Video: American Mosaic: Stories of immigration with Jehan Harney

Jehan Harney, an award-winning filmmaker, was born in Kuwait to an Eygptian family. She moved with her mother, a teacher, back to Cairo, where she studied at the American University. Then, in 1996, she won a fellowship to study international journalism and public affairs at American University in Washington and came to the United States. She later married, started a family and made a life here as a filmmaker and journalist.

Harney's documentary films seek to, as she says, "bridge the gap between the East and the West." She aims to get beyond the stereotypes so common in the media and portray American Muslims and the Muslim experience in all its humanity and complexity.

Her extended family still lives in Egypt. For more information on Harney, go to her website.

Brigid Schulte is a Washington Post staff writer on the local enterprise team. She writes narratives, features, breaking news and investigations that explore the way we live now. Her writing has garnered numerous awards; she was part of the team that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for the coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. Schulte, who grew up in Oregon and has worked in Europe, Asia and for various newspapers in the South and the West, now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband and two children.