Become a confident storyteller for your brand to stand out and sell more. I'm a Visual Brand Coach and Award-Winning Photographer (featured in NY Times, Instagram, Apple). I help badass women entrepreneurs own their stories, showcase their uniqueness, and create brands that are downright magical. Ready to make your brand sizzle? Get your hands on my free brand guide packed with five essential ingredients to create an unforgettable brand experience.
I broke up with chai (and coffee) 💔
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Reader, I am a chai lover who stopped drinking chai. And coffee. 😪 Chai is a huge part of my identity, so it makes me cry. I have a SNP, a genetic trait that impacts how my body metabolizes caffeine. Most people clear caffeine in about 60 minutes, but it takes me forever. What sealed the deal was a chai crawl a few weeks back. That cup was also the impetus to get off caffeine entirely, and I crashed for four to five days. My headaches were so bad that a non-napper like me had to nap. All from one cup of tea a day. Now I drink decaf and the occasional cup of chai in the morning when I absolutely cannot help myself. Better sleep is on my vision board, and I have been focusing on improving it. The hard part isn't just the caffeine. It's the socialization. Trying to explain why I'm declining it, watching the polite confusion, the "but it's just one cup." That is the tough part. Not erasing who you are. Getting clear about who you are so you can build a brand that is actually you. Alpana PS. ART of You is an 8-week identity-focused group program that starts on June 8th. Mondays at 12.30 pm PST. If this resonates, DM me. |
The Secret Sauce is Your Story
Become a confident storyteller for your brand to stand out and sell more. I'm a Visual Brand Coach and Award-Winning Photographer (featured in NY Times, Instagram, Apple). I help badass women entrepreneurs own their stories, showcase their uniqueness, and create brands that are downright magical. Ready to make your brand sizzle? Get your hands on my free brand guide packed with five essential ingredients to create an unforgettable brand experience.
Dear Reader, My dad's birthday was July 4. Every year when I called to wish him a happy birthday, he'd answer with a smile and say, "You know all of America is celebrating my special day." This year will be my first July 4 without hearing that familiar joke. He passed away last November, and this year I'll celebrate him by eating one of his favorite desserts and looking through our old family photos. My dad was the reason I fell in love with photographs. The ones he took and the ones other...
Hey Reader, I started getting phishing emails from my own domain. My. Own. Domain. I sat with that for a minute. And then another minute. And then I thought, I am not going to block my own email address. 😂 Back in January, my website got hacked. And in the grand tradition of dealing with uncomfortable things I'd rather not deal with, I did... basically nothing about it. For months. I knew I needed to move hosts. I also knew that moving four domains sounded like the kind of project that ruins...
DearReader, I found myself between two worlds. Growing up in India, the message was clear. Don't stand out. Don't take up too much space. Be invisible. It's easy to internalize that. Even easier to stay rooted in it. Then I came to America at 22 and everything shifted. In my Master's program, I sat in awe of how women showed up. With Maryanne and Ken, with obviously my camera, and in an oversized red coat Maryanne, a mom from Pennsylvania, was juggling school and kids, and her presence was...