Amituckeredout

I'm officially a Texan!....now for the unpacking. While I'm setting up shop over the next few weeks, I'll be playing some of my favorite episodes from the past two years....this episode is for all you bad betis & besharam bibis!Today I catch up with activist, writer & speaker, Sangeeta Pillai, who is the the founder of Soul Sutras. Soul Sutras is the South Asian feminist platform that is all about tackling taboos in South Asian culture, creating safe spaces where South Asian women can explore everything from sex to mental health.Their projects include Masala Podcast, featuring interviews with fierce South Asian women about taboo topics and Masala Monologues, a series of writing workshops and theatre shows in the UK & the US.Starting life as a blog, Soul Sutras now boasts a range of projects from podcast, theatre shows, webinar to books & beyond.She has become a key voice in British South Asian feminism speaking at the Women of the World (WOW) 2020 and has been featured in the Huffington Post,

While I'm packing away for my big move to Texas, I'll be playing some of my favorite episodes from the past two years.   I think this episode sums up how I'm feeling right now;)....Well guys, it's the end of the year and of course that means reflecting back on 2021 and thinking, why did I eat my kids (both of them) entire birthday cake this year? I get it, trust me, I already yelled at myself in the mirror this week. And that's why I so needed to talk to my next guest! Dr. Amy Shah is a renowned wellness expert, immunologist, nutritionist, and author. After years of practicing nutrition and immunology, it was a personal scare in 2012 that made Shah turn to Ayurveda and take more holistic approaches to health which involves clean eating, intermittent fasting, balancing hormones, and strengthening the gut. Basically, all the things that we know we're suppose to do but just don't have time to do it! She has written a book, I’m so Effing Tired, which highlights some of the things we can tweak to help reach our pe

I could not think of a better person to end this summer with than Mita Mallick.  Mita is a DEI leader, the host of Brown Table Talk on Linkedin, and a Linkedin Top Voice.We talk about having our names mispronounced our entire lives, the horrific bullying she faced growing up in a predominately white neighborhood, how that has affected her personal and professional journey, and how she finally embraced being Indian-American.She talks about the challenges shaping minds in a corporate setting as a DEI leader, the importance of impact vs. intent, why the real training of DEI initiatives starts at home, her own toxic work experience and why having an immigrant mentality stopped her from walking out, and her transition to becoming one of Linkedin Top Voices and sharing Brown experiences.She shares a time she experienced immense heartbreak,  who she would like to collaborate with on her podcast, Brown Table Talk, and why it's so awkward to make new friends as adults (hint, you may need some drinks to help out).

Hey guys!  We've had to take a mini-break the last few weeks to get life in order- moving homes, new babies, and getting ready for summer time madness.  We'll be back with 2 more episodes before we take our summer break where we'll rest, regroup, and get ready for an amazing fall season! Until then, enjoy this gem from last summer.Premal Dharia has spent the last twenty years dedicated to challenging injustice in the criminal system and nearly 15 years as a public defender. She has tried dozens of cases and supervised lawyers at various levels of practice. Premal will be joining Harvard Law School as the inaugural Executive Director of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration, launching this summer. The Institute’s mission is to end mass incarceration in the United States through a movement-centered, action-oriented organizing and advocacy program with a bold and ambitious innovation institute. We talk about the history of mass incarceration and the current situation as it stands in the United States. She disc

Arun Venugopal is an American journalist and a Senior Reporter in the Race & Justice Unit at WNYC. He covers news regarding race, immigration, gender, and identity in the United States.We discuss our personal experiences growing up Indian-American in Houston, TX,  when he started reflected on these experiences while critiquing ideas of Asian-American exceptionalism in the United States, how the Model Minority myth may have evolved, and his favorite conversations while hosting WNYC's Micropolis series.We also touch upon the fear white working -class Americans still have, the idea of replacement theory,  and the political and cultural consciousness of the South Asian diaspora in the United States.He talks to me about his perfect NYC day, the time he experienced heartbreak, who he would like to collaborate with, and good old fashion Indian uncle jokes.Arun has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently s

