Mohammad Ismail made the journey from Northwest Pakistan to Washington state in 2010. He left his home, where he was a journalist covering everything from health and education to the inner workings of the Taliban, on a Fulbright scholarship to learn more about American journalism. When he arrived, Mohammad joined the staff of Tacoma Weekly,

Romance and family inspired Salimatou Pratt to come all the way to Seattle from Guinea in West Africa. “It was love at first sight,” she says, eyes sparkling, of the relationship and marriage that brought her to Seattle in 2005. These days it’s a different passion — one for service in health and women’s issues

John Simpson received his bachelor’s degree in enthnomusicology and then promptly moved abroad. His goal wasn’t immediately obvious; he wanted simply to be elsewhere. “I started down a cycle of teaching and traveling that I just loved,” he says. That cycle led him through parts of Europe and South America, into a master’s degree in

For more than a decade Jodie Zhou spent most of her waking hours on tennis courts practicing serves and returns and reveling in the world of professional tennis. She joined the Chinese national team in 2005 when she was around 14 years old. The opportunity took her from her family home in Wuhan, China, to