South Asian Trailblazers

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Sandeep Acharya — Founder and CEO of Octave, a company that’s quietly but powerfully transforming how we experience mental health care in America. WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE. Under his leadership, Octave has partnered with major insurers to make high-quality, affordable therapy accessible across 23 states. It’s been named a LinkedIn Top Startup and one of the best places to work in the country. Before founding Octave, Sandeep wore many hats: investor at Bain Capit...

On the nostalgic grounds of their shared alma mater, Wharton, Simi speaks with Dilawar Syed, the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). A role he was nominated into by President Biden, Administrator Syed was the highest-ranking Muslim official in the U.S. Government at the time of this recording. WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE. Syed came to the SBA from the State Department where he served as Special Representative for Commercial & Business Affairs. As the State Depart...

South Asian Trailblazers at the Oscars 🏆 WATCH this episode HERE. Founder & Host, Simi Shah, takes us inside a celebration of South Asian excellence at the 2025 Academy Awards. She speaks with trailblazers across generations and genres about their journeys to the hallowed halls of Hollywood. Join us for interviews with and speeches from this Oscars Pre-Party! Interviews Charithra Chandran, Actor | Bridgerton, One PieceSaagar Shaikh, Actor | Deli Boys, Ms. MarvelManish Dayal, Actor | The ...

In this special edition of South Asian Trailblazers, Simi Shah hosts a LIVE podcast with Gurbir S. Grewal — the Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement and former Attorney General of New Jersey — at the law offices of Morrison Foerster in New York City. WATCH this episode on YouTube. This event was proudly hosted in partnership with global law firm, Morrison Foerster and The South Asian Bar Association of New York (SABANY). SABANY is an organization devoted to the needs, concerns...

In this special, LIVE-recorded edition of South Asian Trailblazers, Host Simi Shah kicks off Season 8 with Jay Sean — multi-platinum artist, entrepreneur, and record label executive. WATCH this and EVERY FUTURE episode on YouTube. South Asian Trailblazers is an award-winning media platform, community, and agency dedicated to elevating leading South Asians. Join our community at SouthAsianTrailblazers.com. This special live episode was proudly hosted in partnership with Boston Consulting G...

Happy AAPI Heritage Month from South Asian Trailblazers! 👋🏼 In this short soundbite, I’m sharing exciting updates about events we’re hosting around the world(!), Season 8, and our Agency. The highlights: Season 8 goes live this Fall! But we couldn’t wait to share a sneak peek with you…which is why you can enjoy our latest LIVE recording with the esteemed Gurbir S. Grewal, the Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement and former Attorney General of New Jersey. WATCH this episode on Yo...

For our Season 7 Finale, we catch up with Amol Shah from OpenAI, one of the world's leading artificial intelligence companies and the creator of ChatGPT. Amol's career spans roles at tech giants like Facebook and TikTok, and more recently, he served as the Chief Revenue Officer for blockchain startup QuickNode. Before his foray into the tech c-suite, Amol served as the Head of the US Disruptor team and Founding Sales Leader at TikTok. Between 2015 and 2019, he led platform sales at Fac...

In this episode, we meet Nishant Roy, Chief Communications and Impact Officer at Chobani. Chobani is one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world and has been a pioneer in the natural food movement for the last decade. Nishant has an incredibly variegated career to date. He began his career with distinguished service in the United States Air Force as an airman where he served with the Security Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Upon his honorable discharge, he channeled his commitmen...

In this episode, Simi welcomes our first-ever sibling founder duo: Akash and Nikita Mehta, Co-Founders of Fable & Mane. Fable & Mane is an Ayurveda-inspired hair wellness brand. Akash is a British entrepreneur and influencer. He graduated from Imperial College London with a degree in electrical engineering. His professional journey spans roles at Burberry, Estee Lauder, and Dior, where he notably served as their youngest-ever global digital manager. Currently, Akash serves as t...

Simi speaks with the revered RAJA KUMARI. Born Svetha Rao, Raja Kumari is a Grammy-nominated, international singer, songwriter, and rapper. With over 43 million monthly Spotify streams, she has launched multiple hit singles and albums and collaborated with John Legend, AR Rahman, Iggy Azalea, and Fall Out Boy. Drawing from her Indian roots, she is trained in multiple styles of Indian dance and is regarded as one of India's top female rappers. She has been featured in Billboard, Vogue India,...

Joining us on South Asian Trailblazers is Actor and Broadway Star, Nikhil Saboo. Most recently, Nikhil played the iconic Connor Murphy in the National Tour of Dear Evan Hansen, becoming the first South Asian to ever take on the Tony-nominated role. He also performed in the 1st National Tour of Hamilton: An American Musical and in the original Broadway cast of Mean Girls: The Musical. Nikhil's career in the arts is extensive. In addition to appearing on Broadway, he ha...

For our mid-season finale, Simi is joined by Priya Singh — Chief Strategy Officer, Senior Associate Dean, & Vice President of Stanford Medicine. Stanford Medicine encompasses a $13 billion preeminent academic health center comprised of the Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Health Care, and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. Priya first began her career at Stanford in 2002, when she joined Stanford’s Graduate School of Business as the Director of Marketing for their Executive...

Simi is joined by Nora Ali, the CEO and Co-Founder of Mason Media, a full-service production company and brand studio, which she co-founded alongside MLB all-star Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) and tech billionaire Marc Lore. With a degree in Statistics and Quantitative Finance from Harvard, Nora began her career by building a foundation in capital markets as an Asian Equities Associate on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs. She then helped build and launch e-commerce company Jet.com as an early me...

In a first for South Asian Trailblazers, we welcome Global Influencer and Entrepreneur Diipa Büller-Khosla. Diipa is not only one of the first Indian influencers to have gained international renown, but is also breaking barriers as a founder, model, public speaker, and activist. At age 18, Diipa moved from India to Amsterdam and eventually London to study international human rights law. She interned at the United Nations’ International Criminal Court and IMA Influencer Agency, one of the big...

Simi sits down with Ruchi Bhowmik, Vice President of Public Policy at Netflix. In this role, Ruchi strategizes around the streaming giant's relationships with key stakeholders: regulators, non-governmental organizations, and elected leaders in the United States and Canada. Prior to joining Netflix, Ruchi was Global Vice Chair of Public Policy at EY, one of the big four accounting firms. There she was responsible for the firm’s public policy operations in 150{ countries. As G...