was a typical immigrant experience, was very common in immigrant cultures. In Afghanistan, most girls won’t get that same sort of push from their parents, but my dad was very much saying that was the case for all four of us. So I did very well in school and got myself into an IB [International Baccalaureate] program in a local public school.” Muradi’s parents expected her to go to community college, but her high school guidance counselor encouraged her to look at colleges that would be more academically challenging, and she navigated the college admissions process entirely on her own. “I figured out how to take the SATs, I got all my parents’ tax papers together and did financial aid and admissions. I had no help from them at all. … That was my first taste of admissions, actually. I’m so
Photos courtesy Victoria Muradi
restaurants, and her parents were able to buy a small restaurant. “It was the first thing they actually owned. They had a small mom-and-pop shop with breakfast and lunch. That’s what put us through college. They didn’t retire until three years ago. That’s how they made it.” Muradi worked at the family restaurant each summer, but during the school year it was all about working hard to make good grades. “The biggest thing for my parents, that whole loss of dignity, was so I wouldn’t have a job that forced me to stand on my feet and I didn’t have to work with my hands. That was huge for them. The first time my dad ever saw a desk that I had, he was literally weeping. The whole focus for me was that I would work really, really hard. Their job was to have the restaurant and they would provide for us. My job was to be in school and get good grades. It
TOP: Young Victoria and her family led a comfortable life in Afghanistan, where her father owned a clothing factory and her mother taught school. ABOVE RIGHT: Muradi with her greatgrandfather, brother and younger sister. ABOVE LEFT: Muradi as a third-grader in Queens, New York.
grateful they even let me do that. I was the first person in my family to go away for college. I was the first girl, for sure, who ever lived away. Lots of people gave questioning looks at my parents, how could you let your daughter do that? It is so common for us to have a multi-generational family. You are with your family until you get married. “I couldn’t get my parents to even bite at the idea of my going away unless I went to a women’s college. I applied to Smith and Bryn Mawr and Wellesley. It was more affordable for me to go to Smith than to Florida State or any public schools. They gave me a continued on the next page
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