Staff Spotlight: Mukarramhon Igamberdieva
Celebrating National Immigrant Heritage Month at Urban Upbound
June is National Immigrant Heritage Month — a month-long celebration that allows communities to explore their own heritage and celebrate the shared diversity of our nation. This June, we are featuring team members like, Mukarramhon Igamberdieva, one of our financial councilors and a immigrant from Central Asia, Uzbekistan.
When Mukarramhon first came to the US ten years ago, she was a single mother working and taking care of her daughter. She shares one of her biggest challenge was the cultural transition, and adapting to a new country without family and friends, while having limited English proficiency.
“After coming to the US, I was able to experience firsthand how totally different the American culture and norms were, especially when it comes to parenting,” says Mukarramhon. “Oftentimes there would be no one to watch my daughter after school because I was working, and she had to learn how to be independent from a young age.”
Currently, Mukarramhon is a part of our financial fitness team at Urban Upbound and helps clients achieve financial literacy, stability, and success through budgeting, developing savings, building credit, and more. Mukarramhon is able to pull from her own life experience, to better serve her clients.
“When I first came to the US, I was starting my life from scratch and had no financial support from anyone though I was used to have a very comfortable life back home,” says Mukarramhon. This lived experience helps Mukarramhon relate to her clients, especially those who are struggling to become financially stable after coming to the US.
At Urban Upbound, Mukarramhon is continually engaging with clients for all walks of life. “I am working with people from different races, ethnicities, sexual orientation, religion etc. I recently began working in a new location serving the Jewish, Spanish, Russian, and African American communities in Coney Island,” shares Mukarramhon. She has full faith she will be able to connect with her clients because of her appreciation for different cultures and commitment to learning their values and norms.
“Being able to help [clients] achieve their goals is what motivates me to succeed.” Mukarramhon appreciates her job because she is meeting new, interesting people for all different cultures and making new connections everyday.
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