Be the first: Success stories from Minnesota’s trailblazers
Are you the first person in your family to graduate from college? The first to run a marathon? The first to write a book or plant a tree?
Many of us who grew up in immigrant families feel especially driven to try something new. Over the past decade, communities of color in Minnesota have overcome obstacles to achieve amazing successes in education, business, sports, and culture.
On October 17, we’re hosting a Sahan Community Live and North Star Journey Live event to celebrate our achievements, both big and small.
We’re assembling an inspiring group of Firsts: people who come from a range of immigrant communities in Minnesota. What do they share in common? They’ve all achieved success across a variety of professional fields, including sports, farming, media, politics, and publishing.
With this event, we aim to highlight the unique rewards and challenges that come with being the first to embark on a new journey. What traits does it take to break free from tradition and how things have always been done?
We’ll discuss the pressure to succeed, the fear of failure, and the sense of responsibility to represent an entire community’s hopes and ambitions.
We hope to inspire you to embark on something new and celebrate the path and the community that brought you here. Please join us!
Minnesota Homeownership Center generously sponsors Community Conversations.
Hosts:
Alberto Gomez is the digital producer at Sahan Journal. He joined Sahan Journal in May 2024. Alberto graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and cultural studies and comparative literature. Previously, he worked as a producer for his university’s podcast, a fact checker for MinnPost and, most recently, as a digital producer for ABC 6 News – KAAL.
Nina Moini is currently an editor at MPR News, but she has been a television and radio news reporter in the state of Minnesota for more than a decade. Her work has focused largely on amplifying the stories of historically underrepresented groups in the media. Nina is a proud immigrant who was born in Denmark to Iranian parents. She is the first in her family to serve as an American journalist.
Speakers:
This event is free and open to the public. We’ll also be serving free food from a few of our favorite immigrant-owned restaurants. You can attend in person and park for free in the large parking lot in front of Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (right next to Lake Monster Brewing). Event registration is strongly encouraged.
Can’t make it in person? Watch the livestream on Sahan Journal’s YouTube page.
Thanks to our media partner the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network for helping us share and broadcast this conversation.
Minnesota Homeownership Center generously sponsors Community Conversations.
