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Exclusive: British Bindi Interview

1.  What is British Bindi and how did you come up with this concept?

British Bindi is an online platform to discuss what it’s like to be a contemporary British Asian female. Founded by four of us best friends, we thought it would be cool to have space online to discuss and explore what essentially we go through. It grew from there and we started to invite others to join in the conversation too. We predominantly discuss and explore the Brit Asian culture through blogs and social media.

2.  Who are the British Bindis? (Do you have a target audience) 

We are four British Asian females (Amani, Jasmeen, Kiran & Tanisha), who are also best friends. We’re a collective who are passionate about creating an honest space and community for all British Asians, where we can share experiences, advice, news and culture. Our platform naturally attracts British Asian millennials who share the same curiosity about our two cultures. Our audience are super engaging and love to share their opinions and stories, which is always enlightening for us.
 

3.  Why did you think you needed to create british bindi?

 When scrolling down on our social media pages, watching tv and movies we have always noticed that British Asians have never been represented in a true reflection, and we wanted to change this. We aimed to talk about subjects that aren’t really highlighted even though they are quite common for us in today’s society. Therefore when we started we decided to talk about subjects we can closely relate to for example ‘Surviving wedding season as a British Asian’ and ‘Being Asian and choosing a creative degree’, our articles received many positive comments praising us on covering such taboo subjects. We now work with other British Asian writers helping them while they help us, telling their own personal stories that many other people can also relate to. Stories that we haven’t experienced ourselves such as ‘What’s wrong with being childless’ and ‘When your name is mispronounced on graduation’.

We’re hoping by highlighting these taboo subjects more British Asians will feel comfortable talking about their own challenges and helping them with their personal journeys.

4.  Have you come across any obstacles when addressing issues? In particular Indian female orientated topics?

We’ve been really lucky and haven’t experienced too many issues when talking about topics on our blog – people have generally been very open and talkative about the topics. We do occasionally come across the odd person who feels very strongly against something we’ve spoken about. However, it’s hard to even converse with them and find out what their issue is about, as they come across as ‘troll’ in the online world and quite irrational… as they say ‘haters gonna hate’. We’re always open to hearing other opinions.

5.  Can we see yourselves starting your own youtube chanel/podcast/school visits?

We’d love to create more video content eventually, as visuals are such a great way to connect with our audience. It’s also the same for podcasts, although, all four of us on a podcast would be hard to control! (they’d be lots of gossip, giggles, and chaos).
We’re actually working on a big event at the moment which is the UK’s first Asian Woman Festival! So we’re 100% focusing on that for now, as we’re helping curate and produce the event, it’s something new and exciting for us!
More info on the fest here: www.asianwomanfestival.com

6.  Who is your inspiration?

British Bindi is inspired by everyone, all of our readers, followers and every South Asian woman around the UK and abroad; all doing fabulous things.
The women who stand up for their beliefs and share their thoughts on topics that may seem taboo and haram to talk about in our society or community. Women who have faced adversity and trauma who have really taken the approach on creating their negative experiences into positive. We are inspired by females who have received backlash for dancing ‘as it goes against their religion or not ‘a lady like thing to be doing at a certain age’.

Females that have received mental abuse for being of a certain body shape but have walked away and really and truly – well owned it. Not allowing anything to knock their confidence down. Just to name a few examples. These strong women are our inspiration, what we want to become and what we want to promote to our audience. It’s ok to be shy, nervous, feel upset and down but these women who go through things like this inspire us to stay strong. They can do it. We can all do it – together.

7.  What is your advice for Asian females living in the UK?

Be yourself and (if you want) embrace both of your British and Asian cultural heritage, it’s a cool thing when you’re comfortable with who you are and where you came from. We’re so lucky to have such a vibrant and interesting heritage. And of course, don’t be afraid to challenge things that seem unfair, especially with the sometimes gender-bias Asian traditions, most likely others will feel the same as you.