Daniil Zakharevich

This week on We The Aliens podcast I talk to Daniil Zakharevich, a fisherman from Provincetown, Massachusetts.  

With all the events unfolding in Belarus, I wanted to talk to someone who is from there to give a personal perspective on the events. And I found Daniil, he grew up in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. I reached out to him on Facebook. He was shy and wasn’t sure if he was “kicking ass enough” but the way I see it - if the person can confidently say that they are successful and happy - they are absolutely kicking ass. 

We talked about his search for his path, his experience with the work and travel program, living in the big city, immigrant life, waiter's life, and fisherman's life, becoming a US citizen, and finding your pace and your place. We also talked about the history of Belarus, the plight of post-Soviet countries, and the joy of being able to vote.

#ЖывеБеларусь #Беларусь #протест #SupportBelarus #Belarus #election #vote #protest #Putin #policebrutality #Lukashenko #activist #feminism #immigration #daca #weareallimmigrants #dacadreamer #dreamer #wearealldreamers #undocumented #immigrant #citizenship #visausa #workandtravel #longdistance #NYC #provincetown #provincetownart #myPtown #capecod #fishing #saltwater #staycation #newengland #marivanna #waiterlife #Fishermansdiary #fisherman #fishermanslife #immigrantlife #citizen #activism #marivannanyc  #lobsterfishing #lobster #commercialfishing  #fishingfamily   #seatotable #sustainablefishing #mainetheway

Che Guerrero

Che Guerrero was brought to the US from the Dominican Republic as a young child. He was undocumented for many years. And now, he’s a comedian, activist, and a future lawyer.

We recorded this conversation before the shooting of Jacob Blake and all of the events that followed but we did talk about race quite a bit. Actually we talked about race and identity more than immigration in this episode but it is part of Che’s immigrant experience and it certainly is something that every immigrant has to navigate. Because I dare to say most other places in the world don’t deal with this issue on the level that America does. 

If nothing else I believe this conversation is a little window into an experience that many of us don’t have. I listen to Che, who has worked as a nurse with elderly for years and is studying to become a lawyer, and I hear the pain and anger in his voice that are very real. And no matter how you look at this - that pain won’t just disappear. 

Those are complicated issues and I encourage all of us to listen to people who are going through these experiences and to read up on it.There’s a lot that has to be done if we hope to live in a harmonious society. And it’s not going to be achieved by force.

Yuliya Linhares

Doctor Yuliya Linhares on We The Aliens Podcast this week!

Listen to this story - from post-Soviet hunger and chaos to a trailer in Appalachia and rice and beans during med school, to a residency at UCLA, working at Cedars-Sinai for years and now, Doctor Linhares is the Chief Of Lymphoma Service at Miami Cancer Institute. Boom! American Dream is alive.

Among other things, we talk about the collapse of the Soviet Union, the importance of Japanese poetry, the healing qualities of salsa dancing, the wonder of the Monarch butterflies, and white bats.

Kinga Philipps

My guest this week is a real-life Lara Croft, Wonder Woman, natural mermaid, and all around total badass - Kinga Philipps!

She is a writer, producer and a TV host. She works with all the major TV networks, Travel Channel, Syfy, Discovery, EPIX and National Geographic.

She came to the US from Warsaw, Poland with her parents at 5 tucked under the seat on the plane. She tells the story. And landed in Oklahoma. She grew up dreaming of being an explorer and has been one since she was a child but unlike most of us she does it for a living! Here’s to having a vision!

You’ve seen her on National Geographic. Where Kinga co-hosted America’s Lost Treasures. You’ve seen her in a bunch of shows on Travel Channel. And most recently - she was part of Samuel Jackson’s team on his docuseries Enslaved that premieres on Epix in September. We didn’t get to talk about it which means that I’m going to have to have her back closer to the premiere date to talk about what it was like to explore the shipwrecks and dive and see the remains of actual ships that carried slaves across the Atlantic. Intense stuff. 

We talk about a bunch of things and even get a little bit into religion and race. We recorded this conversation in May so we don’t talk about the most recent incidents and wave of protest. But unfortunately this theme is always present  in America.

On a completely different note… This week is #sharkweek and besides the regular Monday and Thursday episodes I will be posting a bonus episode tomorrow, where Kinga and I talk about sharks and marine conservation. 

Kinga is an endless source of great conversations! She travels, she writes, she spearfishes, and takes awesome photos! I’m obsessed with her Instagram. 

Check out our chat...

