Unapologetically Being a Go Getter with Shinjini Das

This weekly podcast inspires you to step outside of your comfort zone. My name is Zaakirah Muhammad, and I'm your host of the Living Legacy Podcast. I am a cancer survivor, brand cultivating strategist, author, and world traveler. This Living Legacy Podcast features women of purpose sharing stories of resilience. They are single and married. They are artists and entrepreneurs who run businesses and juggle parenthood. If you are ready to hear interviews about professionalism, entrepreneurship, travel, life, and love, you are in the right place. They will share stories of how they overcame adversity while seeing life through a different lens. Let's get into it.

So today's guest on the Living Legacy Podcast is Shingini Das. Like me, she published a book around the age of 26 and 27, and she's the author of Unapologetically Shingini. Best known as the Go-Getter Girl, she is on a mission to bridge the content gap between intellect and pop culture in the media. She is the CEO and founder of Das Media Group. It highlights intellectual, educational, empowering, and motivational content. Kenjini Das graduated with a Fulbright scholarship in industrial engineering at Georgia Tech. So she's currently based in Atlanta by way of Los Angeles, and today she shares how she advocates, empowers, and creates spaces for her go-getters through interactive marketing on social media, which reaches 7 million plus go-getters a month all across all of her social media platforms. So hi, Shanjini, how are you? Thank you so much for being a guest today.

Of course, Zaakirah, thank you so much. And you are everything that I advocate for. You know, you are a go-getter, you are going and getting your goals, so it only makes sense that I am on your show.

So thank you.

Thank you. It's perfect timing and it absolutely worked out. And I think this is going to be an amazing conversation for all of our go-getters. all of our women who have overcame adversity with resilience. So let's start with that. Let's start with, uh, the background of who you are, because I, from my understanding, immigration shapes everything when it came to making you Shangini, right? So tell us about that.

Totally, totally. No, you're right. And by the way, I love your name, and, uh, it's, it's very— it could be Indian, it could be South Asian, it could be many things.

Actually, actually funny you mentioned that. So Zaakirah is Arabic for the hereafter, and Naya is Illuminati, but I've seen it. I've like— I— my mom used to love watching Big Bang Theory, so when she saw Kunal Nayyar, they were like, are you related? I'm like, no, that's just my middle name. But yeah.

That's your middle name? So did she—

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did she just give you that name?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh my God, because when I saw that, I'm like, is she Indian? Wait, I don't— it does— okay, that makes sense.

Yeah, um, I got Caribbean in me, a little bit of Caribbean though.

Okay, right, close, close. It is very Indian. Nayar is a very Indian name. Basically, Zakirah, you're right. You know, I moved from India to Malaysia to the United States at 9. And I think 9 is sort of that age of like 9 and a half where, you know, you're, you're this functioning human being, you know, and you feel a lot of things. And so a lot of my friends, you know, they'll have moved to the US at 2, so they don't really remember anything, right? Or, you know, Zero. They really don't remember anything. So I think for me it was an interesting thing because the age made my situation a little unique. And then also a lot of my friends who did immigrate, they immigrated from India, whereas I immigrated from Malaysia. So I think that was also very different. So as a result, I definitely did not feel like I belonged in America for the longest time. And I'm very open about my struggles about that, you know, because when you are sort of this you know, interesting, you know, like I like to call it third culture kid, you know, that you are Indian, you were sort of raised in Malaysia, now you're in America, you really have this crisis of who am I, you know, and I definitely felt that a lot. So I was in New Jersey for the first 2 years of my life here in America, 9 to 11, and then moved to Georgia at 11. It's been hard. It's been really difficult to find my place You know, because looking around, I had friends around me who had never left the state, much less the country. You know, so I got questions like, oh, so you're Malaysian? And I said, no, just because you live somewhere, it doesn't mean you're that, right? So, oh, so, so you're like, it was just such a mess. And then where is Malaysia? Where is India? Where is it? So I think it was an opportunity to educate, you know, but at 9, 10, I already knew at 11. That if ever I got the opportunity to educate, to create awareness about diversity, about the fact that being American means being many things, you know, that I would use that opportunity. So I think destiny has aligned, but it was really hard. It was really difficult. Again, I didn't feel like I belonged culturally. I was a misfit. English, I didn't have a problem with because Malaysia was a British colony. So You know, we obviously spoke English and I went to a great international school, private school, one of the best private schools in Kuala Lumpur. English wasn't a problem, but American English was a problem, you know, and the cultural references. And also it was all kind of a mess. But again, I persevered. And I think somewhere that spirit was born in me then, you know, this idea of let's go get it done. Let's get the grades. Let's get the, you know, because when you are an immigrant, you know, you're struggling so much that you almost don't want some things to be a struggle. So my thing was, if my grades are great and my this is great, then I don't have to struggle there. So, but it's been difficult.

