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Roots with South Asian Today: Let People Talk, You Do You

Season 02, Ep 01: In conversation with Indian-Australian makeup artist, Rowi Singh


Welcome to Season 02 of Roots with South Asian Today. Our first guest is the one & only Rowi Singh!

 

Rowi is an Indian Australian make-up artist, and she is hard to miss. The first time I found Rowi on Instagram, I could not stop scrolling. Playing with lots of bindis, fabrics, jewels, it is difficult to imagine how she does it. Sometimes she covers her entire face in blue and sometimes she puts flowers on her eyebrows. Like one of my friends said recently, "This isn’t makeup, Dilpreet, this is art."

 

Rowi is pushing the meaning of being a creator in the fashion world today. And the best thing about my conversation with her was she is not shy to speak her mind.


Rowi and I spoke about being Punjabi, why there is pressure on Indian girls to cover up and who decides who a good migrant is. 


Transcript

 

Dilpreet  00:00

 

Hello, and welcome to the second season of Roots with South Asian today. My name is Dilpreet, and in this podcast series, I speak with South Asians from across the globe and try a little to explore the politics of gender, caste, class culture...life. Our first guest of the season is the one and only Rowi Singh. Rowi is an Indian Australian makeup artist, and she's hard to miss. The first time I found Rowley on Instagram. I could not stop scrolling, playing with lots of bindis, fabrics, jewels, it's difficult to imagine how she does it. Sometimes she covers her entire face in blue, and sometimes she puts flowers on her eyebrows. Like one of my friends said recently, "this isn't makeup Dilpreet, this is art." Rowi is pushing the meaning of being a creator in the fashion world today. And the best thing about my conversation with her was she is not shy to speak her mind. Rory and I spoke about being Punjabi, why there is pressure on Indian girls to cover up and who decides who a good migrant is. I know it's a spicy start to season two.

 

Well, let's cue the intro and jump right in.

 

This podcast is being recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to the elders past present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.

 

Rowi, you have more than 340,000 followers on Instagram, you have worked with brands like Rihanna, Fenty, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Milk Makeup, you're known globally for your makeup looks. But before we get into any or all of that, let's rewind to kid Rowi. Tell me about your background and where you grew up.


Rowi  02:16

 

Yes. So I, I grew up in Australia, I grew up in Sydney, I was born here. But when I was I think around like six or seven for my dad's job, we moved to the States. We lived in Connecticut for three years. And then we just we moved again, because we're expats and it was just like hopping around. So we went from the states to Singapore. And I came back to Australia for high school. So it's been, yeah, I've kind of been everywhere and I had this very, like multicultural experience, but it was very much neither here nor there. Like I didn't feel rooted anywhere. And my like my parents were both born in Africa. Like my mom was born in Malawi. My dad was born in Uganda, my mom has the British passport. She's British. I'm Australian, I had an American accent at one point like it was all just like all over the place. So it was really I thought it was really exciting like as a kid it's exciting to move around but I only really experienced the aftermath of constantly travelling constantly having to pick up my life and start again like I experienced that later down in my life because you know, I never formed like strong you know, connections with friends in school because I just was like what's the point because it's going to be yanked for me in a bit and I'm gonna have to move and I'm going to do it all again. So I always kind of kept this distance between myself between like my real Rowi self and the self that I presented and so that's like how I sort of carried myself through high school was more just like a survival mechanism to fit in I talked about this all the time I'm like my high school like God your experience was just like a different version of myself. It was a version of myself like I wasn't completely not really but it was just like a more presentable, palatable version of like my brown self and that yeah, I think I don't know I think it really affected the way that I had like interact with myself I it affected the relationship I had to my culture, my identity, and all of that, but it was I had an interesting childhood and I am grateful for the experiences of moving around.


Dilpreet 04:27

 

So you were a teenager in Australia growing up. I mean, you're a Punjabi Australian as well right? Like apart from being Indian. So did you you talk about fitting in? Was it because you were rejecting your Punjabi side? Or was it because you didn't really know about your Punjabi side?


