A Desi Woman with Soniya Gokhale

Usha Tummala-Narra, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and the Director of Community-Based Education at the Albert and Jessie Danielsen Institute and Research Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University. Her research and scholarship focus on immigration, trauma, race, and culturally-informed psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She is also in Independent Practice, and works primarily with survivors of trauma from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. Dr. Tummala-Narra is an Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues and the Asian American Journal of Psychology. She is the author of Psychoanalytic Theory and Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy (2016) and the editor of Trauma and Racial Minority Immigrants: Turmoil, Uncertainty, and Resistance (2021), both published by the American Psychological Association Books.

Former Obama Administration Official & Maryland Gubernatorial Candidate Ashwani Jain joins us to discuss current political events and topics in the United States.

Ashwini Prasad is a South Asian Indian immigrant to Canada and the United States, but her life is more complex. She was born in Fiji Islands, raised in Calgary, AB and Vancouver, BC, and has spent her adult life in the United States, mainly in the Pacific Northwest. Equity and justice are her pillars as an anti-racist educator and screen writer.

Her pillars were rooted in college which is now over 20 years of experience in anti-racism, anti-oppression and social justice work with two Master’s degrees in these focus areas. For example, her first thesis was about incorporating ant-racist portfolio requirements to complete a college education, and her second thesis was about the intersectionality between non-violence and the Hindu caste system. One recent accomplishment is building a diversity, inclusion, and belonging plan for a school in a liberal arts college.

She let her creative pursuits go to the side, after completing her MBA – her third master’s, and she went on to thrive in the business world. Today, that determination and strategic and organizational skills are transferred to telling stories that stem from people erased or marginalized from history as the center. Their stories are our stories, and their rich perspectives deserve to be told and celebrated. Ashwini was inspired to connect her education and the lack of inclusivity in screenplays. The lack of inclusivity directly effects the content delivered to screens and other parts of writing, arts and entertainment. Diversity and inclusion in Hollywood has been a hot topic for year and change towards equity, justice and inclusion if finally happening. Ashwini is hopeful for change in diversity in Hollywood movies in 2020 and post-covid.

As a screenwriter, Ashwini cultivates safe spaces for storytelling. “Tapestry,” her first screenplay, is about sharing the South Asian Indian contributions in WW1 and the immigrant experience to a larger, non-academic audience and into popular culture. With this experience, she learned how to write steadily, 3 pages a day, and small wins lead to big wins – a full feature draft! A short which includes a Chinese lesbian couple, a trans woman, and multi-ethnic partnerships is also part of her writing portfolio.

In addition, her work, “Kismet,” is a combination of mainly comedy with some drama inspired by Never Have I Ever and Fleabag with a South Asian Indian, lesbian woman as the lead.

Ashwini is a firm believer in lifting others up to move from surviving, to striving, and then to thriving. The time has come for these safe spaces in arts and entertainment because the world has lost too much talent or not seen talent because of horrible indiscretions in the past. More information about Ashwini, including purchasing her e-book about inclusivity and how to write diverse characters, her “Inclusive Storytelling,” podcast, her coaching and facilitation services, writing, media, interviews and contact information are detailed on the site.

Former Obama Administration Official & Maryland Gubernatorial Candidate Ashwani Jain joins us to discuss current political events and topics in the United States.

Shanita Liu is a mom of three, TEDx speaker, Author of DEAR DURGA, veteran spouse, artist, and Fulbright Scholar. She is a certified life coach accredited through the International Coaching Federation's Leadership That Works: Coaching For Transformation program.

Shanita is an award-winning writer and has contributed to various platforms that include ForbesWomen, Thrive Global, and Brown Girl Magazine.

https://www.coachshanita.com/speaking

https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Durga-Activate-Courage-Victorious/dp/B0BT54K1NM

For tools to support your courageous journey, visit https://www.coachshanita.com/book.

Dr. Maneesha Ahluwalia joins the podcast to discuss her work as a Professional Certified Life Coach. We’re all stuck somewhere.

Dr. Ahulwalia believes a great relationship with your family, friends, and parents is waiting for you--she's excited to help clients from all over the world to seek better understanding of themselves and those in their life.

Usha Reddi, a leader in the Kansas DNC, was sworn in as the first Indian American to serve in the Kansas State Senate. Reddi was also the first Indian-American to serve as a mayor in Kansas and Commissioner.

Reddi's family immigrated from India to the United States in 1973, when she was eight years old. Her father, a retired anesthesiologist was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with nine years suspended, for raping her repeatedly in the 1970s when she was a child.

Usha has refused to let this assault and abuse define her life and is focused on criminal justice and victims’ rights legislative reforms, including the way statutes of limitations limit prosecutions for sexual assault or how the burden falls on victims to prove that they were harmed.

Usha has lived in Manhattan for more than 28 years. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Developmental Psychology from Ohio State University, a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and a Master of Science in Educational Leadership from Kansas State University.

FATIMA IQBAL-ZUBAIR IS A TEACHER, IMMIGRANT, AND MOTHER RUNNING FOR CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY IN DISTRICT 65.

She runs because she believes in a government that works for all of us, not just the select few.

Born in Dubai, Fatima’s family immigrated to Canada and eventually to the United States to find a safe haven away from the Gulf War. As a Muslim, immigrant and woman of color, Fatima learned from a very young age what it felt like not to belong. However, she also learned the power that comes from fighting for her rights and building community.

Kumar Barve was the first Indian American elected to serve in a state legislature in United States history. He has represented a Montgomery County district in the Maryland House of Delegates since 1990. He is the Chairman of House Environment and Transportation Committee. Recently he named "Environmental Legislator of the Year" For his leadership in banning Fracking.

Barve has been in legislative leadership for much of his career, serving as House Majority Leader from 2003-2014 and now as Chairman of the House Environment and Transportation Committee. His committee has oversight of the environment, land use, state ethics and transportation policy.

As Majority Leader, Barve was the floor leader for the Democratic Party and a senior member of the fiscal leadership in the House. He helped guide policies that resulted in balanced budgets and the maintenance of the state’s Triple-A bond rating.

Barve’s groundbreaking legislative career has been highlighted by achievements in health care, technology and the environment. He was a primary architect of Maryland’s 1993 landmark reform of health insurance and was the prime sponsor of a later law that allowed patients to use physicians outside of their HMO network. As Chairman of a Technology Subcommittee, Barve’s work led to the creation of Maryland’s highly successful Technology Development Corporation, the state’s technology tuition assistance program and the early “e-commerce’ Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act which served as a guidepost for consumer protection in the then nascent world of online transactions. More recently, Barve’s environmental efforts resulted in a state moratorium on fracking and a revision to the state’s stormwater management law.

Barve’s achievements have been recognized by groups as diverse as the Montgomery County Medical Society, the Maryland Association of Non-profit Organizations and the Technology Council of Maryland. His re-election campaigns have been endorsed by the Sierra Club, the AFL-CIO, the Maryland State Education Association, Progressive Maryland and the Washington Post.

Barve, an accountant, also serves as the Chief Financial Officer of an environmental management company in Rockville, Maryland.

Kumar grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and attended Montgomery County Public Schools before graduating from Georgetown University. He lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife, Maureen Quinn, who serves as a Commissioner on the Maryland Worker’s Compensation Commission.