Model Minority: Uniquely American Nidhi Shastri

*CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains recounts of traumatic post-segregation-era racism inflicted on people of color including the storyteller and those in her community.*
Punam Saxena talks about the parallels between religious intolerance in America that she’s experienced, and the religious intolerance plaguing India at the moment. She also shares stories from her childhood in Alabama and Georgia and what it was like for her and other people of color and religious minorities in post-segregation America. 

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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nidhi-shastri/support

*Please hit the FOLLOW button to help support my work!*

In January, I sent out a request asking listeners to send in clips about what language means to them - regardless of if they can speak their native tongues or not.

And YOU all delivered!

In On Losing Our Tongues, we're hearing diaspora folks from over a dozen unique ethnicities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East share what if feels like to struggle to speak their native language, or to be unable to speak it altogether.

Some themes in this episode include:


How monolingual people in the diaspora relate to the English language
Being bilingual in English & Spanish but being unable to speak your native tongue
Having to use Google Translate to communicate between generations of family


How immigrants process trauma and share family histories in the face of language barriers
The science behind language erosion and the impact of that on a person's relation to their culture
The story of Bangladesh: the first country to fight a liberation war around language

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A very special thank you to everyone who sent in clips or interviewed with me for this episode:


Abhinav Das, Shukri Ideis, Sophia Fel, Victoria Li, Annie Tan, Tommy Souravong, Farzana Haque, Marzia Chowdhury, Samantha Reyes, Stephanie Botchway, and Zamzam Dini

This is an episode made possible from viewers (*eh hem* I mean listeners like you ;), so please give this a share to help support my storytelling.

Shukriya, thank you!

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Listen/read my 4-min story on NPR/WBEZ: ⁠How a Queer Therapist is bringing bilingual (Mandarin Chinese to English) Mental Health Resources to people of color in Chicago⁠!


It aired on National Public Radio (NPR) and Chicago Public Media (WBEZ 91.5FM), and is part of a series on what home means to our communities!

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Image credits: Dall-E

Music & Sound credits: CC Creative Commons & freesound (all artists are listed on our website!)


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nidhi-shastri/support

*Please hit the FOLLOW button to help support my work!*

In January, I sent out a request asking listeners to send in clips about what language means to them - regardless of if they can speak their native tongues or not.

And YOU all delivered!

In On Loving Our Language, we're exploring the benefits of being bilingual in a non-western languages in the US (i.e. having access to unique forms of media and television & the ability to connect with others) as well as some barriers (i.e. facing discrimination or forgoing access to healthcare or government aide).

We'll be looking at the stats about who in our communities are bilingual and what resources they are (or aren't) given. We also busting open the American Myth of Bilingualism - i.e. the idea that teaching your kids a second language + English will cause them to struggle with English.

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Check out Ahmed Ali Akbar's podcast Radiolingo here!

Listen/read my story on How a Queer Therapist is bringing bilingual (Mandarin Chinese to English) Mental Health Resources to people of color in Chicago!


It aired on National Public Radio (NPR) and Chicago Public Media (WBEZ 91.5FM) last week, and is part of a series on what home means to our communities!

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If you sent in a clip and didn't hear yourself featured here, stay tuned! This episode is the first half in a two part series called "On Loving and Losing Our Tongues" so please keep an eye out for the second-half featuring even more clips coming up in about a week. In this two part episode, we're hearing from listeners and friends of over a dozen unique ethnicities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East share what their native language means to them.

Part 2, On Losing Our Tongues, will cover what if feels like to struggle to speak your language, or to be unable to speak it altogether.

A very special thank you to everyone who sent in clips or interviewed with me for this episode:


Daniel Lin, Ahmed Ali Akbar, Shruti Shah, Mukta Deia, Brian Chen, Meghali Mazumdar and Helen Li

This is an episode made possible from viewers (*eh hem* I mean listeners) like you, so please give this a share to help support my storytelling.

Shukriya, thank you!

Image credits: Dall-E

Music credits: CC Creative Commons


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nidhi-shastri/support

(Please hit the follow button for this show on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, to help support my work! 3 )



For Zamzam Dini, growing up in Seattle where there was little diversity meant having to endure ignorance from students and professors alike about her Somali heritage.

In this 6-min clip, Zamzam shares how her identity has shifted based on her environment - in Seattle, she was identified by others as Black first, then Muslim, and then Somali. Upon moving to Minneapolis, MN - which has a strong Somali community - she noticed a flip, where she was seen as Somali first, then Muslim, and then finally as Black.

Zamzam's family are refugees from Somalia. Towards the end of this clip, she recounts story about her and her sister during the time of the war.



Give Zamzam's research a read: Immigrant Family Financial and Relational Stressors and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Follow Zamzam's work: LinkedIn | UM Website

Follow Model Minority: Uniquely American: Insta | Facebook | Website



Immigrant Tales is a sub-series of Model Minority: Uniquely American, aimed to be an immersive narrative from our communities' immigrants about their life stories. If you have a story to share, email me at modelminorityua@gmail.com. Please be sure to follow this podcast, and share this episode. Shukriya!




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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nidhi-shastri/support

Welcome to Season 2 of Model Minority: Uniquely American!

As the launch of Season 2, we sit down with Sameer Gadhia, lead singer of Young the Giant, to discuss his heritage, thoughts on the American Dream, and the meaning behind the album American Bollywood.

When Sameer Gadhia and his bandmates started the band Young the Giant, few people in the alternative rock music industry knew of the influence of South Asian culture and rhythms on the genre. Since then, Young the Giant has released major hits such as Cough Syrup, Silvertounge, and Mind Over Matter, played shows at festivals like Summerfest & Lollapalooza, and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

As the child of Indian immigrants, Sameer Gadhia grew up like many of us - caught between his two identities. He left Stanford University in order to forge his own path in music, one that stems from a long history of musicians in his family. With the band's latest album, American Bollywood, Sameer has shed a direct light on his culture and background, and in the process, gave so many third-culture kids a home within his music.

Check out ⁠⁠⁠Sameer's Op-Ed in The Rolling Stones Magazine⁠⁠⁠ that we referenced in the episode.

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Give Sameer and YTG a follow: IG - @SameerGadhia & @YoungtheGiant | Spotify | YouTube

Follow Model Minority: Uniquely American: IG - @minority_model | Facebook | Spotify | Apple Podcasts


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nidhi-shastri/support

I'm back!

Excited to announce Season 2 of Model Minority, and am so grateful for all the people who have grown to love this show. 

A quick request: I'm working on an upcoming episode about language, and I want to hear from YOU! Email me a 30 second - 1 min clip about what your native language means to you.

Email your clip to: modelminorityua@gmail.com 

Anyone is welcome to submit (including if you can't speak your native language or struggle with it) - your voice could end up in a future episode! Some themes you can talk about are:


fears about being unable to speak or pass on your native language
thoughts about the effectiveness of communicating in your mother tongue (i.e. expressing some ideas or themes more strongly in another language than in English)
how English plays a role in our lives and identity in the U.S. as people of color
your colonial history with English or another Western language

If you don't have anything to share, pass this episode on to a friend who might! Some easy ways to record a voice note are through the voice recorder app on your phone, or through Facebook messenger to my page Model Minority: Uniquely American.

So excited to be back, and even more so to hear from you! Cheers! 

- Nidhi S


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nidhi-shastri/support