Studio Ochenta launches Season 3 of hit multilingual podcast: Mija, celebrating Egyptian Muslim culture

Studio Ochenta, a podcast studio dedicated to raising voices across cultures in multiple languages, will be launching season 3 of its award-winning series: Mija on April 14, 2021 during Ramadan.

This 3rd season of the Webby award-honored fiction podcast narrated by an anonymous young woman named Mija (“My daughter” in Spanish) explores the story of an Egyptian Muslim immigrant family and their journey from Egypt to the UK and the US.

The series, which tells the story of each member of Mija’s family across 8 episodes, shares the journeys that so many immigrant families have undertaken while keeping their cultures and family histories alive in their host countries. As with previous seasons, the show will be released in multiple language versions: English, Spanish and Arabic.

This season’s story arc is inspired by the experiences of Rana Abdelhamid, an Egyptian-American daughter of immigrants from Queens, NYC. Rana is a community organizer and the founder and ED of Malikah, a gender justice nonprofit training women and girls in self-defense, healing and organizing. 

“I love my immigrant community. I feel very lucky to be able to share my experience as a hyphenated Egyptian American to an audience across the globe. I hope people find commonality in our story, regardless of their background.”- Rana Abdelhamid

The Arabic version of the series was produced in collaboration with SOWT, a leading podcast company in the MENA region dedicated to producing podcast show and audio content in Arabic, known for Eib, Dom Tak, and Manbet.

“Migration has become a premonition most of us Arabs think about at a certain point in our lives, and even when it does not come to fruition, the ongoing schism between thoughts of staying and others of leaving, redefines our relationship to our homeland, to our families and respective futures. This is why it is important for us to talk about migration with shows like Mija, understand what it means, and figure whether it is possible to find a safe place amidst the ongoing need to leave, and the unquenched feelings of longing” - Tala Elissa : Managing Producer at Sowt.

The Studio Ochenta website has more information about Mija Podcast and Studio Ochenta’s spring lineup of productions.

About Studio Ochenta

Studio Ochenta is a multilingual podcast studio dedicated to raising voices across cultures. Ochenta is home to many multilingual shows including the 2020 Webby Award honored series Mija, an audio drama on the journeys of immigrant families. Mija hit #1 in fiction on Apple Podcasts in 13 countries and across all podcasts in China. Check out Seasons 1, 2 and Mija Shorts, a mini-series for Latinx history month. Studio Ochenta’s fiction and narrative shows span 19+ languages, have hit #1 in over 31 countries collectively and have been featured in the New York Times, El Pais, Forbes and more.  

About Sowt

Sowt is a leading independent podcast production company in MENA. They are currently producing over 25 shows as Originals fully owned and produced by Sowt. And also work with brands and clients on white-label through Sowt Studios. Sowt’s network of partners and collaborators include working with regional media outlets and international organizations to promote social, economic, gender and equality. They have their main office in Amman, Jordan but employ and work with producers around the region.