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2025 has been some year, both from a personal and The Newcomers' point of view. I started the year in crutches. I had undergone surgery to fix my broken knee patella just before the 2024 Christmas holidays.

That was the first time I had ever gone under the knife. I found the speed at which my plans for the holidays and the start of the new year changed to be disorienting. It also had me reevaluating everything, including how I would approach The Newcomers in the new year.

And I did change my approach, or more like I blew everything up to focus on The Newcomers for a bit. I resigned from my job in April and decided to give it a go.

I am back to work again. But the past seven months of unadulterated focus on The Newcomers were so worth it. Because, honestly, folks, I believe this is my life’s work.

This is the final newsletter for 2025, so I thought it would be great to look back on all we published throughout the year and share the ones you all enjoyed the most.

You’ll really enjoy reading and probably listening to part 1 of the guide to Canadian small talk with . I think it’s an important topic, and I will work on finishing part 2 once the holidays are over.

We’ve got nine more parts coming, by the way.

I'm not really surprised that the episode with Kundan is currently the most listened to of the year so far. Things might change, but that was a great conversation.

One takeaway from the conversation that I think applies to the immigrant journey so much:

Failures reveal blind spots you often can’t see any other way. There are things you know you know. There are things you know you don’t know. And things you don’t know you don’t know. These are our blind spots. Failures force you to confront that third category. Without failures, you plateau. You keep growing horizontally, but you can’t go higher because you can’t see what’s holding you back.

My episode with Fatemeh Alhosseini, Executive Director at Impakt Foundation, left me with a lot to think about. And I think it’s worth revisiting as we plan for 2026.

We discussed resilience as a function of the system, why personalised support is likely the most effective way to improve immigrant settlement and integration outcomes, and narrative therapy as a tool for cultural immersion.

Woop woop. I’m so glad this piece was well-received. Working on The Newcomers has been a labor of love. One that I have enjoyed so much.

And like I say in the piece, the best part of it all for me is “I’ve stopped feeling like the ‘other.’ I now know I’m not the only one grasping for a foothold, trying to hold onto a world I used to know while settling into a new one.”

“We’re having the wrong conversation about immigration.”

That was Shamira Madhany, Managing Director & Deputy Executive Director at World Education Services (WES). And if there’s one person qualified to say that, it’s Shamira.

There are many reasons why you should listen to Shamira’s episode, but here’s my favorite:

“Before granting entry, Canada does a great job of assessing the immigrant’s academic credentials. However, everything goes downhill from there. Employers struggle to interpret foreign work experience. The newcomers are treated like fresh graduates. And we end up with senior engineers driving Uber or doctors working in warehouses.”

It’s looking interesting, folks. I’ve got a lot of beautiful stories lined up. I'm working on some interesting collaborations with some really cool folks. Additionally, it appears that I will be leaving Substack for Beehiiv.

Thank you again. For all the support. For the shares. For the replies, reposts, and engagement on social media. For sending and recommending the publication to fellow immigrants. For subscribing.

Everyone who’s worked with me to publish every single one of the 186 podcast episodes, guides, and docu-stories is grateful that you read and engaged with the content.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. We’ll return to regular programming on January 16th, 2026.

Dozie