Niyaz Pirani of Orange County on Life, Lessons & Legacy

Niyaz Pirani shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Niyaz, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Two things, but they are connected: Music Producer Rick Rubin and Substack!

As a longtime music lover and writer, Rick Rubin has always been one of my favorite creative minds. He’s part chill dude/part genius/part guru, and he’s responsible for some of the greatest albums of all time. He has a book called “The Creative Act: A Way of Being,” narrated by him, and it’s a meditative, monotone, calming journey through the creative pathways of Rick’s mind and an instruction manual for conjuring your own creative force from within.

Though I have a daytime career and run a public relations firm alongside of that, music writing is my passion and calling, so this book came at the right time. This year my first full-page feature story was published in the Los Angeles Times music section (I’ll link to it at the end of this), and it was a huge personal achievement.

I have a book idea that’s been cooking for some time, which feels like the next logical step, however it’s a big gap. Rick’s book inspired me to create a Substack and companion Instagram (called “universal frEQuencies”) where I have promised myself to write a new article once a week for the next year. I’m also posting audio narration and podcast to the platform.

I’m many down now with stories planned through next year. I’m loving the feeling of having my work under my own name in a place where I control the presentation and content completely.

As a writer, this is the most free I have ever felt.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
What I love about this question is that over doing several of these articles since 2018, my path has been documented, and it’s always morphing.

My name is Niyaz Pirani, founder of Knife & Spork Public Relations. K&S specializes in social media content creation, targeted ads, photography and videography for restaurants. I run my agency along with my wife Nadia, and I also work as a Communications Director in Orange County by day. My agency was larger a few years ago, but we decided to scale down when our son was born.

From 2005 to 2010 I was a reporter at the Orange County Register. From 2010 to 2015 I worked in communications at Orange County Employees Association, using what I learned as a reporter to do internal communications. In 2015 I took those skills and founded my agency. In 2022, I returned to OCEA as Communications Director and picked up where my work left off there.

Two ideas inform my work: “Names and Faces Build Community” and “Everyone Has a Story to Tell.” My goals with any brand or organization are to build a community and then tell the story to create interest and sales over time within that engaged, and hopefully fervent, audience.

My work and the accolades of my clients has been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Michelin Guide, Bon Appétit Magazine, and more.

For my own personal fulfillment, I continue to be a music writer, most recently for my own Substack, InSpite Magazine and the L.A. Times. That is where I am putting all of my creative focus and energy outside of my business and my work in the coming year(s).

Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
That I am not capable of great things.

Being a kid was rough for me in a lot of ways. I was not studious and I didn’t earn high grades. I had a great group of friends, but was never popular in any way, which felt important at the time. Obviously, with the perspective of 20-30 years, that sentiment has changed, but it took me a long time to stop believing that I wasn’t good enough to continue learning, or to excel at something… because I never knew what I was good at when I was younger!

Writing changed that for me in college. It gave me a career, and continues to give me purpose. Once I stopped trying to follow others and leaned in to my own voice, my own ideas and my own creativity, that’s when things started to improve.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Two times come to mind. The first was in 2015 when I started Knife & Spork PR. I was very excited to pitch one of the best restaurants in the city I had just moved to and had a meeting scheduled with the Executive Chef. When I returned to talk to him, he chided me for coming toward the end of the lunch hour when there were still guests dining and told me not to come back. It was bizarre and rude and it made me pretty depressed because I thought I was about to land my first client. I didn’t go back out to pitch again for three weeks because I had felt like such a failure.

The second time was this year writing my first Sunday feature for the L.A. Times. I was interviewing social media star Jacob Givens, an L.A. based music lover, content creator, and podcaster for what I thought would be an easy to write, straightforward Q&A as I have done in my previous articles for LAT (most notably, with Ambrose Kinney-Smith of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard; Maynard James Keenan of TOOL/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer; and Odesza)..

The conversation between myself and Jacob was lengthy and the content didn’t lend well at all to the format I had chosen. Quitting wasn’t really an option, but I wanted to at some points. It took me 4 months—3.5 months writing blips of ideas but mostly nothing—and two weeks where it all came together.

It ended up running as a full page. Truly my biggest day in my life as a journalist so far.

In both cases, whether internal or external forces, I was faced with negative emotions and some of the hardest I’ve ever undertaken. What I learned is the only way out IS through. In the case of the first guy, for every 9 NOs, you’ll maybe get 1 YES. But, the “YES” is out there somewhere. With Jacob’s story, I learned that you can’t set expectations on what something should be. Doing that forces you into a box of your own design, which is unnecessary when trying to create.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
My Coachella book! Next year is the 25th Coachella festival, and the 17th I’ll have attended.

Many years ago I formulated a concept. I’ve saved up notes about experiences and photos; and I’ve. been slowly working toward this goal for more than a decade! I don’t want to give much away until I get there, but the book is my end goal (for now).

All of the writing I’m doing on Substack is also part of the journey to my destination and I’m truly enjoying every moment of this.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: When do you feel most at peace?
I feel most at peace late at night especially on the weekends—when I’m listening to music and working on my ideas and projects. Ideally I’d have spent some time in the day out and about (at the park, getting lunch and spending time with my son and wife) and maybe in the evening I would have attended a concert somewhere locally. The hours between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. are when I’m able to sit down with a clear mind and get the words out of my brain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://substack.com/@niyazpirani
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/universal.frequencies/
• Other: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-09-28/king-gizzard-the-lizard-wizard-prepare-for-desert-daze

  https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2024-04-17/maynard-james-keenan-celebrates-60th-anniversary-with-sessanta-hollywood-bowl

  https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2024-06-06/odesza-takes-a-final-bow-with-last-goodbye

  https://www.inspitemagazine.com/in-spite-articles/coachella-2025-as-good-as-its-ever-been

  http://instagram.com/eatatcrafthouse
  http://instagram.com/lidobottleworks
  http://instagram.com/lolas_mfk
  http://instagram.com/sunnycalfarms

Image Credits
Niyaz Pirani