Internationalie
This podcast offers advice and insights for international students navigating college life. Host Ruth Tekleab discusses topics ranging from academics and social life to time management skills. Each episode aims to help listeners make the most of their college experience abroad.
Episodes
Episode 34: Dealing with the Cost of Global Ambition
This week, I am joined by Aarya. Aarya is an Indian woman born and raised in the UAE, with a formative chapter at a boarding school in Kodaikanal, India—an upbringing that shaped her global outlook from an early age. She completed her undergraduate education at Loyola University Chicago before earning her Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public
Episode 33: Dealing with Finding Your People
This week, I am joined by Noah. Noah is a San Francisco–based builder, traveler, and community creator. Born to an Ethiopian family and raised just outside of Washington, D.C., he’s always been drawn to new places, big ideas, and bringing people together. He graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in Finance. By day he works in tech as a Product Manager at Google, and by night he’s usua
Episode 32: Dealing with Roommates
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend and honorary roommate Alda from Indonesia. She studied her Master's in Human Rights at Columbia University (US), and Psychology at Universitas Nusa Cendana (Indonesia) for her undergraduate degree. Currently, she’s working at Plan International Indonesia as Project Manager. Plan International is an NGO focusing on fulfillment of children's rights and e
Episode 31: Dealing with Unwritten Rules of Success
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Kuleni. Kuleni is originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She is currently a cybersecurity consultant with a passion for all things digital defense. She majored in Cybersecurity Engineering at George Mason University and went on to earn her master’s in Digital Forensics and Cyber Analysis. Outside of work, she’s an active mentor with WiCyS (Women in Cyb
Episode 30: Dealing with Belongingness
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Bereket. She was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She received her Bachelors degree from Brown University in Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology and her Masters from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Pharmaceutical Sciences. She is currently pursuing her PhD as a Chemistry graduate student at Columbia University.
In this episode we talke
Episode 29: Dealing with Mental Health as a Child of Immigrants
This week I am joined by Elyas Tecle. He is currently a Cloud Sales representative at Google, originally from the Philadelphia area. His parents are from Ethiopia and Eritrea and he has lived in New York for the last 5 years. He studied International Relations and Consumer Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, but pivoted towards tech in his career - working his way through roles at IBM, S
Episode 28: Dealing with Mentorship
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Susan. She is from Maputo, Mozambique and graduated from Smith College with a double major in Economics and Government in 2019. Susan is currently pursuing a PhD in international studies, with a research focus on sustainable economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her current research projects investigate the effects of foreign capital investments
Episode 27: Dealing with Challenges-Aiming for and Achieving Professional Success
This week I am joined by Sinafik who is originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is a Mount Holyoke Class of 2015 graduate. She currently serves as the Executive Director for Your Ethiopian Professionals (YEP), a 501(C)(3)non-profit organization founded in 2010, that aims to be a global connection point for the professional community. Outside of her tenure at YEP, she works as Account Executive,
Episode 26: Dealing with Emotional Intelligence
This week I am joined by my dear friend Weza. Weza is currently building a goldsmith company in Switzerland with a strong focus on sustainability and blockchain technology. He gave a TEDx speech, with insights in his personal entrepreneurial journey on how blockchain technology can enable justice within the jewelry industry.
Weza is completing a Double Master’s Degree with a M.Sc. in Internationa
Episode 25: Dealing with Discomfort
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Stuti. Stuti is from Gurgaon in India and was an international student at Smith College, in western Massachusetts. She majored in Quantitative Economics with a minor in Statistics and Data Science and graduated in 2022. She currently works in the international development space, at the The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab or J-PAL and is based in
Episode 24: Dealing with Job Search
This week, I am joined by my dear friend Soriene. She is originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She completed her undergraduate education at Bryn Mawr College in Mathematics and Economics. After graduating in 2020, she worked at Yale University as a Research Assistant. She’s currently an Economics PhD student at Northwestern University.
