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.
In this episode, Elina speaks to Maria Khaydar, a self-described “capitalist girl-boss by day and anarchist by night”. Maria currently works in the tech industry and is actively involved in amplifying ethnic voices and advocating for refugee and asylum seeker rights. She discusses her Syrian-Azeri-Russian identity and the expectations that come with that mix, and she and Elina examine the way they, as women of colour, police themselves and reject the notion of being a trail-blazer.
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.