Rowi  04:42

 

I didn't know much about Punjabi side at all, like I wanted to. And I spoke about this quite recently. It's just I was never taught Punjabi because that wasn't like the dialect spoken at home. It just wasn't like my mum would speak it all the time. But my dad grew up and quiet an Australian culture like he also Did his own ability he did his own way of like fitting in as well. So he kind of rejected speaking this language and then never spoke with my mom. So I never really picked it up as much as I wanted to. So I, I think I had this like disconnect from my culture, I think, I don't even think I was rejecting it because I didn't even know what it was like, I didn't even have that relationship to be able to reject my culture entirely. It was just more just at arm's length for most of my, like adolescence. And I think I wanted to know more, but at the same time, I was like, have this see I'm trying to fit in?


Dilpreet 05:39

 

I know what you mean, like, I mean, you know, it's a very universal experience as well. Like, when I talk to Indians or South Asians who grew up in the West, I feel like I almost had the same kind of situation as well, right? Growing up in India, where Punjabis our you know, very loud and very well known, but at the same time, a minority right? Yeah. So you're trying to fit in the big side of India, you're trying to speak more Hindi you're trying to speak you know, get out of this idea of, you know, quote, unquote, agricultural land or village land. So yeah, it's a very big conversation, but how did you then, you know, come to reclaim it? When was the first time that you kind of wanted to get in touch with it more, because I can see that even your makeup and your fashion you know, I can see there's a huge reflection of, you know, abundance of South Asian in it. 


Rowi  06:27

 

Well, that's how I sort of reclaimed aspects of my culture. It was through like art, and makeup and the visual, the visual aspect of my culture gave me that like strong connection. And then I was able to build upon that I like end up going to the Gurdwara more often with my grandma, just having a newfound appreciation for Indian food as well, that was something that I was kind of like, start Give me the Rajma in my lunchbox, like, did not do it. Do not do it. Like I want to, I want to veggie my sandwich like every other Australian kid. But it was almost as like full circle experience coming back and reconnecting with, like my culture and being proud of it. Like I came back. And I was like, actually, this is the most incredible thing that culture is so deep, and so rich, and there's so many layers to being a brown woman. And I have to embrace that, because that's what makes me me, and I'm really, really proud. I think as I gained confidence post, high school, couldn't have a lot of confidence in high school, and I was a bit more of a reserved version of myself. But in uni, I was able, I was added to like, make friends with people who supported that idea as well, like all my friends, like Punjabi friends as well, who had this same experience growing up in a very, like Western society. And being at arm's length with your culture. We came together and we're like, actually, no, why have we been ashamed? Why have we been pushing it away? Like, we shouldn't be doing that. So I had the support of my friends to kind of be like, this is who I am. And I'm really, really incredibly proud. Like, I'm just I'm happy to be here now.


Dilpreet  07:59

 

I'm glad.


Rowi  08:00

 

Yeah, exactly.


Dilpreet  08:01

 

You know, as a consumer of the internet, I consume a lot of stuff right? So a lot of brown creatives, lots of brown artists, makeup artists, I have personally noticed that you know, sometimes we tend to go a little more heavily on our Indian side, right? I wonder if reclamation also comes with certain pressures. Because now that you're an Indian makeup or fashion artists, you must have a bindi, have a bollywood song play in the background, you have to have henna. You know, it also fascinates me because we are also people of the world and can wear whatever we want and still identify with the culture beyond the clothes, right?


Rowi  08:34

 

That's really important for me, because I think it's more than just a performative things. Like I'm not I'm not doing it, because I'm trying to dangle my brownness for my audience, it's more that I will pull in aspects of my culture when it feels right. So not every single one of my looks is like, look at her bindi, like, look at it like that, I'll pull it in, when it makes sense to me, and I want to do it because I feel a bit more natural that way. And you're right, you don't need to, I don't need to put my foot down and be like, I am brown because I'm secure enough to know that the relationship with my brown self is strong enough. I don't need to like shout it to you. 