In this episode, we discussed our experiences when it comes
Episode 23: Dealing with Building a Community
This week, I am very excited to be joined by Zeresenay “Zee” Berhane Mehari who is an award-winning writer/director born and raised in Ethiopia. Zee moved to the U.S. to attend film school and founded Haile - Addis Pictures to produce his first narrative feature film, Difret, which was Executive Produced by Angelina Jolie and won Audience Awards at both the Sundance and Berlin International Film F
Episode 22: Dealing with Identity
This week, I am joined by my dear friend Zoya. She is from Karachi, Pakistan (although she was born in Lahore, and spent a good part of her childhood in the Punjab province of Pakistan). She completed her undergraduate degree in the U.S. at Smith College, where she double-majored in Quantitative Economics and English Language and Literature. Currently, she is based right outside Washington D.C., w
Episode 21: Dealing with Shyness
This week I am joined by my very dear friend Maëlle. She is from a small city in the East of France, near the border with Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. She’s very passionate about dancing and gender equality. MaëlleI studied Political Science and International Public Management at Sciences Po in France and did a one-year exchange program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canad
Episode 20: Dealing with Dating and Relationships
This week I am joined by my dear friend Makeda. She was born in Houston, Texas and moved to Addis Ababa when she was 10 years old. Once she finished high school, she attended Rice University in Houston, Texas where she studied Economics. She is currently working as an Associate in Agro Processing with the Tony Blair Institute.
In this episode, we talked about our experiences with dating in colleg
Episode 19: Dealing with Goal Setting
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend, Khulood. Khulood is Egyptian and grew up in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She graduated from Smith College in 2019 with majors in Government and Comparative Literature. She recently graduated with a master's degree in International Affairs at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
In this episode, we talked about the importance of goal setting a
Episode 18: Dealing with Imposter Syndrome
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Heran. Heran is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has a bachelor's degree in Public Health from Georgia State University, and a master's degree in Nursing from Emory University. She currently works in a Cardiac ICU as a registered nurse.
In this episode, we discussed how we each dealt with imposter syndrome while in college and navigating through the f
Episode 17: Dealing with Culture Shock
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Manavi. She is from Kolkata, India. Manavi went to Smith College and majored in Economics and graduated in May 2019. She is currently working on her own startup called The Health Nut.
In this episode, we talked about our experiences with culture shock, particularly the difficulty of adjusting to a new culture and navigating a new environment. We disc
Episode 16: Dealing with Mental Well-Being
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Bethlehem. She is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is a graduate of Wesleyan University with
majors in Neuroscience and Biology and a minor in East Asian Studies. Outside of science, she studied French and Korean, and participated in a summer exchange program at Seoul National University. After college, she worked as a research assistant at Yale Univers
Episode 15: Dealing with Challenges
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Nathan. He is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Nathan is currently a senior at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut with a major in Mechanical Engineering and with a minor in Mathematics. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball.
In this episode, we discussed how we each dealt with challenges we faced in college as international students from
Episode 14: Dealing with Change
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Suhair. She is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and studied International Studies with a concentration in International Relations at American University of Sharjah in the UAE. Moreover, she completed an exchange program at George Washington University for a year and did another six months in Washington DC after obtaining an internship. Currently, she is back
Episode 13: Dealing with Loneliness
This week I was joined by my very dear friend Wasila. Wasila is from Ghana and came to the United States as an international student. She graduated from Smith College with a degree in Engineering and a minor in the Arabic Language. She is currently working as an assistant consultant for the electrical department at kW Mission Critical Engineering.
In this episode, we discussed how we each exper
Episode 12: Dealing with Finances
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Ahadu. He is originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and completed his undergraduate degree at Addis Ababa University majoring in law. Afterwards, he did a post graduate degree on International and Commercial Law at the University of Greenwich in London. He is currently the Commercial Legal Counsel for DIAGEO Ethiopia.
In this episode we discussed how
Episode 11: Dealing with Uncertainty
This week, I am joined by a very special guest, Selam. She is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She studied at Seton Hall University in New Jersey majoring in Physics with a minor in Medical Humanities. She graduated early in December of 2020 and she is currently in the UK studying Global Health Science and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford.
