Finding Community in East Harlem

Immigrant life in New York City looks glamorous from the outside, but what happens when you arrive in January with snow up to your knees, no work permit, and no roadmap for who you're supposed to become?

In this episode, host Saadia sits down with Laura Peruchi, a Brazilian journalist, content creator, podcaster, and one of New York City's most trusted voices for immigrants navigating life in a new country. Laura is the host of Transplants, a podcast about women thriving in new roots abroad, and the writer behind The Tiny Apple, a newsletter about New York life told with radical honesty.

Laura and Saadia get into the raw, unfiltered parts of immigrant life that don't make it onto Instagram:

What it really feels like to go from financially independent to completely dependent on a dependent visa, and why Laura didn't talk about it until she got her green card

The identity shift of switching your content from Portuguese to English, and how language changes your personality

Why Laura started a podcast specifically for immigrant women, and why she says "men already have enough spotlight.”

The in-between world of being a transplant: too Brazilian for America, too Americanized for Brazil

Code-switching, insecurity, online hate, and the quiet courage of building something from scratch in a city that doesn't owe you anything

Why is she learning French as a third language, just because she wanted to

Community-building in East Harlem, and why a WhatsApp group about stolen packages became her unexpected found family

Laura also opens up about something rarely discussed: the emotional weight immigrant spouses carry when they feel they "should be grateful" and how that guilt silently erodes self-worth and belonging.

Whether you're a first-generation immigrant, a partner who followed someone to a new country, or simply someone who has ever felt like an outsider in a place you chose to call home, this conversation will feel like a long exhale.

🎧 Listen now and share with someone navigating their own in-between.

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Host & Producer: Saadia Khan I Content Writer: Saadia Khan I Editorial review: Shei Yu I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Immigrantly Theme Music: Simon Hutchinson | Other Music: Epidemic Sound

Immigrantly Podcast is an Immigrantly Media Production.

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