Roots and Resilience: Aman’s Journey of Identity and Belonging

October 17, 2024·53 min·5 clips

Aman reveals how moving away from cousins forced her to rebuild her identity in a new school.

This episode of "From Home to Here" features host Komal in conversation with guest Aman Malhotra, a senior director and co-founder exploring her identity journey. Aman grew up in Kansas, initially living in Shawnee alongside her extended family, including her *Masi* and *Chacha*. She explains her parents are two sisters married to two brothers, a family dynamic she often had to clarify. Her family moved to the Olathe school district before high school, forcing her to restart the process of explaining her background. Aman describes a middle school environment where her identity had finally become normalized before the disruptive move. She entered ninth grade facing pronounced racial cliques and a lack of acceptance from wealthy white peers. Aman felt intense pressure to find where she belonged and establish a new friend circle. Her professional role involves building revenue operations teams for startups from the ground up. She co-founded KC Pankara, an academy teaching North Indian folk dance to students over six. Aman also serves as the marketing director on the board for the organization Eye of an Immigrant. The episode frames her story as part of a mission to shift immigrant narratives and break silence barriers. A key insight is how a geographic move dismantled a hard-won sense of normalcy around her identity. The experience highlights the challenge of navigating rigid social hierarchies based on race and class in a new school. Her professional and community work appears deeply connected to this foundational journey of self-definition. The tone is conversational, interview-based, and focused on personal narrative. The style is introspective and detailed, prioritizing emotional experience over broad analysis. Listeners interested in diaspora identity, cultural belonging, and professional-founder journeys would appreciate this episode. Those seeking fast-paced debate or purely historical analysis might find it less engaging.

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