Yeah, yeah. But I'm actually glad you mentioned that, um, American being in America means multiple different things. So you're not, uh, putting all your eggs in one basket. You're not literally from one place. I can attribute to that. My mom's from New York, my dad's from Tennessee, my parents met in Atlanta, my siblings are from Atlanta. I was born in Florida. So You know, it's like you're not really meant to be in one place. This beautiful world was not meant to be created for you to just sit in one place at one time. What age were you? Do you feel that you knew what it is you wanted to really do?

Yeah, that's a good question. I think that happened a little bit later. You know, the Georgia Tech happened, engineering, because I think for so long, Zakirah, I was on this path, right, that I have to be successful because when you are an immigrant, I do think that there is pressure. You know, there is pressure to be successful. There's pressure to make your parents' sacrifices worth it. And so there was this thing of, you know, I'm on the path, right? Engineer, Georgia Tech, number one industrial engineering program in the country, in the world. But I got this full-ride merit scholarship, president's scholarship. So, you know, in many ways I was ticking the boxes, right? Check, check, check, check, check. But at the end of it, when I got my first job, Deloitte Technology Consulting, you know, I thought I had made it, right? I had this great company, great health insurance, a lot of money, a lot of this.

I'm like, I'm good.

Like, I'm 22, I'm set. I didn't like it though, you know? So I think that was a huge wake-up call for me, Zakirah, at 22 when I thought I had everything set, you know? And God looked at me and sort of laughed and said, haha, but you're not gonna like it, you know? So that was a huge thing of like money versus passion, you know, versus money, right? So just because money is being thrown at you What if you don't like him? You know, what if he's a great guy on paper, but you don't love him? Right? So these are the questions that actually I feel like got to me a lot sooner than most women, right? And I really had to make a choice, you know, because was I going to just stick on, you know, because yeah, it was a lot of money and grit, or was I going to have self-respect and say, you know what? I don't really like this. And I went with the second, which honestly is a lot harder, right, than the first, which is just shut up, get the money, get it done, be quiet, move on, right? And I feel like that's how a lot of women live. I'll be honest, that's how a lot of immigrant women live. That's how a lot of just normal women live, is just count your blessings, shut up, and get it done, you know? But somewhere, you know, I decided that I have self-respect that I can't stay like this. And also there was a lot of just, you know, you can't reach out to this person without getting my permission. You know, you can't do this without this. You can't do that. And inevitably everything I did was somewhat wrong. You know, this is wrong. This is— and I'm just like, I don't, I don't have to deal with this. You know, and I knew that the alternative is very difficult. I mean, I knew that starting your own company and scaling it, I mean, it's not a joke. I mean, it's not a joke for anyone, you know? So it wasn't like, let me just, take the easy way out? Because I think some people still today think that entrepreneurship is the easier way, you know, but anyone will tell you, Gary Vee will tell you, anyone, right? Well, especially an entrepreneur will tell you that that is not the easy way out. You know, if anything, that is a harder way out.

Yeah, entrepreneurship is far from easy. I guess in my opinion, the only good thing and kind of relevant thing in this time and day is that You can create, you can be flexible. I mean, you're used to being home anyways, you know, you're almost used to be, you know, locked down on a computer, on a device, especially in our industry, the marketing industry. So tell us how you chose to get really into marketing and launch your own media group.