Dilpreet  09:10

 

That's really refreshing thing to hear. Because we live in this digital internet world, right? Where there's also, you know, an innate desire to stand out, but also at the same time to feel belongingness. And I wonder where people you know, who come from various different cultures and fusions of histories, that how do they make strategies or make content and you know, I wonder if, like, did you want to do this or did you have to do this, I feel like you're saying that you kind of just have fun with it. And you just kind of do it on your own?


Rowi  09:40

 

Exactly. Like you've just got to let it filter in when it feels right and bottom line, I'm just doing what I want. And I'm coming up with like concepts and ideas. That makes sense in my head and I'm not trying to infuse anything too much or like pull back on anything. I'm just doing it the way that it feels right For me and I think people can relate to that because I'm doing it for myself first and foremost like my art has been very healing and it has like completely like like I said it's completely changed my confidence and who I am as a woman like it's just reinvented myself for the better and I think that's what what I always lead with and I don't try to overthink I and I fall into the trap before I have over thought I'm like, I need to be doing more of this or that and you can't help it because you're in a job where like compatibility is like second nature like you can't help but to be like am I doing this right? I don't have a boss no one's telling me what to do. So of course it's like it's very natural for you to be like swayed and be like I should be doing more of this or maybe less of that but I always revert back to like why I thought as I started this in the first place because it's just liberating and I enjoy it


Dilpreet  10:56

 

yeah yeah especially with reels and Tik Tok right where like one song is like a million reels. And even though you're like get this song out of my head, you're still watching the same transitions and you're still watching the same song and I surprised myself because as a journalist, I'm hungry for different stories. In the last couple of years with Tik Tok and reels I'm sort of consuming the same content over and over again, it's bizarre I feel like I'll understand it you know, in the next couple of years when I look back that you know why this sort of repetitive nature of content still felt so fresh? And you know, when we're talking about comparibility, what was your reaction of the community when you started makeup and why I asked this question is because actually coming to Australia for me was a culture shock not in ways that I expected it to be. India I feel like you know, we've kind of moved on to a lot of you know, various things and I feel like because we live there that we don't have this you know, idea of holding on to the culture whereas in the West that's a very strong emotion because you're living outside of India Yeah. So I was like whoa this is a time warp because I'm like you know going around in bikinis and going I'm wearing hot pants in Delhi and no one's no one bothers we don't care like girls drink were out at 4am...


Rowi  12:20

 

I want to come party with you that sounds fun I'm not even kidding I was like this sounds lit Take me with you. I was meant to do a whole India trip like right before the lockdown at the beginning of 2020 so yeah park that thought


Dilpreet  12:34

 

...that was my life like very open and not as regressive and backward that it's meant out to be especially not urban areas right also keeping in mind that India is massive and I remember when I came to Australia and I would meet the Indian community you know, they would be like "Oh wow, you have a pixie cut" and "you're wearing you know a skirt" and "Oh, you've come alone to Australia" and I'm like, guys we've been doing this for a very long time back home like I moved out when I was 17 and I've not lived with my parents ever since they're cool with it. We were whatever we want we date we go out so for me it was a bit like what is happening?


