Berrak Sarikaya
American accent.
Lived there 30 years.
Dad in Turkish marble business which was booming at the time so 31 years ago when she was 10 the family moved to Maryland.
Younger brother 7 years younger so she was like a mother to him.
Even at age 10 the family put her in charge of doing the immigration paperwork to move to America.
Learning English was super-hard.
Then in middle school she learned French but came at it from Turkish so her French accent is not American.
(Recent trip to France the locals didn’t try to speak English to her.)
Got into Existentialism.
Class project learning ”No Exit” everyone else hated it but she loved it because of ”Hell is other people” and the truism that your life will always be hard if you are attempting to please other people.
She hates positive Nihilism.
Then she got a full scholarship to George Washington University so the family moved up there to Virginia so she could live at home.
Dropped out after two years to get away from a bad breakup with a fiancée, moved to Seattle.
Lived there for ~20 years in north Seattle doing various things related to law.
Dad now in north Cyprus.
She can usually tell a Turkish person instantly.
But here strangers are surprised to find out she’s Turkish.
Her new project: Reclaiming the Narrative.