During class, we practiced improvising song structures and lyrics, scenes, how to rhyme and harmonize on the spot, and how to create flashy, fully improvised musical numbers. This curriculum stretched my brain and greatly challenged my performance ability.
I feel very proud looking back and feel that it set me on a path to explore the world of improv. I hope you enjoy this ballad on the love between a red panda and a trash panda.
Click the image to watch a clip of my stand-up comedy special, Swimming in My Grandmother, which I directed, wrote and produced for my Earth Systems Senior Capstone. Filmed at the Stanford coffeehouse CoHo, Swimming in My Grandmother delves into my experience living through a time of climate crisis. I share family stories and musings as I have grown up in the Anthropocene.
This project, which was written from August 2022 to February 2023, was imbued with so much love and gratitude for the community that has helped to raise me and water and nurture my passion for comedy and performance. I wrote it while studying abroad in Istanbul under the mentorship of the beloved Professor Richard Nevle. Upon my return to Stanford campus in the winter, I rehearsed at Roble Arts Gym and worked with Four Seasons of Film to document my performance. I also recruited a ragtag team of friends, family members and classmates to act, design, create audio, edit and fill in on a variety of tasks.
So I view this project as a gift to the community that had a large hand in producing it.
Please contact me for more clips!
I was inspired to create this video from my time working with The Climate Reality Project when I mentored Global Shaper Hubs as they implemented climate resilient projects in their localities. I met the Lancaster Hub and was encouraged by their down-to-earth attitudes and excitement for their Ride, Roll and Stroll campaign.
I love covering stories about folks who are taking climate action in creative ways, returning to the Earth and celebrating the pleasures and joy that abound on this planet.
I am so inspired by Laru Beya and its mission to empower young women of color to surf their local waves. They are a community that celebrate the outdoors, care, mentorship and daring.
My time with The Stanford Daily helped me to soak up so much knowledge about the institution that I was attending. I am so glad that I was able to work with such talented journalists, learn from student organizers and gain much-needed context on the issues facing our community. I look back at my time at The Daily as a crash course on life as an undergraduate.
