Welcome to grown between worlds
Welcome to
Grown Between Worlds
A Podcast by & for
Adult Children of Immigrants
and the
People who Love & Support Them
Stories of identity, belonging & love across differences…
with a special focus on the experiences of Women, Queer & Trans, Neurodivergent, Chronically Ill & Disabled People.
Who are Adult Children of Immigrants?
People who immigrated as kids or teens
OR were born into immigrant families after settlement.
Season 1 - LAUNCHING Soon!
Watch our TRAILER
Episodes available on:
JOIN our Newsletter
to stay informed on upcoming episodes, emerging seasons, and free resources:
what is this podcast about?
Grown Between Worlds explores the unique, complex and often overlooked experiences of adult children of immigrants and their partners.
Why Listen?
To feel seen in your full complexity as an adult child of immigrants navigating identity, culture and belonging.
To better understand your partner’s lived experience if you’re in an intercultural, interfaith, interracial or queer partnership.
To deepen your cultural humility and relational awareness as a mental health professional, educator or community worker.
To learn from lived experience rather than stereotypes, moving beyond headlines into nuance.
To explore how migration, queerness, neurodivergence and intergenerational dynamics shape families and communities.
To build empathy, connection and hope in a world that often pushes us toward division.
Each episode holds real, nuanced conversations about:
Identity & Self-Definition — what we claim, what we inherit, and how our sense of self shifts over time.
Belonging & Code-Switching — navigating multiple cultural spaces and the emotional cost (or power) of moving between them.
Family Expectations, Success & Aspiration — redefining achievement beyond inherited narratives.
Love across Difference — building intercultural, interfaith, interracial, and queer partnerships with care and complexity.
Intergenerational Influence & Healing — understanding what shaped our families and what we choose to carry forward.
Mental health, Burnout & Embodiment — how immigrant experiences live in our nervous systems, relationships, and life choices.
Cultural Humility & Relational Growth — for partners, helpers, and community members learning to listen more deeply.
This is a podcast where stories of resilience, conflict, humour, grief and growth are honoured.
A space where you won’t need to simplify who you are to belong.
Why did we start this Podcast?
FOROUZ SALARI, MA, MSW, RSW (she/her)
Founder, Executive Producer, Primary Host, Operational Lead
1st generation Iranian immigrant, settled in Canada as a preteen
MIRANDA RAMNARAYAN, MSA (she/her)
Executive Editor, Producer, Co-Host, Production Lead
2nd generation Indo-Caribbean immigrant, born in Canada
Grown Between Worlds began from years of private conversations with loved ones and with clients, reflecting on identity, migration, belonging, and the quiet negotiations of growing up between cultures.
As adult children of immigrants, shaped by different but overlapping experiences, we kept noticing how many people around us carried similar questions about who they were becoming and where they fit.
We realized these conversations weren’t just personal...
They were needed!
This podcast is our labour of love and our way of creating a public space where complexity is welcomed, stories are held with care, and living “between worlds” is honoured as a source of depth, not deficiency.
Gentle Boundary Statement
Grown Between Worlds is a storytelling and reflective space — NOT a debate forum, a hot-take platform, or a place for sensationalized trauma.
While many guests work in mental health and community settings, this podcast does NOT provide therapy, clinical advice, diagnosis or crisis support.
If you are experiencing acute distress or are in crisis, please contact local emergency or mental health services in your region.
FAQs
Who is this podcast for?
Grown Between Worlds is for adult children of immigrants seeking validation, language, and connection.
It’s also for non-immigrant partners who want to better understand their loved one’s lived experience, and for therapists, educators, and community workers supporting immigrant communities.
We especially center women, queer and trans, neurodivergent, and disabled people navigating complex cultural and relational dynamics
Do I need to identify as an immigrant to listen?
NO. While we centre adult children of immigrants, our themes — identity, belonging, love across difference, family expectations, and redefining success — resonate widely.
If you’ve ever felt “in between,” you may find yourself reflected here.
Why does this podcast feel important right now?
In a time of rising xenophobia and hostility toward marginalized communities, we believe stories matter.
This podcast creates space for nuance, visibility and shared wisdom — honouring the resilience and depth of people living between cultures.
Is this a mental health podcast?
Not in a clinical sense...
While many guests work in mental health and community settings, this is a storytelling space — not therapy or clinical advice.
Listening does NOT replace professional support.
What topics do you explore?
We explore identity, code-switching, intergenerational dynamics, intercultural partnerships, queerness, neurodivergence, redefining success, and the ways migration shapes love, career and wellbeing.
Each season includes an introduction, guest conversations, and closing reflections.
Can I suggest a topic or apply to be a guest?
YES. You can share anonymous feedback, suggest themes, or apply to be a guest through our Contact page.
We review submissions seasonally.
We are committed to creating a space grounded in respect, anti-oppression and compassionate dialogue.
Hate speech, harassment or dehumanizing rhetoric will not be tolerated in community interactions!
Land Acknowledgement
Grown Between Worlds is recorded and produced across lands now known as Toronto, Ontario (Canada) and Queensland (Australia).
In Toronto, we acknowledge that Tkaronto is situated on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River, and is covered by Treaty 13 and the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Treaty. This land is now home to many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, as well as settlers and newcomers.
In Queensland, we acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which this work is created, and we pay respect to Elders past and present.
As a podcast exploring migration, belonging and identity, we recognize that our conversations take place within ongoing histories of colonization and displacement. We are committed to continued learning, reflection, and support of Indigenous-led communities and initiatives in the places we live and work.