With the upcoming Netflix film Wedding Season coming out this summer, a romantic comedy that highlights the Indian fascination for arranged marriages starring Pallavi Sharda and Suraj Sharma,  I thought we should play our interview with Pallavi from last year.  This interview was the first one I did live after the pandemic.  We sat in our friends apartment on the LES, had a few liquid companions, and had a blast....It's our first live interview almost 2 years!! I sit down with my friend, Pallavi Sharda, in our friends apartment in NYC and chat about it all. Pallavi knows what chasing your dreams is all about. Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, she knew from a very young age she wanted to become a Bollywood actress. We talk about making the decision to move to India to fulfill her dreams of working in Bollywood, her biggest takeaways from her time there and what she learned about herself, what she would tell other young women who want to make their mark on the world's largest film industry, and her relationsh

The recent news of the leaked Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade and end the constitutional right to an abortion and started political firestorm and is deepening divisions.  This decision would essentially dismantle 50 years of precedent, paving the way for states to limit abortion rights.Dr. Meera Shah is the Chief Medical Officer at Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, the author of “You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion”, and the Medical Director of Whole Women’s Health Alliance in South Bend Indiana.I ask her about her decision to join Planned Parenthood, her highs and lows the past four years, what she believes Planned Parenthood stands for for women across America, the threat abortion providers experience, and the ground-breaking work she is doing with trans and non-binary community at her clinics.She talks about her experience working with patience from India, why the right language is so important to use and understand, what prompted her to write her book, and why

Anjali Kumar works with entrepreneurs and C-level executives in all stages of business, focusing on early-stage tech, consumer products, and luxury fashion companies with a social conscience.Anjali recently founded Slightly Reserved, a home for all of Anjali’s entrepreneurial and creative ventures, including an advisory firm providing legal counsel and business strategy for entrepreneurs, executives, talent, and brands. She is also a co-founder of COVID Tech Connect which sent nearly 20,000 smart devices to hospitals and senior care facilities across the US that allow critically ill patients to connect with their loved ones.Prior to that, Anjali was the Founding Chief People Officer and General Counsel at Cheddar, the Founding Head of Social Innovation and Founding General Counsel at Warby Parker, Founding General Counsel at Acumen, and Senior Counsel at Google. She has recently launched The Important Things with Bobbi Brown and Anjali Kumar, a podcast that focuses on the things that really fulfill our souls.

BONUS EPISODEThe George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, an act that would have created national standards for policing in an effort to increase accountability, sadly couldn’t reach a bipartisan deal-leaving it dead in the water. We all have heard about the horrific killing of George Floyd, the protests that occurred after, and the many stories that have been shared over social media. Today, I interviewed Rahul Dubey, one of Time Magazine's Heroes of 2020 who simply, as he puts it, opened the door to those in need. On June 1, 2020, Rahul Dubey was at home in Washington, DC, as demonstrators filled the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd. After a 7 p.m. curfew, he noticed crowds in the street outside who were seemingly trapped and being pepper-sprayed by police. We talk about his story of housing 70 protestors overnight to help them avoid curfew, the fear and pure terror he felt for himself and the demonstrators, and how that one night changed his life.  https://www.wsj.com/articles/george-floyd-shoul

Pallavi Golla is the Founder and CEO of Lark Adventurewear (larkadventurwear.com), the first and only childrens activewear brand for children 0-10 years and now adults (their fastest growing segment). They're on a mission to make technically superior clothing that makes life less stressful for parents and more comfortable for childrenArmed with years of experience working in investment research at hedge funds and later beverage product development and branding at e-commerce darling WINC wines, Pallavi Golla dove headfirst into the apparel industry -- determined to create a next gen apparel brand for millennial families  focused on making functional clothing to make life less stressful and more comfortable.Lark has uniquely positioned itself as a thread-to garment technical bamboo apparel brand in the $100 bn activewear market due to its exclusive Softek bamboo that is UPF 50 sun safe, temperature regulating and hypoallergenic.They have been mentioned in numerous magazines and media outlets including Vogue, IN

