Meet Nargiz Alizada
Nargiz Alizada grew up in Azerbaijan and says that from a young age, the idea of living in the U.S. called to her, but life has a way of taking you down a different path. Instead she studied Finance and became fluent in English while working at an international company. She lived in both Turkey and Russia, and started her family.
It wasn’t until experiencing a family tragedy that Nargiz found herself moved to take an incredible leap of faith and relocate herself and her two young daughters (9 and 13) to Maine in 2019. “Moving here was such a grind, at least for the first several years,” said Nargiz. Within 2-3 weeks of arriving in Maine, she had to find a place to live, begin looking for a job, get her children enrolled in school and navigate starting a Master’s degree program. Luckily, there was a small community of individuals from Azerbaijan who helped to direct and support Nargiz in those early days.
“They showed me where to go to get a phone, advised me on the safest places to rent and when I secured an apartment, they pointed me to Furniture Friends. Furniture Friends was so wonderful. I had saved money for the move, but with the uncertainty of securing employment and a work visa, I expected that it would be many months before we’d have the basics to live comfortably.”
With the help of Furniture Friends and her Azerbaijan community, Nargiz and her girls were able to set up their apartment and begin to feel some semblance of being settled. “Until we had our apartment and furniture, it still felt like staying in Maine was not certain.”
Over the last 6 years, Nargiz has continued rebuilding her life here in the U.S; completing her Master’s degree at the University of Maine, taking a job with IDEXX and giving back to her community. She began volunteering her time at the Dempsey Center (with patients and families navigating cancer diagnosis’) and recently purchased her first home in the U.S. Nargiz said when the time came that she was able to purchase her own furniture, she made sure that the items from Furniture Friends went to folks like herself; those that were starting over and needed a hand.
Nargiz recently rediscovered her love of performing and has taken her story to the stage with performances of her one woman show “Learning to Swim” throughout Maine and at the United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC.
Follow her on Instagram @nargiz_r_alizada for info on upcoming local performances.
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