I grew up in the Cleveland suburbs as a straight‑A student, so you can imagine my immigrant Indian parents’ delight when I called home two weeks into freshman year to say I was switching from business to art. The gamble paid off, at least on paper: I picked up enough real design and visual skills at Ohio State to earn a scholarship.

After graduating, I took everything I’d made reselling vintage clothes and spent it backpacking through Europe before landing in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, a city of more than 9 million. I lived in the same dense gullies my mom and great-grandmother grew up in, shooting a documentary street photography project you can find in my portfolio.

Then it was back to Cleveland, where a county grant let me run a painting studio out of an abandoned twist drill bit factory while I saved money working in a cookie factory on the side. Five months and far too many cookies later, I moved to Brooklyn and got a job in mushrooms (not the psychedelic kind). That opened the door to specialty foods, and a few months after that, to specialty cheese. So hire me and I’ll get you some good gouda.

These days I’m a cheesemonger by day and an ad student by night, trying to make it in the city and bring a perspective you won’t find anywhere else.