July 6, 2025 • 44 mins
I sat down with entrepreneur, strategist, and community builder Deepti Sharma to explore what entrepreneurs can learn from organizers. From building FoodtoEat—a mission-driven platform that helped immigrant and underrepresented food vendors grow—to running for New York City Council and teaching the next generation of entrepreneurs, Deepti shares her journey of bending tools towards justice and creating opportunities for those who are systematically overlooked.
As a daughter of immigrants and a New Yorker through and through, Deepti brings a unique perspective on collective action, community organizing, and how we can rebuild with care at the center during these exhausting times.
Learn more about Deepti: https://www.deeptisharma.com/
Timestamps
- 00:00 Introduction and Deepti's multihyphenate identity
- 02:00 Growing up in Queens and early community service
- 05:00 From politics to starting FoodtoEat
- 09:00 Why entrepreneurship keeps calling
- 14:00 What entrepreneurs can learn from organizers
- 21:00 How capitalism can be bent towards justice
- 23:00 The line between entrepreneurship and politics
- 26:00 Running for office and learning from constituents
- 32:00 Bending tools towards justice in unjust times
- 37:00 Dealing with exhaustion and rebuilding with care
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:05):
Welcome back to Empathetic Presence.
I'm your host Lee Today.
I'm so excited to share myinterview with Deepti Sharma.
I first met my friend Deepti asan entrepreneur.
She has created companies.
She has led.
Activism within her community.
She has run for office inQueens, New York.
She's a parent, and I wasreally interested in talking to
(00:28):
Deep ti about the connectionbetween organizing and
entrepreneurship.
We talk about bending toolstowards justice.
We talked about building trustas a mechanism in
entrepreneurship, and we talkabout listening to communities
instead of just pitching.
Welcome Deep ti.
I am so excited to chat withyou.
Deepti (00:49):
It so.
Lee (00:49):
to be here.
I am always excited to be inconversation with you, Deepti,
and you're someone I admire somuch.
You do so many things.
You're a mission-drivenentrepreneur.
You're an activist, you're aparent, you're a community
member, and I wanna hear fromyou.
(01:10):
How do you tell your storygiven that you do so many
amazing things?
Deepti (01:17):
Well, first of all, hearing you say those, all those
things, I'm like, I just, I'mexhausted.
I don't know if you feel this,but, um, as a parent and an
entrepreneur and all the otherthings that I try to do to help
my community, I'm constantlyexhausted, both physically and
mentally, um, but really excitedthat there are.
Really simple ways for us toget together and help each other
(01:40):
in community.
'cause I think that's what Ifeel like I need the most, um,
is to be surrounded by peoplethat ha are thinking about how
we can collectively worktogether towards a brighter
future where we're all thrivingand not just surviving.
'cause I feel like a lot ofentrepreneurship and parenting
is just survival.
so my journey, you know, I'm a,um, native New Yorker, born and
(02:03):
brought up in Queens, New York.
Queens has always been home forme.
I have, you know, lived abroadand studied abroad and traveled
a bunch.
But Queens has always been myhome and I'm really excited to
raise my children here.
Uh, they actually go to thesame elementary school as I did,
and it's the wildest thing tosee them.
Yeah, my.
My now 7-year-old was in mykindergarten class for his three
(02:26):
K program and I'm pretty surethe cubbies have never changed.
Um, and he was using mine orwas Yeah, or was right next to
mine or something, and it'sreally wild.
Um, so yeah, I have not leftNew York.
Don't know how to leave NewYork.
Um, I love the city so much,but um, I think it's why I've
chosen it to be my spirit.
(02:47):
Place to continue to, you know,live but also build and create.
Um, so my journey started, youknow, I would say in middle
school my school was a part of aprogram where we did community
service as a part of ourlearning.
It was one of the pillars ofour education.
So what that meant was everyweek I went to, um, a preschool
(03:09):
or a kindergarten class andspent time with the students.
One year we went to, um.
To a classroom where some ofthe students were disabled and
one of the students had cerebralpalsy.
And I had never experiencedcerebral palsy in my life at
that age.
It was probably 12 or 13, um,maybe a little bit younger.
And I remember watching a kid,um, having a seizure.
(03:32):
It's, it's a very distinctmemory.