Rowi  13:14

 

I think I know what it is I was thinking about this and I think it is it's the immigrant expectation. It's like we have done our absolute most like as a as a family we have done our most to move across the world into a different country to build our life up. And there's all this expectation that like immigrant parents thrust on their children to act and be a certain way because they have done so much to get them there. But I think it's just the expectation of like immigrant parents being like I have worked my ass off to get us in this position to be like comfortable in like this new country and I think it's like you need to do right by me and I think that's why there's this expectation thrust onto the children onto the grandchildren of like, you need to get a good job like what is a good job a lawyer, like working in banking like this is very, very like limited descriptions as to what is a good job and it's like you have to I don't know, it's they just, they're, they want you to live a happy and comfortable life because they have brought to you here to do that. And when it doesn't fit their idea of what happy comfortable is. It rocks, it rocks the boat. So like happy and comfortable to me is like the same as you like just rocking the bikini and being comfortable with myself because I am comfortable with my body and not having the pressure to have to cover up or act a certain way or conform because you know, that's who I am as a brand gone if I don't cover up I'm not a good Brown Girl. Like that's, that's what I've had to deal with. 100%


Dilpreet  14:52

 

Yeah, I wondered that because you know, um, some things are even though we are very diverse as a community, some things are quite common. You know, the judging, especially like double standards for women. So, you know, it's great that you're still doing whatever you want it to do because I feel like people are gonna say anything in some like whenever they get a chance, right you can't shut people...


Rowi  15:14

 

People are going to talk it is what makes the brown community thrive. It is the gossip that fuels the economy. You got to give something the Aunties are talking about and if the if you're doing everything right they're still going to talk about you that's what I realised it's just like it there's no right way to do things and all the time I think my mom like my mom is quite progressive as a as a brown mom I would say but like she would be like why did you wear that? You can't You can't wear that craft up and I'm like, are you doing this because you care about me or you care about someone else's opinion of me like you got to rethink because I'm very much like I don't give a fuck about what anyone else thinks my mom is thinking about everything she's thinking about the community first I'm like, who cares?


Dilpreet  16:02

 

yeah, I mean you're right even I'm blessed with you know and it's it feels funny to say that but you know when I see other brown friends of mine I'm like whoa My parents are fucking cool like I'm actually kind of blessed in that situation because I don't have a curfew time and all of that so yeah, coming back to your looks and your work all these ideas to like specially your star sign a series and I'm a total Leo right so I was like 


Rowi  16:25

 

Oh my god you're Leo! 


Dilpreet  16:28

 

Is she doing a Leo makeup look because I knew you would allow your time like she's gonna kill it.


Rowi  16:32

 

Did you see it? There was the first one I did


Dilpreet  16:35

 

It was so good oh my god, you had this you know this fabric little glove on I was looking at the details I'm like wow she nailed it so you know from all the Leos wondering was like Why does she bother to do any other star side like I'm sorry to anyone who's listening who's not a Leo but guys like I'm sorry like they only had to be one look


Rowi  16:57

 

We are the star of the show I was only going to do my top my big three and then people were like no you need to do all of them I'm going to need to see my star sign and I'm like fair enough. Fair enough working through it.


Dilpreet  17:10

 

So what inspires you to come up with these you know what I would call a very strategic idea as well because I'm looking forward to it I'm engaged I want to see something that's not even happened yet right? So I'm going to your feed and refreshing and be you know being like When is she gonna put it up so as a follower I am you know deeply ingrained with what you're going to do next so all these ideas that you come up do you plan. Do you sit you know at the beginning of a month and be like I'm gonna do this this this and...

 

