Students feature Tamil Creatives through அval Kural podcast

Third-year Journalism students, Vaishnavi Sriparan (external link)  and Shaaranki Kulenthirarasa (external link)  started அval Kural (external link) , a podcast (external link)  that the two hope to turn into a media collective as they dedicate more time to the project in the future.

Each episode of அval Kural – meaning “her voice” in Tamil – features the co-hosts discussing relatable topics or a Tamil woman sharing her story of pursuing a career in media or a creative industry, which the co-hosts say is considered an unconventional path in Tamil culture.

Although Sriparan and Kulenthirarasa have discussed the idea since first year, it wasn’t until third year that the two decided to finally take the leap.

They realized they didn’t want other Tamil girls to experience imposter syndrome or the feeling of not seeing yourself represented.

“We can inspire future Tamil girls who are looking at media as a potential career, but feel conflicted because there is a lack of representation,” Sriparan said.

Sriparan and Kulenthirarasa were co-founders of 100 Reasons to Vote (external link) , a student-led podcast about democracy, with Journalism student Pamela Hackett.

With previous podcasting experience under their belt, the two had a good foundation when starting அval Kural. 

“It allowed us to understand how to reach out to people, get help, posting our callouts in group chats…we’ve learned different aspects of what makes a podcast good,” Kulenthirarasa said.

The team didn’t know how big 100 Reasons to Vote would get, but this time, the pair know to think bigger when it comes to marketing.

Sriparan said, “we should put ourselves out there for அval Kural because who knows who is looking at our work.”

Although அval Kural is still getting started, Sriparan and Kulenthirarasa were recognized among the 30 under 30 (external link)  at the Youth Excellence Reception presented by The Tamil Heritage Month Council at City Hall.

Kulenthirarasa said they were inspired the whole night by meeting outstanding people in the Tamil community, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto City Councillor Neethan Shan and being able to network with other Tamil creatives.

She added, “I'm really grateful for 30 Under 30, because getting it at 20 years old was insane. It was not on my bucket list, but it really provided us with a platform.”

Sriparan said, “Sharing my love for the Tamil culture, the Tamil community and the creatives in the community was honestly unreal.”

Kulenthirarasa and Sriparan said their dream podcast guest would be Tamil-Canadian actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.

It would be a full circle moment for Kulenthirarasa, who has kept up with the star since she was 14.

Sriparan’s advice for Journalism students is that you have to put in the work if you want things to happen. “In order to make yourselves stand out in journalism, you have to do things and put stuff on your plate,” she said. “Putting yourself out there and not being afraid to start something new is one of the biggest things I would say.”