Today I get to interview my 3rd author,  Neel Patel. Neel Patel is a screenwriter and author who grew up in Champaign, Illinois and currently lives in Los Angeles, where he writes for TV and film.  His first book, If You See Me, Don't Say Hi, is a New York Times Book Review Editors’ choice, an NPR Best Book of 2018, and has been optioned for television.His writing has appeared in Elle India, The Paris Review, on Buzzfeed.com, and many moreI chat with him about his debut Novel, Tell Me How To Be, which I found out about after Lilly Singh gave him a shoutout on her platform, Lilly’s Library.  It focuses on a mother-son relationship, Indian-American stereotypes, and has the best Guju (Gujarati) phrases sprinkled in throughout the book.  What else do you want?We also chat about how we were both bad at math, his coming out story, why stories like this are so important to the Indian-American community, why leaving home and then coming back helped inspire his novel, and all that yummy Indian homemade food we both mi

Tuckered Outers!  I wanted to post our interview with Rabia Chaudry, which we published back in December, since we are planning a part 2 with her very soon!So I started this podcast back in 2017 after listening and being inspired by the first season of Serial, the most downloaded podcast of all time. I could not think of a better guest to round out this year than the woman who brought Adnan Syed's case to light, Rabia Chaudry.Rabia Chaudry is a Pakistani-American attorney, author and podcast host. A childhood friend of Adnan Syed, subject of the podcast Serial (2014), Chaudry subsequently wrote a book about his case called Adnan’s Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial (2016), which became a New York Times best seller. Chaudry co-hosts 3 podcasts- Undisclosed, a podcast on Syed's case and many others, which has now 360 million downloads, The 45th, which followed the crazy that was Trumps presidency, and The Hidden Djinn, showcasing the folklore and history behind the legends of the djinn, and co

Sonny Caberwal is a serial entrepreneur, a lawyer, a fashion model, a participant in global music act Thievery Corporation, and is currently  the founder and CEO of Ever Scouts. Ever Scouts is on a mission to help families raise responsible kids and learn life skills not normally taught in schools.  Sonny discusses how the pandemic forced him to really understand what his kids were learning in school, the core life skills he discovered were lacking in young adults, what responsibility really means and how it can be turned into a hard skill, and his experience setting up the preliminary Ever Scouts program in his own home town.He also talks about how tech can have a positive affect on children's growth, his biggest takeaways from building an e-commerce business in India, the three pillars that are important to him, and why he is an extreme optimist about our future.Sonny and I met in India while he was building the earliest e-commerce fashion companies, Exclusively.In, and he made the smart decision to hire me

It's International Women's Day 2022!As most of you know, March is Women's History Month and the theme for IWD2022 is #BreakTheBias- in our communities, workplaces, schools, and homes.  You see it, you call it out.I could not think of a better female powerhouse to talk to as we celebrate International Women's Day than Joya Dass.Joya has spent 20 years covering the financial markets on TV from the floor of the NYSE, she has interviewed countless CEOs, and is considered one of the best public speaking coaches out there. She started LadyDrinks in 2010 with her business partner as a monthly meetup for women in film and TV to network and get jobs, and has lived in New York City since 1999  because frankly, she loves the NYC attitude. She is currently the founder of the Women's Leadership Academy, a leadership platform for executive women.  She talks about growing up in a house witnessing domestic violence, how she has been in survival mode since the age of 18, why her super power consists of fantastic retreats for

We're talking sports people!  And not just any sport....the worlds most popular sport...SOCCER!  Or American football.  Or soccer.Akash Jain is a global business development and strategy executive with experience growing sports properties and establishing international operations across markets for leading organizations, including the United States Tennis Association (USTA), National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA).  He is currently the VP of Strategy and Planning at Major League Soccer. We talk about why historically soccer hasn't been as popular in the US, what has changed for US fans in the past 25 years,  the relationship with FIFA and The National Women's Soccer League,  what we can expect from the 2026 World Cup returning to North America, and why it will be the perfect (hopefully) post-pandemic celebration.Akash also talks about his journey opening up the first NBA offices in India,  how he feels about his 5 years in Bombay growing the NBA, and we of course exchange a fe

