Spotlight with Sandalina

S3E04: Meet Abby— a South Asian stand up comedian and writer.

In this episode we cover a variety of topics across our 4 segments: 📚LIFE STORY📚 🔥HOT SEAT🔥 🤫SHADOWS🤫 🔦SPOTLIGHT🔦: TAMIL GIRL DOMINATES COMEDY

We talk about Abby’s path to the present, her solo tour "How to Embarrass Your Immigrant Parents", evolution of family relationships, rapid fire Q&A, finances as a creator, sta...

S3E03: Meet Zar— a Muslim, Afghan-Tajik stand up comedian and content creator.

In this episode we cover a variety of topics across our 4 segments: 📚LIFE STORY📚 🔥HOT SEAT🔥 🤫SHADOWS🤫 🔦SPOTLIGHT🔦: 30-DAY HIJAB TRIAL BY AFGHANI-MUSLIM COMEDIAN

We talk about Zar’s upbringing as a refugee and running away from home, do some rapid fire Q&A about her comedy career, talk about her Afghan...

S3E02: Meet Uneeb— contestant on Hulu’s reality TV show Muslim Matchmaker, media critic, and podcast host for Salaam Nerds!

In this episode we cover a variety of topics across our 4 segments: 📚LIFE STORY📚 🔥HOT SEAT🔥 🤫HALAL-HARAM RATIO 🤫 🔦SPOTLIGHT🔦: MEDIA CRITIC GOES ON REALITY TV SHOW MUSLIM MATCHMAKER

We talk all things Muslim Matchmaker and answer viewers’ burning questions! We a...

S3E01: Meet Nabila Ismail, a Pakistani and Muslim founder of the Dose of Travel Club, Entrepreneur, and Solo Travel Influencer. She’s been featured on Forbes, BBC, and Yahoo Finance. And her club, The Dose of Travel Club, has amassed 270k+ members!

In this episode we cover a variety of topics across our 4 segments: 📚LIFE STORY📚 🔥HOT SEAT🔥 🤫SHADOWS🤫 🔦SPOTLIGHT🔦: MUSLIM WOMAN SOLO TRAVELS THE WORLD

S2E15: Meet Varun Rana, a South Asian comedic content creator focusing on social commentary about working in tech, being Indian-American and everything in between.

This episode covers a variety of topics including upbringing in Michigan, family dynamics, being South Asian in the midwest, comedic inspirations, the academic rat race, computer science at UMich, from Amazon to startups as an engineer, switching full-time to content,, �...

S2E14: Meet Varun’s viral brown boy tech persona “Adi” through a 10-minute improv skit. The characters are on a blind first date in New York City… ❗SPOILER ALERT: there will not be a second date. 

And tune in next week to meet Varun Rana, the creator behind this internet sensation persona!

Varun’s Tik Tok: @varun_rana (https://www.tiktok.com/@varun_rana_) Varun’’s IG: @the_varunrana (https://www.instagram.com/the_varunrana/)

S2E13: Meet Suhana, a South Asian digital creator, dancer, and full-time financial services professional 

This episode covers a variety of topics including upbringing in Reading PA, parents and their American Dream, a musical upbringing, being one of the only Indians in town, academic journey through a double major + minor at NYU, 🔥 HOT SEAT SEGMENT 🔥, creative career, working with woman-owned businesses, pitching yourself to bra...

S2E12: This week, we will be discussing the Presidential Election from the Muslim-American POV. We go through the potential implications of 1) Abstention 2) Third-Party 3) Trump and 4) Kamala.

We sat down with Salaar, who works in financial services and is a game designer, but most importantly sits on the board of a nonprofit focused on civic engagement amongst younger demographics.

This is...

S2E11: Meet Rahul Dhiman, a South Asian filmmaker, actor and production founder. He is best known for starring in and co-creating Amazon’s latest Indian-American TV series Upside Brown!

