Couverture de The Immigrant Experience in America (TIEIA)

The Immigrant Experience in America (TIEIA)

The Immigrant Experience in America (TIEIA)

De : Simone W. Johnson Smith
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The Immigrant Experience In America Podcast amplifies and humanizes the experiences of immigrants living in The United States of America and around the world. We are building a human library of immigrant stories. Connect with us at thebridgeconcepts.org to add yours to our library. Are you an immigrant, expat, international professional, international student new to the United States (or another country) and struggling to make sense of your new environment? Culture shock and adjustment challenges impact many of approximately 218 million migrants moving across the globe (UN, 2024). Are you feeling misunderstood and out of touch because you are struggling to understand the unstated rules of the new culture? That's what we do each week on The Immigrant Experience in America. Every episode is an in-depth look at adjustment challenges, navigating the pitfalls of immigrant life, and becoming a third culture person. I was inspired to start this podcast by my own experience as an immigrant American who legally migrated to the United States but yet has frequent experiences of a love-hate relationship of America with its immigrant population and as a result of a larger vacuum surrounding the positive contributions of immigrants to American Life. We will sit down with successful immigrant Americans to discuss how they navigated the complexity of being an immigrant-American to achieve their American Dream. This is a spot for us to get real - peel back the layers, if you will, of what it means to be an immigrant living away from their birth country. Our intention is to serve as a bridge from your culture to the American (or other country) culture – giving you a roadmap of tools and language to understand the unstated rules of the new country/culture, wherever you find yourself in the world. Disclaimer: The Immigrant Experience in America podcast is produced in my personal capacity. The views and opinions shared by me and my guests are our own and do not reflect the views, policies, or positions of the U.S. government or USCIS.2021 Simone W. Johnson Smith Sciences sociales
Épisodes
  • The Black Tax: Twelve Weeks Later: The Founding Cohort Invitation (Week 12 of 90-Day Black Tax Series)

    The Black Tax: Twelve Weeks Later: The Founding Cohort Invitation (Week 12 of 90-Day Black Tax Series)
    Oct 19 2026
    Twelve weeks ago, Simone started this series with a number most of us never write down or even talk about. In week twelve, the last of this stretch, she does three things: walks you back through where the series has been, widens the circle, and extends an invitation. She gives you the thread in case you joined late: the number that is never written down, honoring your mother and funding your future in the same breath, the system nobody explained, the two cups, your real number, and the four conversations that follow. The line between obligation and manipulation, which is a hard line to draw when you love people. A room in Alpharetta where about twenty people told each other the truth. The five-year cost of staying stuck. And last week's look behind the Immigrant Wealth Code and who it is not for. Then she widens the circle. She will keep calling the series Black Tax, because it is the name many of us grew up hearing, but she knows it is not the word every family uses. Some call it family obligation, some call it what we do for home, and some never gave it a name. In a 2023 KFF and Los Angeles Times survey of immigrants, 65 percent of Black immigrants and 52 percent of Hispanic immigrants said they send money to relatives or friends in their birth country at least occasionally. The name changes from one family to the next. The weight does not. Then the invitation: Simone is opening the founding cohort of the Immigrant Wealth Code, the first cohort. She is taking eight founding members, and the cohort begins Saturday, November 14. Over six weeks, you meet live on Saturdays at 10:00am ET for 75 minutes. You also get support between sessions in a private Skool community, a one-on-one closing session with Simone, replays of every class, and a signed copy of the Revised Edition of Decoding America. The work starts with the weight, not the spreadsheet, then builds your real number and your security number, then writes the words for the conversations that make the plan real. She teaches it as education and is not a licensed financial advisor. She also repeats briefly who it is not for: anyone who wants to be told to stop giving, and anyone looking for investment or tax advice. It is for high-achieving immigrants, first or second generation, who love their people and are tired in a way a raise did not fix. Simone closes with her faith and the idea at the center of this series: you can love your people and still plan for your own future. Those two things belong together. This episode is for anyone who has followed the Black Tax series and wants to know what comes next, and for high-achieving immigrants ready to look at their number and learn the words. Two ways to begin 1. Apply for a Chemistry Call before Saturday, November 7. One real conversation about where you are and whether the Code is the right fit. If it is not, Simone will tell you and point you to what is. Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/261967575607068 2. Join The Giving Plan Live, free. Build your real number and write your first script with Simone, live. Saturday, October 24, 10:00 to 11:15am ET. Live only, with seats capped at 25. Register here: https://thebridgeconcepts.org/masterclass-registration.html About Simone W. Johnson-Smith Simone is the founder of Thrive Abroad and The Bridge Concepts, LLC, a Jamaican-born American intercultural strategist, coach, and former U.S. diplomat. She is the International Impact Book Award-winning author of Decoding America & Coming Home to Yourself: The Immigrant Experience, available in print on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Decoding-America-Coming-Home-Yourself/dp/B0DMWQ1GLR/), and as an audiobook (ElevenLabs-narrated) on Spotify, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo, and other major retailers via InAudio. She is also host of this podcast, reaching listeners in over 100 countries. #ThriveAbroad #BlackTax #ImmigrantWealthCode #FoundingCohort #FirstGenImmigrants #FamilyObligation #DecodingAmerica New to the U.S.? Start here: thebridgeconcepts.org/newcomer Not started yet? Get The Black Tax Boundary Kit free first: thebridgeconcepts.org/black-tax-boundary-kit.html Want the conversation to continue weekly? Subscribe to The Thrive Abroad Brief on Substack: https://thriveabroad.substack.com The Immigrant Experience in America Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimmigrantexperience Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music Support the show on Patreon Visit: https://thebridgeconcepts.org Follow along: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonewjohnson/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theimmigrantexperience Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theimmigrantexperiencepod/ Facebook: @simonewjohnson Pitch your story to us: https://form.jotform.com/262255221488054 This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. For guidance specific to your immigration status, consult a licensed immigration attorney. For guidance specific to your financial ...
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    7 min
  • The Black Tax Series: Behind the Immigrant Wealth Code: What It Does and Who It Is Not For (Week 11 of The Black Tax Series, Ep. 239)

