Description

In this week's episode, I have Tijana Brien joining me.

Tijana immigrated with her family during her pre-teen years. She was born in Sarajevo, in the former Yugoslavia, now known as the country of Bosnia. She has a mixed heritage, her father being Croatian and her mom Bosnian. She is a successful full-time lawyer who is now a partner at her law firm, Cooley LLP. Tijana's practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and securities litigation matters.

She has substantial experience in a wide range of disputes both in federal and state court, including contract disputes, securities class actions, and shareholder derivative and books and records litigation. Tijana is a trusted advisor and fierce advocate for her clients.  Her clients include individuals, venture capital firms, early-stage start-ups, and publicly-traded companies in various industries, including life sciences and technology. Tijana also maintains a robust pro bono practice focusing primarily on immigration, criminal defense, and environmental protection matters.

In this episode, Tijana and I discussed:

• Her immigration story and her Slavic heritage
• How they initially entered the US as a refugee, where she recalls the initial struggles they went through as refugees seeking a better life in the US
• Tijana recalled what life and the culture were like in the former Yugoslavia before the war broke out
• Music and her native Slavic-based language
• She recalled life during her teenage years, how her parents adjusted to improve their English, and how they assimilated as a family to live in the US
• Tijana talked about opportunities that came her way that helped fuel her dream to become a lawyer
• How she managed to balance and find ways to hold on to her cultural roots after immigrating and still build her cultural identity as an immigrant
• Dating life  
• Advice for new and aspiring immigrants

Connect with Tijana Brien here: 

Website: https://www.cooley.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tijana-brien-martinovic-b11781b

Let's Connect!

Website: http://thedreamacademy.us

Email: theimmigrantexperiencebtyad@gmail.com

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonewjohnson

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theimmigrantexperience

Check out the previous episodes of The Immigrant Experience in America here: http://thedreamacademy.us/podcast/