Where is Home?

Rania Svoronou, Design Director at IBM iX, shares with us her experience in finding home while relocating in different parts of the world on her own. Svoronou grew up in Athens, Greece, moved to London when she was seventeen, and then relocated to New York only a year ago. She will discuss about how she overcomes the challenges of living away from home, and how she creates a sense of belonging not only for herself, but also for those around her. 

Charlene Wang, Associate Product Manager at Google and publishing Author of Model Breakers, shares with us her bold decision to pursue her higher education and career on the other side of the globe despite initial suspicions or even objections from her parents. Charlene will discuss with us her unique perspectives on building a sense of belonging without fitting in. 

John Saunders, Executive Coach and Author of The Optimizer, shares with us how he leads in the workplace with curiosity, vulnerability, and empathy to make his colleagues feel they belong. Usually we don't talk about home in a professional setting. However, Saunders will show us the power to build a tight-knit team by emphasizing the idea of inclusion and home so that people can show up with their most authentic selves and best performance. 

Sid Vaidya, Vice President at Commercial Lending, shares with us his unique and beautiful stories about exploring his cultural identities. Sid was born in India and came to the States when he was 5. He will discuss the sweet memories, personal challenges, and powerful insights while he navigates among his multiple cultural roots, and his definition of home. How do you build a sense of home when you meet your parents for the first time at age 5? Let's hear it from Sid!

Tiffany Mosher, the publishing author of "Beauty Beyond the Threshold", will share with us how she rebuilt her sense of home after divorce, and how she rediscovered her sense of belonging through volunteering and solo traveling in Puerto Rico. She inspires us to find home through the bigger purpose of helping others and giving back to our community. Sometimes, the way to heal and find our way home again is by losing ourselves in the beautiful moments of uplifting those around us!

Professor James Nolt teaches international relations and political economy at New York University. Professor Nolt has decades of teaching experience and world traveling stories to share with us. He encourages us to bring a piece of home with us when we build connections with others during solo travels. His original, genuine, and sometimes hilarious anecdotes add a new perspective to what home can be! 

Allie Esker, a recent published author of The Power of Pivot, shares with us her solo travel in a van around the U.S. to soul search and find the answer to the question of "What is home?" Earlier this year, Allie decided to spend a few months traveling alone as she started to explore the transition from college to the real world. She traveled in a van and gathered new insights as to what home means to her. 

Dr. Christine Ristaino is a professor at Emory University who teaches Italian, and advises multiple groups on campus that supports social justice. Dr. Ristaino shares her unique and personal connection with home, and I believe that she is the personification of home. She also explores the sense of home by weaving both her Italian and American identities. Dr. Ristaino believes that home lives within us, and there are numerous ways to establish a unique and personal definition of home. 

Daisy Bugarin, a current student at the New York University Shanghai campus, shares with us her transformative journey to leave her family in Chicago to study in China. Bugarin made a wild decision to learn Mandarin the moment she landed in Shanghai. She now calls Shanghai home, though her family is back in Chicago. Bugarin's journey to build a sense of belonging in a completely different culture can inspire so many others who aspire to immerse themselves on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Her dream to strengthen the relationships between the two cultures is also commendable because in her words, "I want to make others feel at home as well." 

The Founder and CEO of Wonsulting, Jonathan Javier, shares with us his stories and insights into the power of home. Wonsulting is a career coaching platform that aims to turn underdogs into winners. We learn together about how to build a sense of belonging in the workplace, and what passion truly means in the process of building a sense of home and community. At the end, you can learn about how to support Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) initiatives so that we not only build a sense of belonging for ourselves, but also for everyone.  

We explore the meaning of home together with Katalin Kapoor, a physical therapist based in New York who grew up in Hungary. Kapoor shares her challenges and strategies in building a new home in the U.S. while still trying to stay true to her Hungarian identity. At the end, you can learn from Kapoor about her definition of home, and the strategies necessary for one to build a home away from home. 

Where is Home podcast takes you on the journey of exploring the meaning of home. We all have our own definitions of home, and try to understand how it shapes our identity. There's no place like home, and we yearn for a haven where we can anchor our hearts. The conversation about what home becomes especially important when more and more people are living away from where they were born, or moving around the world trying to find a sense of belonging. Join me on this opportunity to explore our roots, build our happy places, and bring out our truest selves. Let's start with this question: Where is home?