Sankar Raman

The Hard Way Can Be What Saves You

Yamini Rajan was 12 the first time she heard her father cry. With tears rolling down his cheeks, he saw the scars covering Yamini’s thighs and arms.

Sankar Raman

Embrace All Your Cultures

It was her teachers, violinist Inés Voglar says, who gave her the courage to do what she loved the most and to trust that success would follow.

Kim Oanh Nguyen

Designing a Better Future

“After the travel ban and after Trump, I had the hard feeling — I felt ignored and voiceless,” says Shiva Farrohki.  “I was thinking, how can we change

Sankar Raman

Love at First Sight—with Medicine

Growing up in Kyiv, Ukraine with a mathematician father and physicist mother, Tetyana Odarich was expected to follow in her dad’s footsteps.

Sankar Raman

Headphones In, Hate Speech Out

Farhia’s path to her new home in Portland called for courage and resourcefulness. She has faced repeated harassment about her skin color and her hijab

Jan Landis

A Candle in the Darkness

Dr. Baher Butti’s earliest memory dates from 1963, when he was just two years old. His uncle took him to visit his father in prison, where he was serving time

Sankar Raman

Sketching a Life in Secret

Nothing about the financial world interested Sarah Rikaz. The only tie she could find between her passion and the career her parents wanted for her was

Sankar Raman

For the Love of Mozart

It’s the late 1980s in Taipei, Taiwan.  Every week, four-year-old Ruby Chen ventures with her mother from their storefront apartment to the local Yamaha Piano store

Sankar Raman

Why Her Accent Became a Mask

When Onyeka Azike journeyed from Nigeria to America to attend Portland’s Reed College, she believed she would fulfill a childhood dream.

Sankar Raman

Be Whoever You Want to Be

Like her journey as a refugee, becoming who she is today has not been easy for Irakoze Diane. That is why “Irakoze” is not just a name — it is a […]

Paul Fardig

Upsetting the Status Quo

Contrary to the unobtrusive lifestyles of most immigrants, blending in has never been a priority for Victor Maldonado. Behind his signature blue mask,

Sankar Raman

Live, Love, and Juggle

Every summer morning as a child, Ramazan Yiğit — Rama —  would rise before the sun in order to shepherd his family’s livestock until sundown

Sankar Raman

Let Nothing Hold You Back

Beneath the star-studded sky of Makamba, Burundi, 6-month-old Olive Bukuru clung to her father’s hip as they fled on foot for roughly 100 miles to Tanzania.

Sankar Raman

The Gift of New Opportunities

Growing up, Zsusana Vamos always loved stories of Marie Curie, so when she got her first job doing cancer research in Budapest, she was excited

Sankar Raman

Something To Be Proud Of

Felix Songolo does not remember much of what he left behind in Africa.  His family left the Democratic Republic of Congo before he was born