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Hello and welcome to the immigrants of Toronto podcast. Today I’m launching episode one hundred and what better way to do it than by announcing the top 10 episodes of 2021. For the next few weeks, I’ll be rebroadcasting the 10 episodes that had the most downloads over the year. Some of them were obvious winners, some others were happy surprises. But, whatever the case was, the list is final and it goes like this: Number 10: Experiencing discrimination as a child: Meera Bala (Sri Lanka) Meera was my first guest from Sri Lanka and on that episode, she talked about her childhood in Canada and how she experienced and overcame discrimination. Number 9 Helping newcomers start their businesses: Ryan Hollinrake (Canada) Ryan is not an immigrant but in this episode, he talked about how Access Community Capital Fund can help immigrants with no credit history to start their businesses. Number 8 How do you measure success as an immigrant? This was one of the happy surprises. This episode is just me talking about how we can measure success as an immigrant. It’s a short one that came to me as I thought about my own successes and failures. Number 7 One year later: Laura Sturmer (Brazil) The first interview I did with Laura was the most downloaded episode of 2020. So, of course, her second participation in the podcast had to be in the top 10! Number 6 From a small island: Melanie Anthony (Mauritius) Melanie is my first and only guest from Mauritius. She’s an amazing person who arrived here in 2016 and has a very interesting story. Number 5 Helping minorities: Dean Lobo (India) Dean is another amazing human being that not only has a great story but also has dedicated his professional life in Canada to help minorities. Number 4 The struggle of immigration: Mariela Gutierrez (Mexico & USA) My wife found Mariela on Instagram and the first thing she said to me was: you need to interview her. And so I did. Mariela’s immigration perspective is quite unique. Born in Mexico and raised in the US, moving to Canada was a new experience for her. Number 3 Getting to know Canada: Gunjan & Farhan Kafil (India/Dubai) Time to confess that because of technical difficulties, we had to record this episode twice. The good thing is that I think the second and final take went way better than the first one! One thing I loved about Gunjan and Farhan is that they took the time to travel Canada before settling in Toronto. Honestly, I wish I someday do the same trip. Number 2 Escaping your country: Karla Medina (Venezuela) Karla’s story is different than most of the ones I share. Most of my guests decided to move to Canada to have a better life, in the case of Karla it was to preserve hers. Fearing that the worst could happen, she decided to leave Venezuela and try her luck here. Number 1 Things were getting too good: Pragya Diwan (India) Pragya’s journey started because she wanted a challenge. Most people stay where they are if things are good. But Pragya is different, she took a long flight, move to the other side of the world, and started her next challenge. As I said, these episodes will be rebroadcasted in the next few weeks while I’m taking a well-deserved break. The next new episode will be launched by the end of January. Until now, please enjoy not only the rebroadcasts but also listen to any episode that you didn’t listen to this year. I can tell you that every story is worth listening to. Subscribe to the Podcast If you enjoyed listening to this episode, don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. And make sure to follow the show on Instagram and LinkedIn. Lastly, if you're an immigrant and want to share your story on the show, go to immigrantsoftoronto.com/join and fill out the form. Thanks for listening, I'm Oscar Cecena, and this is Immigrants of Toronto.