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South Asian Trailblazers

Simi Shah | Trailblazers Media

77 episodes

3 months ago

Send us a text 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: investo...

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Personal Journals,

Society & Culture

All content for South Asian Trailblazers is the property of Simi Shah | Trailblazers Media and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Send us a text 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: investo...

Show more...

Personal Journals,

Society & Culture

Episodes (20/77)

South Asian Trailblazers

Sandeep Acharya, Founder and CEO of Octave Health

Send us a text 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: investo...

3 months ago

42 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Dilawar Syed, U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Deputy Administrator

Send us a text 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 t...

3 months ago

52 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

South Asian Trailblazers at The Oscars: Mindy Kaling, Charithra Chandran, Manish Dayal, Deli Boys

Send us a text 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 Daya...

4 months ago

25 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

SPECIAL LIVE: Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement

Send us a text 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 ...

6 months ago

1 hour 21 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

SPECIAL LIVE: Jay Sean, Multi-platinum Artist, Entrepreneur, & Record Label Executive

Send us a text 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 Bost...

7 months ago

1 hour 22 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Exciting Updates: Upcoming Events, Season 8, and our Agency

Send us a textHappy 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 ...

1 year ago

2 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Amol Shah, Go-To-Market at OpenAI

Send us a textFor 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 ...

1 year ago

50 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Nishant Roy, Chief Communications & Impact Officer at Chobani

Send us a textIn 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 h...

1 year ago

1 hour 3 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Akash Mehta & Niki Mehta, Founders of Fable & Mane

Send us a textIn 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...

1 year ago

52 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Raja Kumari, Rapper, Singer, Songwriter

Send us a textSimi 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, ...

1 year ago

47 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Nikhil Saboo, Broadway Star and Actor

Send us a textJoining 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 Bro...

1 year ago

47 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Priya Singh, Chief Strategy Officer & Senior Associate Dean at Stanford Medicine

Send us a textFor 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 the...

1 year ago

52 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Nora Ali, CEO and Co-Founder of Mason Media

Send us a textSimi 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...

1 year ago

49 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Diipa Büller-Khosla, Global Influencer, Founder of indē wild, Model

Send us a textIn 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, o...

1 year ago

29 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Ruchi Bhowmik, Vice President of Public Policy at Netflix

Send us a textSimi 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...

1 year ago

45 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

LIVE: Vas Narasimhan (CEO of Novartis) & Dr. Srishti Gupta Narasimhan (Physician Leader in Health and Education)

Send us a textTo kick off South Asian Trailblazers Season 7, power duo Dr. Vas Narasimhan (CEO of Novartis) and Dr. Srishti Gupta Narasimhan (Physician Leader in Health & Education) join Simi all the way from Basel, Switzerland for a LIVE recording at Novartis Headquarters in Cambridge, MA. WATCH this episode on YouTube.South Asian Trailblazers is dedicated to elevating leading South Asians. To learn about our events, subscribe to our newsletter at SouthAsianTrailblazers.com and follow us...

1 year ago

1 hour 13 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Shruti Ganguly, Filmmaker, Director, and Producer

Send us a textFor our Season 6 Finale, Simi invites Shruti Rya Ganguly: award-winning Filmmaker, Producer, and Writer to the podcast.In 2017, Shruti started honto88, a production company that works in a variety of formats — from narrative and doc features to series and branded content. She launched it with a narrative feature produced by Keanu Reeves. She has directed videos for Google, Unilever, Nike, and Chanel. Recently, she also co-founded Prism Entertainment to craft South-Asian focused ...

2 years ago

54 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Gaurav Shah, CEO of Rocket Pharmaceuticals & Grammy Award Winner

Send us a textThe founding CEO of a breakout biotech company AND a Grammy Award winner? Gaurav Shah is no stranger to dualities. In this episode, Simi speaks with the Co-Founder and CEO of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, a company developing first-in-class gene-modified cell therapies to treat rare diseases. Prior to his role as founding CEO, Gaurav was a Global Program Head in the Cell & Gene Therapies Unit at Novartis, where he had strategic oversight of 12 functions and helped spear...

2 years ago

52 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

SPECIAL LIVE EPISODE: Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal at Impact Summit 2023

Send us a textIn this special edition of South Asian Trailblazers, Simi hosts a LIVE podcast with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal — the first South Asian woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives — to kick off Indian American Impact's 2023 Summit in Washington D.C. WATCH this episode on YouTube.In addition to elevating the stories of South Asian leaders, South Asian Trailblazers is also dedicated to convening them. If you're interested in attending future community events, includ...

2 years ago

40 minutes

South Asian Trailblazers

Zarna Garg, Comedian

Send us a textYou’ve likely seen Zarna Garg — the Indian immigrant mom and comedy sensation cracking mom jokes on Instagram, opening for Tina Fey, or most recently, making headlines for her comedy special, Zarna Garg: One in a Billion, which premiered on Amazon Prime in May.But do you know what came before? Born and raised in India, Zarna Garg immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager to escape her father's plans for an arranged marriage. She landed in Akron, Ohio, where she pursued her B.S....

2 years ago

57 minutes