Pass The Mic spotlights the stories and experiences of New Zealanders from migrant and former refugee backgrounds. The first series from 2022 is a community-led collaboration in partnership with Belong Aotearoa, Sport Waitākere and Storyo, hosted by Elina Ashimbayeva. The second series from 2025 focuses on the employment experience of lived experts and was made with funding from the J R McKenzie Trust.
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Pass The Mic spotlights the stories and experiences of New Zealanders from migrant and former refugee backgrounds. The first series from 2022 is a community-led collaboration in partnership with Belong Aotearoa, Sport Waitākere and Storyo, hosted by Elina Ashimbayeva. The second series from 2025 focuses on the employment experience of lived experts and was made with funding from the J R McKenzie Trust.
A young Congolese-Kiwi-South African woman, Vira is Chairperson of the New Zealand National Refugee Youth Council, advocating for, engaging and supporting refugee background youth around Aotearoa. Vira is an outstanding poet who writes about intersections of feminism, race, and African identity among other topics. In this episode we talk about Vira’s poetry, being true to her voice, black-kiwi representation in New Zealand, and what it means to be an advocate in this day and age.
Pass the Mic
Pass The Mic spotlights the stories and experiences of New Zealanders from migrant and former refugee backgrounds. The first series from 2022 is a community-led collaboration in partnership with Belong Aotearoa, Sport Waitākere and Storyo, hosted by Elina Ashimbayeva. The second series from 2025 focuses on the employment experience of lived experts and was made with funding from the J R McKenzie Trust.