Nadia Al-Samarrie

From Baghdad to Berkeley Nadia Al-Samarrie

The call to travel and explore the world came early for Nadia. As the daughter of an Iraqi diplomat and the granddaughter of a business magnate, she lived in Baghdad, Tehran, and Tokyo before the age of 10, and learned three languages. Her move to America in 1969 brought new experiences with language, racism, independence, and self-expression.




At the age of 15, she bravely traveled Europe by herself for four months. She gained life- transforming experiences and averted innocent mishaps when she was unwittingly used by drug dealers as a cover, so they could carry hash in from Morocco to Spain.




After graduating from Berkeley High, she went to the University of Baghdad only to find herself intertwined with a powerful man who threatened to turn her in as an American spy if she did not marry him.




She grew up with a Muslim Father and an Irish-Catholic mother which allowed her to celebrate both religions, never adopting the ideology that one is better than the other. To her, it was about spirituality. Her early years in Japan exposed her to Buddhism, while her mid-life crisis took her to India in pursuit of Hinduism.