So I think I'm a natural marketer, Zaakirah. I still have no formal training in marketing, and I actually want to keep that going because I feel like that is why I'm successful, right, is because I'm not using the principles and the frameworks and the— having said that, I want to learn because I'm a nerd and I'm a student at heart and I'd love to learn. But, you know, I definitely want like all women listening to understand that, you know, being self-taught is a blessing, you know, and having that intuition that I and you, we, we can connect to the average everyday woman is a blessing. So I'm not trying to ruin that blessing. I'm not trying to get so caught up in jargon and, you know, technicalities that I lose her, you know, because there's so many people I know, especially like, you know, because I went to such a technical university, science and engineering, they use so many big words that not even they understand anything, you know. And so I think there's value in being natural and being self-taught and being, you know, humble and everything. So it was a natural progression. You know, again, my natural interests are branding, are marketing, communications. Like, this is my natural zone. You know, industrial engineering was what I did. I'm not sure that I would ever call that my natural zone of genius. You know what I mean? So for me, I think the frustration of not even not seeing anyone who looked like me in the media, obviously that was part of it, but just the lack of educated, role models for women, you know. So either you're sort of this, you know, first lady or something huge, you know, but again, the husband is the president, or like you're a singer who has like— didn't even go to college, didn't even go to high school, barely, right? So for me, it was like, why does it have to be these 2 extremes? Whereas someone like me who is an engineer, you know, all my friends are educated, you know, engineers, lawyers, doctors, women of color, who are they looking up to? You know, who is their inspiration? And I did a little questioning. I asked a few of my friends. Literally the answer that I got, Zaakirah, was no one. They literally came back to me and said no one. And I was here going, how about her? How about her? Oh yeah, she's, she's a little older. You know, she's a little this, she's a little that. So then I realized that these women have no one to look up to, right? So either you're a singer Or a dancer, but like a doctor is not going to look up at a, you know, like, wow, look at a singer's trajectory. Like it's, it's just very different. I'm not saying good or bad. I'm just saying it's very different, you know? So that always stuck with me. And then once I, once I got disillusioned with Deloitte, I left and I said, you know what? I'm going to try to do this. I don't know how, I have no idea. Okay. I barely even understood anything about the media, much less monetization, much less anything. So This idea of a media group came much later, but the first thing was I was so frustrated with the lack of everything representation. I felt like the truth was not being represented. You know, it was all just a mess. So I actually started tweeting is what happened at 23. So that's what happened. So I started tweeting, and it was very impassioned. Like in retrospect, it definitely was eye-catching because most people then you know it was like whatever insert political message da da da. And literally my tweet was every girl. Should be a go-getter! Exclamation mark. So I mean, that's gonna stand out just because it looks so strange compared to everything else. And so a publicist actually picked me up within 6 months of me tweeting and told me I had to be on TV. So that's how the trajectory started. So I did my TV, again, first time on TV, never been on TV. And that's when I started thinking, I really love this. I really love being in front of the camera because these— this is like middle America. This is like just the most underrepresented places for people of color. So for me to go on and say like, girls should be go-getters, da-da-da, like it was just wild. You know, and I'm talking like Indiana. I'm talking like rural Indiana even, you know? So, but they all loved me and they loved my message and the producers were all like, please come back, we love you. That's when I was like, you know what? Maybe that's my calling to be a bridge between media and sort of the everyday. People, you know, people of color, women of color, you know, and the media. So then my wheels started turning and I said, but how do I make money from this? You know, and that was a whole process. No one around me knew anything. They were just clueless, you know? And I think it's also because the media doesn't reveal a lot of its business models or monetization models. So a lot of people around me, even people from the industry, didn't really help at all. So again, I had to do my own research, go back to Google, go back to the drawing board and say, well, how does the New York Times make money? How does insert app here make money? And then I realized that, you know, it's a subscription model or advertiser or whatever. And that's when I said, you know what, I don't even know how it's going to work, but I'm going to make it work because that's just who we are, right? We're go-getters, we're doers, you know, and we fall on our face every day, but I also don't give up, you know? So I knew that, uh, It's going to be hard, but I'm going to figure it out. And, and that's when I signed with a speaking agency and I got literally my first book, not even check. I got my first 2 bookings, total of which was like $5,500 plus, almost $6,000. And I literally quit my digital marketing job that day because I was like, I'm done. I'm out. Because when it becomes painful to go into work, you know, that's when you know that you are just not productive. You know, so October 2016. And even then I told myself, I said, you know, obviously it's me, myself, and I, I'm a speaker, I'm an influencer, I'm a this, but I'm trying to build a media group. I knew that from day one, which is why when I was even looking for names, there were other options. A lot of options had agency in them. But I even told myself, I said, I'm not trying to build an agency. Like, that's not, that's not what I'm trying to— I'm trying to build a media platform. So you have the app, you have my own personal brand stuff, right? Speaking, my merchandise and all this stuff. You have my, you know, the direct-to-consumer business, you have a platform business, you have a subscription business. It's a media group. So that was the intellectual content, you know, empowering content for go-getters. So I think the ethos has stayed the same. I think where we are still sort of struggling to really get scale is monetization and who we're reaching out to and what they have going on. And, you know, we're trying to do some social media content partnerships and I'm like, well, They're at this amount, you know, and a lot of people, if they can't afford that, then— so I think we're struggling with scale a little bit now in terms of sales. But yeah, followers and everything, we're almost at, you know, half a million plus across my social media platforms and most importantly, very engaged. You know, they're go-getters, they get the message, they understand, they like me. So I'm very grateful for that.

