Today we’d like to introduce you to Nehal Tenany.
Hi Nehal, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was a University of Arizona class of 2016 student with a degree and passion for marketing, as the rise of content and social media started when I was in college, I was easily able to hop on it and start growing my personal brand via my blog – www.nehaltenany.com. I posted everything from dating advice, life experiences, fashion, travel, lifestyle, you name it. Something I always had a passion for was talking and sharing my experiences, and that eventually translated into starting a podcast about my dual identity with my co-host, Annika Sharma. Our podcast, That Desi Spark, was an escape to talk about my culture and create a community where like-minded individuals with similar upbringings could come together and share their stories without being judged. The whole interviewing thing gave me a thrill, I absolutely love listening to other people’s storfies and asking a ton of questions.
While I missed the covid wave of TikTok, I decided to give it another chance eight months ago – I knew being South Asian was one part of my identity but I wanted to share different parts – what I do in a day, my job, my eating habits, my life, my love for pop culture and tv/movies, and slowly I got comfortable doing that on a video format.
With over 350K+ listens on our podcast, 30+K followers on social media platforms, I fully embrace being a content creator with multiple facets to my identity and it’s so exciting to share it with the world as I dive deep into the next phase of my life!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has been a super challenging road filled with a lot of trial and error and imposter syndrome. As someone who also has a full-time job in tech, it’s really hard to navigate what the best next step is for me – do I take a chance on myself and do content creation full-time? Am I going to climb the corporate ladder? Maybe I’ll be a stay-at-home fiancé? I’ve struggled with burnout and stretching myself too thin when it comes to priorities and oftentimes feel like I’m in a content rut but it’s super important for me to take time for myself, my friends, and family to keep my battery alive.
Another thing that was challenging was finding my voice, it’s really easy to mold yourself into a version of yourself that you want people to see and perceive you as versus being your authentic self so after a couple of seasons of he podcast and also posting more on TikTok, I’ve learned that people resonate with my content when I say what I think, am vulnerable and curious, and just am 100% my weird self.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m most known to be a content creator in all facets of my life – I work as a content creator for a B2B tech company for my full-time job and my side hustles include being a TikTok content creator and co-host of the That Desi Spark Podcast.
I hope to eventually start my own content consulting company one day so I can help folks create their content strategies using different channels of media since my background is in marketing and my personal brand also showcases this.
I truly have a passion for creating content that is relatable and authentic to the things I love – one of my biggest passions is creating content around television, film, and pop culture. It’s something I’ve always loved talking about and I took that to TikTok to give my recommendations talk about the latest tv show/movie, and I feel like that’s something that’s resonated a lot with people.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I love listening to On Purpose by Jay Shetty, he keeps me grounded. Other than that, I’m a huge Reese Witherspoon book club gal, and love reading the book versions of tv shows and movies that come out so I can create some of my reviews.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nehaltenany.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nehaltenany/
- Other: tiktok.com/@nehaltenany
Image Credits
J Carts Photography Saba Zafar
