HomeWork With MeThe BookPodcastAboutBlogTake the Quiz →
🏆 Top 15 American Culture Podcasts — Feedspot
Globally Ranked Podcast

The Immigrant Experience
in America

Hosted by Simone W. Johnson-Smith

Real stories. Real strategies. For first-gen immigrants, third culture people, and globally mobile professionals navigating life between worlds — including the unspoken rules nobody warned you about.

Christian faith-based and research-backed conversations. New episodes every week. Audio everywhere. Full video on YouTube.

200+Episodes
100+Countries
WeeklyNew Episodes

🎧 Audio — Listen Anywhere

Spotify Apple Podcasts Amazon Music

🎥 Video — Watch on YouTube

YouTube
The Immigrant Experience in America Podcast
🎧 New Episodes Weekly

Audio & Video — All Major Platforms

About the Podcast

The conversations
you’ve been needing

This podcast focuses on the lived reality of immigration — the financial confusion, the identity strain, culture shock, cultural dissonance, cultural homelessness, cross-cultural relationships, codependency patterns, and the quiet longing to belong somewhere fully.

Each episode features honest conversations with immigrants, third culture people, and globally mobile professionals sharing what no one talks about — and the strategies that actually helped them thrive. Grounded in a Christian faith-based and research-backed approach.

And every episode ends with The Cultural Faux Pas Moment — because sometimes the best way to decode the unspoken rules is to laugh at the moment you discovered them the hard way.

Listen on Spotify → Watch on YouTube
Topics We Cover
🌏
Cultural Identity & BelongingCode-switching, cultural dissonance, cultural homelessness, and finding where you truly belong.
💒
Mental Wellness & Inner HealingThe emotional and spiritual cost of immigration — burnout, isolation, codependency, anxiety — addressed with a Christian faith-based and research-backed framework. See especially Episodes 62–63 & 216–218.
💰
Financial Clarity & Wealth BuildingDecoding U.S. financial systems, managing family remittances, and building wealth across borders without the guilt.
🚀
Career & LeadershipUnwritten rules of U.S. career advancement, leveraging your global experience, and getting paid what you’re worth.
🏠
American Culture & Unspoken RulesUnderstanding American culture from the inside. See especially Episodes 50–51 for Understanding American Culture.
Signature Segment

🙄 The Cultural Faux Pas Moment

Every episode of The Immigrant Experience in America ends the same way: with a real, cringe-worthy cultural misstep that an immigrant, third culture person, or globally mobile professional actually experienced navigating life between worlds.

Because the title of the book isn’t Decoding America by accident. The unspoken rules of this country — at work, at dinner tables, in elevators, in job interviews — are everywhere. And the fastest way to learn them is often the most humbling: by accidentally breaking them.

🙄

What Is a Cultural Faux Pas?

A social blunder that happens when you apply the rules from one cultural world in a context where completely different rules apply — and nobody warned you. From misreading office small talk to accidentally oversharing in a job interview, these moments are universal, human, and — in retrospect — hilarious.

Simone closes every episode by sharing one. Guests share theirs. And the community submits their own via #DecodingAmericaFauxPas.

Office CultureJob InterviewsSocial SituationsFinancial MomentsFamily DynamicsWorkplace Norms

Got a faux pas story? We want to hear it. Book a free 30-minute session to share it on the podcast, or tag us with #DecodingAmericaFauxPas.

Share Your Story →
Featured Episodes

Start listening

Not sure where to begin? These episodes tackle the topics our listeners come back to most.

EP 1
Decoding America: What No One Tells You Before You ArriveSimone shares the framework behind the book — the three things every immigrant needs to decode to truly thrive in the U.S.
IdentityFinanceCareer
▶
 EP 50–51
Understanding American Culture: The Unspoken RulesA deep dive into the cultural norms, workplace expectations, and social codes that immigrants are rarely told before they arrive.
American CultureUnspoken RulesWork
▶
 EP 62–63
Mental Health & the Immigrant ExperienceA faith-based and research-grounded conversation on the psychological cost of immigration — and the path toward healing and wholeness.
Mental HealthInner HealingFaith
▶
 EP 216–218
Mental Health & the Immigrant Experience: Volume IICulture shock, cultural homelessness, codependency, and cross-cultural marriages — real impediments to thriving abroad, addressed with honesty and compassion.
Culture ShockMental HealthCodependency
▶
 Faux Pas
🙄 The Faux Pas Files: Our Most Cringe-Worthy Cultural MomentsA fan-favorite compilation — listeners’ most hilarious and relatable cultural missteps, decoded with compassion and plenty of laughter.
Faux PasUnspoken RulesCulture
▶
Listen to All Episodes →
Simone W. Johnson-Smith
Your Host

Simone W.
Johnson-Smith

Bilingual Jamaican-American • Author • MA International Relations • Certified Coach

Simone started this podcast because she was having conversations in private that deserved to be public — honest, specific, culturally intelligent conversations about what it actually takes to navigate life in the United States as an immigrant.

With a BA in Spanish & International Business, an MA in International Relations, over 15 years in U.S. federal service, and postings in Mexico, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Cuba — she brings more than expertise. She brings lived experience, including more than a few personal faux pas moments of her own.

Using a Christian faith-based and research-backed methodology, she is the author of the award-winning Decoding America, the founder of The Bridge Concepts, LLC, and the founder of Thrive Abroad and creator of The Immigrant Wealth Code.

Read Full Bio → Work With Simone →
Global Community

A community of immigrants
thriving worldwide

Every week, listeners across the globe tune in for real conversations about what it means to thrive between cultures. Join a community that finally gets it.

100+
Countries Listening
200+
Episodes Published
Weekly
New Episodes
Top 15
Feedspot American Culture
● Spotify 🎧 Apple Podcasts Amazon Music ▶ YouTube
Be a Guest

Share your story
on the podcast

Simone is always looking for guests whose stories, expertise, and lived experiences will resonate with the immigrant community. And yes — we will ask for your faux pas moment at the end.

The best guests speak honestly — not just a polished success story — and have something practical and real to share with others on the same journey.

✓
You are or have been an immigrant, third culture person, or globally mobile professional
✓
You have a story, strategy, or expertise relevant to the immigrant community
✓
You’re willing to speak honestly, including the hard parts
✓
You have a cultural faux pas story ready — every episode ends with one
✓
You have a stable internet connection and can record remotely
Book a Guest Session →

Quick Guest Application

Fill in the form and Simone’s team will be in touch within 5 business days.

Never Miss an Episode

Subscribe & Never Miss an Issue

Get The Thrive Abroad Brief delivered to your inbox every Monday — weekly clarity for first-gen immigrants, third culture people, and globally mobile professionals. Free, always.

Subscribe Free on Substack → Follow on Spotify

No spam. Your inbox, your choice. New episodes drop every week.

🎉 First Community Event — Atlanta, GA — June 27, 2026

Sip & Share: The Immigrant Experience

Are You Lost In Translation?

Five hours of real stories, cultural food, honest panel conversations, and community — for immigrants, third culture people, and the people who love them.

Get Tickets →

Saturday, June 27 • 3–8 PM • Atlanta