'cause a kid was in awheelchair and I didn't know
what to do.
And I saw the teachers, youknow, the paras like very
calmly, like, handled thesituation.
And this was normal, right?
This happened a few times aday.
Um, but in that moment I waslike, wow, I really wanna find a
way to help people.
Um, you know, I'm a veryprivileged person.
I didn't know the words at thattime, but I realized that I had
(03:55):
something, um, that this kiddidn't, right?
And so I just wanted to.
Every week I wanted to go backand try to bring some sort of
joy, um, into this, into thiskid's life.
Um, and I tried to do thatthroughout the four years that I
spent doing community servicein the school that I was in.
But that moment really I thinkwas the opening of what my life
(04:15):
has led me to do, um, which isalways trying to create new
opportunities, um, for.
You know, underserved,overlooked, what, however we
wanna call it disadvantaged.
Um, but, but people that areconstantly not given the
opportunity to, um, live theirbest selves right, live their
best lives and, and, and, and,and really thrive in, in the
(04:37):
community that really is therefor them.
Um, and so, yeah.
And so that when I got tocollege, that turned into
politics.
I thought, you know, as, as a.
As a South Asian, it's alwayslike, oh, doctor, that's the way
to help people.
But when I got to college,politics really kind of became
my space.
I started working on my firstcampaign in 2005 for somebody
(04:59):
who was running for mayor.
Um, I.
And I think that's where I fellin love with the idea of
electing someone that couldessentially drive change, create
policies, create, um, thingsfor a community to be able to
thrive and not just, you know,survive.
And so politics became a thingthe next four years.
(05:19):
I worked on differentcampaigns.
I worked for a politicalconsulting firm, kept thinking
this was gonna be the thing forme.
Um, fast forward 2008.
I was graduating in a recessionand the thought of law school
hit me thinking, okay, wellgetting a job right now is gonna
be incredibly hard or it's notgonna pay well.
Um, what about law school?
(05:39):
And that's, you know, when youwork in politics, that feels
like the next naturalprogression.
And, um, while I was studyingfor my LSATs, I.
I think very much fell out oflove with the idea of going to
law school and, um, accidentallystarted my first company Food
to Eat, which, um, in its firstversion was a online ordering
platform for food trucks andcarts.
(06:01):
The way that happened was I wasstanding in line at a food
truck and waited for 30 minutesfor a peanut butter cookie.
'cause at this time, foodtrucks and carts were all the
rage.
Um, and there were so many newfood trucks and carts coming up.
And I thought to myself like,why did I just wait 30 minutes
for a cookie?
I'm a New Yorker.
I never wait in line.
For some reason, I did, and Ithink I would just didn't wanna
(06:22):
go back into the library andstart studying for my LSATs
again.
So I was like, you know what?
This is my only breathing time.
Um, but I quickly like, youknow, I, you know, so I was in
New York City, you know, I wasin Manhattan.
I would go, um, to Manhattan,to the public library on Fifth
Avenue and 40th.
Um, because I just wanted toget out of my environment and go
(06:43):
to something that wasdifferent.
And I'd walked up and down andthere'd be so many different
food trucks and carts, and I'dstart talking to a bunch of
them.
And through that experience, Istarted hearing a lot of
stories, um, about immigration,about.
Not being seen.
You know, I remember talking toone food cart owner who, um,
(07:03):
served coffee and bagels in themorning, and his story was he
had created the Afghanistancurrency.
I.
He was selling coffee in bagelsin New York City, and it was
the wildest thing.
It's like if we just take amoment to talk to people, we
learn so much about them, right?
I mean, I feel like this iswhat this podcast is, is to
learn from each other, hearpeople's stories, and see how we
(07:27):
can help each other throughone.
One way or another.
Um, anyways, that experience oftalking to all these food
trucking cart owners led me tostart my, the first version of
Food to Eat.
Um, and you know, we quicklypivoted into, um.
A corporate catering platformas opposed to just working with
food trucks and carts as aonline ordering platform.
(07:49):
Um, and that happened through,again, just listening to our
community of folks that we hadon our platform.
But, um, food to eat in itslatest and last form it was a
corporate catering platformwhere we centered immigrant
women, um, black and brownrestaurant owners and food cart
owners to be able to getcatering opportunities at large
(08:11):
corporate offices.
