We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Malika Burieva. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Malika below.
Malika, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
During the pandemic in 2020, I lost people in my family. My uncles and my grandpa. My immediate family resides in Uzbekistan, while my parents are with me in the U.S. Before the summer of 2023, I never visited Uzbekistan. I didn’t understand the true meaning of family for a long time since I was never exposed to my family members. It was almost as if I was a brick wall with no proper empathy in me. I never had an interest in visiting Uzbekistan as a first-generation American kid. For 21 years, as an only child, it was simply my parents and I. I understand that I’m of the uncommon Central Asian folk. Central Asians are generally family-oriented, surrounded by aunts, uncles, and cousins. But I was never interested in my family or culture until the pandemic. Starting to make content on my identity made me connect to people of my culture and my community. It was a chain reaction because it led to the pride of my mixed identity as an Uzbek-Turkmen Central Asian, the meeting of my supportive husband and my family members, and the trip that made me discover my purpose this past summer. My cultural identity is my purpose. It is the bridge that helped me reconnect with my family, people of my culture, and my husband. I like to teach people about my culture because Central Asia is so unheard of. It deserves to be spotlighted, and I want to be the person to do so.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a content creator who produces content on Central Asian history, culture, and language on social media on the mediums of TikTok and Instagram. I built a brand with my husband Raouf called, “The Central Asian Chronicles.” The title is used for my website where I post blog posts about anything Central Asian-related (mostly in the categories of history, culture, and language), and my podcast on Spotify, in which I interview individuals of diverse backgrounds to spotlight their unique stories. It’s been a dream to expand my brand past simply making videos on the internet. I want to bring my journalism background into my work after recently graduating from Adelphi University as a communications major (journalism concentration). I hope to expand my work beyond short 1 minute videos to longer videos on YouTube. I would like to create video essays and narration videos about Central Asia. Thankfully, Central Asia is a broad topic, so I don’t believe I will lose inspiration or run out of ideas anytime soon.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The most important skill for me is fluency in the Uzbek language. It benefitted me during my trip to Uzbekistan and when I teach others Uzbek through my TikTok series, “Teaching Basic Uzbek in 60 Seconds.” Since I am a first-generation American-born with English as my first language, some Central Asians don’t see me as “Central Asian enough” until they hear me speak Uzbek. While I do have some flaws in how I speak, such as a slight accent, Uzbek is the Turkic language that I can depend on to communicate with other Turkic peoples’ languages. For those who reach out to me to obtain resources to learn Uzbek, exposure is necessary through mediums like movies, music, and reading material. With patience, one can learn a not-so-commonly-spoken Turkic language like Uzbek.
Aside from a second language, confidence and consistency were skills that motivated my content journey. Knowing what I wanted was an audience manifested its way into my life. Constant posting and diverse ideas that came to my head during my journey helped me. The subject of Central Asia being my brand was niche as well. It made me connect with other Central Asians. It’s a comforting feeling.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
When my parents immigrated to the United States in 1998 from Uzbekistan, they were one of the first Central Asians to immigrate to the U.S. since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 2002, I was born in Miami, Florida, and my parents chose to move to New York in 2009 when I was around 7 years old. By that year, Central Asians were beginning to fill up in New York. My parents sought that chance to teach their only child culture and customs through exposure to our people. In Florida, however, there were zero Central Asians. Through my parents’ previous creative occupations (my father was a wedding singer, and my mother was a journalist/wedding host), former friends and colleagues insisted they move to New York to continue hosting weddings. In Central Asian cultures, weddings are a big ordeal. It was the perfect excuse to teach my culture, learn Uzbek, and socialize with individuals of our culture. Soon, as an 11-year-old, I was communicating with 30-year-olds with a 15-year-old mind. Communicating with grown individuals matured me rapidly. The move was a good decision because I continue to live in New York. I cannot imagine my life elsewhere.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thecentralasianchronicles.asia
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/malika.burieva
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malikaburieva/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DrLV7UDTnY
- Other: https://tiktok.com/@malika.burieva https://open.spotify.com/show/0OcwZjelgweeB49ilxWjFR
Image Credits
Image Credits: Philip Vukelich