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Absolutely. I'm so glad you mentioned, um, the back end of why you chose Media Group, because of course it can be Considered as an agency, it can be considered as a magazine. But I kind of agree, we're on the same equilibrium because I also feel like I started the same media group for that same purpose. So I called it media group even though right now we are a marketing agency. Later on, I mean, we can bring in more speakers, bring in more photographers, bring in, you know, anything else in the visual media, the visual creative media, because that's what media really is. So let's talk about Twitter. I want to Uh, I want you to dissect the quote for me. Uh, you, you said, men think I'm gorgeous, women think I'm inspiring, I'll take both. Starting from the bottom makes you appreciate any and all compliments. So tell me what, what that was about. I love that. Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think it, it's that when you are this ambitious woman, Zaakirah, a lot of the time it's like she's a, she's a bitch, she's a diva. Right? And that's a big word I hear a lot, right? And it's not just me. I mean, like millions of women, right? I'm a diva. You're this, you're whatever, you're a bitch. And so I think for the first time in my life, you know, over, I would say the past year, 'cause I really feel like my following has really, not even following, but just the love and appreciation that I feel from Go-Getters has really skyrocketed in the last year because we've gone from 1 million impressions a month in October 2018 to now 7 million in just a year and then some. So 7x, huge love, huge appreciation. Today I finally feel listened to and heard and appreciated for who I am, you know, versus who they want me to be. You know, like, don't speak too much, don't be too loud, you know, especially if you come from an immigrant community, you know, it's like, don't laugh too loud, you know, don't, don't, don't open your mouth that big, you know, don't wear a short skirt, like pretty much don't do anything, you know, it's, it's as close to that as possible, you know, don't do anything. Just shut up, do your work, you know, get it done and die. That's, that's pretty much it, you know. So for me, like to hear from men now saying, oh my God, you're so gorgeous. This is because, I mean, I felt like a nerd for the majority of my life, right? Georgia Tech engineering, just, I'm a student, you know. So as a student, like I'm not doing makeup. I'm not focused on my eyelashes. Like I never did this. I didn't even own makeup barely, you know, because I'm studying. Like my whole life has been studying and working, right? So today, like to hear all these men, some of whom like, right, super attractive, really high quality men saying that, oh my God, you're gorgeous, you're this, when they have these options in the media of models and, you know, singers and whatever, like they're calling me gorgeous and like signaling that out. You know, I feel validated in a very special way because like you and I, we've made some sacrifices. You know, we've focused on different things. And there's a huge likelihood of men being like, bitch, right? But the fact that they're coming back to me and saying, I think you're gorgeous, I think you're special, I think you're amazing, like, it literally lights up my soul in a really special way. Not because I need validation, because that's not true, but because I felt the opposite of validated for a long time for being who I am. And for the first time now, I feel a real sense of validation, right? And even with the women, you know, there's so much women-on-women hate. You know, there's so much women-on-women tension that the fact that really all women are like, you're so inspiring, you're so— like, that means a lot to me, you know, because that means that I'm channeling my energy in the right way, you know, so that she's not threatened. She's not, I don't know, like worried, you know what I mean?

