Mo' Sibyl

부산의 마음| Busan, Memories, and 마음 (Heart): A Conversation With Mr. Kim Seohan | Episode 35 (2025)

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: 부산의 마음| Busan, Memories, and 마음 (Heart): A Conversation With Mr. Kim Seohan | Episode 35 (2025)

Some friendships don’t arrive with fireworks; they arrive quietly, like a warm breeze on an unfamiliar coastline. That’s what meeting Seohan was like for me. This episode is a gentle, honest look at how unexpected connections can shape how we survive, grow, and soften while living far from home.

In today’s conversation, recorded in Busan, South Korea, Seohan and I revisit the story of our friendship—one that began in Oklahoma, deepened over food and laughter, and quietly carried us through awkward transitions, cultural differences, and the strange tenderness of young adulthood. We talk about what it meant to be two immigrants navigating loneliness and identity in a place that looked nothing like any version of home we knew.

We reflect on the early days of shyness, the way vulnerability opened doors, and how the simplest gestures, a ride, a shared meal, a late-night conversation, can become anchors during life abroad. There’s an honesty to our friendship that makes this episode feel like sitting on a porch at sunset, listening to two old friends remember who they were before life scattered them to different continents.

You’ll hear stories about fear, courage, language, faith, and what it means to love people with intentionality. But more than anything, this episode is a reminder that God sometimes sends us the right people at the right time, not to stay forever, but to shape us in ways we only understand years later.

If you’ve ever lived abroad, healed abroad, or reinvented yourself far away from everything familiar…this one will sit close to your heart.

Listen, breathe, and maybe text that friend who walked you through a season you didn’t have words for.

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: 인간의 지형 | The One With Dr. Xin She – The Geography of Being Human: Across Borders, Between Worlds | Episode 34 (2025)

What does it mean to belong everywhere and nowhere at once?

In this episode of The More Sibyl Podcast, I sit with Dr. Xin She, a pediatrician, global health scholar, researcher, mindfulness educator, polyglot, and Fulbright Fellow, whose life spans continents, cultures, and ways of knowing. Together, we explore what it means to heal beyond medicine, to find wholeness not in prescriptions but in purpose, compassion, and connection.

Born in 1980s Shanghai, in a one-room home without hot running water, Dr. She’s earliest lessons in resilience came from bucket showers and blackouts long before she ever entered a clinic. Those childhood experiences later shaped her calling to global health, from Haiti’s pediatric wards to the U.S.–Mexico border, where a simple Coke bottle filled with stones can spark joy for a child processing trauma.

We talk about motherhood and migration, burnout and rebirth, and the tender work of raising a global citizen; a child who learns empathy not from textbooks, but from refugee camps, shared meals, and birthday cakes at the border. We also reflect on our Fulbright journeys, hers in Mexico and mine in Korea, and the quiet, unseen sacrifices our families make so we can stand in the places we feel called to. Our conversation moves through the meaning of work-life integration, the courage to say no without guilt, and the discipline of creating joy even in places marked by pain.

And woven through it all is a simple truth: despite our differences, people everywhere long for the same things: wellness, dignity, connection, and meaning. This episode is a reminder that across borders and experiences, there is always common ground.

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: 학교와 집 사이| On Belonging and Advocacy: For Ourselves and Our Children — The One with Dr. Otito Iwuchukwu | Episode 24 (2025)

Welcome to July! We’re kicking off the month with a deeply resonant episode featuring my dear friend, Dr. Otito Iwuchukwu. She’s no stranger to this space; it’s not her first rodeo! But this time, we welcome her back in a role that’s even more intimate and relatable: as a mother and, as you’ll hear, a fierce advocate.

As immigrant parents prepare for another school year, it’s about more than just backpacks and supply lists. It’s about the emotional load we carry, navigating unfamiliar systems, decoding school emails that make our hearts race, and resisting the urge to turn our frustration inward on our children.

In this timely and personal conversation, Otito shares how her son’s early struggles in school became a mirror, reflecting a lifelong journey of being misunderstood. We unpack the silent burdens immigrant parents bear while navigating Western education, especially in the U.S., with stories that will resonate deeply.

One of the most significant aspects of our conversation centers on neurodiversity. As a mom to two neurodivergent sons, Otito reframes ADHD not as a deficit, but as a different kind of brilliance, changing not just how she supports her children, but how she affirms herself.

We also explore the cultural dissonance between Nigerian and American schooling. For many of us who grew up trusting that teachers had our best interests at heart, it’s jarring to now feel the need to constantly explain, advocate for, and defend our position.

As another school year begins, many immigrant families will return to systems not built with their context in mind. This episode offers solidarity. Whether you’re a parent, educator, or ally, now is the time to rethink what advocacy, success, and belonging really mean.

Listen. Save. Share. Come back to it when August rolls around and you need a reminder: you are not alone in this journey. And if you know a parent trying to raise a child who feels seen, safe, and strong, send this their way.

Also, go read The Belonging Paradox, Dr. Otito’s incredible book (available on Amazon). The episode only scratches the surface—its pages offer deeper truths about identity, parenting, and reclaiming belonging across cultures and systems. No spoilers here. Just go read it.

Oh—and something BIG is coming this month. Mark your calendars for July 19th: More Than a Backpack is a live panel session featuring moms, dads, and a behavioral specialist, digging even deeper into how we can collectively advocate for our kids in the North American education system. That’s right—both the U.S. and Canada. Save the date, and we’ll see you there!