I grew up in the late ’90s with the life that most people would dream about as a kid. My house was a few blocks from the best beaches...

Life is unpredictable. People understand that now more than ever. But we also know that every situation occurs for a reason...

My family was not too poor, but we most certainly weren’t rich. We lived in a joint home with my uncles who were illiterate farmers...

When looking back at those days, I marvel at how far I have come. Maybe it was luck. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe I will never find out..

I remember the fear in my mother’s eyes...I remember the pounding of my heart. It was the first night my father came home drunk...

The country of my mother tongue, my family, a great deal of my childhood, and my culture actually isn’t where I was born...

As the positive comments rolled in at the potluck, I could feel myself begin to float. Maybe I really could do this...

my father was a poor shopkeeper with little earnings to feed, clothe, and provide for my mother, my four siblings, and me...

My childhood was a distressing one because we never had enough to eat or spend on ourselves. Since I could remember, my father...

...Lagos, Nigeria, a sparsely over-populated city with a mix of lifestyles and cultures. It was like the America of Nigeria...

My city, Karachi, is simply magical. It’s one of the largest, most populated cities in the world and it is the economic hub of Pakistan...

I, on the other hand, couldn’t focus on academics and seemed to always fall behind my peers. My teachers were telling me...

When one of them disappears, it threatens the whole system, and in my case, my entire being. I was forced to rebuild my life and myself...

I’m sure my mother didn’t like being away from me, but at the time, the northern region of the country was the only place a woman of color..

What makes a happy life? Wealth? Success? Passion? For many years, I tried to figure out how to be happy. Turns out...

But no matter where we lived, I was a smart high achiever. No kidding. We were a family of hard-workers and I loved going to school...

Maybe it would have been a lot different if life had stayed peaceful and carefree like when I first came into this world...

Growing up, I spent countless hours playing the game, “Operation,” meticulously navigating the clip to avoid touching the metal...