Beginning late 2016, Rishi envisioned, architected and scaled a new business to help purposeful ideas travel more evenly around the world. Today, Times Bridge, the global investment and partnership arm of Times Group, is the U.S.'s largest venture firm bringing the world's best ideas and technology to India and Asia. We talk about our relationship with our Indian identity as Indian-Americans and how it’s evolved through the years, how we both made soulful decisions when it came to our professional journeys, how his interest in India was more of a anthropological one versus a social one, and what it means to be a place-based person. We of course discuss about how we were both surprisingly fell in love with cricket and what his team at Times Bridge considers when meeting and talking to entrepreneurs.  #southasiantrailblazers #tuckeredoutwithami #tuckeredoutpod

We're going to space guys!  I grew up in the NASA area in Houston and my neighbor was Mike Mullane, an astronaut who flew the Space Shuttle missions in the 80's and 90's.  So the idea of talking to someone who is helping revive space exploration was beyond exciting for me.Tejpaul Bhatia leads revenue generation and monetization strategy for the commercial development of space as Chief Revenue Officer at Axiom Space.  Axiom Space is a private space company developing its own module for the International Space Station and building the first commercial space station.Axiom Space revealed its team of four first-time astronauts who have each paid $55m to spend eight days on the International Space Station launching on March 30th.  Axiom Space AX-1 crew will travel to the ISS in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and will spend eight days carrying out experiments. This is the first time an all civilian crew has visited the ISS at the same time.We talk about the history of the ISS and what the station has given humankind,

BONUS-While our team is busy getting the next slate of VERY exciting episodes ready, here's one of our favorites from last year!  I don't remember laughing so hard in a interview...Zarna Garg is an Indian immigrant, mom, and lawyer turned New York comedian and TikTok star (https://www.tiktok.com/@zarnagarg) with more than 20 million views on the platform. She has performed standup at sold-out clubs across the country and headlined her own show My American Dream at the famous Carolines on Broadway. Unwilling to let the pandemic stop her, Zarna has kept audiences laughing with online comedy shows (which were recently profiled in the New York Times) and impromptu sets outside major landmarks across New York City including Central Park and The Met.Her debut romantic comedy screenplay “Rearranged” won the Best Comedy Screenplay Award at the 2019 Austin Film Festival (placing #1 out of 11,000 scripts), and was also a 2019 Academy Nicholl Fellowships Semi-Finalist. The script has been optioned by Marginal Mediaworks

Deepa Purushothaman is a former senior executive, a corporate inclusion visionary, and co-founder of nFormation, a company for women of color by women of color where they provide a brave, safe, new space for professional women of color. This is a first-of-its-kind community that is a vetted, membership-based technology platform for high-performing WOC that seeks to reimagine traditional power structures to not just help more WOC take their seat at the table but to change the way the table is formed.Deepa’s book, The First, The Few, The Only-How Women of Color Redefine Power in Corporate America, will be published by Harper Business in March 2022.Prior to this, Deepa spent more than twenty years at Deloitte and was the first Indian-American woman and one of the youngest people to make partner in the company’s history.We discuss how it's time for all WOC to come together with our shared challenges to support one another, what it will really take to advance WOC, how many WOC tend to manifest physical ailments be

Sujata Day is an American actress, model, and screenwriter. You may know her as CeeCee in the Issa Rae web series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl (2011-2013) and Sarah in Insecure.  In 2019, it was announced that Day will direct a film called Definition, Please, for which she also wrote the script.  It stars Ritesh Rajan and Jake Choi and was shot on location in Greensburg, Pennsylvania in the summer of 2019.Definition Please is one of two titles from South Asian female filmmakers debuting on Netflix from Ava DuVernay's ARRAY.We talked about growing up in a small town as a brown girl, what really needs to change in Hollywood to get more South Asian representation, why we both love coming-of-age films,  how the model minority myth affected us personally,  and the spelling bee word that will haunt her foreverThe film dropped on Netflix last week and here to do a special introduction is her childhood friend and one of my dear friends. Monica Jindal Mehta.