    The Black Tax Series: Behind the Immigrant Wealth Code: What It Does and Who It Is Not For (Week 11 of The Black Tax Series, Ep. 239)
    Oct 14 2026
    In 2023, Simone decided to stop: the doing, the chasing, the traveling, the fixing, the rescuing, and the saving. She opens week eleven of the Black Tax series there because she owes you a plain answer to a plain question. You have heard her talk for ten weeks about the number, the conversations, and the cost of waiting. At some point you are allowed to ask, and then what? This week she takes you behind the scenes of the Immigrant Wealth Code. She starts with what it does not do: it does not begin with a spreadsheet, because the spreadsheet was never the first problem. The first problem is the weight. She shares what Pew Research Center found in its 2026 report: 71 percent of Black immigrants in the U.S. had given financial support to family in the past year, compared with 58 percent of U.S.-born Black adults, and among Black adults who gave, one in four said it significantly hurt their own finances. That research measured giving, not guilt, but if you have lived it, you can fill in the rest. From there, Simone walks through how the Code is built. First, naming the clash as normal: sending money home, covering a sibling, and answering the call at midnight are acts of love shaped by cultures where family is the safety net, carried into an economy that was never built with us in mind. Then the mechanics, which she keeps light on purpose: your real number (what you give, what it is for, and what it costs you), your security number (the amount that lets you sleep at night), and the difference between provision and accumulation, stewardship and stockpiling. Then the conversations, including what she calls weaning with dignity, where the love stays and the pattern changes slowly. Underneath it all is her faith: the wealth you build is not a betrayal of where you come from, it can be the fruit of it. She is also direct about who the Code is not for: anyone who wants to be told to stop giving, anyone looking for an investment pick, tax strategy, or legal advice, anyone who wants the numbers without the conversations, and anyone for whom this month is about survival. If you want the numbers without the conversations, she points you to the Giving Plan Workbook. If this month is about survival, she points you to the free Black Tax Boundary Kit and invites you to come back when you have room to breathe. She teaches this as education and is not a licensed financial advisor. This episode is for high-achieving immigrants, first or second generation, who love their people and are tired in a way a raise did not fix, and for anyone who wants to know what the Immigrant Wealth Code actually is before they ever get on a call. Saturday, October 24: The Giving Plan Live Want to see how Simone teaches? Join The Giving Plan Live, a free working session where you build your real number and write the first script for the hardest of the four conversations, live, with Simone. Saturday, October 24, 10:00 to 11:15am ET. Live only, with seats capped at 25. Register here: https://thebridgeconcepts.org/masterclass-registration.html About Simone W. Johnson-Smith Simone is the founder of Thrive Abroad and The Bridge Concepts, LLC, a Jamaican-born American intercultural strategist, coach, and former U.S. diplomat. She is the International Impact Book Award-winning author of Decoding America & Coming Home to Yourself: The Immigrant Experience, available in print on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Decoding-America-Coming-Home-Yourself/dp/B0DMWQ1GLR/), and as an audiobook (ElevenLabs-narrated) on Spotify, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo, and other major retailers via InAudio. She is also host of this podcast, reaching listeners in over 100 countries. #ThriveAbroad #BlackTax #ImmigrantWealthCode #FinancialClarity #FirstGenImmigrants #DecodingAmerica New to the U.S.? Start here: thebridgeconcepts.org/newcomer Want to start with a conversation about where you actually are? Apply for a Chemistry Call: https://form.jotform.com/261967575607068 Not started yet, or this month is about survival? Get The Black Tax Boundary Kit free first: thebridgeconcepts.org/black-tax-boundary-kit.html Want the conversation to continue weekly? Subscribe to The Thrive Abroad Brief on Substack: https://thriveabroad.substack.com The Immigrant Experience in America Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimmigrantexperience Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music Support the show on Patreon Visit: https://thebridgeconcepts.org Follow along: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonewjohnson/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theimmigrantexperience Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theimmigrantexperiencepod/ Facebook: @simonewjohnson Pitch your story to us: https://form.jotform.com/262255221488054 This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. For guidance specific to your immigration status, consult a licensed immigration attorney. For guidance specific to your financial situation, consult a ...
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    7 min
  • From Tehran to Tomorrow: A Sister Writes her Brother's Immigrant Story with Sara Fashandi (Ep. 238)

