Urmi is a woman who wears many hats. But behind all her roles and achievements is a story about growing up between cultures, finding her people, and figuring out what home really means. Urmi was born in Sicily to a Bengali immigrant family. Her father often tells her that she was the first Bengali girl born in Italy, back when the Bengali community there was still very small. Later, she moved to Canada, where she had to start over in a country where she knew absolutely no one. In this episode of Friendship Abroad, Urmi shares stories about making friends at school and university, starting from scratch in Canada, and the people who made her feel celebrated for who she was. We also talk about the other side of friendship: losing people who struggle to be happy for your success, and learning to recognize the difference between those who genuinely support you and those who don't. We talk about identity, belonging, and the meaning of home. Can a place become home if you don't speak the language? How important is language when it comes to building connections? And why can it take years to call someone a friend in one culture, while in another, the word comes much more easily? We also try to figure out where the line between a friend and an acquaintance really is. Is it about how long you've known someone, how much you've shared, or simply how you feel around them? Urmi Hossain is a self-published author, speaker, podcast host, and finance professional based in Canada. She holds the CFA and CAIA designations and advocates for women's empowerment, identity, and self-leadership. Her book, Discovering Your Identity: A Rebirth from Interracial Struggle, explores her experience as a third-culture woman navigating belonging and self-worth. She also hosts Stories Beyond Borders, a podcast about identity, migration, language, and the meaning of home. This episode is full of honest reflections, funny stories, and a few difficult truths about friendship. Because finding your people isn't always easy, but sometimes the friendships we build along the way teach us just as much about ourselves as they do about other people. Urmi is actually the first guest who reached out to me herself by email after finding my podcast online. And I love that, because you really don't have to wait for an invitation! Want to share your story? If you've moved to another country, struggled to find your people, experienced an unexpected friendship, or have your own thoughts about what it means to belong, I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email to nutrihanna.nl@gmail.com or a message on Instagram. Your story deserves to be heard, and maybe it will be the next one we share on Friendship Abroad.