And so what that meant was I.
Companies like Warby Parker,the Skim, Microsoft, they were
ordering, uh, food from ourplatform from all of these
amazing vendors.
Um, and this, the unique partof what we did was, um, we were
creating an opportunity for themto have the, the restaurants
and food trucks have access tothese corporations that they
(08:33):
never had before.
They were never able to applyfor these large, um.
Gigs because these companiesdidn't really know if they could
actually handle them.
So we curated the restaurants,um, and we helped them actually
build up to be able to feed 3,4, 500 people at a time.
Um, because a lot of the timesthese small places didn't
(08:54):
actually have the means to dothat.
Lee (08:56):
And Deepti, I first met you when you were doing food to eat
and I just was so moved andinspired and it makes so much
sense to me that in you tellingyour story, you start with New
York City and Queens and thatthat is, you know, the, the real
like.
Uh, the mechanism that has likecentered all of your work,
(09:18):
whether you have been running abusiness, whether you're running
for office, whether you are acommunity activist, New York
City has been at the center, andit's not lost on me that you
were born and raised in the mostdiverse county
Deepti (09:32):
Yeah.
Lee (09:33):
world.
Right
Deepti (09:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lee (09:35):
You know, and I love that you have in this almost
multihyphenate way, you could bein any industry, you could be
in any kind of sort oforganization.
You're so resourceful andcreative, and you keep coming
back to entrepreneurship andwhat is that, that pull for you
towards starting something?
Deepti (09:59):
I mean, I, I always think about collective care and
action and, um, you know, forme, collective.
Action is when people cometogether to create change, um,
that they can't do alone.
And you know, when I wasstarting Food to eat, you know,
you could see, oh, you know,it's a, it was just a catering
platform, but really what it waswas.
(10:20):
A way to create newopportunities for restaurant
owners.
It was a way to add to theirbottom line.
It was a way for them to beable to grow and scale so that
in turn, they can provide fortheir families.
Now going back to the story of.
The man I met who was sellingcoffee and bagels, um, and back
(10:42):
home in Afghanistan had createdthe currency like he had
designed the currency is thatwhen he came here, he was
looking for an opportunity to beable to make money so that he
could send his children tocollege, he could provide for
his family.
Um, what I noticed in theseconversations was that a lot of
them weren't, um.
You know, chefs that weretrained, they were just doing
(11:04):
what they knew best, which wasproviding a, you know, nice home
cooked meal for their families.
And they thought, well, I cando that in, in cart form, in
restaurant form.
And um, if the food is goodenough, then people will
continue to come.
And I.
I realized that a lot of themdidn't have business backgrounds
either.
They weren't thinking aboutscale, they weren't thinking
about what if I serve morepeople in one day.
(11:25):
They were just doing things theway they were told and somebody
had done it before them.
And so to me it was reallyabout care.
Um, it was, you know, thepeople that were often shut out
of the corporate world, how canI help them?
By listening to them, right bybuilding trust and designing a
business model that worked forthem and not just for the bottom
(11:46):
line.
Something that really helpedthem be able to provide for
their families, help them toreally feel good about what they
do on a day-to-day basis.
And so for me, that was, um,what, you know, really drew me
to entrepreneurship, um, is thisidea of collective care.
Um, and not immediatelythinking about the hockey stick.
Um, which is what every.
(12:08):
Investor.
Once, right?
Every person in the ventureworld wants to see this hockey
stick and probably why it wasreally tough for me to raise
money, um, also being a woman,um, and a woman who didn't have
an Ivy League background or theresume that they wanted, uh,
given who I am.
(12:29):
Um, but yeah, I mean, I think,so for me it was really about
how do I dive into thecommunity, listen to them, and
create something that had neverbeen created for them before.
Um, I.
While listening to them, um,even like, you know, I was
saying even when we pivoted intothe corporate catering, um, we
pivoted because it was reallyhard for us to fundraise.
(12:49):
Um, as a solo founder, it wasreally hard being a woman.
It was really hard.
Um, I was being asked questionslike, when are you planning on
having children?
And, and to me it wasridiculous 'cause it was like,
how is that relevant to mebuilding my business?
Um.
And so, yeah.
So to me, entrepreneurship hasalways been about a form of
organizing.
