Continue exploring who you are: My journey into uncovering myself as a writer.

In year 10, when choosing my year 11 and 12 subjects I asked my parents if I could do philosophy and drama. I got the response that many migrant Asian parents would give their kids; "...do you want to be able to feed your family? You're studying two maths, two sciences and English". I didn't question it, it was the way it was. And that is okay, I wouldn't go back and change anything. I am who I am now because of my experiences.

But creative writing was always something a part of me. From the day I remember I could write, I wrote to make sense of the world and my mind. My Grandfather, Dr Pritam Singh Virdi, was a writer, I found his books full of sufi poetry and stories when he passed. It was magical seeing that exist in my family. It inspired me (yet again) to continue writing, albeit for myself.

It wasn't until I recently saw a program run by Sydney Opera House requesting a call out for women of colour (WOC) writers to pitch an idea to write about how WOC have been left out of the #metoo movement, which actually began by a woman of colour (Tarana Burke). So, I applied... and I won!

Over the course of a few months, I developed many different stories and poems, going back and forth with the editors from Sweatshop. I unfortunately did not have a positive experience with the editors and listened to my intuition. I wrote my piece with integrity, experience and the romance of cultural identity.

I am so proud of the piece I wrote. It was powerful to have it published by Sydney Opera House as a written and spoken word piece. The years of writing content for my business around culture and story telling and the years of writing to make sense of the world helped me encapsulate the message I wanted to share. I got to present it at the Sydney Opera House at the recent All About Women festival, where my amazing family flew from Melbourne to hear my speak (feature picture).

So, without further ado, you can read my poem below, but I highly recommend listening to the spoken version where I am being interviewed before I present the poem. This will allow you to understand more about me, my mind and why I've written this piece the way I have.

Written Piece: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/all-about-women/all-about-women-of-colour-mentorship/behind-and-underneath

Podcast Spoken Word Version at 34 minutes: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ovATEndP3CWYVi6Mp4lIp?si=SpmRBR_BT-WBvQEjyh8YyA

*TRIGGER WARNING: IF YOU LISTEN TO THE SPOKEN PODCAST VERSION, PLEASE ENSURE YOU LISTEN FROM 34 MINUTES WHERE MY PIECE BEGINS. BEFORE 34 MINUTES THERE ARE TWO STORIES BY OTHER WRITERS WHICH HAVE HIGH TRIGGER WARNINGS. SO FOR THOSE WHO MAY BE TRIGGERED, PLEASE EITHER READ THE WRITTEN PIECE OR LISTEN TO THE PODCAST FROM 34 MINUTES*