I’m delighted to share that I’m a member of the inaugural class of the Salon XYZ Program. Established by noteworthy South Asian artists and executives (Reena Singh, Rishi Rajani, Bash Naran, Nik Dodani, Vinny Chhibber), the Program seeks to bolster South Asian visibility in front of and behind the camera. The year-long program offer a mentor, panels and networking opportunities. The 23 fellows were selected from 850 applications.
Mentors include an impressive list of actors, writers, directors and execs of South Asian descent: Sara Rastogi (VP, Issa Rae Productions), Nirokhi Raychaudhuri (Manager, Netflix), Nick Krishnamurthy (VP, Esmail Corp.), Anu Valia (Writer/Director, Never Have I Ever, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens), Punam Patel (Actress, Special), Sim Hothi (Manager, Three Six Zero), Sanjay Shah (EP, Central Park), Simran Baidwan (Co-Executive Producer, Manifest), Meera Menon (Writer/Director, Farah Goes Bang), Manish Dayal (Actor, The Resident), Melanie Chandra (Actress, Code Black), Sri Rao (Writer/Director, The Actress) and Aneesh Chaganty (Writer/Director, Searching).
The Salon was formed in 2019 and served as a forum for South Asian artists and executives in the entertainment industry. The group hosted networking events and facilitated meetings. The Salon is looking to launch a development program to grant funding to narrative films by South Asian filmmakers the U.S. For full details on the mentorship program visit thesalon.xyz/mentorship.