Brown People We Know

Armaan aka Kahani is the founder of NONRESIDENT, an alternative record label for diaspora artists. Armaan started his career with a decade plus in the VC/Tech industry where he’s held numerous roles building and growing digital products for companies like Lumenary, Jakt, and Mapfit, which was acquired by Foursquare. In the last two years, he took a leap and shifted his focus to music full-time. As the artist Kahani, Armaan has spent his time remixing South Asian classics and growing the aforementioned label - NONRESIDENT. Through the label, he’s worked with artists like Anik Khan, ShiShi, and Raaginder to throw concerts in NYC, Tulum, and around the world. And of course, to put out some bangers.

This episode was recorded LIVE in NYC.

Annika has built a career with her love for health and for words. With an M.Ed from Penn State and a MPH from George Washington University, she currently serves as a Communications Project Manager at Weill Cornell Medicine. In that role, she helped build the comms strategy for the Office of the Research Dean and to revamp the website for the health system’s research arm. Aside from this work, Annika is an author and a content creator. She has a three-book deal for a series called The Chai Masala Club, which focuses on a fictional group of friends and their travails in love. The first of those books, Love, Chai, and Other Four Letter Words, came out October 2021. She is also a founder and co-host of The Woke Desi podcast, which explores hushed topics within the South Asian community.

In this episode we talk about creating and using her pen name instead of her birth name, Sribindu Pisupati. She reflects on how her career as a writer has evolved as she moved into a management role, and compares writing for a medical institution against writing fictional novels. Lastly, we talk about why she dove into the podcast medium despite starting her career as a writer and what she’s learned in the process.

Rajika Bhandari has spent over 25 years studying international education programs and student mobility. She’s served as Director of Research and Strategy for The Institute of International Education, received an IIE Centennial Medal while serving on the US National Commission for UNESCO, and has had her work and words featured in The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Guardian, and other major publications. On top of all that, Rajika is an adjunct professor at Teachers College in Columbia University.

In this episode, we focus on the link between education and immigration. Rajika discusses the motivation behind students coming to the US, and how it tends to vary between European and Asian international students. She reflects on the relationship between international relations and student flows from various countries, on the massive economic impact of international students, and on brain drain and brain circulation. Lastly, Rajika reflects on her own journey as an international student that came to the United States and what it was like to put that story in her new book, America Calling.

Dan is a management consultant turned company builder. After majoring in Cognitive Sciences at Rice University, Dan went on to work as an associate with the consulting firm Oliver Wyman. There, Dan took a secondment where he was shipped off to Colombia to work in the impact investing space. He got hooked. Dan left consulting and today, he lives in Colombia working as Chief of Staff for Polymath Ventures, an investment firm that builds new businesses from scratch to scale across Latin America.

In this episode we reflect on how Dan’s multifaceted identity, as a Malayali Christian son of divorced parents that moved around a lot, affected his relationships with the “brown community” in New Jersey. We also talk about why it led to his decision to turn down a full-ride scholarship to NYU Stern, despite knowing early on that he wanted to build a career in business. Dan also gave us a glimpse into how Polymath Ventures tailored its business model for Colombia, why the country is ripe for investment, and his excitement about finding a place that combines social impact and business. Lastly he shared some funny anecdotes about life in Colombia. Those included not having internet access during the 2016 election results, getting approached by a Colombian Bhangra team, and venturing into some of the lesser-explored spots in Colombia.

Carolina-based Desis Gurtej Singh and Rashmili Vemula explore life as the children of Desi immigrants in their podcast, The Carolina Desi. With their guests, the dynamic duo discuss the double life that so many of us live while navigating the cultural and societal differences that surround Desi Americans.

On today’s episode, Gurtej and Rashmili interviewed Jessica Kumar. When Jessica was 23, she decided to begin her journey pursuing hindi fluency while visiting India. In 2016, she did something that may surprise many of us. She immigrated from the United States to Bihar with her Indian husband and two children. On this episode, Jessica (@invisibleindia on IG) discussed her misconceptions about India before moving there, how her children have embraced their Indian and American identities differently, and becoming a fluent Hindi speaker.

