Welcome to the first episode of You Did That!

I’m Sara Stanizai. I am really excited to share these stories with you. I had been thinking about starting a podcast for a long time, but honestly, I didn't really listen to a lot of podcasts. I thought it was just like white dudes with a microphone, pontificating about stuff. But then I figured why not? I think there are a lot of stories that need to be told, I mean, I love hearing about them and learning from people. So I'm excited to share this with you.

So this podcast really is about celebrating the black sheep.

And what I mean by that is the people who often feel like they are the first or only one of themselves in their community. And they feel like they don't have a role model. They didn't have a template. They didn't have someone guiding them to do these things. And it's not just in business or leadership, sometimes in their love life or their personal choices, or in their religious beliefs. There are all kinds of ways that people really set out on their own and we often feel like we are alone in this. That we have to be alone in it. And so I'm really lucky in my work as a therapist and a coach, as a facilitator and speaker. I hear these stories from people all the time. Like, I didn't know there was anyone like me. And my hope with this podcast is that you do hear some of your own stories and you do get inspired by people, and you realize that I'm not the only one like me.

One thing I'm really interested in.

When we make these decisions, it can really change the course of our life. I never intended to start this podcast. But you know those seeds are planted and you really pay attention to what you want, what makes you excited and what you can't stop thinking about or talking about, what people keep bringing up to you, and just to pay attention to those things I'm really interested in. Often those ideas are born in these really private moments or decisions that we look back on. And we didn't realize it at the time, but then, when we looked back on it, we realized that was the moment I became this version of myself. That was the moment I decided to do this.

A little bit about me.

My name is Sara Stanizai. I am a licensed therapist and a business coach. I’m a facilitator and speaker. My focus is on the queer first-gen experience. I myself am a queer Christian. My family is from Afghanistan. I was born in Los Angeles, and I grew up with that common internalized displacement of being a child of immigrants or really refugees.

So what can you expect when you listen to You Did That!? 

You are going to meet people who are trailblazers in their own way. You might meet people who are starting businesses, who are excelling in their field, who are really standing out and had started doing something before it was cool or before they felt cool about it and how courageous that decision is to keep going even though you're getting all this resistance from other people and also from within yourself. You’re gonna meet people who maybe it has nothing to do with their professional life but they were open about their sexuality and became the cool gay uncle. You're going to meet people who moved across the country and separated from their families. You'll meet people who decided to quit corporate America and become an artist. You're gonna meet people who maybe are the first person to marry outside of their culture or religion. So these are the people that are doing really cool things. But what's the coolest thing about it is that they did it really on their own and got to redefine themselves. And that's really what I'm obsessed with.

So thank you for listening. I hope you're inspired and motivated and excited just like I am.