and Māori, allyship, finding your place as a recent migrant in Aotearoa.
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