This week’s episode covers a variety of topics including a progressive South Asian upbringing in Chicago, parents’ American Dream, being an only child, South Asian identity, path to acting, engineering at UC Berkeley, wor...

S2E09: Meet Hira Mustafa, a Pakistani, Muslim Beauty Influencer and Third-Year Law School Student

PART 2/2: This week’s episode covers a variety of topics including a fun HOT SEAT segment, social media journey, personal milestones, the duality of social media, romance being convoluted online, financial independence as a woman, the future, and more!

Check out last week's episode for Part 1/2...

S2E09: Meet Hira Mustafa, a Pakistani, Muslim Beauty Influencer and Third-Year Law School Student

PART 1/2: This week’s episode covers a variety of topics including upbringing in Iowa, being the older sister, parents’ immigrant journey, being brown in Iowa, early academic journey, picking law school over med school, improv comedy, student gov days, switching from consulting to law, path to content creati...

S2E08: Meet Kanika, a South Asian actress, multi-designer boutique owner, event MC, and mother!

This episode covers a variety of topics including upbringing in India and Canada, parents and siblings, being raised to be a homemaker, breaking molds for women, balancing motherhood and passions, community expectations, grief after losing parents, getting married at 19, 🔥 HOT SEAT SEGMENT 🔥, starting her ac...

S2E07: Meet Nitasha, the South Asian, Muslim host of Shaam ki Chai podcast.

This is a special edition episode on emotional abuse in South Asian relationships. We talk through gender dynamics in the South Asian community, our respective personal experiences, the importance of collaborative partnership, breaking the cycle, identifying healthy vs. unhealthy love, the indicative signs, and how to get out ste...

S2E06: Meet Chirag, a South Asian keynote speaker, brand consultant, and content creator.

This episode covers a variety of topics including upbringing in Queens with a small business family, being a middle child and seeing attention as a currency, the privileges of being in America, a full-time career at Google, 🔥 HOT SEAT SEGMENT 🔥, recent feature in the History Channel docuseries, working with the wo...

S2E05: Meet Gaurav Singh, a South Asian actor. 

⚠️TW: Gaurav is incredibly vulnerable during this episode, sharing his journey about running away, starvation, abuse, mental health battles, attempted suicide, the passing of his mother, and more.

This episode covers a variety of other topics too including upbringing / family in India, acting as a calling, working for big Bollywood names like ...

S2E04: Meet Neha Dharma, a South Asian model, actress, influencer, and full-time data strategist.

This episode covers a variety of topics including upbringing / family in Dallas, parents, being an only child, relationship with money, career decisions as a woman, academic journey, path to entertainment, fueling creativity, 🔥 HOT SEAT SEGMENT 🔥, what it means to be a South Indian creator, performing in t...

S2E03: Meet Asmita, Lilly’s sister. Asmita is also a South Asian, Muslim influencer, full-time marketing professional, and mental health advocate.

This episode is a special one, as we dive into Lilly’s story. Asmita opens about the passing of her sister Lilly, and bravely shares Lilly’s journey with mental health, drugs, recovery, and relapse… There are powerful themes embedded throughout the narrative r...

S2E02: Meet Aman (@a.magic.man), a South Asian actor, magician, model, and content creator. 

This episode covers a variety of topics including upbringing / family in New York, path to magic tricks, content creativity at a young age, spiritual path, personal growth going from a shy young boy to a confident man, UCLA college journey, social media evolution / going viral, 🔥 HOT SEAT SEGMENT, starring in a ...

S2E01: Meet Sabeen Sadiq (@sabeencomedy), a Pakistani, Muslim Comedian, Actress, and Model

This episode covers a variety of topics including Muslim upbringing in Chicago, Pakistani immigrant parents, family vs. creativity, siblings with mental health circumstances, journey with spirituality, academic journey, the creative process behind her album "Perfect Daughter", career highlights (working with Hasn M...