Rowi 17:37

yes, so I it is a little bit it's a mixture between strategy and just like ad hoc posts that'll just come through into my head like oh, I just want to do this because like I have this idea. So I just I'm mixing strategy with a little bit of spontaneity and I think that's what gives my feed space a little bit of spice so I like for example with my star sign makeup series, I like having a series of looks is exactly what you just said is that people can look forward to the next piece of art in the series. And they it's also relating back to the individual like if there's some sort of like relatability aspect to my highly conceptual looks. It kind of hits like two nails on the head. Like it's an like I want my makeup looks to be like jaw droppingly good like people aren't or and they're like, well how does she do that but also at the same time there's some sort of like I feel that aspect to it like of like they can sort of relate back to it even though it is just like a crazy art piece that is not wearable makeup. So I like to sort of fuse both in one and then I'll have like for example on my phone I have this like diary that I was just you just like writing in right before this podcast I have a diary that I lay out like I'll do my general like top line to dues of like what looks I want to do and the continent need to create an all my admin for the week and then I have a note section which is just like I have like 100 looks just like written down and then sometimes I'll go back through and I'll organise the list of looks and see if I can group them into a series and like all this could be I have like a lot of like spring colours maybe I should do a spring makeup series or like I keep seeing like repetitive I see a lot of like repeating colours in my day to day so it's called like colour synchronicity I'll see like things pop up up like oh wow this like pink for my water bottle and then I'll see another pink and then all inspire me to do something really, really broad and pink. It's just like picking up aspects of my day to day and infusing that in my makeup looks so it's like a day to day thing like I'll see. You know, I'll go on a walk and I'm like, Oh, I love the flower. Let me see if I can use those colours combined with like nostalgic lived experiences so that I'm pulling things from like my past and like what it means to be a brown girl with like modern concept. It's very like layered.

 

Dilpreet 19:59

Damn. 


Rowi  20:01

 

It sounds like a lot of like a lot of forethought but it comes quite naturally to me and so I don't just my mind is able to visualise looks really really easily so I'll be able to think I can see it if I close my eyes I can see exactly the look I want to create otherwise I'll sketch or I'll draw it out and if it's become a little bit too hard.


Dilpreet  20:26

 

I mean I can totally hear that makeup is like you know something that comes so naturally to you like these ideas you kind of take from the world as you go from you know, from your day to day and of course it's not just that but you're also very well planned. But you know other than makeup I see you have something called the odd times and I was listening to your podcast by the way which sounds rad it's a creators world and we're just living in it Yes. All these other projects as well how are you fitting all of these in? Do you enjoy doing you know archives? And your of course your home decoration? How can I forget? And your podcast as well so you know, is makeup like your number one priority for the rest of your life or are you going to dabble more into other things?


Rowi  21:05

 

So here's the thing, what I'm actually passionate about is, is being a creative director, like I like leading with my aesthetic and my creativity. And that kind of transcends different verticals of my life. So like, I have this cool creative robot, right. And that cool creative robot is in my home decor content, it's in my like, podcast content, it's in my in my makeup content, like these are just the vehicles in which I can express myself, but the crux of who I am as a creative person remains the same. So I don't need to like pull myself apart and stretch myself too much. Because at the essence of my art and my creativity, it remains the same no matter what endeavour I do, if that's it, so I will only ever because I don't actually like to do many things at once. I can't multitask. Like I can't, my brain can't handle it, I kind of like to focus on my efforts into one thing, and our only ever branch out if it feels right, and it feels like I can make a difference in that space. Otherwise, I just I won't enjoy it and I won't put all my energy into it. So all of those little projects kind of came up quite organically like like it's a crate as well that podcast is basically me just talking about the behind the behind the scenes of being an influencer. It's about me venting, because I never get to vent to anybody. I don't have colleagues, I don't have an attorney I can't turn to my person next and be like, hey, this shit thing happened today. I can kind of collect it and and like talk about like, what it means to be an influencer and how I like strategize to get here like it's just very natural for me so that's how like the podcast would come about my home decor I just love pretty like pretty things that's pretty simple. I like pretty things surround myself with pretty things and that's why I like home decor and the art types is again like an opportunity for me to platform people of colour in the industry who just don't usually get the platform because I had to work really really hard to get to where I am right now and if I can give people some some sort of exposure or some sort of leg up that's Yeah, that's the least I can do.