In this episode we discussed our own journeys regardin
Episode 10: Dealing with Time Management
This week, I am joined by my very dear friend Hilda. She is from Uganda and completed her undergraduate studies at Smith College in 2018 where she double majored in Government and African Studies. Hilda currently works at Africa Careers Network in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In this episode we discussed our journeys of trying to manage our time in college from figuring out what our priorities ar
Episode 9: Dealing with Self-Worth
This week I am joined by my very dear friend Haime. Haime was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. After graduating from high school in Ethiopia, she moved to Boston and attended Bunker Hill Community College and then transferred to Wentworth Institute of technology to study Architecture in which she is currently attending her last year.
In this episode, we discussed our journeys navigatin
Episode 8: Dealing with Coming Back Home
This week I was joined by my very dear friend Asiya. She is from Karachi, Pakistan and was an international student at Mount Holyoke College, where she double majored in International Relations and Psychology. Currently, she is working as a Research Officer at the Collective for Social Science Research and works on multi-disciplinary projects with a focus on development, civic spaces, gender, demo
Episode 7: Dealing with Independence
This week I was joined by my very dear friend Feven. Feven is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She is currently a senior student at Seton Hall University in New Jersey majoring in Nursing.
In this episode, we discussed how we each navigated our own independence while in college. From spiritual to financial independence and what it means to find your voice as an independent international student.
Episode 6: Dealing with Career Indecision
This week, I was joined by my very dear friend Anisha. She grew up in both the US and India and went to Smith College and graduated in May 2018. Her major was Chemistry and she is currently working as a research assistant in infectious disease epidemiology.
In this episode, we discussed our journey of career indecision, especially the moments that led us to choose a different path than the one s
Episode 5: Dealing with Self-Growth
This week, I was joined by my very dear friend Nishan S Kassahun. She is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Nishan came to the US in 2016 with a basketball scholarship but took a different route to join North Carolina State University. In 2020, she got her Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources. Currently she working at Amazon and is also a part-tim
Episode 4: Dealing with Study Abroad
This week I was joined by my dear friend Patriciah. She is from Nairobi, Kenya and is currently a senior at Smith College. Patriciah is an Economics and Mathematics double major and is also pursuing a concentration in Global Financial Institutions.
In this episode, we explored our journeys dealing with study abroad while in college. We discussed the reasons why some international students decide
Episode 3: Dealing with Loss and Wellness (Part 2)
This week, I was joined by my very dear friend Beti. She is from Ethiopia and currently she is a senior studying Chemistry at Smith College. She is involved in community health on campus and also in Sierra Leone.
In this episode, we explored our own personal wellness journey. We talked about how the habits we form in college play a significant role in our adult lives. We discussed how stress and
Episode 3: Dealing with Loss and Wellness (Part 1)
This week, I was joined by my very dear friend Beti. She is from Ethiopia and currently she is a senior studying Chemistry at Smith College. She is involved in community health on campus and also in Sierra Leone.
This episode was one of the most honest and raw conversations I have ever had. We talked about how we each dealt with loss in our own personal journeys in college. We discussed the stage
Episode 2: Dealing with Expectations
This week, I was joined by my very dear friend Anuska. Anuska is from Kolkata, India. She went to Smith College and graduated in May 2019. She double majored in Economics and Psychology. After graduation, she worked at a think-tank in Washington DC doing Economics and Policy research. She recently moved back to her home country India.
In this episode we talked about the expectations internationa
Episode 1: Dealing with Representation
This week, I was joined by my colleague and dear friend Makeda. She is from Addis Ababa and attended Addis Ababa University Law School. She then went to Boston College School of Law where she received her L.L.M in Human Rights and she is currently working within the Ethiopian judiciary.
In this episode, we had a conversation centered around representation and what it means to represent your cultu
Welcome to the Internationalie Podcast with Ruth!
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