Like, who does she think she is?

And, you know, all that stuff that girls say, right? You know, she knows that I'm on her team, which is exactly what it is. Same with you. You're on her team. You know, so there's no reason to be jealous.

I love the fact that you're able to just kind of be more open and, and even realize and accept the fact that you came from the bottom, and you're even able to accept compliments. Because that's another thing that's hard for women to do, to simply accept compliments. So, um, what— let me see, I got a few different questions for you because we've had a great conversation so far. But let me say this, let me ask this: what would you say to all the other Synginis out there that are still at the bottom, or they feel like they're at their bottom, right? And they want to get to— they're trying to just level up. What are your tips for them?

Yeah, honestly, Zaakirah, you know, it really is about being a go-getter, you know, and it's about realizing that you're the only one who has control. Because again, you know, I'm faced with jabs every day, you know, from Oh, you look like you've gained weight, to, you know, oh, this is all stupid, to, you know, like from a variety of sources. I don't want to name who, right? But a variety of sources. And so if I stop and listen to them and say, oh my gosh, you know, I'm gaining weight, I'm— this is all dumb, right? This is all stupid. It's all pointless. I'm worthless, whatever. Like, it's so easy for everything to crumble, you know? And I just have to remind myself, Zaakirah, that someone who You know, calls out a woman for her weight, right? Or, or calls out a woman for her idea as stupid, like probably they are struggling, you know? And, and that's what I have to really tell myself always, because I would never do that. I would never go publicly or on a public platform or even reach out to someone and say, you suck, you know, cuz that's not how I am, you know? So I, I realize that if someone's doing that, it means that they're struggling from within. Mm-hmm. My concern is that a lot of women at the bottom, part of the reason that they're still stuck there is that they're listening and internalizing all of these different things.

Okay, so this has been amazing. Thank you so much, Cindy, for being on the Living Legacy Podcast. Now, if you want to follow you everywhere on social media and everywhere on the web, where can we find you?

Totally.

So I am on all six social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and YouTube at Speaker Shinjini. That's S P E A K E R S H I N J I N. Pretty simple, same handle. Find me, follow me for more go-getter motivation. You know, and really, I teach you how to be a go-getter and to go get your goals. And I want to clarify that a go-getter is someone who makes the first move to go get their goals versus just waiting for their goals to come to them. So definitely follow me. I do have a first book out. It is called Unapologetically Shinjini. It is my memoir at 26. It is an ebook and it's doing really well. People are reading it. The subline is Becoming a Go-Getter Changed My Life. So I'm really trying to share my story with you in great detail that social media doesn't really allow me to do. And show you, like you said, where I've come from, which is the bottom, right? And how I'm creating my own privilege. I'm building my own way into, as you know, a very, very white, privileged media world. So I want to encourage you to create your own privilege like a go-getter.

So perfect. Well, thank you. I know my listeners are gonna love this episode, and thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Zaakirah.

You're amazing, and we're all living our own legacies.

Thank you for listening to the Living Legacy Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, follow, and download so you don't miss the next episode. If you want to learn more, you can visit zaakirahnayar.com. That's Z-A-A-K-I-R-A-H-N-A-Y-A-R.com. Do you have any suggestions on a topic you want to be talked about? Send me an email or leave them in a review. If you love this episode, be sure to share it with your friends.

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