Dilpreet Kaur  23:14

 

That's a great segue because the next I was going to talk about platforms right platforms for people of colour for South Asian people especially for like you know Indians growing up we didn't really see icons or role models in the fashion industry you know we always had Bollywood yeah sure but not on international ramps or you know big magazines and just last month Indian Australian stylist Megha Kapoor is the new editor of Vogue India which is you know, huge and I was never really expecting that so I feel like things are changing like even if slowly but they are kind of you know, shifting What are your thoughts on you know, Indians or South Asians in the Australian fashion industry? And how do you think we can get to occupying a bit more space because we are inherently very fashionable people like even if we do something very basic, it's going to have some bling to it or you know, it's going to have some jewellery to it and yet you're so unseen and so stereotypical, right? How do we make it you know, international or how do we make international come to us?


Rowi  24:14

 

Ah, that is such a good question because it has its we are in our South Asian era like it is the brown go resurgence right now. We are about to dominate I can feel it. We're on the cusp of something incredible. And I think you're so right. It's that when it is when there is representation, it's so incredibly like slapstick and stereotypical it's just like oh she's just the brand go with the same brand issues like they're just it's the issue is very, like the core of what it means to be South Asian is so homogenised. And it's like, No, we all have unique experiences. And the way that we've grown up in like a modern societies has really informed who we are. When it comes to our art fashion style. Like there's so much flavour that What I'm saying like we have so much spice and flavour literally just like pumping your own veins that hasn't yet been seen and I think what's a really important way to do that is make work like to work in communities first and just kind of pull people together through music and the arts I think it'd be really cool to have I mean that's what I kind of want to do like to have community led events that pulls people locally in Sydney or wherever in Melbourne together to like to share each other's art is like maybe like a art galleries or like music events that are all brown land like a full brown like lineup I think that could just be so powerful here and then that sort of can like lead into the like the brown go era the brown person era that we're in right now I think it would be so I just need some more on the ground work because it's just too hard to put your hand up and be like hey I want to be a creative because like unfortunately it's very very white dominated and I had to like like i said i you have to slog and in order to bring a whole group of people up I think it needs to be done yeah, yeah, yeah.


Dilpreet  26:12

 

Oh my god last year when I started South Asian today so I'm also working kind of alone right? Like I collaborate with people and people pitch but at the end of the day with the whole admin and marketing or recording podcast editing, it's like yeah, you know, it was the first time that I realised the lack of structural support in this country that blew me away and also you know, I'm also a migrant and I was also an international student right so I'm not eligible for so many grants even so I really wanted to do a south asian festival and I really wanted to do all these events and you know have a collaborative experience for a whole day you know bring it in because I have experienced from Delhi and Bombay you know the whole theatre scene fashion everything and I was like oh my god it was so cool to do it here and it the kind of make it so damn hard for you that you're like oh my god I can only you know take care of my healthcare pay back my loan runs out today talk with people do journalism and also apply for grants like I'm one person you want Yep. And it's like there's so many ideas brewing when I talked to the South Asians I'm like, dude, we should just do it and it's like, how


Rowi  27:23

 

...it's so hard because like the doing part is the hard part there's so many ideas bubbling to our heads like constantly but I think we are like it's the power of the collective I think that's why it's important for us to like lean on each other and like collaborate where we can because then we're stronger as a unit than just being an individual trying to fight trying to make our way like it can be quite difficult and I think that's why there's like something there and Australia's always just like five to 10 years behind the UK and New York we are getting there like we're just a little bit just got to catch up. But the advantage of that is that we can look at places like London and what they're doing and how they are bringing their community together in a really beautiful and rich enriching way and we can take from that and learn and build our own so I think we are going to get there but it is it is tough to do by yourself like like you said there's just too many parts of this like a moving puzzle that we're trying to fit together by ourselves and we need help Yeah, and it's


Dilpreet  28:27

 

Also you know, sometimes when I go to Indian events it's like you know, okay classical I'm like it's really beautiful but also we have some sick puppets and some really good like young music right? Like it's not it's not just these three four Bollywood films that people just can't seem to forget from the 2000 to 2004.... we have so much more


Rowi  28:52

 

Not me though I'm like yes "Kabhie Khushi Kabhie"...iconic! Yeah, no there is so much more.


