Whenever anyone asks about my ethnicity, I tell them I am Indian-American. Whenever I have to fill out a form or write a bio about myself, it is always “I am Indian-American.” In reality, my ancestry goes beyond just India and goes against the common perception that all South Asians are just Indian. I have family in Kenya, Canada, and the UK. It is always surprising to me that their stories are never told and what it means to be a South Asian from any other country aside from India is never discussed. I was desperately trying to find a way to learn more about their forgotten histories and find a community where South Asians of all backgrounds could freely express themselves authentically. And that is when I found Brown Girl Magazine. 

Brown Girl Magazine is a place of organic community. It’s a place where South Asian women can find “big sister” advice or where they can go to express the thoughts they have kept bottled inside for far too long. It’s a place where inspiration is always lurking in the wise words of immigrants and “hyphenated” identities and where South Asian creatives can spread their wings. 

Brown Girl Magazine is the first digital magazine whose sole focus is on the intersectionality of the South Asian diaspora. Since its founding in 2008, Brown Girl Magazine has spearheaded a large movement of publications and brands that are focused on creating content by South Asians and for South Asians. 

Trisha Sakhuja-Walia, CEO and Co-Founder of Brown Girl Magazine, is beyond grateful that she has been able to lead this movement in any capacity. 

“I think that’s all I have, is [this] notion of community-building, it’s all I know. The people around me cultivate it and I help lead it in some capacity,” says Trisha. 

From the beginning, Brown Girl has been dedicated to providing South Asians with a place to grow their passions. Trisha provides them with a platform and the resources they may need to flourish as young creatives. There is an incredible sense of comradery within Brown Girl—everyone rallies together to help one another shine in the best way possible. 

“Anyone [at brown girl], I say this probably 100 times a month that 'if you are at brown girl and you are not leveraging the community for yourself and you are not spreading your wings through Brown Girl, that’s on you,’” Trisha explains. 

She is there as a guidepost, encouraging every single South Asian who works with Brown Girl to take advantage of the platform, find their footing, and eventually set off on their own, ready to take on the world. 

There are not many places for the South Asian diaspora where they can genuinely grow as creators and use a platform with an incredibly diverse audience. 

“I've probably worked with more than 500-600 brown girl contributors in-house and I can genuinely say that so many of them have transitioned out to do something really cool, and I'm excited about it,” Trisha says with a smile. 

Brown Girl Magazine features powerful South Asian contributors who are embarking on their own phenomenal projects. Often times, Brown Girl is able to provide them with incredible opportunities to expand their reach. Just recently, they announced a collaboration with Sahajan Skincare and Seerat Saini, a Punjabi-American blogger. Through this partnership, Saini and Sahajan Skincare were able to build relationships that will help them to continue expanding their network. Brown Girl Magazine is able to create opportunities in which South Asians can further develop their passion projects so that they can dominate in their industry.

Trisha is extremely proud that Brown Girl is a launchpad for many South Asian creators and she encourages them to explore the intersection of identities, which is rare in media. Many media platforms have manufactured diversity. These other platforms are looking for writers who “check boxes” in order to uphold a semblance of inclusivity. Just recently, Bon Appetit, a popular food magazine, lost several BIPOC employees who felt tokenized and did not receive as much compensation for their work as their white counterparts.

The writers at Brown Girl Magazine are highlighting stories that truly are diverse by organically starting conversations about the varied identities of South Asians. Writers, artists, and other contributors come to Brown Girl Magazine as a place where they can authentically express themselves and that is what true diversity it is. There are stories of the Indo-Caribbean experience, stories addressing the toxic masculinity in the South Asian community, stories depicting the resilience and brilliance of South Asian women.  Articles like “‘Broken English’ to Others, but Rich History To Me” and “3 Indo-Caribbean Mental Health Counselors Talk About Community’s Stigma.”

They are changing the narrative of what people think South Asians look like. We brown girls are not just Indian, smart, or innocent. Our histories are vast and our people are diverse. Trisha knows that this is the true diversity that needs to be reflected in media so that the next generation will not have to search very hard for someone who looks like them. 

“[our diversity is] organic…  it is not something that we are trying to check the box off Anytime I see anything that is just India-centric, I switch [that off so fast]... We are not talking about Indians at all, we are talking about South Asians who live in the diaspora and [how] they must have a hyphenated identity,” Trish explains. 

Brown Girl seeks to change that “India-centric” narrative by simply shining a light on the intersectionality that already exists within the diaspora. 

“I’m grateful that, at Brown Girl, we have been having these conversations for years and years and we don't wait for a trending month or a trending hashtag…we are not doing it from a cancel culture perspective [either]… and [these conversations are] going to make a pivotal change for not just the now but for generations to come,” she says. 

It is refreshing to see a platform hold people accountable but at the same time meet people with kindness, especially when it feels as though someone is getting cancelled every single day on social media. 

“At the end of the day at Brown Girl, we don't want to force folks to activate and be activists, we want to motivate them. We don't want to call out people and really feed into cancel culture,” Trisha explains. 

The digital media platform's impact proves that true advocacy does not come from an antagonistic mindset. As an avid reader of Brown Girl, I learned that to make community wide change, we can not do it by refusing to speak to one another but by rather entering conversations with empathy.  

Trisha admits that it has not been easy creating that space for South Asians. “Outside of Brown Girl, it is very anxiety-inducing. Anytime we are even doing a call-out or an open letter, we do it with a lot of dignity, and it is tough to put out content that essentially calls someone out… it’s tough to continuously create safe space.” 

