About

Nawaaz Ahmed was born in Tamil Nadu, India. Before turning to writing, he was a computer scientist, researching search algorithms for Yahoo. His debut novel, Radiant Fugitives (2021), about an Indian American woman volunteering on Kamala Harris’s attorney general campaign in 2010, was a finalist for the 2022 Pen/Faulkner Award and the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the Aspen Literary Prize. He holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He currently lives in Brooklyn.

Archana M. Jain is a crisis strategist, investor, and brand-building expert with over 15 years of experience shaping narratives for Fortune 500 companies. She is the Founder of Product of Culture (POC), a WOC-founded collective that amplifies Brown brands and creatives through culture-driven strategy, content, and experiences. Under her leadership, POC has become a global hub for South Asian creatives, launching initiatives like the Founder’s Summit, the South Asian Film Festival of America, and the POC Shop. A Brazil-born New Yorker of South Asian heritage, Archana serves on the boards of South Asian Women in Entertainment and the Arts Council of America and holds a master’s in Public Relations from NYU.

Sneha Scharbach is an NYC-based comedian, Indian-American, and LGBTQ+ mom of two who turns family chaos into comedy gold. Her stand-up dives into coming out to traditional Indian parents, raising kids with her wife Kathryn, and the beautiful mess of modern queer parenting—with a healthy dose of sarcasm and spice (last time she wore a sari, her mom made her). She recently lit up the stage at Breaking Barriers: An AANHPI Celebration and is quickly becoming a must-watch voice in comedy.

Sola Fasehun is the Founder of the Diversity and Inclusion Film Festival (DIFF) at Lincoln Center. Her career includes film development with Academy Award Winner Michael Phillips (Lighthouse Productions), and serving as a Sales Agent & Distribution consultant at Submarine Entertainment/Deluxe, where she contributed to Oscar-winning features. She was a producer on the feature film Fire Music and helped develop and launch the first diversity initiatives at UTA & Buchwald. I also helped to develop and launch the first Indie Film division at Buchwald as Co-Head of the Indie Film Division.

Chithra Jeyaram is a physical therapist turned filmmaker who identifies as Tamil. Her films reveal the extraordinary in the everyday, focusing on the wisdom, resilience, and love of biological and chosen families. Her feature documentary FOREIGN PUZZLE is a poignant exploration of motherhood that contrasts cancer's brutality with the resilience of dance, and LOVE CHAOS KIN fills a critical gap in mainstream adoption narratives by highlighting multicultural and multiracial families, particularly through the lens of immigrants and people of color. She has edited the feature documentary - Sex Work, It’s Just a Job (2025) and filmed and edited the feature documentary One Thousand and One Berber Nights (2023). Chithra is an adjunct faculty member at NYU. She is an alumna of prestigious programs, including Visions du Réel’s RoughCut Lab, the Chicken & (Egg)celerator Lab, the BGDM Artist Fellowship, the Gotham Documentary Fellowship, and the Jerome Foundation grant. Her films have been showcased by platforms and festivals such as 2M, PBS, CBSN, Apple TV, BlackStar, SXSW, and DOC NYC. Food is her first love, and she is an avid runner who has completed 15 marathons. She calls Chennai and New York City home and is writing her first screenplay, THE LONGEST SUMMER.

Amma’s Pride: FYC Screening Event