In this episode of Not Really Strangers, host Suzanne Ehlers sits down with Maryam Banikarim, an Emmy Award-winning storyteller, community builder, and host of The Messy Parts podcast, for a conversation that moves from the streets of Chelsea to the streets of Tehran, and back again. Maryam, who fled Iran as a child and arrived in the United States in the middle of the hostage crisis, reflects on what it means to build a sense of home when home is not a fixed place. She shares how New York City became the city where she found her voice, raised her family, and began setting the longest table in the neighborhood. She also opens up about the experience of cultural estrangement and offers hard-won wisdom for young people who have had to flee — joining, doing, and refusing to wait to be invited. Throughout, she returns again and again to the idea that belonging is not something that happens to you, but rather something you build, one long table at a time.
Topics Discussed:
The concept of home as a visceral feeling, not a fixed geography
What it means to be a stranger and conversely, to be welcomed
Growing up displaced: Maryam's experience fleeing Iran as a child
"Cultural estrangement" and the longing that comes with forced departure
Building community in New York City: NYCNext and The Longest Table
The role of the private sector in supporting displaced communities
Advice for young people who have had to flee their home countries
How displacement can be a driver of innovation and resilience
Returning to Iran in 1993 — and finding her childhood bedroom frozen in time
What it means to pull up the piano bench and make room for one more
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