Balkan Sis
by Ivana Strbac Alfonso
Society & CultureE · Explicit
Latest episode
The Millennial Therapist: I Did Everything Right and Lost Myself |…
The Millennial Therapist: I Did Everything Right and Lost Myself |…
About this podcast
Balkan Sis is a podcast rooted in truth, depth, and real conversation.
Hosted by Ivana, this is a space where culture, identity, motherhood, relationships, trauma, mental health, wellness, ambition, power, business, and politics are explored honestly and without filters. Through intimate conversations and lived experience, Balkan Sis is a place to reflect, heal, and feel less alone.
Here, stories are honoured, voices are heard, and nothing is off limits.
Pull up a chair. You belong here.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 80 episodes
- The Millennial Therapist: I Did Everything Right and Lost Myself | Dr Sara Kuburić · 1 h 12 min · Episode 80She married young, got her doctorate, helped her community and ticked every box. And she lost herself completely.This week on Balkan Sis, I sit down with Dr Sara Kuburić…
- Pt. 2 | Aleksandra Alavanja, Domestic Violence Advocate: “Why Didn’t I Leave?” What Repair Really Takes · 1 h 21 min · Episode 79Pt. 2 | Aleksandra Alavanja, Domestic Violence Advocate: “Why Didn’t I Leave?” What Repair Really Takes Content warning: This episode discusses domestic and family violence…
- Pt. 1 | Aleksandra Alavanja, Domestic Violence Advocate: “I Spent 20 Years Protecting Women. Then It Happened To Me.” · 1 h 40 min · Episode 78Pt. 1 | Aleksandra Alavanja, Domestic Violence Advocate: "I Spent 20 Years Protecting Women. Then It Happened To Me." Content warning: This episode discusses domestic and family…
- Behind the Lens with Mark Milstein: What the War Taught Him About Humanity · 2 h 22 min · Episode 77What We Carry: War Photographer Mark Milstein on Vukovar, Sarajevo, and the War That Never Really Leaves AI and technology get a lot of bad press, so this week I wanted to share…
- "Be Strong": The Lie Every Diaspora Kid Was Raised On | Growing Up Balkan with Frankie · 1 h 4 min · Episode 20"Be Strong": The Lie Every Diaspora Kid Was Raised On | Growing Up Balkan with Frankie What was it really like growing up in the Balkans in the '80s and '90s? In this flashback…
- Pt. 2: "We'll Talk About Our Dreams, Never Our Feelings" Verone Percuku on Her Thesis, Sleep Hygiene, and Why the Balkans Fear Therapy · 51 min · Episode 75Pt. 2: "We'll Talk About Our Dreams, Never Our Feelings"Verone Percuku on Her Thesis, Sleep Hygiene, and Why the Balkans Fear Therapy Part two with Verone goes deeper into her…
- Pt. 1: "I Dreamt a War I Never Lived" - The Dreams You Inherit: Verone Percuku on Growing Up After Kosovo's War · 1 h 3 min · Episode 74Pt. 1: “I Dreamt a War I Never Lived” The Dreams You Inherit: Verone Percuku on Growing Up After Kosovo’s War Episode Description This week I sit down with Verone Percuku, a…
- 🎙️ Nobody Asked You: Why Does Everyone Have an Opinion on a Balkan Woman’s Life? · 1 h 4 min · Episode 73This is a flashback episode — one close to my heart — with the OG Balkan Sis, Frankie, the friend who started Balkan Sis with me back when it was just the two of us. We talk…
- Five Lifetimes in One: Drita Haziraj on War, Motherhood and Starting Over · 1 h 27 min · Episode 72This week on Balkan Sis, I sit down with Drita Haziraj — a woman who has lived about five lifetimes in one. Drita survived the siege of Sarajevo as a teenager, spent decades as a…
- Violeta Gordeljevic, Parenting Science Expert: "You Can Do Hard Things" · 1 h 29 min · Episode 71Today's guest is a scientist and a mum who got sick of the same thing most of us have felt scrolling parenting Instagram at 2am. Everyone with an opinion, nobody with a source…
- What Will People Think? Što će ljudi reći? · 40 min · Episode 70What Will People Think?I get real about the pressure of being judged, why I nearly skipped recording this episode, and how that inner doubt connects to community, identity, and…
- Pt 2: Katrina Risteska | Milena in Gia: A Wog Chick Comedy, Becoming a Mother, and Making It in Entertainment · 1 h 2 min · Episode 63PT 2: KATRINA RISTESKA — MILENA IN GIA: A WOG CHICK COMEDY, MOTHERHOOD, AND MAKING IT AS A STAR Part two of our Gia special brings us face to face with Katrina Risteska, the…
- Pt 1: Nicole Stojanovska: The Woman Behind Gia, A Wog Chick Comedy · 59 min · Episode 68EPISODE ONE — Nicole Stojanovska on Creating Gia: A Wog Chick Comedy This week on Balkan Sis, I'm sitting down with Nicole Stojanovska, the Horsley-raised, Macedonian and Italian…
- World Cup Special 2026: Voices of the Diaspora · 34 min · Episode 67The Diaspora Cup 2026: Anthems, Passion & Everything In Between this episode is a bit different. instead of the usual chaos of my family, i pulled together some incredible voices…
- Strina Slavica Strbac - An 80th Birthday Legacy (Episode in Croatian) · 1 h 23 min · Episode 6480th Birthday Special: Strina Slavica Strbac (HR) This episode is recorded entirely in Croatian (HR), because that is how Strina Slavica talks, thinks, and has lived her whole…
- From Displacement to the Law: Adam Khaze on the Truth About Immigration · 1 h 34 min · Episode 63In this episode, Ivana sits down with migration lawyer, author, and former refugee Adam Khaze for a wide ranging conversation about his own story, his family, and the realities…
- Rakija, Kolo, Tea Ceremonies and a Love That Never Ends · 1 h 4 min · Episode 62Today's episode is a full one. life has been full. we open with a birthday. sretan rođendan mama. 67 years old, a pensioner at last, and the most selfless woman i know. this…
- Martina Dimoska: From Kičevo to NASA | The First Female Balkan Analog Astronaut · 1 h 46 min · Episode 58BALKAN SIS PODCAST@balkansispodcast | @ivanastrbacalfonso Martina Dimoska:The Girl Who Was Never Asked What She Wanted to Be EPISODE DESCRIPTION This week Ivana sits down with…
- Break Her Down. Watch Her Rise. How to Get Back Up Every Single Time. · 33 min · Episode 58This one came straight from the heart with zero script and zero filter. After an article Ivana wrote for Croatia Weekly went unexpectedly viral (close to 400 comments and…
- What the Skin Remembers: Melissa Pizović on Sicanje, Identity and Finding Your Way Home · 1 h 36 min · Episode 54Melissa Pizovic grew up in the south of France as the only person in the room who did not speak the language. Her father, Bosnian-Croatian, never taught her. At family gatherings…
