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Nikita Wagh is an educator who’s worked in marketing technology and education for over 14 years. She’s interested in exploring how innovative practices, technology, and research can transform education and empower learners.
And she’s currently pursuing a Master’s in Education to deepen her understanding of teaching, learning, and educational leadership. Niki is also an immigrant advocate and has done some great work in helping naming all the feels that come with immigrant life.
In her episode, Niki and I chat about:
Building a village in a new country, what to let go of, and how to grow your circle
The diaspora child and the inheritance immigrants pass on whether they plan to or not
The four outcomes of acculturation theory, and why integration is both the healthiest and the most disorienting path
How representation constructs reality
What happens to your sense of home when the anchors back home start disappearing
When did searching turn into an endless scroll?
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Chapters
0:00 "You carry the same nervous system"
0:32 Intro
1:31 What representation actually means for immigrants
4:34 Being the first in your family to do everything
7:45 Integration, multiculturalism, and the "being replaced" conversation
10:28 What integration actually costs you
16:27 Never fully Nigerian, never fully Canadian
20:42 When your anchors back home start disappearing
25:30 Raising diaspora kids who carry an identity they never lived
31:26 Why immigrants become high achievers,
36:26 The wounds of high-achiever syndrome
39:27 Rewiring the nervous system you carried across borders
49:54 Building a village in a new country
57:31 The book of questions
1:00:09 Outro
Some takeaways
The rules for connection cannot be copied from home. The version of friendship that formed back home, built over years of proximity and shared history, cannot be replicated quickly. Carrying those expectations into a new country is what sets people up to feel like they are failing socially when they are doing fine. One shared interest is enough to start. That's how Niki built her circle in Toronto, via dog parks and crochet circles.
Your kids will be seen through an identity they never lived. Niki talks about her daughter, who will be perceived as a woman of color, a South Asian, an Indian-Canadian, and who may not have the lived experience of any of those places to draw on. And as immigrant parents, the work is to understand the systems our children will operate in, and teach them how to navigate them. Because our battles do not have to become their battles.
Links
Where to find Niki:
The Newcomers resources
Do you know your newcomer archetype? Take the quiz.
Want to work with us? Check out The Newcomers Media Kit.
Want more immigrant interviews? Listen to The Newcomers Podcast.
Looking to find out what Canadian immigration program you’re eligible for? Check out our Who’s Eligible For series.
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