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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.

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Full Transcripts of All Interviews

⁠⁠Mariyum Rizwan

Zainab Sultan

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Mariyum Rizwan