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Mariyum Rizwan

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About You

● Tell me about yourself and your background. How long have you lived in NJ?

- My name is Mariyum. I'm a senior at Temple University and studying journalism. I heard about Central Desi through my internship coordinator specific to our journalism department. I'm currently an intern at WHYY. In the past, I interned for resolve Philly, Trentonian and then US Senator Bob Casey. I worked in constituent services for his office. So there is a little bit of both journalism and like political science work specifically interested in doing political reporting. But I'm also interested in culture.

I applied for the fellowship. I hadn't heard of Central Bay City before, but I was more interested in the idea of getting to write about my own identity, and also having a space and a platform where stories are important to my community. For example, I one of the passion projects that I have is on like menstrual hygiene.

Although the topic is stigmatized in and of itself, periods of menstrual hygiene are even more stigmatized in the Brown community. There is no major news outlet that's going to write about that because it's too niche of a topic. And I think that's where Central Desi really comes in, because there is a need for it.

- My parents were both born in Sri Lanka. I'm an American and I also identify as Muslim. I was born and raised in New Jersey, specifically Bergen County, so Northern New Jersey, right outside New York City. But I moved to Philadelphia about three years ago for school, but my family is still in Jersey.

- I really enjoy reading. I'm a big reader. I also figure skate.

● Probe about where they get their news, why those sources

- I honestly feel like social media. As a journalism student, I consume a lot more news than the average person. I would probably day to day start with like scrolling through Instagram. And I follow a lot of newsrooms, so I do see a little bit of everything. Specifically with the coverage of Palestine, for example, yes, I'm following Al Jazeera and I'm seeing what Al Jazeera is saying. But I'm also looking at what the New York Times is saying. I'm also looking at the Washington Post and the Guardian. Regardless of how I feel about their coverage, I kind of want to see everything. So, I would probably start with like Instagram. I do use (X) Twitter a lot as well.

- I do have the Newsstand app on my phone. And I do check that as well.

- (I don’t go to any publications) Other than the Juggernaut no (for desi news)

News Consumption

● How much time do you spend with news? What parts of the day?

- I do think that I would spend probably I want to say like one to two hours a day, but that's kind of over the course of the day.

· What devices or formats (print, digital, audio) do you prefer?

- I prefer print or digital. But I also am a podcast person. Like on Spotify, they have the five things from CNN. I usually like tell Alexa, to play five things from CNN. Spotify. And then I kind of just what’s going on and it will start my day.

- But I think that digital, for sure, I do read articles, but I come across these articles typically through social media. I don't necessarily like Google the New York Times every day or any other newsroom. It usually is from social media unless there's a specific reason. Then once I'm on the home page, then I'll click around, and I'll look at things. But that's not typically what I do every day.

Thoughts on Central Desi

● What initially drew you to Central Desi?(adjust if for non-subscribers)? What were your first impressions? What made you subscribe?

- Number one, I appreciate the guidance that I get as a writer with Central Desi. But in terms of the coverage, I like that it's different. Everyone is kind of doing something different. For example, another fellow, Ifrah, is really big on food and fashion, I am interested in those things as a consumer, I love eating and I love shopping, but I don’t write about it. She is working on a piece that looks into how South Asian eating habits are evolving to be healthier. That goes deeper than just talking about food, it also invokes community and people.

- I think it's just in terms of coverage, it's just different things. I initially started at Central Desi wanting to kind of be on more of like a political beat. And my first story was on the Desi community voting Republican and how we're seeing this growing trend of not only Desi's voting Republican, but also seeing Republicans on the ballot.

· First impressions

- Honestly, a hundred percent (first impression was very different). When I first got the interview for Central Desi, I actually didn't know anything about Ambreen at all. I didn’t even recognize if she is Muslim or not. I didn't pay attention to it. I remember telling my mom that I got this interview at Central Desi and my mom was a little bit wary. She said it's a great opportunity but warned me to be careful. I think that my mom had a negative impression at first coming as a South Asian Muslim woman. She was worried that they didn’t know what this newsroom was going to expect from me and explained not to compromise who I am. And I think that she was referring to like those Modi-loving people. And I, I had no idea, and I wasn't really sure. And to my positive surprise, I mean, she was a Muslim woman, and Bilal was a Muslim man. But it was only them being Muslim. It was just the fact that everyone was so accepting and that it was not what I thought it was going to be like.

