In this episode, Raeshma talks to Selma Abinader, an organizational consultant who has dedicated her career to working with nonprofits and public institutions. Hers is also a journey of self-discovery, from her upbringing in a small coal mining town to embracing her Lebanese heritage…along the way finding power in the significance of ancestral wisdom, and community.

Selma shares some strategies that have helped her cultivate belonging.

You can learn more about Selma's work at abinadergroup.com.

Sometimes soup is much more than soup. In this episode, Shalini Agarwal describes how her creative practice blossomed beyond the conventional confines of architecture, leading her to the heart of her ancestral heritage through cooking.  Along the way, we’ll spice this conversation with talk of decolonization, imposter syndrome and affinity spaces. 

More about Shalini:
Shalini Agrawal is informed by the diversity of her roles as architect, designer, facilitator, teacher and mother of 2 daughters. She brings over 25 years of hands-on experience in community-engaged practice in design and architecture. She is Director of Pathways to Equity, a design leadership program for social equity. Pathways to Equity was a recipient of the 2020 NOMA NAACP SEED Award for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She is Director of Programs for Open Architecture Collaborative; founder of FIELD Design Network, a collective that builds capacity for women of color in design and architecture. She is also founder and principal of Public Design for Equity.

Shalini is Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies, Interdisciplinary Studio and the Decolonial School at California College of the Arts, and teaches at the intersection of creative practice and community engagement. Shalini’s research and practice focuses on revealing the historical legacies of colonization in architecture and design and dismantling its lasting impacts. She is faculty and core organizer for Dark Matter University and sits on the board of Architects, Designers, Planners for Social Responsibility.  Shalini a contributing author to Design for Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity and Public Interest Design Education Guidebook, and is the recipient of 2019 AIA San Francisco’s Community Alliance Award for Education.

Have you stopped and smelled the flowers today? Today’s guest most definitely has! In this episode, Raeshma talks to Barnali Ghosh about her art and activism, more specifically her project 'Unfaithful Re/creations,' a series of self portraits that honor California native flowers using sari fabrics and Odissi dance from India. Barnali Ghosh (@berkeleywali) is a designer, artist, storyteller, and transportation justice advocate based in Berkeley, California. Her work attempts to bridge homes and homelands, and create spaces for belonging.

More about Barnali:
Barnali Ghosh co-founded the award-winning Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour, which uses storytelling and theater to share narratives of local South Asian American resistance movements, from immigrant freedom fighters in the 1910s, to queer and feminist organizing a century later.

Ghosh's latest project is a series of photographic self portraits that highlight the beauty of California’s native flowers, and the fabrics of South Asia. You can see her work on instagram @berkeleywali and @berkeleysouthasian. Prints, posters and 2023 calendars of her flower recreations are available at www.barnalighosh.art

Sheetal Gandhi is a Los Angeles based director/choreographer and multi-hyphenated artist (singer, dancer, actor, percussionist).  As a performer and interdisciplinary artist, Sheetal’s career has spanned genres and disciplines. 

In 2021, Sheetal was cast in a one-woman play - a transposition of the Hindu epic The Ramayana - called The Sitayana (Or How To Make An Exit).  It's basically The Ramayana from Sita's point of view! She played all the characters, in a challenging virtual production.  

In this interview, Sheetal talks about playing Sita and the dilemmas she faces, many of which mirror that of traditional Indian women's sacrifices in marriage. 

About Sheetal:
Sheetal Gandhi is a Los Angeles based director/choreographer and multi-hyphenated artist (singer, dancer, actor, percussionist).  As a performer and interdisciplinary artist, Sheetal’s career has spanned genres and disciplines.  She was a lead character and creator for Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion, played a leading role in the Broadway production of Bombay Dreams, danced throughout Ghana with the traditional West African dance company Novisi, and currently sings with the L.A. based, 30-person a cappella group, The Over Tones.  Her solo dance-theater work, Bahu-Beti-Biwi, has been presented in over 16 cities in the U.S. and in 5 countries. 

She is the owner of The Well, a Pilates, Movement and Wellness Center, and a founding member of Dancing Storytellers, a group of artists that create assembly shows for schools in the greater Los Angeles area. 

Sheetal is a proud MFA graduate of UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures and has taught at various colleges and universities including Scripps College, Pomona College, Santa Monica Community College, UCLA, Cal State LA, Cal Poly Pomona and more. Stay in touch at sheetalgandhi.com

You can learn more about The Sitayana (Or How to Make an Exit) here: https://eastwestplayers.org/the-sitayana/

Shahrazad Squad director and host Raeshma Razvi sits down for a conversation with playwright, and meditation instructor, and squad member Denmo Ibrahim about her play Brilliant Mind (virtually staged in 2020) about how she navigated difficult family dynamics and trauma, and the extent to which making art allowed for acceptance, expression and healing. Brilliant Mind is the story of  siblings Dina and Yusef, who grapple with their estranged father’s death. It is story of hope, about what gets lost in translation, and what happens when we dare to love unconditionally. 