Anu Seghal is a cultural educator that grew up in India as the daughter of an Hindu Army soldier and a Muslim gynecologist. She moved to the United States over 20 years ago to complete her education and began working as a brand manager for major companies including Colgate and Mattel. In those roles, Anu honed her entrepreneurial skills, something she’s had since childhood, to then launch The Culture Tree. Since 2015, she’s spearheaded this organization which works with museums, schools, and libraries to promote South Asian Literacy, in addition to running language classes for children! Past clients of the Culture Tree include the Met and Children's Museum of Manhattan, and in 2021 they hosted Colors of India, the first South Asian event in NYC’s Hudson Yards.

We talked about the diversity that Anu saw within India, both living in a multicultural household and growing up as an “army brat.” She reflected on coming to America and what she did to fit in, versus today running a business that highlights her South Asian heritage. Lastly, we talk about how running The Culture Tree has influenced the way that Anu parents and the role that Anu plays in taking care of her own mother today.

The Carolina Desi is a podcast where Carolina-based Desis Gurtej Singh and Rashmili Vemula explore life as the children of Desi immigrants. Through their guests, they reconcile the cultural and societal differences that surround Desi Americans, and discuss the double life that so many of us live while navigating that dynamic.

On today’s episode, Gurtej and Rashmili interviewed Jessica Kumar, @invisibleindia on IG., who has an unusual immigration story. While visiting India at 23, Jessica decided to start pursuing fluency in Hindi. In 2016, she committed to life in India, moving from the United States to Bihar with her Indian husband and two children. She discussed her misconceptions about India before moving there, how her children have embraced their Indian and American identities differently, and becoming a fluent Hindi speaker.

Mild Mannered & Timid is a conversational show where hosts Kunal, Kush, and Ria share their unfiltered takes on anything and everything related to the diaspora. If you don’t believe it, just check out the names of their episodes: Jalebis Look Like Poop, What The F Is Holi, Cockfighting, Women Should Not Wear Ripped Jeans, and Baba F*ckdev.

Today’s episode is called “Basmati Wars,” because Kunal did some research and reveals to us why India and Pakistan are fighting over Basmati. Him and Ria talk about their move to LA, including the expensive breakfast spot across the street. And there’s a more somber conversation on hate crimes… but that’s in addition to chatting about Kim Kardashian’s Om earrings, Google’s opinion on the ugliest Indian language, and the Florida of India. Again, unfiltered takes on anything and everything.

Yawar is a Gay Pakistani American actor-turned-real estate agent. Acting, for him, is a family business. Yawar’s grandfather, Noor Mohammed Charlie, was a pioneer in the Bollywood film industry until the India-Pakistan partition. And though his parents, successful actors themselves, discouraged Yawar from pursuing acting, he built a successful career in the industry. You may have seen him on shows like NCIS Los Angeles, Heroes, and General Hospital. Today, Yawar has shifted his focus to real estate. In 2016, he joined the real estate powerhouse, Aaron Kirman Group, which sold over $580MM in real estate in 2019 alone. He continues to sell homes, and you can watch him do so on The American Dream TV and CNBC’s Listing Impossible.

In this episode, Yawar talks about community migration and why his family discouraged him from pursuing the family business of acting after they moved to the United States. He shares tips for first time home buyers and talks about selling to South Asian clients in a very competitive LA housing market. Lastly, he reflects on coming out as gay to his traditional Pakistani family and on having a very public marriage at the Grammy’s. Throughout the conversation it was amazing to hear about how his identity has played a role in his different careers and about the different ways in which Yawar wears his South Asian culture proudly.

South Asian Stories is an interview podcast where Sameer Desai chats with artists, entertainers, athletes, scientists, and even a former surgeon general to discover South Asians who have taken a different path. Join him as he uncovers their identities, success, and failures through their stories.

Romen Borsellino is a staff writer on NBC’s A Little Late with Lilly Singh and was executive producer and co-creator of Freeform’s 2020 election series Kal Penn Approves This Message. He’s also worked on Michael Schur’s 2019 NBC comedy Sunnyside. Prior to that, Romen served as a political appointee in the United States Department of the Interior under President Obama. Romen has also worked on a number of high-profile political campaigns in his home state of Iowa, including President Obama’s historic 2008 Iowa caucus race and 2012 re-election. In this episode he discusses watching Harold and Kumar in theaters with his dad, working on the Clinton campaign, and going from Kal Penn’s assistant to his co-creator on Kal Penn Approves This Message.