Dilpreet  29:02

 

I get it and also like we know all the dialogues we know everything right? We like literally grew up on those films as well but it's also like now we you know, it's been 20 years now there's like a lot more music there's a you know, pretty cool rap scene happening in India that like no one kind of in the West like really knows. So whenever I'm at parties and I play like Punjabi, Hindi rap people are like, wow, what is that I'm like, it's so it's what you don't know about this guy. And then I feel like this huge gap. It would be so cool to fill this in through festivals. And you know, and then I have these huge ideas and then I see where I'm like, Oh shit, Dilpreet, but you don't have any grant you have no funding.


Rowi  29:42

 

Because we're big dreamers. Like that's the thing about being a big dreamer is that you it all kind of comes to your ones and you're like, I want to do this but then because it's such a big dream, it becomes overwhelming. But the but like this, the simple thing is just gonna break it down. One step at a time. Break. everything down because we're going to get there and like whatever. Like whatever this is, we know where we're headed. We just need to take one step at a time and I feel like we're going to get there. That's what I've done with any product that I enter. I if I think about it too holistically, like a big thing that I want to achieve, I get overwhelmed and then becomes like, there's no way that we can do that. Like I'm just one person. There's no way I can do that. But then we're going to chip away.  Collaboration over competition no.


Rowi 30:28

 

Yes, collaborate and chip away like that. Is it like baby steps? We're going to get there.


Dilpreet 30:33

 

Love it. Lastly, Rowi, I'm sure a young South Asian Australian person is listening to this podcast, you know, is interested in makeup is trying to learn makeup from YouTube. Probably unsure what the future looks like. Do you have you know, a golden tip for them something that you wish you had when you started perhaps?


Rowi  30:55

 

Oh, that's a good question. I I just think I wish I leaned in to what makes me unique, quicker. And just like didn't watch any YouTube videos and try to replicate what's happening on someone else's face onto my face. Just delving into my own interests, and like leaving with that, and having just like, rock solid confidence. Even if you don't have the confidence, just fake it, just pretend. Just pretend. Because like, even if you look like you know, you're doing like, that's gonna make all the difference. Fake it to make it 100%. Like, this is so important. You have to have all the confidence of a white man. Have all the confidence of a white man, if like, just be like, I can fucking do anything. And it will happen for you. Like, that's Yeah, I wish I had that energy earlier, because I think I would have started this a little bit early. I wouldn't have sort of sat in it for so long.


Dilpreet  31:54

 

Yeah, do the self self what is self discovery as soon as...


Rowi  31:59

 

...as soon as possible. And also just like, if, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. It's not the worst thing in the world. Because you tried it. That is so important. Just dip your toes like even now I'm scared to start something new because there's a bit of pressure. It's like, oh, What's she going to do? What are we going to do? It needs to be successful. That's just what I've built up in my mind, but it's not true. Just just doing it is like incredible. Like taking that step and bring something to life is incredible. It doesn't have to meet any expectations. Fuck off everyone else like no one. Like, I don't know if I'm allowed to swear, but I'm going off here. Like no one like no one can tell you how something is going to look like this is completely in your hands and just do it.


Dilpreet  32:39

 

Who cares? Know yourself. Fuck everybody. Keep trying. 


Rowi  32:43

 

Yeah, right? Yeah. 


Dilpreet  32:46

 

Love it. Thank you so much, Rory, thank you so much for joining me. This was fantastic. It was such a pleasure speaking with you.


Rowi  32:52

 

Thanks so free. This was so fun.


Dilpreet  32:56

 

Well, that's a wrap on roots with Roots with Rowi. If you liked this episode, don't forget to leave us a review. We've also recently opened our own shop. To support the show, please head to southasiantoday.bigcartel.com and get yourself a gorgeous South Asian print. Stay tuned and we'll see you soon.

About the author

Dilpreet is the founder of South Asian Today. More about her can be found here.

 

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