Community Connections

● Beyond just news, how do you engage with South Asian groups, events, causes etc?

- Growing up in North Jersey, I used to go to Darla's Law, which was the mosque in Teaneck. I volunteered there. I did Sunday school there. I did my quran classes there. So I had a lot of ties to the Muslim community in Teaneck. Obviously doing ramadan we would go to break our fast there.

- My parents moved to Lawrenceville, which is right by Princeton, which is more Central Jersey in the last three years. So now when I go back to Jersey, I go to the Mercer County Mosque. Which is in Lawrenceville.

- As far as the Sri Lankan community goes, my family is a part of an organization called TASMiNA, and that stands for The Association of Sri Lankan Muslims in North America. So that's an organization that my family has been a part of since and we're going to the United States. But as I get older, I've been able to partake in different activities. We have a leadership camps, different fundraisers. My dad is a web developer, so he works on their website.

- In general, I am part of the South Asian Sorority, which is not really that common. But Kapa Fa Gama, sort of is the first South Asian interest-based sorority. It is a social and business sorority. We have chapters across the country. I'm part of a chapter at Tumble University. So even while at school, I'm pretty immersed with the South Asian community.

Improvements

● If you could change one thing about media coverage and discussion forums for local community issues, what would it be?

○ What frustrates you about current coverage of South Asian voices? Not enough of certain topics, perspectives, faces?

- I think that I can't say that they don't already exist because, but I think something that I would be interested in participating more is getting to connect with other Desi creatives. Maybe that means a photo exhibit or an art exhibit or a poetry slam or a book reading or something along those lines. I think journalists fall into this category too as creatives in some in some manner. A lot of us also like to write on our own and from personal gain. I think that I don't get the opportunity to connect with DC creatives as much. And I think especially because it's not always encouraged in our community. And I think that like STEM is shoved down our throat. I think that a lot of times there is not really at an outlet or space for us to showcase our work. I think that if there was ways where I could connect more with Desi creatives.

● What suggestions do you have for publications like CD to fill gaps or be more appealing to you?

○ Do you feel Central Desi could play a role in connecting you to other community members?

- I think that the most important thing Central Desi did for me was connecting with the other fellows. Connecting me with the fellows a really big deal for me. We all have each other on social media. We share things with each other. We read each other's work and I think that this will extend past the newsroom and past this fellowship. That's something that I really appreciate.

● What topics would you like to see Central Desi cover more in-depth?

- Honestly, I think that we're doing a pretty good job of trying to cover as much as we can. I like that when something big and important happens, for example when the Imam was shot, we covered that, and we made sure to put something out for that. I think that Central Desi is less about just covering the news that you see every day. People can get live updates from somewhere else. I think this is more about community and how communities have stories.

- I think that we can work on covering more small businesses. I think that giving the opportunity to highlight not just small businesses but also female owned businesses. I think a lot about, especially during Ramadan, people's moms who are making samosas from their house and selling them and starting their own catering businesses. For a lot of them are doing this in their livelihood or selling Eid clothes. It's small things like this that go unnoticed. But I think that we can cover more of and I'd like to see more what the community is doing and people in the community.

- I also think some multimedia elements I think would be really cool. So maybe that means in the future, hiring a multimedia like intern or fellow, someone who has more experience with audio and visual or photography. I think that would be like really important.

- I think that we really need to work on our social media presence and that extends a little bit more than just Instagram. I think making a presence on TikTok, on Twitter, although it doesn't seem like it makes that much of an impact, I think that it really does. A small example I have is like the personal essay that I wrote, it was about me and my mom. It was just about navigating a brown girl’s relationship with her mother. It was titled, I am my mother's wildest dream. I talked about my mom having an arranged marriage and getting married at 22 and having a daughter, whereas I'm 22 and I don't know what I'm doing with my life and just having a very different experience than her. This story I posted it on LinkedIn and something as small as that, it got so many views, so many hits, and it got so many comments from people that I don't even know. It was reaching a wider audience. Then it got picked up by another publication, Love Now Media, which definitely had due in part with my professor who had seen the story, and she has an affiliation with that media organization. Something as small as that, the fact that it's getting picked up by the media outlet, that people are reading the story and they're seeing it. I think that that was because it was promoted on other platforms. I feel like Central Desi could work on that so that it reaches more people.

