Shabnam had a dream of becoming a lawyer to fight inequality. Graduating in 2011, she wondered whether or not starting her practice was a good decision. Helping her husband get his green card, she gave immigration law a chance.
"But only for six months! "Shabnam said.
Six months turned into a year.
And now, a decade later, she has a successful practice. As an immigrant, Shabnam Lotfi talks about her journey and what mattered in building her business while sharing valuable insights in this episode of Empowering conversationZ.
She migrated to a less diverse neighborhood in Buffalo, New York as a young child. Her parent's decision to stick closely to their roots and keep their traditions made her life miserable at times. Fitting in was hard!
As an Iranian-American, she lacked a sense of belonging.
"So how am I an American everywhere else, and here I'm an outsider?
I've learned to embrace the American in me. My American values! And I think nobody should live here ten, twenty, thirty, forty years feeling like a foreigner. If you're an American citizen, whether it's for one day or a decade or ten years or twenty years, whether you're a citizen through birth or through your grandparents, you own this country just as much as anybody else does."
She talks about the immigration system during our discussion, given her education and her extensive experience. "At its core, in my opinion, the way the system is designed is set up to encourage US economic growth." Then, she talks about different visas and how each benefits our economy while keeping families together. But
"We have these two things with some other competing interest. We want people to come here, but we don't want them to take away from American jobs."
Listen to the complete episode to hear what, in her opinion, can be done to improve the system.
In the end, she gives our audience whose cases have been delayed during the past few years some insights. Both to maintain their status and enjoy life during one of the most challenging times in American history. But as we know, every case is different. She has a large Facebook community that she answers questions and provides suggestions. So feel free to contact her if your case has been impacted.
Listen to her complete story here.
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