Roots with South Asian Today

Our first guest for the second season is the one & only Rowi Singh!

Rowi is an Indian-Australian make-up artist, and she is hard to miss.  Sometimes she covers her entire face in blue and sometimes she puts flowers on her eyebrows. Like one of my friends said recently, "this isn’t makeup, Dilpreet, this is art."

Rowi is pushing the meaning of being a creator in the fashion world today.  We speak about being Punjabi, why there is pressure on Indian girls to cover up and who decides who a good migrant is. 

In the eight episode of Roots with South Asian Today, Dilpreet speaks with renowned Australian  journalist Bhakthi Puvanenthiran. A part of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, Bhakthi  is the editor of ABC Everyday and has worked with Crikey, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. The conversation explores being a South Asian journalist in Australia, how do we tell our own stories and the possibilities around breaking structural barriers. 

In the seventh episode of Roots with South Asian Today, we speak with India based researcher and preserver of the Punjabi Culture, Anuroop Kaur Sandhu, to understand the role of women in the ongoing Farmers Protests in India along with how Punjab could lose its traditional food and culture if the Modi government does not withdraw the controversial farm laws.

Farmers Protests' are the world's largest strike in history. 

In our sixth episode, we speak with feminist and filmmaker, Aman Kaleem, on what the idea of being a 'good girl' is, where feminism in India stands today and how do women fight the good fight.
 
Based in Delhi, Aman is the CEO of Kahaani Wale Infotech and is widely known for her campaign on gender issues, 'Acchi Ladki', which translates to 'Good girl'.

In the fifth episode of Roots with South Asian Today, we speak with Afghan journalist Ariana Abawe, who founded the first-ever print and digital magazine exclusively focused on Afghanistan, Ariana Magazine, in 2020.

We dig deep into Afghan representation and what the magazine's purpose is.

Visit www.southasiantoday.com.au for more global and progressive content. 

In the fourth episode of Roots with South Asian Today, we speak with Bangladeshi-American Muslim organiser and artist, Sharmin Hossain. Sharmin is the political director at Ambedkarite organisation, Equality Labs, and the co-founder of Bangladeshi Feminist Collective.

We dig deep into US elections, Kamala Harris, Islamophobia among South Asians and how grassroots organising needs to grow now more than ever.

Visit www.southasiantoday.com.au for more global and progressive content. 

In the third episode of Roots with South Asian Today, we speak with Kamani Sutra, a bearded genderqueer Drag artist.

With roots in Hyderabad, India, Kamani is currently living and studying the States. The episode explores how drag has a personal family history for them and how they later embraced it.

Visit www.southasiantoday.com.au for more global and progressive content.

Shamila Gopalan, one of Asia's top women leaders, pushes for more representation of women, specially from culturally diverse backgrounds, in the worlds of media and business. Currently the CEO of Australia based leadership firm, HerWit, she hails from Malaysia and has worked in countries like Singapore, USA and India.

In the second episode of Roots with South Asian Today, Dilpreet Kaur Taggar speaks with Shamila Gopalan on what representation looks like for South Asian women in Australia today and how we can move the needle even further.

Shani Dhanda wanted to meet fellow Asian women in the UK and all she could find was Saree or Wedding shops. No events, spaces or get-togethers curated for the community.

And so, she took one of the biggest financial risks of her life and self funded the Asian Woman Festival (AWF) - a one day festival comprising of panel talks, workshops, art exhibition and live performances. 

Shani is also the founder of Asian Disability Network. 

Let's know her a bit more and understand her motives behind these projects in the first ever episode of Roots with South Asian Today.