We’re living in a time when it feels like everyone’s starting to serve turmeric lattes, believe in the magic of coconut oil, and declare that wearing traditional clothing is officially cool (among many other South Asian practices that are making their way through the culture exchange). Serving the South Asian market is our unique opportunity, and we more than anyone can propel the most authentic versions of our stories.
Storytelling is a form of activism
I love this statement because it’s exactly what we strive to highlight at Shakti Collaborative: the power of narrative to make a difference. Every product, show, event, or entrepreneurial endeavor is rooted in the idea of communicating and powering change. What we can’t forget is that every story must make an authentic human connection. We’re more emotionally driven than we might think!
Become comfortable with your own story
Many of us are building brands that reflect our life stories. In order to communicate our brands and visions most effectively, we have to lean into those stories and align them with our identities. And trust me when I say: that can be hard at times. As we were building Shakti Collaborative and Neythri, I went through a period when I felt like I didn’t really belong. Was I really a content creator? Did this make me an entrepreneur? How did this fit in with my day job? Was I comfortable sharing this side of me with my family and friends? It took a while to feel like I’d reached a resolution on all these questions, but once I did, a whole world of opportunities started to open. The truest expression of my purpose came alive once I started viewing my side hustles as a sincere extension of my identity and multidimensional self.
It’s about progress, not perfection
Your story will be ever-changing. It’s totally fine for your vision to sound different now than when you first started out! Becoming comfortable with that evolution is key to telling your story in its purest form. Along the journey, share your evolution with others. More than we realize, our audience is forgiving to imperfections and would much rather celebrate progress and authenticity. Perfection is not everything!
Let’s show up for all South Asians
South Asia is a mélange of countries and cultures — so many languages, religions, and customs that make us who we are. While India comprises the largest portion of South Asia, it’s not everything. Many of us intend to serve South Asians at large but find the task to be more complicated than we might realize given the diversity of experiences in our community. Oftentimes, something that may resonate with one person may be totally unfamiliar to another (e.g. I’m South Indian and don’t understand a lot of terms in Hindi that are often used by South Asian brands). We need to recognize what we don’t know, take steps to learn from each other, and realize that everyone has a different story. Let’s collaborate with the creators who represent a part of the South Asian population that we don’t know well. It’s important to realize that our collective power is only as strong as the efforts we make to show up for each other.
What’s the right word for us?
This was a really interesting discussion. As the South Asian diaspora has come to the forefront over the last couple of years, we’ve used a number of terms to describe ourselves. Is “South Asian” or “brown” most appropriate? With “South Asian,” some of us felt like we hadn’t grown up calling ourselves “South Asian” and that it only came about recently. Not to mention that it often gets mixed up with Southeast Asian, which is very different! Others in the group resonated with “brown” but recognized that “brown” could appeal to people outside the South Asian community as well. Some of us also weren’t sure if we should be described by our skin color. Lastly, “desi” hit home for some of us Indians as an identifier we grew up hearing a lot, but it is certainly not inclusive of all South Asians. We didn’t arrive at a solution, but the discussion was a great reminder of inclusivity — and the idea that one word isn’t everything to everyone.
That’s all I’ve got! Hopefully, this summary has left you with some food for thought on the intersections of identity, brand building, and storytelling for a South Asian audience. I want to send out a huge thank you to Sarina Siddhanti, Arian Agrawal, the Riya Collective team, and Surina Jindal for bringing us together and leading by example. We are also grateful to Akansha Agrawal, Amrit Dhillon-Bains, Asha Madhukar, Divia Meka, Jessica Madhukar, Maira Malik, Minoti Mehta, Riana Singh, Palak Sheth, Prachi Mishra, Rohini Pandhi, Sajani Amarasiri and Sonam Rajpal for fostering such a great discussion (the insights shared above are from their collective genius). Give them all a follow and cheers to this tribe!akti Team
Author Bio Sruthi is a technology growth equity investor at ICONIQ Capital, a privately-held investment firm that serves some of the world’s most influential families and organizations. Prior to her current role, Sruthi was an Analyst at Goldman Sachs’ Tech, Media and Telecom Investment Banking group where she worked on mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and capital raises in various technology sectors. Sruthi also spent time in marketing at Career Contessa, a career mentorship platform for women, and in business development at Room to Read, a non-profit focused on literacy and gender equality in education. Sruthi serves on the board of Archbishop Mitty High School and is a co-founder of Shakti Collaborative, digital platform that showcases the narratives of South Asian women. Sruthi holds a BA degree in Economics from The University of Chicago.
Originally published at https://www.shakticollaborative.co on March 11, 2020.
Comments