    From Tehran to Tomorrow: A Sister Writes her Brother's Immigrant Story with Sara Fashandi (Ep. 238)
    Oct 14 2026
    Sara Fashandi left Tehran, Iran, in 1977 as a teenager to study in the United States. Her mother, a seamstress who had married at fourteen, had a vision of educating all seven of her children. Sara's oldest brother, Mohsen, went first in 1973 with $300 and very little English, and he eventually brought five of his siblings to the U.S. In this episode, Sara tells me how that family story became two books: Message in a Matchbox (2022) and From Tehran to Tomorrow (2026). We talk about growing up in Tehran in the 1960s and 70s, a father who was a cobbler, and a mother who taught sewing and would not teach her daughters to sew. Sara shares the story Mohsen waited decades to tell: three nights homeless in Washington, D.C., sleeping in a park across from the Greyhound station. When she asked why he never told her, he said, "some stories you just don't tell." We also talk about what it costs the person who goes first and the family who waits. Sara's family went almost a month without knowing whether Mohsen had arrived safely, until a blue aerogram came in the mail. We also get into the gap between learning English in school and understanding it at full speed, what it means to feel American and Iranian at once, and what it feels like to become a foreigner in the land of your birth. And Sara brings two Cultural Faux Pas stories that still make her family laugh. If your family sent one person ahead, or you have been meaning to ask your parents or grandparents for their arrival story, this one is for you. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Welcome and meet Sara Fashandi 0:41 Leaving Tehran for Ohio State in 1977 1:51 A family reunion contest and how Sara became a writer 3:58 Her father the cobbler and growing up in Tehran 6:14 European fashion, loud gatherings, bingo and poetry 8:32 Two seamstress mothers, one in Iran and one in Jamaica 11:03 Message in a Matchbox: Mohsen's childhood 16:48 Three nights homeless: "some stories you just don't tell" 18:21 How Mohsen brought five siblings to the U.S. 21:59 Her mother the motivator, her father the quiet support 24:52 What writing the story taught Sara about her family 27:08 The sewing classes that changed the family's finances 29:40 Arriving in the U.S. as a teenager: missing her parents and the language 33:29 West Virginia, Ohio and Midwest weather 36:20 Getting a student visa in the 1970s versus today 40:34 How the siblings stayed close 46:33 What it costs the person who goes first and the family who waits 51:23 The blue aerogram 52:18 My aunt, the first in our family to come 56:07 What Sara hopes readers take from the books 59:35 Feeling American and Iranian at once 66:31 Third culture kids and the 300 million of us 70:39 A foreigner in the land of your birth 71:43 What Mohsen would want you to know 73:52 The Cultural Faux Pas Moment 74:24 Story one: the phone call and the elevator 79:38 Story two: the uniform mix-up 82:36 Where to find Sara and her books 87:07 Giving back About the Author: Sara Fashandi is the author of Message in a Matchbox, a multi-award finalist memoir about her brother Mohsen's childhood in Iran and the sacrifices of a mother determined to give her children a better life, and its sequel, From Tehran to Tomorrow, which follows Mohsen to the United States. From Tehran to Tomorrow on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tehran-Tomorrow-Sara-Fashandi/dp/B0H5T81QW5/ Sara's website: https://www.sarafashandi.com/ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24: The Giving Plan Live Already established, and Sara's story about family sacrifice and obligation hit home? Join a free working session where you build your real number and write the first script for the hardest conversation, live, with me. Saturday, October 24, 10:00 to 11:15am ET. Live only, seats capped at 25. Register here: https://thebridgeconcepts.org/masterclass-registration.html Want to start with a conversation about where you actually are? Apply for a Chemistry Call: https://form.jotform.com/261967575607068 New to the U.S.? Start here: https://thebridgeconcepts.org/newcomer Get The Black Tax Boundary Kit free: https://thebridgeconcepts.org/black-tax-boundary-kit.html Subscribe to The Thrive Abroad Brief: https://thriveabroad.substack.com Decoding America & Coming Home to Yourself: The Immigrant Experience by Simone W. Johnson-Smith is available in print on Amazon and as an audiobook on Spotify, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo, and other major retailers. Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@theimmigrantexperience Website: https://thebridgeconcepts.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonewjohnson/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theimmigrantexperience Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theimmigrantexperiencepod/ Pitch your story to us: https://form.jotform.com/262255221488054 #TheImmigrantExperienceInAmerica #DecodingAmericaFauxPas #ImmigrantStories #IranianAmerican #PersianAmerican #ImmigrantMemoir #ThirdCultureAdults #ThriveAbroad About Simone W. Johnson-Smith Simone is the founder of Thrive Abroad and The Bridge Concepts, LLC, a...
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    1 h et 30 min
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