And check out these links to learn how to protect and support the sharks and marine life - 

Make sure the fish you’re buying is in season - 

https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/our-app

Make sure the products you’re using are shark free - 

https://www.sharkallies.com/shark-free-products

DJ Charlie

This week on the podcast - DJ Charlie. Charlie Antillon is a salsa and bachata DJ. 

First, Charlie came to Los Angeles from Guatemala. And then from a church musician he became a salsa DJ. Now, he’s one of the best in Los Angeles. Salsa people know him and love him.

The video that I posted is a little snippet of my birthday dance from last year. It’s a little salsa familia tradition to celebrate the birthday person with a special dance. 

And that is what I love most about the salsa scene - the community. Salsa familia. Doesn’t matter what age you are or what skill level, where you’re from or what your job is. You come, you take in the music and dance. And the music and dance takes you in. 

And of course you can look at the darker side of this scene, it’s a club scene and it comes with all usual attributes - the creepy drunk guys, the mean sloppy girls, the jealousy, the cliquiness, - you can look at all of that and see a jungle but it’s not what I saw.

Salsa became my church. And now that I know Charlie’s story - it makes even more sense. Don’t take it the wrong way. I don’t mean to diminish the real church but I grew up without religion, all I have is my faith in people. And in the time when my faith in humanity was challenged, dancing became an opportunity to connect with a community in a very basic way, be in the moment and create together with another person, one dance at a time - what can be more human and what can be more sacred. 

Can you tell I miss dancing? Well, this was my little ode to salsa.

Check out my conversation with the leader of our Warehouse, Senator Jones, Chinaland, and West End, Gramercy congregation - DJ Charlie.

Amrita Thadani

This week on the podcast - Amrita Thadani. Amrita is the founder of Neococo, a mission-driven apparel company that hires women refugees and displaced women who embroider Neococo shirts by hand. 

How cool is that! I don’t know. I just have a soft spot for handmade stuff. Maybe it’s because I grew up watching my mom and my grandma paint those traditional Russian wooden folk art toys and I know how much work and how much heart goes into hand made stuff… It just melts my heart when I think about it. There is something very comforting and warm in the image of women making things.

In this conversation we talk about a bunch of things of course - but one of the big things that came up is the theme of community. 

And it reminded me of how in ancient times exile used to be the harshest punishment. Because it was essentially a death sentence. Because you couldn’t survive without your tribe. You can’t kill a mammoth by yourself. Of course it’s not as harsh in the modern world. You can get a job…  

But one of the biggest losses is the loss of your tribe, your community. And it is not just the obvious part - you miss your friends, your family. But also a wider community, the network of connections that you take totally for granted. 

You know how you talk to an old friend and you mention that you’re trying to get this thing going and she’s like “Oh, I have a friend who’s in that field, I’ll connect you two” - so that just doesn’t happen in immigration. I mean it takes years to build these relationships from scratch.

And I’m not just talking about how hard it is to get things done. 

That feeling cuts really deep because you don’t know anyone - you don’t know who to trust and they don’t know you, and hey don’t know if they can trust you. And as an animal you feel that lack of trust to your environment. And it all crystallizes into this feeling of unsafety that you live in for a long time while you slowly build your new community.  

But here’s one of the most beautiful things about being an immigrant. Yes, when you leave, you lose your tribe. And it’s a loss that you may grieve for years. 

But you become part of this new immigrant tribe. And there will be someone who will reach out to you. They can see where you’re at. And they’ve been there.

And it’s kind of universally understood among immigrants.

Like, I was helping a fellow Russian immigrant with something once and a friend asked me, “Is she your friend or are you just helping her because of the code?” - And I am guilty of taking things literally a lot. So I was like, What code? - and he goes, “The immigrant code.” And it never occurred to me, it was just a natural thing to do, but the immigrant code is a thing. 

Once you’ve gone through it. You cannot be indifferent to a fellow immigrant. And Amrita’s story is a beautiful proof and example of all that.

Listen to her story and then go to www.NEOCOCO.com and get a mask or a shirt!

#HereToStay #ImmigrationNation #WeTheAliens

Francis Cholle

Francis is a business consultant, author, and speaker. He is the founder of The Human Company and The Squircle Academy. As a consultant, he has worked with companies as Siemens, Maybelline, Loreal, Ralph Loren, and many many more.

In episode #1, we talk about Francis’s path, opera singing, Frenchness, sustainability, and being cool with being a work in progress. 

And in episode #2, we talk about Squircle and sustainability in life.

Francis's book Squircle: A New Way To Think For A New World is available on Amazon.

https://www.squircleacademy.com/

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