Thread by @shefalikulkarni

#SAJA25 In ‘03 I was heading to college & start my journalism career. Mom made a really good good point: “there’s not a lot of #Desi journalists out there” she said. So I went on Google & searched “Indian/South Asian journalists?”
I found a simple website saja.org

To become a member, you had to MAIL A CHECK to a man in Connecticut 🤷🏾‍♀️. So I think it was check # 3 that went to longtime SAJA treasurer @johnlaxmi & a few weeks later I became a student member of the South Asian Journalists Association. Got an email confirmation & everything.

For years being a @sajahq member simply meant that I got their emails. @sree’s constant updates & a rolling compendium of brown journos in the US. As one of the only 🇮🇳 American students at my small Wisconsin college it meant the world just knowing there were other Desi journos

Eventually I went to my 1st SAJA convention in NYC. I was entering my final year of college & had never seen a room full of South Asians let alone South Asian journos. The ‘06 convention was at @columbiajourn & I was in awe thinking I’d never again see that j-school in person

I got plenty more #SAJA25 stories - like flying to DC in 06 for a SAJA event & meeting Len Downie & writing a blog post for the SAJAForum blog. Or when I couldn’t find a couch to crash on at some SAJA events former board members like @vikasbajaj & @Reddy called around to help.

That’s the best part of #SAJA - it is not a big org, but you know the members. They go to bat for you. When you lose your job, they vouch for you. When you need a source they come thru. It’s a network that knows that you deciding to become a journalist came with some sacrifices

It’s been one of the biggest honors in my journalism career to have served on the national board of @sajahq - one year as VP. 🙌🏾 #SAJA25 is a testament to the outstanding members that keep this network going. It’s not surprising now to meet brown journos & how amazing is that?

I wish I was there celebrating #SAJA25 with you all, but if you are reading this, then donate to this tremendous nonprofit that’s definitely made me the journalist I am today: SAJA.org/donate
Ps. Special shout-out to co-founder @sree who has been a pillar of support 🙌🏾