We recently connected with Ashika Lal and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ashika , thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I came home from Mexico, after a vacation and started researching “how to start a podcast”. I literally googled EVERYTHING, the best equipment, podcast hosting sites, how to submit to different platforms, what software to use, how to record, etc. I was like a crazed woman with an obsession. Every evening, after my day job, I was on the internet for hours on end, this was back when I averaged about 4-6 hours of sleep a night, I was basically a sponge, reading anything I could find, cross checking articles, you name it I read it.
If I knew then, what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have obsessed so much. You can read about it, you can watch YouTube videos on how to do things but in all honesty, I learned the most being hands on. I am an individual that learns by doing, and what should work in theory sometimes doesn’t work in real life. Troubleshooting, finding work arounds and becoming familiar with the equipment, tools and resources you do have is key. If anything, I could have sped up the launch process if I did some test recordings and mock produced those. I don’t think I wasted too much time though, I only spent about 3 weeks in the “learning” process before I launched. That’s pretty darn quick if you ask me!
I think patience, resilience and creative thinking are some of the most essential skills that helped me with starting up. For starters you are going to mess up, so you have to be patient with yourself. Secondly, technology can be a fickle, fickle friend, you’re going to have to be patient with technology too. Having resilience and resolve to keep going and not giving up at the sign of trouble, set backs or disappointments is key. And lastly, you need to think creatively and out of the box, to get through said challenges.
An obstacle for me to this day is time. I have a day job, I’m a single mom, I have a social life, I volunteer with other professional organizations, I work out 4-6 days a week, I don’t know what else I am missing but I do A LOT. I suppose if I had more time though, I would just fill it up with more activities!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Well, hello! My name is Ashika Lal and I am of Indo-Fijian/South Asian decent. I am the first US born child to immigrant parents and part of the larger South Asian diaspora. I am the owner, host and producer of a weekly relationships and lifestyle podcast, the Timepass Podcast. After a six-year marriage, I found myself a divorced, single mom. I no longer knew who I was and decided to do everything I could to find myself again. I started traveling as much as humanly possible, while not losing my day job. I started dating myself, going to my favorite restaurants and bars, even traveling alone. I reentered the dating scene and quickly learned all about dating apps, red flags and dating disasters… you name it, I did it. I wanted to know what I was made of, who was I anymore? I struck up conversations with strangers, made friends worldwide during my travels and swapped life stories with them. Through my travels, dating, friendships and experiences I somehow found ME. I realized my journey had many parts that were relatable and could help people in a similar situation, in particular South Asians who struggle with their identity and up bringing as much as I did and still do.
While vacationing in Mexico last year, my best friend encouraged me to start a podcast. I have always been a talker and storyteller, shy is not an adjective one would use to describe me. Unfiltered and straightforward with a comedic conversational quality has always been my storytelling style. After we came back, I put my nose to the grindstone and launched my podcast a month later. I honestly, have not looked back since. I’ve made some great connections and am proud of my audience also know as “timepassers” for finding me and creating community.
Now in its third season the show has evolved, as I have. Sure the main focus is still relationships but it’s not all about dating nightmares, apps and mishaps anymore. As I have healed myself and grown through the trials and tribulations of life, so has my content. I was surprised to learn that some of my most downloaded episodes are the ones that are focused around themes of self-help, coming in second only to the heavy hitting dating episodes. I receive a lot of feedback on my travel episodes as well. I would say you can expect the the Timepass Podcast to give you real, unfiltered and down to earth views of today’s world in dating, relationships, travel and lifestyle. Not a lot of pomp and circumstance, the show is as entertaining as it is raw. The show was recently synidcated by Rukus Avenue Radio and is now available there and on the DASH radio app. Timepass Radio airs every Sunday at 5PM PST, Monday at 11AM GMT and 3:30PM IST.
Is there a mission driving your creative journey?
Absolutely. The Timepass Podcast is a passion project, meaning in order for it to thrive and for me to remain committed to it, I really needed to determine why I was doing this. I found my why is the simple fact that I want to help people. I don’t care if I’m helping a hundred, ten or even just one person. I have been searching for love for what feels like forever, maybe even as a child. This idea of love has eluded me my whole life and I learned and continue to learn, a lot of real, tough lessons the hard way. There were times I didn’t think I’d make it but I persevered. Strangely enough, I am a really private person, a lot of times my friends and family have no idea what I’ve got going on personally. Vulnerability and emotions are perceived as weakness in South Asian culture. Yet, I knew I had been there, I’ve felt helpless, heartbroken and utterly alone. I knew I could help someone by sharing my stories, I knew there maybe someone, just one person out there, who could maybe relate to me and then maybe they wouldn’t feel as alone as I had. I think going through a lot of my own life’s trials alone made me realize how important it is to have people in your corner. That’s me, that’s my why, I want to be that person for people, the person in their corner.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
In the business world, success is measured in numbers. It’s a metric that we are accustomed to, as the saying goes “numbers don’t lie”. In today’s world, numbers are a black and white, cold hard truth that determine the success of almost every business in almost every industry. As a creative, I had to change my perspective that numbers equal success. I had to redefine what success meant to me on my journey and this is where having my “why” clearly defined, played an important role for me.
Creatives are often defined as successes based on the number of likes, follows, comments, downloads and views they receive. As a creative, it can get disappointing when you work for hours to create content that is only seen by a couple dozen people. And what do we do with those numbers in the business world? We compare them. We compare our numbers with numbers of others who are in the same line of work/ trade that we are in. For creatives, when you start looking at other creatives and see their engagement numbers you can be plagued with panic, feeling down and you start to question if what you are doing is even worth it? THAT’S IT, I had to unlearn all of THAT.
I had to remind myself of my why, I realized for me, helping even one person is a win. So I stopped comparing my numbers with other creatives. I flipped the script on my brain, instead of “only a couple dozen” people consumed my content it became, woah, not one but twenty-four people found what I’m putting out there valuable. I love my fellow creatives, there’s definitely a sense of community and support out here. But I learned everyone’s journey is different and everyone has a different “why”. For me, I love to be inspired by other creatives, I like to share content others create and support other creatives with shares, likes, follows and comments. I do that from a place of admiration and support versus competition. Sure numbers don’t lie but I am more interested in my own truths. I’m more interested in supporting my “why”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.timepasspodcast.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timepass_podcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timepasspodcast/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHYJAW_Pi-oah9gfMFddHNg?app=desktop
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashika.lal?lang=en