From Where to Here

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What happens when you let the people who love you reflect you back to yourself?

In this first episode of a new solo series called In Translation, I celebrate turning 35 by reading handwritten notes from local friends and family answering two prompts:

What’s one thing I should try this year?
 What’s one thing I do well — or could do better?

From skydiving and Bollywood dancing to learning a fourth language, hosting more French meetups, and continuing to make people feel heard — this episode becomes a...

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Welcome to Episode 2 of the Language Legacy Project Series, a 5-part community storytelling initiative capturing the powerful conversations between youth from Alabama and elders from immigrant and refugee communities.

In this second episode, Alex D., a young interviewer sits down with Jack Schniper, an elder whose journey began thousands of miles away, arriving in the United States in the 1950s without speaking English, navigating cultural differences in the Deep South, and slowly building a new definition of home.

What unfolds is more than a migration story. It’s a reflection on...

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What happens when you learn a new language later in life, and have to rebuild identity, confidence, and belonging from scratch?

In this episode of From Where to Here, host Alexandra sits down with the Fernández family to talk about learning English as adults, navigating life with an accent, and building a sense of home far from where they started.

Rather than growing up bilingual, the Fernández family shares what it was like to:

- Learn English later in life and use it for survival, work, an...

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Welcome to Episode 1 of the Language Legacy Project Series, a 5-part community storytelling initiative capturing the powerful conversations between youth from Alabama and elders from immigrant and refugee communities.

In this first episode, a young teen sits down with an elder who left Taiwan at 18, uncovering a deeply personal story about language, identity, family, and the journey of making a new place feel like home. Through guided storytelling and cultural exploration, they dive into memories of childhood in Taiwan, learning English in the U.S., navigating cultural misunderstandings, and the rich traditions...

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When Yumna "Yumi" Yassin left Damascus at age 13, she had no idea what life in Alabama would hold. From learning English and building friendships to navigating faith, identity, and belonging as a Muslim woman in the South. Her story is one of courage, reflection, and heart.

In this episode of From Where to Here, host Alexandra Lloyd sits down with Yumi to explore:

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Growing up across the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Cass learned to feel at home in difference and to see cultural fluidity as a strength. Her story traces how global events like 9/11 shaped perceptions of identity and belonging, and how being mixed race taught her to navigate worlds with empathy and awareness.

Now a leader in tech and host of the podcast How She Got Here, Cass shares how living between cultures became her superpower: helping her lead diverse teams, bridge perspectives, and champion representation for women in tech.

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In this episode of From Where to Here, Alexandra sits down with Dr. John Maddox, a professor of Spanish and Portuguese at UAB, to explore the intersections of language, culture, history, and identity. Dr. Maddox shares how an inspiring Spanish teacher set him on a lifelong path in languages, how games and stories made learning accessible, and why perfection in language learning is a myth. The conversation spans from classrooms in Georgia to study abroad in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Brazil, weaving in insights about colonialism, race...