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In this episode, I’m speaking to Rim Aoude, marketer, poet, and all-round amazing human.
Rim moved from UAE to Canada as a teenager. And we explore what it means when you’re born without a place to call home. Her granddad left Palestine. Her parents were born in Lebanon as refugees. She was then born in UAE with refugee documents.
And her kids, they were born Canadian. The first in three generations to be born with citizenship. “It was a huge deal in our family,” she says.
She talks about arriving in Canada at 17. Her dad had gotten sick in UAE, and couldn’t pay her school fees. Which meant she couldn’t certify her high school diploma. She went to Concordia, told them her situation. And they said, “You’re Canadian. You have the right to education.” They enrolled her immediately. That’s when she knew, she could do well here.
But being in Canada did something else. It allowed her to become who she actually was. She became more Palestinian in Canada than she ever was in the Gulf, where saying you’re Palestinian wasn’t something you advertised.
Rim and I also chat about:
The lessons she’s gathered from living across three countries
Why her kids speak French but she doesn’t
Moving back to Canada from Qatar and starting over
How struggle makes you attached to your identity
Dozie’s Notes
A few things that stuck with me as I listened through this week’s conversation:
Ego is a luxury immigrants can’t afford, but that doesn’t mean you’re worth less. When Rim and her husband returned from Qatar, they were senior managers. They took coordinator roles because they knew the game. When you move countries, save your money, accept whatever job you get, build your network, work your way back up. One of Rim’s friends who followed that advice was back to senior management within a year.
Supporting family back home never stops. It’s an invisible weight most immigrants carry. You’re building your life here while holding up lives back there because there are a lot of people depending on you to make your move work out.
Official Links
✅ Connect with Rim Aoude on LinkedIn
One Ask
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