Hello there. It’s been seven years since I wrote to you all. Some of you have been with me for fourteen (!) years. Thank you for being with me through the ups and downs in this wild life. If things look different, it’s because I switched to Substack. Some of you joined last week after seeing my Instagram post about wanting to write unmediated by the oligarchy. Welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.
Four months ago, I left the United States to begin my dream of long term solo travel. I sold all my things (except my instruments, journals, and photos which I put in storage) and booked a one way flight to Madrid. I spent one week there, then three months in Italy (mostly Rome), and am now in Tokyo.
I’ve been writing. Pages, pages, pages every day. So much is emerging inside of me daily and it needs to go somewhere. To be processed and released. The writing is the integration and the emptying. Sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes for hours. Since I was a child, all of my rage and grief and dreams got directed into writing. There was no other place for it to go.
There is so much I want to tell you. So much I am holding in. Now is not the time. Soon. I need to be quiet with it longer.
I want to share what I am working on these days. I have three offerings (see #6-8). Each of these came from my own need to reclaim my voice. I hope they reach the people who need them.
Belonging Workshops (for organizations)
Creativity Coaching (for individuals)
I created Belonging Workshops to bring creativity, joy, and mindfulness to the world of D.E.I. I studied psychology at UC Berkeley and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Stanford Graduate School of Business. While this institutional learning was foundational, it is time for change. Our society is at an inflection point where belonging work is not only important, but necessary for our survival. I am queer and first generation Indian-American. Understanding how systems of supremacy have shaped me has been a transformative and liberating journey. I do this work because it has personally helped me find belonging and I want to help others do the same.
You can learn more and bring Belonging Workshops to your organization here.
There are so many ways our connection to our power and voice can be severed. With Creativity Coaching, I have the honor of guiding people back to themselves to heal this connection. It has been incredible to watch. Most of my clients I have had for anywhere from 2-5 years and I love the sometimes slow, sometimes stunningly fast process of watching their transformation. My clients are starting and finishing essays after years of not writing anything, they are going back to school for music, they are speaking words they’ve held inside since childhood, they are painting, learning to play again, and going on artist dates, they are rediscovering their sexuality, they are adding color to their life, they are grieving the traumas that severed their connection to their voice, they are falling in love with themselves and it is beautiful and powerful to see. When we are on the journey of discovering our voice, sometimes for the very first time, we need to be witnessed. I am honored to be this witness for my clients.
If you are longing to begin your creative dreams or just want more creativity, play, and joy in your life, you can book a session here.
I was recently selected as a 2025 NYFA Awardee for Music. The NYC Mayor’s Office and New York Foundation for the Arts partnered to give this award, which will fund my fourth album. It is a blessing. To have this institutional support and funding is incredible and meaningful. But I cried so hard when I opened the email congratulating me not just because of the funding or the support, but because of what the grant and its timing represented in my life. For now I can say that it was a moment that left me in awe of our universe, its lessons, and its timing.
Until November 2024, I had been offline for 2.5 years (no news, no social media). I was going through something where I needed to listen closely to myself and make my world as still, safe, and quiet as I could. I came back online because one of the requirements for the NYFA award (see #8) is to be on social media.
I know plenty of people who don’t feel anxious when writing to their Substack or posting to Instagram. I am not one of these people. I’ve tried all different ways of convincing myself to not be anxious, but I’ve come to the conclusion that my anxiety is justified. I might not be writing to the whole world, but I am writing to MY whole world. Almost every single person I know in my life is on my Substack and Instagram. So I think my anxiety is proportional to the situation.
But also. Since I was a child, I was silenced. Threatened with severe violence if I spoke about anything happening in our home. So my fear of speaking about myself also has this separate deeper root. When I write, sing, speak, or share anywhere outside of my journal — with close friends, with strangers, on stage at my shows, here on Substack — it is a terrifying, visceral experience. I have learned to mask it really well. I am in a slow, grueling process of remembering, and teaching myself that I am safe now, that I survived, that I can speak now and no one is coming to try to kill me. I have a long way to go, but I am here writing to you all and this is big. The violence was big, but my desire to write - to exist - is bigger.
I created my Substack to be this place for me. The place where I can dissolve my terror by (slowly) writing honestly about my life and sharing it with you. And I know I am not alone in this — all of us are trying to find, unearth, and love who we truly are. I hope my Substack can be this place for you too.
