Melody Seraydarian sat down with us this week to discuss her experience as a first generation American, a writer, and a fellow genocide prevention activist. Currently, Melody writes articles every week for her very own column titled “Hye Key” centered on Diasporan Armenian issues, culture, and lifestyle through the Gen-Z lens for the publication, Armenian Weekly.

Cate also read our founder’s book, Embracing Survival, which caused her to reflect on the importance of sharing stories with others—no matter how painful or hard they are to share. We discussed how there’s always going to be someone who shares your heartbreak, which makes you realize that you are not alone. Here at Umuco Love, we totally resonate with this and see a similar value in sharing our stories!!

This week we spoke with Candace Megerssa, a senior at Cornell University studying Policy Analysis and Management, who shared with us her experience forming her own identity as a Black woman growing up in Atlanta and then transitioning to being a student at an Ivy League school.

Monika Gabriela Dorniak is a German-Polish interdisciplinary artist, who draws upon her background in choreography, psychology, and fashion design along with her story of intergenerational trauma to create meaningful art. We had the pleasure of speaking with her to understand how she has mastered the art of taking trauma and making it into something positive.

We recently sat down with Samir Zakir, who shared with us his breadth of perspectives on topics ranging from entrepreneurship to mental health. While Samir has held over twenty jobs in different industries since the age of thirteen, the common theme has been his desire to have a positive impact on culture through producing and transforming stories into content. Loyal Umuco Podcast listeners should know that that’s exactly what we are all about!!

Through our conversation with Loida, we uncovered her story as a lesbian and Latina woman growing up in Los Angeles as she learned to come to terms with all of these identities. Loida reflected on something we believe we have all felt at some point—just how utterly exhausting it can be to constantly pretend to be someone you’re not. Loida reflected, “It takes too much energy, too much effort, to try to impress people. One of the things that I learned when I was 15 is that it just feels so much better to be liked for who you are.”

Next week we’re excited to introduce George Karpasitis. Quite literally a music genius, George blends his identity as a Cyprian immigrant and his love of music to share parts of humanity that are seldom seen. George played three songs with three different instruments to show his range of skills and his broad stroke of expression. There, we learned that we all “speak” differently. Our truth comes out in our strengths. That’s where the magic lies.