Um, especially because, again,going back to women, immigrants,
(13:13):
people of color, refugees,they're often never given
opportunities or capital andthey don't have the same access.
Um, so I created it.
My first company centeredaround that so that I can
showcase how.
If you center people that areoften overlooked, that aren't
given opportunities, um, whatthat means.
(13:33):
And you can actually build amillion dollar business, which I
did, you know, by 2020.
We were, um, one of like, Ithink it's less than, I don't
know the exact percent, but it'sa very small percentage of
women own businesses that makeit to a million dollar revenue
mark.
Um, which to me is crazy.
And it's, again, it goes backto.
Access to a network, access tocapital, um, and, you know, give
(13:57):
people being given the rightopportunities, right?
Being invited to do things thatthey've never been able to do
before.
Lee (14:04):
Yeah.
Word opportunity.
And you have said that, andthat is so much of.
What you have centered yourlife's work on is creating those
opportunities.
And even the way you talk aboutas organizing, you know, I've
never heard of that before.
I've never thought of that.
And it's almost like you arecreating these opportunities for
(14:26):
people to build in their ownway instead of this idea of
entrepreneurship, which I thinka lot of us have, which is like
you have to do it a certain way,or there's a way to do business
and you have to fit intosomeone else's.
System and mold, which we knowhow racist and exclusionary and
historically prejudiced thatentire world has been.
(14:47):
And so can you talk a littlebit more about what you're
saying about the connectionbetween entrepreneurship and
organizing and collective actioncollective care?
Deepti (14:57):
Yeah.
I mean, so there's, if we wereto think about it, you know, I
think it's really simple.
Um.
What entrepreneurs can learnfrom organizers and vice versa,
right?
So it always starts withpeople.
Um, organizers know that changestarts by deeply understanding
the needs, struggles, and thedreams of the community.
And entrepreneurs can buildbetter and more impactful
(15:18):
businesses if they start bylistening and not pitching.
You know, not going immediatelyand saying, Hey, I know what
the problem is and this is whatthe solution is.
Right?
But if you, so what's mostimportant, and again, they learn
from each other, is by actuallyunderstanding, well, yes, this
is the problem.
Why does the problem exist?
Um, what is the history behindthe problem?
(15:40):
And then going to say to them,here's a solution I'm proposing.
What do you think about this?
If you don't think this is theright way, how would you propose
it be better?
Right.
So really starting with thepeople and not the product you
think they need.
Um, and then really buildingtrust before scale.
Organizers know that trust isearned over time.
Entrepreneurs, you know,because.
(16:01):
They have investors that theyhave to answer to.
They often rush to scale, butreal sustainability comes from
relationships and not justmetrics.
So not always thinking abouthow do I provide that hockey
stick?
It's really about how do youbuild that trust, which again,
takes time.
It doesn't happen overnight.
You can't just go to a placeand say, I think you should sign
(16:22):
up for my platform.
Um, and I learned that the hardway because when I was building
the platform and I was goingto, you know, restaurants or
food trucks and saying, Hey,sign up.
They're like, who are youagain?
So I had to learn to like buildthat trust and to showcase why
they should trust me, why I amthe right platform for them to
join.
Um, the next thing I thinkabout is like, power is
(16:43):
collective, right?
Organizers don't necessarilywait for permission.
They mobilize people.
You don't always have to waitfor someone to tell you.
It's now your turn to run foroffice.
Um, you know, and entrepreneurscan learn to share decision
making, build with, but not justfor users, right?
Co-create solutions.
Even when we pivoted food toeat from a consumer platform to
(17:06):
a B2B platform.
We co-created by actuallytalking to the restaurants and
the food trucks we were buildingthe platform for, and said,
okay, if this B2C platform isn'tworking, what do you need?
And they were like, cateringwould be so much.
Better.
What if you centered yourplatform, not around consumers,
but businesses that neededcatering.
(17:27):
When we get an order that isfor 300 people, that helps us so
much more than a $50 order,right?
So a thousand dollars orderversus a $50 order.
And so we.
Started to co-create, um, andthen messaging, right?
I think, I think entrepreneursare finally actually getting
this and they're building and,and, and you see this more when
(17:48):
you see women and people ofcolor building, but organizers
are brilliant storytellers.