“We have no idea that [these call outs] are happening unless you tell us, " she explains. "But yes, once you tell us, then we will take the right action, then we won't affiliate ourselves and we won't work with that person in the future.” 

Brown Girl has done interviews with people who have gone on to be cancelled for their controversial actions whether it be racist tweets or problematic statements. For example, they interviewed Priyanka Chopra-Jonas back in 2019 but after recognizing that Chopra has been the face of skin-lightening brands, they were able to include articles that addressed the issue of South Asian celebrities further perpetrating the long history of colorism present in these societies. 

Priyanka Chopra on the face of a Garnier skin lightening cream advertisement. Photo from Brown Girl Magazine

Despite the anxiety of juggling the duality of the internet, the CEO radiates gratitude. She fully acknowledges the power of being able to cultivate a space like Brown Girl Magazine and does not take it for granted.  

“[I'm] genuinely grateful that at Brown Girl, we have been able to break barriers and speak about topics that are seriously taboo in our community and do it in a way that is still approachable… Grateful to be a part of it for the last 10 years and watching South Asians grow in this [capacity] for a while,” Trisha says. 

Seeing an Indian-American woman lead and create such a powerful community inspires me beyond measure. It fills me with hope that someday South Asians will be more widely recognized for every single field they choose to go in, especially the creative ones. Hopefully, we will soon see our stories infiltrate mainstream media. Brown Girl Magazine has already begun to permeate with mentions from Refinery29 and Huffington Post. 

Trisha also assures to pay homage to the reason why she is even able to run Brown Girl: immigrants. 

“Our parents and grandparents grew up a certain way—they only knew a certain way of living. They weren’t exposed to the world and to our history and to nuances and to the government in the way that we are now... For many, many years and for generations, what you saw on TV and in the news and in your textbook was a very structured way of giving you the knowledge and information that they thought you needed," Trisha explains. "If our parents grew up in this day and age, I trust that many of them would also fight and revolt and activate the way that we are.”

She has an incredible amount of reverence for her Indian-American identity. As a New York Native, she has always felt empowered by her Indian culture and through Brown Girl, she is able to encourage others to pay respects to the intersections of their South Asian identity as well. 

Trisha is also building a sisterhood with Slashie Connects, which is a community of South Asians who have side hustles, along with their main jobs. Because of the heavy expectations placed on South Asians, it can be difficult to pursue passion projects. That is why it is so powerful to have a supportive community willing to change that narrative.

“I feel like we genuinely [are] part of the movement that’s putting Slashies on the map and it’s allowing us to talk about Slashies in a way that's never been talked about before,” Trisha explains with enthusiasm. 

Being a part of the Slack community of Slashies creatives is uplifting. There are almost a hundred different South Asians pursuing their passion projects, engaging with their audiences, and breaking the Model Minority Myth that has expected them to be a certain way. 

The response to the creation of Slashies was overwhelming and led Trisha to envision an in-person event where South Asians can network with other businesses, attend panels hosted by other successful professionals, and master their skills through workshops. 

At the first summit, there were 45-50 speakers and about 10 business attending.  

200 South Asian Slashies attended that first summit where they could listen to other experienced professionals and network. Trisha was awe-inspired with the amount of support she was receiving on this new endeavor. 

“So many people who attended the first two summits never heard of the word Slashies, they never knew they were Slashies, they weren’t proud of it...So there is no better way for us to break the model minority myth than [with the Slashies community],” Trisha says. 

South Asian Slashies are defying expectations. From the first Slashie summit having only two hundred attendees to the next summit having four hundred, Trisha continues to grow this South Asian community in an insurmountable way. And the community continues to show up. At the second summit, there were 88 speakers, 12 workshops, 18 small businesses, and a fashion show with 32 women. The support and willingness to participate from other incredible South Asian creatives continues to prove the necessity of a community like Slashies, a place where side hustlers can grow by having conversations with one another. 

“It is a lot of [heart, time, and patience].” 

The Brown Girl Magazine CEO is beyond thrilled to see other publications doing authentic reporting on the intersectionality of South Asian identities and to stand witness to South Asians unleashing their identities, words, and creative prowess. 

“There is no better time than now. I think we need more independent storytellers and that’s what Brown Girl is doing. We want to create a generation of storytellers who feel empowered enough to share their voice and their vision in their own capacity. More folks should do that, and there is no better time than now," Trisha says. 

For young brown content creators, she offers this advice: "If you are unsure, just go ahead and put out a few stories, go ahead and put out a few Instagram posts. If your community, if your friends like what they are reading, they'll want more and they'll let you know that they will want more.”

From only having thirty writers when Trisha first joined in 2008 to hundreds of contributors, Brown Girl is committed to their expanding, organic community. 

And with the release of their new project Untold, their first ever published anthology with Mango and Marigold Press, they continue to shine a light on the excellence of the South Asian community. Our stories have long been forgotten but Trisha is carrying the torch into a future where diversity does not have to be manufactured. 

Since Brown Girl Magazine began its operations in 2008, there has been an emergence of South Asian centered publications like The Juggernaut and Queer Desi Magazine. Thousands of writers from all backgrounds have joined this dynamic community, striving to start conversations and address what has been hidden for far too long. 

“Brown Girl is bigger than me," the CEO says. "I'm just happy to cultivate a community to foster and inspire.” 

Trisha Sakhuja-Walia is a visionary and a beautiful example of the power of South Asian women. 

Order Untold: Defining Moments of the Uprooted here

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