It don’t really know what to say about this one. I wrote something very personal to me about having an alcoholic parent, and how that hurt me mentally. I was invited to the BBC’s Asian Network to discuss my article with Nihal Arthanayake and speak to listeners going through the same thing.
So – my girl Chaz and I have started a podcast called Spilling My Chai! There are so many incredible podcasts out there, and initially I was worried ours would get lost in the digital sea of online voices – but we decided to go for it anyway. Why, you ask? Because we really wanted to create a safe space where we could express brutal honesty without shame or fear.
I was recently invited to the BBC to take part in The Big Debate on BBC Asian Network and yes, I almost wet myself in a fit of nerves but yes, it was also an experience I thought worth sharing.
I am a British Pakistani born in London. Both my mother and father were born in Lahore, Pakistan. I can’t speak my mother tongue and I know little to nothing about my ethnic culture – what can I say? They didn’t bring it with them when they came. As I got older I became curious about who I was, what my parents grandparents were like, how they survived partition, what led them here and who is running through my veins.
Well hi there! I wrote something about being a proud Pakistani recently, and I wanted to share it here, with you lot. It’s about finding pride in my heritage after a lifetime of self loathing triggered by a society obsessed with being fair skinned and ‘exotic’…
I’ve spent my whole life idolising people who don’t look like me, from Britney to Beyoncé. And hey, who wouldn’t? They’re beautiful, successful women. But as I grew older, so did my craving to see successful – in every sense of the word – women who looked like me; representation matters and all that. And as unbelievable as it may sound to some, where I was brought up, I hardly knew women who looked like me existed.
In no particular order…
Rupi Kaur
A little while back I did a Q&A with the beaut Neelam Gill, which was pretty exciting – this girl be killing it. The Coventry-born 19-year-old has already made an epic move in her career when she became Burberry’s first ever Indian model, joining names such as Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss. We talk about her most memorable runway show thus far, favourite Tupac lyrics and not being afraid of dancing for a dare.
