Aarzu Punjani
This interview is with Aarzu Punjani, a business manager and first-generation Indian-American living in San Antonio, TX. Aarzu talks about her early experiences with and without Indian and Ismaili communities. She describes growing up as the daughter of immigrants and how their constant hard work to provide in the US influenced her upbringing. She talks about her involvement with her family’s business, her college experience, and work-life balance. Aarzu also shares about her experiences with racism and xenophobia in the US, as well as her relationship to her Indian heritage and family.
Ahmad Kaki
This interview is with Ahmad Kaki, a legal assistant and law student in Arlington, VA. Ahmad describes growing up Palestinian and Muslim in Texas and how his life changed after 9/11. He talks about his college experiences of involvement in the Muslim Students Association and pro-Palestine organizing. Ahmad shares the trajectory of his career, which brought him to law school and his current work as a legal assistant with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Aisha Fall
This interview is with Aisha Fall, a Senegalese-American Muslim in Chicago, IL. Aisha shares memories from her childhood, including friendships, schooling, and travels to Senegal and France. She describes her time at UTSA and her involvement with the MSA there. While there, she attended the Muslim Children Education and Civic Center where she became a leader on the Youth Committee. She talks about her experience there and the influential people she worked with.
Alexia Leclerqc
This interview is with Alexia Leclerqc, an environmental justice activist working with PODER in Austin, TX. Alexia discusses moving around a lot in childhood and struggling with others’ lack of respect for her family’s Taiwanese and Buddhist traditions. They talk about coming into environmental justice work via their education and witnessing injustice and contradiction in the world. She shares about the work she does, such as water testing and meeting with politicians and scientists. Alexia also describes Start:Empowerment, the nonprofit organization they cofounded to get environmental justice curriculum into high schools.
Amanda Martinez Beck
This interview is with Amanda Martinez Beck, a fat liberation activist living in Marshall, TX. Amanda talks about the work that online activism involves, such as social media engagement, podcasting, and writing for various platforms. She discusses the problems of language in her activism, like the negative connotations many people have with concepts like fatness and disability. Amanda also explains how her conversion to Catholicism and exposure to incarnational theology helped her learn to celebrate her body and the bodies of others.
Amanda Quraishi
This interview is with Amanda Quraishi, a Muslim convert and activist in Austin, Texas. Quraishi discusses her journey of converting to Islam and her story of becoming an activist within the community and beyond. She shares her perspective on the strength and challenges facing the Muslim community, including the power of masses and the importance of accepting pluralism.
Amanda Veasy
This interview is with Amanda Veasy, co-founder of One Love Longview, a nonprofit resource center for unsheltered, uninsured, and underserved populations. Amanda talks about the rapid rise of her organization as a response to community needs for accessible mental and physical health care. She describes the changes in her religious experiences over time, including being spurred to leave the church over her unwillingness to condemn the LGBTQ community. Amanda also talks about her methods of helping effectively by putting the individual’s desires and consent first.
Amro Eltayeb
This interview is with Amro Eltayeb, an engineer in San Antonio, Texas. Amro talks about childhood memories like his father’s business and the ways his family supported his education. He tells the story of his education in mechanical and software engineering and his early work experiences developing off-road wheelchairs. He also describes his current project of designing a note-taking app. Amro also shares about the moral decisions he has had to make in his career and how Islam has influenced his sense of ethics.
Aurelia Pratt
This interview is with Aurelia Pratt, a Chicana woman, and lead pastor to a progressive Baptist Church based in Austin, Texas. The vision of Pratt’s church focuses on decolonizing faith, justice, inclusion, and liberation. Aurelia speaks to the challenges of navigating life as a pastor during the global pandemic and how her personal experiences with racial tension and microaggressions as a brown woman of color have shaped who she is today.
Avery Wright
This interview is with Avery Wright, a theater educator living in San Marcos, TX. Avery talks about growing up in College Station and living cautiously as a young transgender man. He compares these experiences to his time at Texas State, where he became involved in the student organization Bobcat PRIDE. Avery describes his leadership role in Bobcat PRIDE and the educational and entertainment events that he and the organization hosted.