TRISHA OF BROWN GIRL MAG

Trisha Sakhuja-Walia—a digital content creator and social media strategist with a knack for event planning—manages more than 100 contributors and oversees business development at BrownGirlMagazine.com. Brown Girl is a digital platform created by and for South Asian womxn who believe in the power of storytelling as a vehicle for community building and empowerment. With a passion for publishing meaningful content, she's always on the hunt for the next big story.

Having spoken at various South Asian-led community events and forums at The Wing, General Assembly, Disney Junior, Columbia University, Michigan State University, and Yale University to name a few, Trisha is continuously striving to amplify the reach of Brown Girl the traditional way — word of mouth.

Since 2018, she launched a few new initiatives — Brown Girl's debut apparel line 'Ladki Power,' Brown Girl's second podcast, 'The Chaat Room,' which highlights South Asians in Hollywood, and the first-ever Slashie Summit in New York City, a purpose-driven one-day summit that empowers creators and doers to challenge the stigma behind creative aspirations.

Raised as an Indian-American in the suburbs of New York City, she is proud of her hyphenated identity and continues to find unique ways to empower young womxn living in the diaspora.

“I think there is no better time to start than now.”

— Trisha Sakhuja-Walia

What inspired you to get involved in Brown Girl Magazine?

Right towards the beginning [of  Browngirlmag], and in the first couple of years, I stumbled upon it; I found it so enchanting, I couldn't believe that something like this even existed.

Early 2011 is when I first discovered it on Facebook. I reached out to the original founder, Aditi Mehta. She started Brown Girl magazine from her dorm room in Texas as a college student; she felt like there was a void of South Asian women in the media and in the mainstream market. I'm grateful for the work that she had started. 

I started writing for Brown Girl as any other contributor has; I started contributing because I’ve always been more focused on narratives and personal stories, but I myself am a journalist by trade, and so for my journalism class, I needed to find a blog or write for it. So thankfully, that was Brown Girl Mag. 

Over the years during college, I was pretty invested in just writing on it as a side [endeavor]. So then I went to grad school, did public policy. I still found myself being invested in Browngirl. Then I got a bunch of gigs as a journalist and realized I was still invested in Browngirl and had been [for around] seven years. Basically, from twenty to twenty seventeen, I just kept from being around very easily and realized that this was so special and meaningful for me. It was just a beautiful side [endeavour] I felt. 

Then finally at twenty seventeen, I realized that [Browngirl] is a lot more for me. By that time, I had done so much for our social media and our branding and marketing, I had done so much content wis, I had started doing brand campaigns for Brown Girl as well. Everything I did was just genuinely so organic and because it felt good and right to me. 

So finally at 27, I took the plunge to go full time. The beginning of 2018 until now is when I've gone full time, for real. It’s been a really, really crazy uphill battle. But I'm so grateful for that journey. I did have two original business partners and they weren't able to go full time with me. So I did spend the last two years essentially buying out their shares and we did a really good deal. I wake up every morning thinking “I cannot believe that I'm actually pursuing Brown Girl full time” because it's something I wanted to do for a while, and I'm finally able to do it. With the help of family, my husband, you know, an amazing team, I was able to live out this dream of pursuing Browngirl full time and hopefully really working towards making it fully sustainable so that we can have more full time people in the house as well.

Browngirl is described on Instagram as “a digital stomping ground for South Asians to challenge traditions and embrace feminism”. Do you face any challenges or backlash from the South Asian community or others in promoting such a mission? How do you deal with her overcome such challenges or backlash?

We do deal with a decent amount of backlash. We've dealt with it in increments over specific topics. 

Honestly, I've learned from it every time. There, quote unquote, trolls on the Internet that are just trying to get at you or to get under your skin. Yes, they've gotten under our skin and they have made me feel maybe upset. But I realize that every single time we've been hit by something, I have walked away learning something and I've made myself stronger and better for it. So obviously, it's not easy to deal with it because that backlash will linger for maybe a week, two weeks, three weeks. I mean, it's lasted for five weeks for me in the past where I couldn't get out of it. But I know that I've learned something big. Every single time.

How influential has social media been in growing the brand, and how do you think is the best way to use it for a digital publication?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think the cool thing about Brown Girl is we genuinely have been around before Twitter and Instagram were big; We were a part of the Facebook group from the start. We are grateful for it. But I think I think what we've been able to prove is that there is power in content outside of social media because we were around before. But yes, of course, in the past three to five years social media has helped us grow so much [in terms of] partnerships, collaborations, brand partnerships, that every single day has been tied back to social media. We are genuinely grateful for it. We wouldn't be here without it for sure.

Someone logs onto www.browngirlmagazine.com/ for the first time. What's the first place on the website you would point them to?

If you go to the home page and just read the top like five articles that we publish, you'll get a really good idea of what we're working on. You’ll know that we genuinely are a place that's trying to cover a little bit of everything within the South Asian diaspora, which is such a task. It's not easy to cover a little bit of everything, but [to do it] genuinely. 

I think what we're most known for is our narratives and personal stories, so I would definitely point someone into that direction reading a personal narrative, someone's personal journey.

Do you have any tips or words of wisdom for college students who are perhaps interested in pursuing a career in the business side of digital publications or journalism?

I think now more than ever, it's like the best time to start something – there is no better time to start something. So if you wanted to start something on your own, then do it right off of Twitter and do it right off of Instagram. You don't need to create a website. You can't really understand the market before you go and invest in making a website. So you should first understand the market that you're trying to hit and see figures and see if there is a buzz. If you like the bio’s and if you like engagement, then actually make the investment on making a website. I think there is no better time to start than now. You've started an Instagram page and start posting content every day and start figuring out what your audience likes, what are you good for, what's something unique to you that you can bring to the table? Because the market is definitely saturated, but there's no reason why you can't start something still.

What books are you reading right now or have you read recently that you would recommend just like one book that you read?

I'm currently reading I'm Brave Not Perfect by Reshma Saujani. It's honestly a really good read. You know, I am a slow reader, so I'm reading it a little bit slower, but it is not a slow read for someone who is a more active reader. I mean, I think I think Rachmat does an amazing job of appealing this notion of “it has to be perfect”. Which goes back to the answer right before, right? You don't need this perfect website to get your content out, to get your vision out. You just need to start somewhere. That’s really what the book constantly focuses on, the idea of “be brave by putting yourself out there”. You don't need to worry about being perfect.

OK, so who is your favorite woman leader and why?

Reshma Saujani for sure; I've been grateful enough to have followed her journey ever since her first time running for Congress woman in 2010. She ran again for Public Advocate, I think, in 2013, and then she started girls who code in the interim. 

I think the work that she's done is just always fascinated me becauseshe ran two races, lost both of them, and then got back up on her feet and started this amazing startup that helps other girls learn how to code from an early age, and then ended up writing a book, [while having] a family.

She couldn't be a better example of someone who, you know, can do it even if you've lost it all.

One last fun one! What's your favorite Bollywood movie? 

Gosh, you know, Bollywood is just like such a tricky place. In the past few years, I think it's been really hard to, like, steal the fun of Bollywood because it's tied so much to politics. And I just, you know, the internal climate of Bollywood, I think, has been really, really negative and daunting the past few years. So it's been hard to see the fun of it.

I'm really enjoying life made in heaven on Amazon because it really shows the reality of the climate in India right now. I like to constantly imagine what my life would be if I was still there. So those shows are really a reflection of maybe what my life would have been or could have been like.