#1 Sopan Deb, Journalist for the New York Times on basketball, culture, and presidents
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The tagline says it all: “How my White male co-founder gaslighted me out of the movement we built together.” Sleeping Giants began as a campaign to convince corporates to remove ads from alt-right news outlets and transformed into a far-reaching movement. In this piece, Nandini recounts her experiences in building this movement, being erased from it, and ultimately reclaiming her voice.
Are you surprised? I hope not. Here are two crucial and varied perspectives: Time and The Indian Express…and here’s Simi’s. Leave comments, we want to hear your thoughts! And just remember…
Fireside Chat, with trailblazer Sopan Deb
Sopan Deb is currently a journalist for the New York Times. Previously, he covered Donald Trump's presidential campaign for CBS. His work has appeared on The Boston Globe, Al Jazeera, NBC News, and other prominent news outlets. He also moonlights as a comedian. Sopan recently published his first book, a memoir titled Missed Translations: Meeting The Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me. Here are excerpts from our conversation.
You just released your first book. And I’m simplifying here, but it’s about growing up Brown in America and being the child of immigrants. What inspired the book? Why now?
The book tracks a year of my life as I try to reconnect with my estranged parents. And what pushed me to write the book…you know at the beginning of writing the book I hadn’t seen my dad in 11 years and my mom in 5. And essentially, I was turning 30 and I had reached an age where I was thinking to myself, you know, my parents aren’t going to be around for that much longer. It was at a point where it was unacceptable for me to have virtually no relationship with either parent. And I thought there was an interesting story to tell here, so I decided to document the process and do it in a book. And it was a really exhausting and draining process, but ultimately I think there was a lot of positives that came out if it, and I’m glad I got to share that with the world.
What excites you most about being a journalist? Why did you fall in love with it?
That’s a great question. I love telling stories, and I love getting to know people and trying to present a different side of them. And I love interviewing people and I think it’s a really interesting challenge to get someone to talk about something that they haven’t talked about before. And so, there’s a certain thrill when you write a piece and a bunch of people read it and that’s your name on it. But I find it really rewarding when I can tell a story that no one else has told. And then when there’s breaking news going on, there is a certain rush that comes with that, of trying to be fast, or trying to be correct, trying to make sure you get it right. You’re often in rooms that no one else is in, seeing things that no one else is seeing…you’re going to places that you’re not otherwise going to go. With that being said there are also a lot of worrying things in the industry…particularly diversity issues, layoffs, the shrinking nature of the industry, so it’s not all roses here.
I imagine one of the most harrowing experiences of your career was being arrested while covering the Trump campaign. How did you feel in that moment? How did it affect your outlook on your career?
[Content Warning] So it was March 11, 2016, and we were covering a Trump rally in Chicago, and there were all these protests going on. And it was inside and outside, and Trump cancels the rally a half hour beforehand. And I’m outside, I was working for CBS at the time, shooting the protests, and out of nowhere, a bunch of police throw me to the ground, put a boot to my neck and arrest me, and then charge me with resisting arrest. The whole thing was very bizarre…But I feel very confident in saying that if I was White that would not have happened…Fox actually ran the video of me getting arrested on TV, and it ended up being what saved me because it clearly showed I wasn’t doing anything wrong. In terms of what effect it had on my career, it changed my worldview.
Stay tuned for the full interview release!
Opportunities and Events
The Salon - Mentorship Program | If you identify as a South Asian-American artist or aspiring executive with ambitions in the television and film industry, this program is for you.
Third Eye Collective - Talent Directory | Creators in the SA diaspora can apply to be included in this public, curated database to tap into paid opportunities from Third Eye Co’s industry partners.
API Pennsylvania - Field Organizer | Full-time role mobilizing SA voters in the PA area
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