Since moving back to Texas, I’ve been able to roll to my old stomping grounds, Austin, and soak in some memories from my college days (where I wore the same backpack everyday, everywhere, with every outfit for 4 years…man, I had some game back then).
In all honestly, as much as I love SXSW, these conferences are more anxiety-inducing as I get older. Networking (yawn), parties (only daytime brunch please), and at this point, much of it seems like a waste of time away from my family…and sleep.
A few things changed that for me last month-
1 . I was able to attend the FIRST even South Asian House hosted at SXSW.
I’m always super pumped to do live episodes, I am (obviously) a person that feeds off the energy of people, so doing these events changes the whole game for me.
From brunch fireside chats with a wide range of Brown creatives to a South Asian Live Music Showcase to one of my favorites, the Desi Drag Brunch, it was a weekend of celebration, conversation and support for the South Asian community.
A huge congrats to the team that made it all happen, Jitin Hingorani, Monika Samtani, Kirtana Banskota, and Rohi Mirza Pandya and a very big thank you to my guests on this episode, Monika Samtani , Milan Chakraborty, Radha Patel, Pooja Kumar, Rita Meher.
I cannot wait to see where the South Asian House takes the team next!
I also attempted to put a saree on under one minute in between podcasting because 1) it was a competition between a few of us to see who could actually pull it off (hosted and sponsored by...One Minute Saree) and 2) we were allowed to take the saree home. So, win/win….or more like lose/win for me.
I think my baseball cap may have thrown my game off.
I also met some very cool peeps...a fellow Houstonian who I think would make an excellent matchmaker…
And I spent the weekend with one one of my besties….
…who has always been one of my biggest supporters….and is the woman behind these (shoutout to her partner/our girl Pri Kochar, we missed you!!).
As with any live event, you end up talking to a wide range of people. I had a lot of fantastic interactions with artists, filmmakers, authors, musicians…and then my favorite, some (very lovely and sweet) Gen Z folks.
One of them told me that “she was so excited to match the face to the voice” and that she “loved how I found my voice after kids”. Wait, did I have my first fan????
I was asked by another Z’er, how I “did it all” with podcasting, travel, marriage, kids, breathing, etc. At first I thought, wow, does that question make me a celebrity? Then I thought, wow, I have a career?
Point being, it felt kinda cool to have some young blood listening to the pod and wanting to learn more about the podcasting world.
I can mentor it up, yo.
So, this museletter is dedicated to you, all my Gen Z’ers that actually read this. Remember while you’re processing your own journey, take your time understanding who you truly want to be, don’t set goals according to a calendar, and remind yourself that life will unfold exactly as it should.
Also, listen to good music, it will change your life.
On that note, I end with my song for this museletter.
To the Queen of “Don’t F with Womanhood”, to the artist that got me through my pre-teen angst, to the musician that hit the female nerve in a way that no one else will ever be able to, to the one that made all of us feel a little more powerful.
To the one, the only.
Woman Down