Learn more about Denmo:
https://www.denmoibrahim.com/
https://www.instagram.com/denmo_ibrahim/ 

Denmo's  production of BABA is playing from April 21st - May 7th at the Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth, Texas. You can learn more and buy tickets here:
https://amphibianstage.com/shows/baba/  

About Denmo Ibrahim:
Denmo Ibrahim is an American playwright, author, actor, and entrepreneur of Egyptian descent. Her plays include Arab Spring (Bay Area Playwrights Festival) Kal & Dija Save the World (Civilians’ R&D Group, Findings Series), the hybrid experience Brilliant Mind (Marin Theatre Company), BABA (Alter Theatre), Ecstasy / A Waterfable (Golden Thread), and The Day Naguib Mahfouz Was Stabbed In The Neck And Almost Died a.k.a. The Selkie Play (Finalist: NNPN’s Showcase of New Plays). Her recently released audio-immersive book, Zaynab’s Night of Destiny (Fons Vitae, Commonwealth Theatre Center) that engaged thousands of elementary and middle school students in 2022.

Denmo’s plays have toured to international festivals and have been supported by The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, New York Theatre Workshop, Under St. Marks, Playwrights’ Center, Noor Theatre, Theatre Bay Area and Golden Thread Productions. Teaching credits include workshops at Loyac Academy of Performing Arts (Kuwait), Arab American National Museum, California Institute of Integral Studies, and the University of Oregon. Denmo is a resident artist of Golden Thread, a member of MENATMA (Middle Eastern Theatre Makers Alliance), founder & CEO of Earthbody Day Spa, and founder of The People’s Meditation.

Currently she's working on a ten part audio drama for Audible. Denmo holds an MFA in Lecoq-based Actor Created Physical Theater from Naropa University and a BFA in Acting from Boston University. denmoibrahim.com

Tradition is something we often talk about in the Squad...
In diaspora do we maintain it, change it, run from or celebrate it? What does it mean to be traditional when you’re uprooted? 

Today’s guest, Parisa Parnian, addresses tradition in her work…but not in the way you think.

Parisa Parnian is an Iranian-American multi-disciplinary visual artist and culinary creative. She uses food, design and performative storytelling to build bridges and connect communities. This conversation is in two parts.

During part one our conversation, you’ll get the sense that Parisa has lived many lives - she was a fashion designer in New York, a hostess of creative salons and a queer activist, and an inventor of her own spice blend - Parisa’s creative life is full of color, community, and fluidity.

In part two, Parisa talks with host Raeshma about her approach to activism and community building in response to the #WomanLifeFreedom movement that is underway in Iran.

You can learn more about Parisa's work and purchase her art and her Perxican spice blend at savagemuse.com. Follow her on instagram @savagemuse and @savage_taste

“Woman, life, freedom” - Zan, zendegi, azadi - has been the rallying cry for the revolution in Iran that began with Mahsa Amini’s murder. This movement has been led by women and girls from the start.

During this conversation with Iranian filmmaker Sabereh Kashi discusses her upcoming documentary project, which discusses the notion of womanhood from different angles. She turns the camera on herself to explore her personal journey, as well as on her home during visits to Iran to examine the feminine in Iran more broadly. 

Sabereh and Raeshma also talk about the inspiration for our squad - Shahrazad - and the importance of framing her as an archetype rather than a character.

Sabereh kicks things off by talking about her latest documentary, The Patient Woman, which chronicles her own story traveling and finding her identity between the Bay Area and Iran.

About Sabereh Kashi
Sabereh Kashi is an award-winning filmmaker/editor and cultural strategist whose work has been broadcast internationally and screened in festivals around the world. She has expertise in storytelling and conducting authentic interviews. She makes engaging videos for fundraising, marketing, advocacy, and sparking dialogue between communities.

To watch the trailer for The Patient Woman, click here.
To learn more about Sabereh's production company, Woven Multimedia, click here.

To what extent can art provide healing? Today’s guest is nonprofit leader Leva Zand, who has dedicated her career to answering this question. 

Leva has been committed to refugees, human rights,  social justice activism and advocacy. She is the founder and executive director of ARTogether, which provides welcoming, creative spaces and workshops for local refugees and immigrants in the Bay Area. ARTogether recently inaugurated their new space in downtown Oakland.

Leva’s mission is grounded in her own personal experience arriving as a refugee from Iran. She and I sat down to talk about her journey, as well as her reflections on the protests in Iran in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s murder. She even shares some of her favorite poetry with us, so stay tuned for that.

You can learn more about ARTogether at https://www.artogether.org

About Leva Zand
For over 15 years, Leva Zand has dedicated her career to refugees, human rights, the arts, and social justice activism and advocacy. Relocating to the US in 2004 as an Iranian refugee, Leva earned a BA in Sociology from CSU Sacramento and a MA in Feminist and Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Since then, Leva has directed a publication for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, led a gender-awareness program for the Eurasia Foundation, wrote and produced the radio podcast “Narratives of Women,” and directed a women empowerment training program for Nonviolence Initiative for Democracy. Leva Zand is the founder and Executive Director of ARTogether, serves on the Board of Oakland Art Murmur, and serves on the steering committees for the East Bay Refugee and Immigrant Forum and the coalition Oakland AAPI Unite.