Conclusion

● Based on our conversation today, what's the #1 thing you want Central Desi or similar outlets to provide?

○ OR What would make Central Desi a go-to or indispensable source for you?

- I think I would like to read what people in the community are doing, but not every publication can always do that. Central Desi focuses on the Jersey Desi community, but I do sometimes read the Juggernaut. Some of the pieces they do is more culture, movies, clothes, music. I think Central Desi could learn something from that and do more light-hearted pieces as well like a music review or film review to engage the viewers. I think a lot of times news can be really dreary and always about a problem with something or something needs a solution and I think sometimes people just want to read something feel good and they just want to read about a new Sharukh Khan movie.

- Going back to the personal essay, people connected it with very well and I think it’s something people connect well with.

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Zainab Sultan

Background

- My name is Zainab Sultan, I am 36 years old and I am a documentary filmmaker and journalist.

- I'm based in a town called Medford in New Jersey. I was raised in Saudi Arabia and then I spent a decade in Qatar before moving to New York City and then eventually South Jersey.

- My parents have Desi roots I mean I'm Indian as well I still hold the Indian passport. I've been in US now maybe for eight years but prior to that I mostly live most of my life outside of US.

News Consumption

- To be very honest I feel like my news consumption has changed so much over the past decade. I'm no longer working in news so I don't actively have to keep up with the news as much as I had to when I was working in the news. Now my news feed is more curated according to my needs and like questions that I am sort of struggling with, and I would want have more answers about that and a better understanding so I think the sourcing of my news now comes from that place. Let's say I am trying to get more context on a particular issue then I will go to my trusted you know publications or news reporters or shows and try to get news through that so it kind of it sometimes is not almost even looking at a feed and getting my news but it's almost the other way around. It's a mix of both I would say sometimes and primarily I think for the last five years at least four to five years most of my news is through my Instagram feed and then some of it is through YouTube based on my husband's recommendations.

- I would actually follow the Instagram account and then read the particular stories or coverage that that takes my interest right through their Instagram account. So it's not really going on The Time's website or The Post’s website and starting my day like. That's something I don't think I'm having done that at least in the past five years.

- I'm still subscribed to a bunch of newsletters from back in my day of like working as a reporter. I found that reading those newsletters on the train during daily commute or maybe listening to a podcast on my daily commute was super helpful to kind of get a sense of the breadth of the entire news cycle that's happening.

What format do you prefer?

- It's a mix. My news feed comes from places like the 19th which is like a very small women led news org and they're fairly new but at the same time I find their stories very interesting. Certain things I would to go like Axios as a very quick read if I want to get a general sense of the news. I actually do enjoy the Apple news newsletter as well because they curate the news from different sources, so I love that.

- I think when it comes to news around the Middle East it's just your English AJ plus. I don't go to their website I'm subscribed to their Instagram channels so it just shows up in my feed one way or another. Also through friends who might be sharing the posts. I like certain features stuff that The Post does and The New York Times does but then they're all really biased, I don't want them to be my primary source but they show up every once in a while in my feed.

- If there's something interesting I will watch the news, it's really the reporters that I'm following or particularly like his or her coverage I really like I really like the investigative stuff ProPublica does because I think ProPublica's entire mandate when it comes to reporting is how do we serve the community I mean every story is from that lens and all the investigations the exposés I have so much respect for ProPublica. I wish I could read more of their stuff it's just the past few years my focus has shifted personally on the kind of stories I do and I think that's why I'm missing out on them but I would any day recommend ProPublica.

- I don't read as much as I should be reading, to be very honest. It's a lot of like, getting news through reels, getting news through like videos on Instagram.

South Asian News and connections

- The juggernaut. I usually read the newsletter, but since they have a paywall, I never get to read the article. But I'm always reading summaries of the article. I wish they had like four free articles per month or something like that.

