Suzy Ziaii--My family was a petri dish

I remember when I first met Suzy. We had gathered for a volunteer training with the National Iranian American Council. If I’m honest, I don’t remember exactly what the training entailed, but I do remember walking away with a deep sense of connection, unity really after I was paired up with Suzy for a training exercise. 

We both embraced our Iranianness with open arms, but because our Persian skills weren’t that great we were apprehensive to get involved with the Iranian-American community. Our conversation focused on the idea that we felt this void, an empty space really, where our Iranianness was supposed to be. This was primarily due to the dearth of actual experiences with our Iranian side. We both grew up in isolation from our respective Iranian families--mine mostly in California, hers still in Iran, stuck on the other side of the world unable to come because of the heavy-handed immigration policies enacted since the revolution. 

When I started thinking about this project, she was one of the first people I reached out to.