We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ananya Vahal a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ananya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on is the Lung Girl comic book series. It is very close to my heart and is saving lives! In addition to being a professional writer, I am also the President of The Sid Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for lung transplant research and recipients. One way our organization educates our community and raises funds is through Lung Girl comics. This is a series of comics about a 12-year-old superhero called Lung Girl and her robot sidekick Ecmo who protect the world from bad guys and lung health issues.

Lung Girl makes talking about lung health more accessible and entertaining. Her comics have been used in medical translation classrooms to teach students how to discuss lung health in a more understandable way. Not only is Lung Girl educating our community, she is also saving lives by raising funds for lung transplant patients. These funds are used to help lung transplant patients pay medical bills and to send them care packages with essential items needed to live a healthy life.

The first Lung Girl comic was published in 2016 and there are three issues out so far each covering a different type of lung health issue. I am the writer and creator of the Lung Girl comic series and I work with comic artist Carlos “Loso” Perez to make the comics come to life. Lung Girl comics can be purchased on Amazon.com and, if you are local, you can find them at Syndicate Comics & Collectibles in Marietta, GA.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a professional writer and educator. I have been a writer since I was a child. As an introverted child, I spent hours writing songs, stories, poetry, and journal entries in my room. When I wasn’t writing, I was reading books. However, I didn’t know anyone from my community or background that was a writer. I didn’t know it was a profession and a career path that I could pursue. I also did not grow up in a home environment where my talents were encouraged or supported. When I got to college, I was very indecisive about what to major in. After a couple of years of changing my major, I realized the classes I enjoyed the most and got the best grades in where my English classes, so I decided to be an English major. I still didn’t know how I could have a career as an English major and did not see myself becoming a writer. Soon after graduation, my elder brother became ill and need a double lung transplant. I spent almost an entire year in his hospital rooms with him. This got me interested in pursuing a career in healthcare. Unfortunately, that did not pan out as expected and life eventually took me back to writing. I joined an MFA program in writing and realized this was what I was meant to do all along. I became a professional writer.

My writing is based on self empowerment through decolonizing English. I do tend to approach things from a humorous lens. My genres are creative nonfiction and comics, although, I did finish my first novel manuscript recently. I was also a freelance writer for Business Insider for a few years. I love writing in all its forms and don’t limit myself to a genre. My published works include Lung Girl comics, The Ambiguously Brown Couple comic, Kiss Papercuts Goodbye (creative nonfiction anthology), and many articles published online with various publications. I am a writing professor at a university as well.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The mission behind my creative journey is bring as much joy and empowerment into my life and into the world as I possibly can. Every one is born with creativity. Society stifles our creativity by the time we become young adults. We are told to pursue careers based on money, status, and power instead of finding and fulfilling our purpose in life. Luckily, I followed the beat of my own drum. I was lucky enough to be able to build a career based on my creative gifts. I get to fulfill my purpose in life every day through my writing and my teaching. I get to be creative and have fun while doing it. I also get to teach others how to be creative and have fun for a career/lifestyle. My goal is to bring more joy and creativity into the world. It’s the best way to empower ourselves and make the world a better place. If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

One thing that helped me build my reputation in my community/market is just being a decent person. I’m not saying I’m a saint, however, it isn’t common to find decent people in the world nowadays. The society we live in values competition and exploitation so everyone is fighting for scraps and looking out for only themselves. What I have built is based on collaboration and empowerment. I have been able to build a community around me (with lots of help from others) that I can be a part of where we all support each other. Many people say they want community, but they aren’t willing to be inconvenience to help out their neighbor. They probably don’t even know who their neighbor is. Building community through generosity, collaboration, trade, and commerce instead of capitalistic values such as exploitation and competition have established my reputation within the market and has provided me with safety and comfort in my career and personal life. It also helps me stay empowered and free.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ananyavahal.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ananyavahal/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ananyavahal
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ananya-vahal/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MKTwR65Nn_YP04CPObRjg
• Other: Medium: https://medium.com/@ananyavahal

Image Credits

Photographer for my main photo: Hrishikesh Bhattar