We missed you here at the Politics and Spice Podcast. But luckily, Season Three of the Politics and Spice Podcast is starting next Monday with a special guest from the Obama Foundation–you won’t want to miss it!  In the meantime, we have a very special announcement! Do you know any South Asian youth in high[...]

Today we have Gautam Raghavan, the former Associate Director of Public Engagement for President Barack Obama, in which he served as the liaison for the LGBT and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Prior to his role at the White House, Gautam started off as the Asian American Finance Director for the Obama Campaign in[...]

Today we have Anisha Singh with us, who is the Senior Organizing Director for Generation Progress, the youth engagement arm for the Center for American Progress. In this role, she develops national organizing strategies to bring the experiences of 18- to 35-year-olds to on-the-ground actions in target states. Prior to this role, Anisha served as[...]

Today, in honor of the recent primary win by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York’s 14th Congressional District and youth empowerment sweeping the country, we are trying something different today with the Politics and Spice Podcast! We have a special guest host in Anika Madhusudhan. Anika is a New Jersey Leadership Program 2017 Summer Fellowship Alum[...]

Satish Poondi is the Co-chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee’s South Asian American Caucus (SAAC). In conjunction with NJDSC Chairman John Currie, he helped to found SAAC in 2013 to create a statewide platform to discuss issues important to the South Asian community and to support and elevate members of the community interested[...]

Samip Mallick is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA). He founded SAADA in 2008 to give voice to South Asian Americans through documenting, preserving and sharing stories that represent South Asian Americans’ unique and diverse experiences. SAADA encompasses various themes and projects such as the Road Trips Project,[...]

Today, we spoke with the recently newly elected Mayor of Hoboken, Ravi Bhalla. He ran for mayor last year and beat out a crowded field of six candidates, including his fellow members of council and a freeholder. Prior to that he served on the Hoboken Council since 2009, first running for an At-large seat on[...]

Today, we sat down with the BAPS Temple Organization’s Spokesperson and Volunteer, Ronak Patel. Originally founded in Gujarat, India in 1907, the BAPS organization follows the Swaminarayan branch of Hinduism. It has over 1,300 temples and 3,300 centers all across the world in five continents, with over a million followers and 55,000 volunteers. It has built[...]

The Managing Editor of ROI New Jersey Anjalee Khemlani goes on the record with us today. ROI-New Jersey is a media company that delivers real time news that provide New Jersey’s business community with a Return on Information, hence the name ROI. Prior to this role, Anjalee was the Deputy Managing Editor for NJBIZ. She[...]

Sakhi Executive Director Kavita Mehra joins us today on the Politics and Spice podcast. Kavita and Sakhi for South Asian Women’s mission is to help to end violence against women. She’s been committed to advocating for justice and building equity for minority communities for most of her career, most recently serving as the Interim Chief[...]

Today we’re joined by one of Silicon Valley’s earliest angel investors and serial entrepreneur, MR Rangaswami. MR is widely known for his tech know-how and launching the Sand Hill Group, which provides strategic management, investment and marketing services to emerging market leaders. He was also profiled for the Wall Street Journal and has been named[...]

Welcome to the first episode of Season Two! Today we’re joined by Cherry Hill Councilwoman Sangeeta Doshi. Councilwoman Doshi was just recently elected to serve on the Cherry Hill Council in November. She has a background in engineering, and previous experience serving on the Cherry Hill Township Planning and Zoning Boards, as well as the[...]

Did you miss us? Well, the wait for bigger and better Season Two of the Politics and Spice Podcast is almost over! Tomorrow on Monday, March 19, we will be releasing our first episode of Season Two. Join us as we sit down and really dig in with national, state and local leaders in politics,[...]

We have a special episode this week, which is actually a panel discussion for those interested in pursuing a legal career. We have an amazing panel of accomplished leaders in their field who have a background in the law, including our very own New Jersey Leadership Program Director of Programming, Vinay Limbachia. Vinay has served[...]

Many of you have probably heard of Brown Girl Magazine, the online publication that focuses on the South Asian youth diaspora in the United States. The all volunteer staff write about everything from Culture to Beauty and Style to Entertainment, and now even have a “Brown Boy” section. They feature articles such as “Bollywood’s Unfair[...]

Today we sit down with someone that has had many “firsts” in her electoral career. Shanti Narra is a Freeholder in Middlesex County, in which she was the first freeholder of South Asian descent in New Jersey, as well as being the first female South Asian elected when she was a councilwoman in North Brunswick[...]

We turn the tables and interview Arun Venugopal, a reporter at WNYC. He’s also a host of Micropolis, in which he helps to examine race, sexuality, and identity. Arun is also a regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and has previously been published in The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian.[...]

We sat down with a true American hero—Lieutenant Colonel Kamal Singh Kalsi, who made history to become the first Sikh in more than a generation to serve in the United States military with his articles of faith intact, including with his beard and dastar (or turban). He began his active duty in June of 2010[...]

We traveled to the streets of Paterson, New Jersey to chat with Passaic County’s newest Freeholder, Assad Akhter. He made history as the first Muslim-American Freeholder in the county, and as only the second South Asian American freeholder in the state. Assad spoke about how events such as September 11, 2001 motivated him to enter[...]

Today we hit the runway with Miss New Jersey USA and runner-up to the 2017 Miss USA Beauty Pageant, Chhavi Verg. The young Edison native and Rutgers University sophomore became only the second Indian-American Miss New Jersey USA and the first to make runner up. Chhavi talks about her journey moving from India as a[...]

West Windsor Councilwoman Ayesha Hamilton joined us today on the Politics and Spice podcast. Councilwoman Hamilton began serving on the West Windsor Township Council in 2016 and has been active in this role since then. She also has her own law practice, Hamilton Law Firm, P.C., which specializes in employment and business law. The Councilwoman[...]

We chatted with Hillary Clinton’s former National Asian American Pacific Islander Outreach Director Jason Tengco. Jason has served in multiple senior roles in the non-profit sector, government and politics — including serving as the Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders under President Barack Obama, and as a Congressional[...]

We caught up with Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. in his New Jersey District Office. Congressman Pallone is one of the most senior members of New Jersey’s Congressional Delegation and serves in the Democratic Leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives as the Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. He is also one of[...]

We sat down with Vice-President Dick Cheney’s former Chief Policy Advisor to chat about his journey as a junior staffer in Washington, D.C. to working for one of the most powerful Vice-Presidents in modern history and then founding and currently serving as the Daily Caller’s Publisher and Managing Director for Bluebird Asset Management. Neil talks[...]

We caught up with TV Asia’s News Director Rohit Vyas at the television studios of TV Asia in Edison, New Jersey. Rohit spoke to us about how he went from medical school in India to becoming the longest serving Indian-American journalist in the United States. Rohit also spoke about the proliferation of fake news and[...]