Um.
Entrepreneurs can learn tocommunicate vision in ways that
inspire and not just selling.
So instead of just constantlythinking about how can I sell a
product?
Um, why not tell the story?
And, and it goes back to evenSimon Sinek who says, sell the
(18:10):
why not the what and the how.
Um, so I think that like thesethings are known, but they're
not really lived and they're notreally.
Uh, entrepreneurs or foundersaren't necessarily always
leading because there's thisconstant need to get things done
immediately.
There's a constant hustleculture.
(18:31):
I mean, I think about how muchI ate, breathed, lived shit,
like hustle, right?
It was always like, if Iwasn't, you know, busy, I didn't
feel like I was doing enough.
If I wasn't up till one in themorning working, I thought I
wasn't doing enough.
And it comes from, a part of itcomes from being a child of
(18:53):
immigrants too, but a part of itcomes from the American dream
that we were sold.
That if you work hard play, youknow, you can play hard.
And that's not necessarilytrue.
We do have to take care ofourselves.
You know, I've been teachingthat to my kids constantly.
You know, yesterday, Mondaynight, my, you know, we're,
it's, it's Wednesday today.
Monday night.
My son had, um, soccerpractice.
(19:14):
He had a really hard fall.
The next day he was complainingabout her getting hurt and he
felt sore.
And I was like, okay, we'regonna take a break from soccer.
And he couldn't fathom the ideaof not going to soccer
practice.
He's like, no, I have to go.
And I was like, no, no.
Coach understands that you hurtyourself and you need to take a
break even if you think you cango back and play.
(19:35):
It's better to take the rest.
It's better to heal thanrushing into something you don't
know is healed yet.
Um, and I think all of thatcomes back to the hustle culture
that we continue to think isokay.
Resting is okay.
I, I tell the students I workwith, I teach at Barn and
(19:55):
Columbia and that the, thestudents I work with, I always
tell them, building in the quietis okay.
You don't have to showeverything all the time.
You don't have to be on socialmedia all the time being like,
look at me.
Look, follow my journey.
Sometimes in the quiet is wherethe most amazing things come
(20:15):
out.
Lee (20:16):
I'm so grateful, deepti, that you are teaching
entrepreneurship because yourstudents are really lucky, and
the way that you think aboutthis is really counterintuitive
to the way that we're socializedto think about, you know, scale
just for scale's sake growth atany cost, and.
Capitalism really as the mainforce and you are advocating for
(20:38):
something really different.
And if it's okay, I just wannagive you some of your own words
back because they're reallyimportant for us to ruminate on.
And what you said aboutlistening and not pitching and
listening to the people closestto the problem, what you said
about organizers being the beststorytellers trust before scale
(20:59):
and that power is collective.
This idea that we don't have tolike ask for permission to
lead, I think is really, reallypowerful.
And also thinking about thisfrom a shared leadership and
shared decision makingperspective feels like really
important in this moment.
And so much of what you'resharing, I think could.
(21:20):
Almost, you know, be seen inany format, whether it's like
political organizing, runningfor office, running a company,
you know, and you've even ranfor office before.
Can you talk about like theline between politics and
entrepreneurship and what'sthere?
Deepti (21:41):
Well, actually I wanted to touch upon something you
talked about, like, so when Iteach, uh, one of the first
questions I've, I've gottenasked about is what do I feel
about capitalism?
I.
Lee (21:52):
Hmm.
Deepti (21:52):
know, I, I never have enough time because I'm like,
how long do we have?
We, my course that I teach atBarnard over the summers is a
three week course, so it's, it'snot a very long amount of time
that I have to go outside thelines of the course, but I, I, I
do struggle with capitalism,right?
Because it wasn't built formost of us.
But I also think that it's asystem that we're living in, and
(22:13):
I think about how can we use itto create things that our
communities need.
That's the only way I thinkabout it, and it's always
Lee (22:20):
Wow.
Deepti (22:21):
stuff, right.
For me, entrepreneurship hasalways been a tool, not just to
build wealth, but to buildpower, dignity, and visibility
for.
Everyone who is left out.
Um, and that's the way I'vealways seen it for myself, and
that's how I built food to eat.
