Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Veena Rao. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Veena thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I have said this before. I am a brown, introverted, immigrant woman. I should not have succeeded in the newspaper business nor as a debut author in an overcrowded book publishing industry. The fact that I have, says a lot about this country which makes it possible for ideas to succeed as long as you are prepared to work hard and persevere through failures. I think the resilience to persist through failures and hard times is one of the key factors in every success story.
I launched my newspaper, NRI Pulse, on a whim in 2006. I had no capital nor financial backing. The newspaper did well for a while (beginner’s luck) until recession hit in 2008. Instead of giving up, I ran the publication on a shoestring budget and made personal sacrifices. I did most of the work myself– from news gathering, reporting, editing, laying out to distributing the print copies at over 70 locations around town. My hard work eventually paid dividends. In 2010, the Limca Book of Records recognized me as the first Indian woman to edit and publish a newspaper outside India. Being in the record books raised the visibility of NRI Pulse.
Even though the pandemic affected our business and we made a decision to suspend our print operations, our digital channels have been steadily gaining readership, not just in Georgia but around the country. Today, NRI Pulse is one of the top South Asian publications in the US. We have a wonderful core group of women who are passionate about bringing news to our readers.
My journey as a fiction author had a similar trajectory. I am a brown, immigrant, female author with no MFA or Ivy League pedigree. I taught myself to write fiction after I started working on my novel. It took me ten years to complete the novel and find a publisher. The publishing industry wasn’t very open to diverse voices until very recently. Finding a literary agent who was willing to take up my book was near impossible. Each time I saw a rejection email, my heart sank. But I was back at my computer the next day, reworking the manuscript. Over the years, I must have worked on a zillion drafts. Ultimately, I won a manuscript contest and a book deal hosted annually for women of color by my wonderful publisher, She Writes Press. My novel finally got published in the fall of 2020. Since its release, Purple Lotus has won several awards including the American Fiction Award and was a finalist in the 2021 Georgia Author of the Year Award. It has also resonated with readers across the world.
The greatest takeaways from my stories as a publisher and as a novelist are:
Perseverance pays in the long-run.
Failure is a better teacher than instant success. Use it to better yourself or your service/product.
Be passionate about what you do. It will keep you going through challenging times.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I moved from India to the United States over twenty years ago and now call Atlanta home. I am a journalist by profession and the founding editor of NRI Pulse, a South Asian news publication that I established in 2006. I am also in the Limca Book of Records as the first Indian woman to edit and publish a newspaper outside India.
NRI Pulse is a multiple award winning, minority-women run news publication that brings news to its readers as it unfolds.
Although my day job involves news reports, interviews, and meeting press deadlines, I devote my spare time to creative writing. Purple Lotus, my debut novel, is a 2021 Georgia Author of the Year finalist, an American Fiction Award winner, and an award-winning finalist in the 2021 International Book Awards. I am currently working on my second novel, which is set in small-town Georgia.
In my spare time, I volunteer for social causes. I am on the board of SarisToSuits, a non-profit that empowers women through its many projects, including the Purple Lotus legal defense fund. I am also a program coordinator for Tasveer South Asian Literary Festival (TSAL) which brings together an eclectic group of poets, novelists, screenwriters, nonfiction and experimental writers expressing a wide range of South Asian diasporic voices on race, immigration, gender, identity, and publishing.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I launched NRI Pulse in 2006 on an impulse. The market back then was full of feature magazines, but there were no South Asian news publications. I woke up one morning and decided that I would launch a newspaper. I didn’t have a business plan or capital—just a deep belief that I could do it. Sitting in my living room, it seemed like an easy thing to do. I had worked for a couple of community publications, so I knew people in the community. I went to the businesses I knew to get advertisements and sponsorships. Some businesses and community members, who knew my work, had confidence in my abilities. They agreed to advertise in the first issue, which gave me enough funds to bring out the inaugural issue. The issue was a roaring success, which helped me get more advertisers onboard for the second issue.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Writing, especially fiction writing, is a very isolating experience. So, to have your readers read and appreciate your work is richly rewarding. It makes all the frustrations, the failures, the heartbreak and tears, well worth it. I read every single Goodreads and Amazon review. It never gets old, just as it never gets old to see my book in a library in San Francisco or a bookstore in Seattle.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nripulse.com, www.veenaspulse.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veenarao/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veenaraok/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veena-rao-016a52b
- Twitter: @veenaraoNRI
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NRIPulseNews
Image Credits
Sumi’s photography ShutterClicks by KC