- I actually enjoy Central Desi as well. In the sense that it gives me the news around New Jersey. I have read a few full pieces, and I know that there's been more reporting coming out now. Thanks to the fellows. But I always read the caption and the stuff that's posted on Instagram, because that just gives me a quick overview of what's happening. And then if I'm really interested in knowing more about that particular subject, I'll come back to it later.

- It’s extremely important (to connect with other South Asians) that's a huge part of who I am. And that's something I definitely want to pass on to my kids and my kids understand that. At the same time, I think professionally, I'm extremely involved in the South Asian community and their stories, because a lot of the stories that I work on or report and I develop as a documentary filmmaker, as a journalist for the past some years have all been around the South Asian community, in addition to other like communities that I have sort of closely like worked with. So as a professional, it's of utmost importance, because I can see through some of the shared values that we have and the nuances. I don't know, it's more meaningful for me as a media professional than to be working with my own community, because I feel at the end of the day, if my reporting or my films do something, then that's impact them happening within my own community. So that's extremely meaningful to me. In terms of just socially being part of events, not so much to be honest. I do have like quite a busy like family life commitment. So every once in a while, when it fits with my schedule and I can go out, I do.

Central Desi feedback

- So, Ambreen and I, we actually did our undergrad at the same university. Someone who was my mentor also happened to be Ambreen’s mentor. When she found out that I'm in New Jersey, my mento said you should talk to this person. And I also reported on South Asians issues and she was always also in that sort of circle. So that's how we connected. And that's how I found out that Ambreen’s has been working on this newsletter. And this was much earlier. I mean so much has happened in what maybe my two years of knowing Ambreen. It's actually a very short span of time. But I think the grants that New Jersey civic organization granted Central Desi, it is a great sort of validation to the kind of work Ambreen has done. All the time and effort that she's invested in. I understand of Central Desi is through Ambreen, to be honest

- I see it's gotten more professional. Maybe it started from a place of it being more of a blog in some sense, or like opinion pieces. Now I feel like now there's more reportage. Not that one is of more preference or of more value than the other, I always like love and I mean Ambreen is very thoughtful and she's a great writer, so I've always sort of indulged in her writing and read her pieces and related to them and related the struggles that she expressed as a South Asian living in America and trying to report on the community.

- I found value in those and I find value in the reporting that the fellows are producing, which is more like reporting. And she also did some work with the schools, I remember. The stories are not coming to mind, but I think it was the NJPBS arm was involved in it. I think that was fantastic reporting, it was around, I think, school districts with more South Asian kids and funding or something along those lines. I remember like reading that coverage. And then there was like, I think a YouTube video that happened around that time. So I love that she's also playing with forms. That that also indicates great growth.

Suggestions

- I think it all depends on the team, right? And certain teams are, barely staffed. So there's only so much they can do. And certain teams like Juggernaut has more, way more money and bigger staff. So obviously they're capable of doing more.

- I know that there are quite a few podcasts out there as well. It works both ways, you know, I wouldn't maybe I'm a bit biased because I am from the world of media, but I think that the South Asian community itself needs to take a few steps to be open to be reported upon. It's such a close community that even if the reporters are putting in all the efforts to bring their stories forth, as someone who has worked very closely with the South Asian community in the US, I know that they're very close to often it takes a lot of convincing at times. So there's a lot of penetration that needs to happen. I think they need to maybe take a few more steps to be open to the media covering them, rather than the other way around.

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Laavanya Pasupuleti

Background

- My name is Laavanya Pasupuleti, I’m from the Jersey Shore area of New Jersey and I'm a health and wellness professional. Because I work for Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp. I'm a contractor, I work for their employee wellness health. I'm mostly based in New Jersey, but I go up and down the East Coast.

- My family has been here, we're on our third generation, actually my father was one of the first Indian immigrants to arrive in New York City in the 70s. And this was in May of 1975. And so I was born in Manhattan, my sister was born in New Jersey. So we've been native of the area.

- I live in Monmouth County, It's still predominantly, it's about 70% white. It leads Republican. But there is a growing South Asian population. Now it's about 25 to 30% now.

