Karen Weliky

Seffarine: Blending Cultures into Music

Lamiae Naki first remembers singing for someone when she was six years old. It was Friday, the holy day of Islam, with shops closed and families home together

Sankar Raman

Searching for Her Birth Family

A tiny slip of paper stating the place and date of her birth — Shaoyang, Feb. 24, 1995 — was the only thing identifying Olivia Wolf when she was found […]

Karen Weliky

Forging Resilience and Community

Rima Ghandour’s earliest memory is of being wrapped in her mother’s arms with her siblings around them, crying. The building shook as bombs exploded  

Nyibol Bior

Living the World in Color

In February, 2021, Nyibol Bior published a children’s book called “My Beautiful Colors.” She chose the title because, “Colors are metaphors  

Karen Weliky

The Entrepreneurial Spirit Is Baked-In

Imene Barkat remembers her first event at Portland Night Market as a resounding success. “I sold out everything within the first few hours,” Barkat said of her first foray

Karen Weliky

More Than One Way to Fly

When her calligraphy teacher, Sekko Daigo, gave Rie O’Doherty the artistic name Sora, meaning universe or sky, it reminded her of her childhood

Luxe Studio Productions

Creating a Road Map to Success

Arthi Vasudevan makes a road map for where she wants to go in life, deciding on her goal and timeline and then thinking out the steps she will follow to […]

Sankar Raman

Finding the Roots of Home

Until she met her mentor, one of the best-known art dealers in Bangalore, India, Mrunalini Giri did not think of herself as an artist. “I was just somebody who painted

Karen Weliky

Nurture Community Wherever You Are

When Wilber Ramirez-Rodriguez found he couldn’t continue his work as a dentist in the United States, he started his own mobile dental hygiene clinic to educate

Sankar Raman

Exploring Patterns of Identity

Through her love for patterns and problem solving, Shu-Ju Wang creates art that highlights the immigrant experience and the importance of ecology

John Rudoff

Making Peace With an Endless Search

“When I was younger, I was afraid of missing out,” Jasnam Daya Singh remembers. “I felt like I had to rush against the clock and compete.

John Rudoff

Helping Others Find Their Voice

Growing up as a U.S. citizen in Venezuela, Giselle Rincón knew what it felt like to be an immigrant. But it wasn’t until she moved back to the land

Sankar Raman

Creating Community In Portland

“The moment I stepped into the Chinese classroom, I knew it felt different,” Aria Chen says, remembering her first day at Franklin High School. “The teacher

John Rudoff

A Longing For the Tastes of Home

In a recent novel, The Committed, by the Vietnamese author Viet Thanh Nguyen, the narrator laments his inability to recreate dishes he craves from home, and