In honor of the Indian American Impact Summit we attended last week and Pride Month, we're bringing back to your ears the amazing interview we had a while back with Communications Specialist and my college friend Parag V. Mehta.

We start off our interview discussing our University of Texas at Austin days as dandia/raas champions (of course) to how the story of Matthew Shepard changed his life.

We then get into Parag's impressive and expansive experience in the D.C. political scene. He addresses many important issues such as South Asians in government and their evolution as activists, questions regarding Proposition 8, his reflections on Hillary Clinton's devastating loss, what happened when Vivek Murthy (our first Indian Surgeon General) was "relieved" of his duty and how to find hope in our crazy political atmosphere today.

He also highlights the story of falling asleep while taking the MCAT's, attending the first White House Diwali party organized by his friend Kal Penn, his upcoming big fat Indian wedding, Texas style of course, with his partner Vaibhav and how lotion became a subject matter when he first met with President Obama.

What we talked about:  

• How the story of Matthew Shepard changed Parag's life. (05:53)
• The importance of diversity in politics (11:17)
• The start of Parag's political career. (19:12)
• Highlights of the Obama years & Proposition 8 (22:23)
• One of Parag's proud moments (27:32)
• What happened when Vivek Murthy was "relieved" of his duty (29:49)
• Trump's election and the aftermath (38:41)
• Why Parag loves working for immigrants (45:39)
• The one thing that's holding India back (55:15)
• Rapid fire questions (01:06:16)
• Parag's upcoming Indian wedding (01:11:03)

Connect with Parag:

• Instagram
• Facebook

Let’s Connect:

• Instagram

This podcast is produced by

 Ginni Media

.