News Consumption

- I'm extremely, I'm very conscious and I'm very selective where I get my news from. Simply because of the state, remember I'm 46, so it's, I know know you bring that up, but it's a little bit more of a different generation. So I do not rely on, say, Facebook or any social media because I don't want misinformation. So you could really say stuff like Al Jazeera, CNN, New York Times, like that. And even then I scrutinize everything because everything will have its biases and limitations. Always conscientious.

- I mean, I look at what's the background person writing it? Who's the journalist? For example, if somebody's talking about the earthquake, was it written by a local, an everyday guy or was it written by an actual geologist or somebody with a PhD, I'm not just going to go by what the local town person said. Or even something as sensitive as say like the current… there's a lot of stuff going on politically both nationally and even internationally. Who is it coming from? Is it coming from a political analyst versus just some guy with a random YouTube influence?

- I listen to podcasts sometimes but mostly read.

South Asian connections

- Please take into account my age, my family came 50 years ago and I'm 46, so I'm more middle age. So my activities will be also different than say, if in your twenties or thirties. So a couple of things I've never been married, and no kids. I think there's important things to take into account, which shapes my perspective. I come from a Telugu and Hindu background, some South Indian, but my father grew up in Hyderabad.

- So I mean, as far as South Asian activities, it really kind of ranges. I mostly, again, I'm Hindu, a lot of what I do kind of revolves around that. I do go to the temple this once a week. I'm part of a few Indian/Hindu spiritual organizations. But then also throughout the year, I also, I'm very big into South Asian arts. For example, this Friday, I'm going to a Zakir Hussain concert in Princeton. I like both North Indian, South Indian classical arts. I do love like the Urdu language culture poetry too. So a lot what I do is more around, you can say, spiritual, whether it's based and or culture and arts.

- Me and my sister now we have assimilated, and we have integrated now into American society. Because you have to realize it's not easy. We're still a new immigrant group. But you have to realize as a South Asian woman, whether you're from South Asia, or you’re a race here, when you're a single professional woman without children, it can be hard to find acceptance in the mainstream community. When my sister, many of us too- I've talked to the Pakistani women, Indian women, when you also marry someone outside of your culture, including my sister married someone white, it also makes it harder to integrate it or immigrant to our communities.

South Asian news

- As far as South Asia, I don't really keep up that much. But I think as far as like South Asian publications in the US, the only two I found, which I really like, they're very good quality and I wish and I'm glad that I mean, I hope Central Desi is going in that direction.

- There's one out of the Bay Area called India Currents. Then there's one out of Georgia, which is also very good, Khabar.com.

- I think those are very well done. New Jersey is one of the biggest South Asian hubs of country, I think it'd be nice to develop something like that, of that quality and caliber, even in our region, like New York.

Central Desi feedback

- I came across it through a google search.

- First of all thought it's very professionally done. I think Ambreen has done a really good job, the staff are really putting together a polished, very professional, good quality writing. And I like the fact that it focuses both not just on immigrant perspectives, but also US raised Desis. Because I'm 46, but I can still relate to say a US raised Desi, even if they're 20 years younger than me.

- So basically what I like about Central Desi overall is that I think in our communities, there's a lot of taboo topics, controversial topics, we just want to shove under the rug.

- Ambreen and the staff, they're really bringing in topics that are important to talk about, bringing a lot of awareness. I like the one on, the current one is very good, the one on menstruation. There's one onthe LGBTQ Desis looking for acceptance, the one on mental health. So I think those are great.

Suggestions

- I think it's important that Central Desi still have a balance because as South Asians we have not been here as long as, say, the Italians or the Jewish people. We still only have been coming here in waves in the last 30-40 years. So I think it's so important that Central Desi discuss a mixture of immigrants and immigrant issues balanced out with US raised. Because there's now enough of, it doesn't matter if Pakistan, Indian, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, there's now enough of us US raised. We're in our 30s and 40s. So I think it'll be like a nice balance to have both. Not too much immigrant, like a nice mix because there's a large enough number of us. Because I'm not going to really relate to someone who's dealing with immigrant issues.

- I think I'd like to see CD continue to cover a diverse base. I also hope that creating these events like the Princeton one in May, that takes a lot of time and I hope that she can do that maybe periodically throughout the year.

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