Dr. Punita Rice - punitarice.com

By the time the Be Inspired series began in 2017, Vishal Vaidya was performing as Larry the Cameraman in Broadway’s Groundhog Day. Five years of pounding the pavement in New York, five or six callbacks, and then and finally, the offer.

In this conversation from the Brown Voices - Be Inspired project archives (2017), Vishal spoke about what it actually looks like to build a life in the performing arts as a Brown kid from a STEM-pressure household.

He spoke about why Brown parents push back (stability, trajectory, a clear path), and why the arts offer NONE of those guarantees: “You’re never ‘settled’ — it’s never ‘I made it!’ Because there’s always more to go. That’s something to consider.”

He talks about the gap on stage (while “East Asian performers have King and I and Miss Saigon as training grounds for fully formed Asian characters and Asian stories, and South Asian performers don’t have that equivalent. Not yet.” — this is changing more and more!)

And he spoke about representation…
“It’s increasingly important to see ourselves in the storytelling fabric of the US — because we’re a part of it.”

This conversation is part of the Be Inspired archive, a series of profiles and conversations with South Asian Americans living lives that defy the stereotype of what “success” is supposed to look like for us.

You can read the full conversation at punitarice.com/be-inspired
Snippets of it and others will be in my book, rereleasing this Fall: “Brown Voices: South Asian American Experiences in Schools”

Follow for the stories 🖤

By 2017 she produced over 600 stories, covered breaking news, games, features, built her own subscription platform, before pivoting into magazine journalism which is incredibly rare to land.

Jashvina Shah built her own career out of persistence and passion.

In this conversation from the archives (back in 2017), she spoke about what it’s like to be a woman of color covering hockey 🏒 …one of the least diverse spaces in sports… and what she wishes someone had told her before she got there.

She grew up in New Jersey, surrounded by other South Asian kids, and nothing fully prepared her for what it felt like to walk into a room where nobody looked like her.

She also talks about her parents and shares words of wisdom for young South Asian Americans trying to bridge the gap between what their parents say and what they themselves know in their gut they want to do 🖤

“Anything your parents say comes with a measure of just wanting to see you succeed in life. They just might not know how to phrase it.”

And her advice, which she offers to aspiring journalists, but applies to basically EVERY Brown kid who’s ever been told their dream isn’t practical…

“There is a chance it might not work, but you’re going to regret not trying to do it.” 🖤

This conversation is part of the Be Inspired archive, a series of profiles and conversations with South Asian Americans living lives that defy the stereotype of what “success” is supposed to look like for us.

You can read the full conversation at punitarice.com/be-inspired
Snippets of it and others will be in my book, rereleasing this Fall: “Brown Voices: South Asian American Experiences in Schools”

Follow for the stories 🖤

“The kids growing up now will be facing an increase in xenophobia that will exist to some degree for the rest of their lives.”
Shaun Jayachandran, former teacher, coach, administrator, and founder of Crossover Basketball and Scholars Academy India, said that when we spoke nearly a decade ago in 2017.
And the years since have only proved him right.

In this conversation, Shaun spoke about growing up as one of the only Brown kids in Calgary, moving to Virginia, becoming a teacher and finally understanding why representation mattered…
And building an organization that brings South Asian American student-athletes to India, where many of them make their first real friendships with people who have “the same exact slice of background and stories.”

The reporter who came along on one trip assumed the volunteers had known each other for ten years.
They’d met two days before!!

THAT’S what it means to finally be seen.

This conversation is part of the Be Inspired archive, a series of profiles and conversations with South Asian Americans living lives that defy the stereotype of what “success” is supposed to look like for us.

You can read the full conversation at punitarice.com/be-inspired
Snippets of it and others will be in my book, rereleasing this Fall: “Brown Voices: South Asian American Experiences in Schools”

Follow for the stories 🖤

“You want to be a trailblazer, but you also think — I want to know that there are others like me.”