Welcome back to this person I met! My name is Kayla, and I’m the host of this podcast.

Recently, I had the chance to meet up with a close family friend. Upon first meeting her, it was easy to make assumptions in my head. She graduated from MIT with a degree in business. She’s worked with one of the largest investment banking companies in the US. She talks a lot about investing in stocks and advises me to start saving when I am young. By the end of our first few days together, I naively thought I knew her entire character. It turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

In this episode, she talks of her interest in the higher dimensions of the universe, as well as her role in the nonprofit “Unlock Highest Dimension,” which helps discover individuals with special gifts. As our conversation progresses, she dives into the idea of the “N-dimension,” as well as soul and spirit, which help forge the connection between our physical bodies and the infinite universe.

Despite my months of work with this podcast, her story served as another reminder that I never truly know until I ask. As a quick heads up, due to the length of our conversation, this story will be split into two segments.

Welcome back to This Person I Met! My name is Kayla, and I’m your podcast host.

I’ve known Salem for around two years now. Our shared trauma of endless marching band rehearsals and similarities with flute led to a quick, close friendship. You’ll hear in this interview that it’s clear Salem is one of the funniest people I know and their presence is immediate comfort to all their friends, including me. Not only do I consider Salem one of my closest friends and flute buddies, I look up to them for advice like they’re the village elder.

A few months after we first met and became close, I came to learn of their more personal struggles, as all friends do with time. Personally, I think that the most beautiful part of a friendship is when your comfortability evolves into openness and a mutual understanding that you want to listen and learn, and your closeness makes room to do so. As you’ll hear in this interview, Salem is very open about their diagnosis with depression and constant battle with their mental health, which would eventually lead to their hospitalization at the CS Mott’s psych ward. Their story is a consistent reminder to me that no matter what, you never truly know what somebody is going through, and to always check up on the people that you love. As a quick content warning, this episode will deal with topics regarding mental health.

Welcome back to This Person I Met! My name is Kayla, and I’m your podcast host.

There are more similarities between an electrician and a professor of mechanical engineering than you may think.

In our interview, Solomon Adera told me of his parent’s lack of education, and how their lack would inspire him to take advantage of any opportunity to learn and use it as a tool to climb upwards, even going as far as to get a postdoctoral from Harvard.

Solomon’s love of mechanical engineering didn’t start when he graduated with a PhD from MIT, pursuing a level of education greater than both of his parents combined, nor did it start when he first stepped foot into a school building. Instead, it started with his dad, a humble electrician pushing him to see education as a tool, and it continues through his legacy and mentorship that he offers as gratitude for having the chance to learn.