Um, you know, I've built, I'veused business and I've used my
(22:41):
company to feed people during acrisis to create jobs for
immigrant women to challenge whogets to be seen as a founder.
Um, so it's not perfect and I'mnot trying to romanticize it in
any shape or form, but Ibelieve that.
the tools that we have andbending them towards justice.
That's how we make space andthat's how we build new models.
(23:02):
Um, and I think that's the wayI've been trying to create
myself, teach it, talk about it.
Um, yeah, so going back to thequestion of entrepreneurship and
politics and how that happened,so, you know, like I talked
about politics was.
I first fell in love with, howdo I create change for my
(23:25):
community?
How do I create a space forcreating new opportunities for,
for people?
Um, so for me, there isn'treally a line between
entrepreneurship and politicsbecause entrepre
entrepreneurship is political.
Every decision, every decisionyou make from who you hire, who
you center, who you ignore, um,how you price.
(23:47):
Who you serve is a reflectionof your values.
I didn't become political whenI ran for often.
I feel like I've always beenpolitical When I chose to build
a company, um, it's, I, I builtit to center it around
immigrants, around women ownedbusinesses, around black and
brown people.
Um, I challenged corporatebuyers to think differently
(24:08):
about their vendors.
When I used my voice.
Um, you know, about motherhoodand equity in public all, so all
of it, everything to me hasbeen political.
I don't think there's a line.
Um, I think some people try tocreate a line, but for me it
doesn't really exist, right?
So, um, especially if you're awoman of color.
And so when I decided to run,I.
(24:29):
know, I ran because in 2020Food to Eat took a big hit.
Now we operated with, um, theidea of people by serving
people, um, and feeding them intheir offices.
We were sheltered in place.
We went
Lee (24:44):
Yeah.
Deepti (24:45):
in revenue to zero in one day.
Lee (24:48):
Yeah.
Deepti (24:49):
Wall Street Journal had decided to
Lee (24:50):
Wow.
Wow.
Deepti (24:54):
yeah, I
Lee (24:55):
Yeah,
Deepti (24:55):
think I've
Lee (24:56):
I know.
I don't think.
Deepti (24:56):
the fact that I.
Like my first baby was gone,but instead of freaking out in
that moment, I really, you know,I remember like talking to my
husband, talking to my parents,and I was like, wait, if I'm
suffering, I.
There's restaurants that aresuffering and all those
employees are suffering, they'reall losing their jobs.
(25:17):
They're gonna go food insecure.
What can we do to help?
So I, and I, I think you mightremember this moment where I
started emailing the crap out ofeveryone I knew and was like,
Hey, I started a GoFundMe page.
Please, um, donate as much asyou can.
We are going to use this to tryto keep the restaurants we
partner with that are again, themost vulnerable, um, in
(25:37):
business.
that they can keep theiremployees in, you know, in jobs.
And we're gonna try to feedfamilies that are going food
insecure and.
That was a very important timebecause, you know, I started
doing it on my own.
I started applying for grants.
We raised $160,000 and then wehad an incredible partnership
(25:58):
with World Central Kitchen.
So Jose Andres and his team,they run World Central Kitchen
and they do, you know, all ofthis amazing work.
And they came to New Yorkbecause they realized, um, New
York was of the epicenters of.
And, um, we fed over half amillion New Yorkers with their
team.
And, and that was trulyincredible in that moment.
(26:19):
know, I didn't know what washappening with my company food
to eat, and I was like, itdoesn't matter.
But if in this moment I cankeep my team around to help, you
know, thousands of New Yorkersacross the city.
Why not?
And that's what we did.
And in that moment when I wasout on the streets, my kids were
at home, you know, they werebeing watched between me, him,
(26:41):
my parents, who were alsoworking, in that moment when I
was out on the streets and I waslike, I have this privilege to
be out here to help people.
To feed people.
Yeah.
What is a bigger way and moresubstantial way for me to be
able to create change?
What if I ran for office andyou know, I did my due diligence
(27:03):
and there was a seat that wasgonna be open, and I decided
over the summer of 2020, I thinkit was like July or August when
I went in and I actually handedin my application.
Got it notarized, Did the thingand I decided to run for
office.
Um, and that was a really toughdecision because it's not easy
(27:26):
to run for office.
I.
Um, everything is on the line,right?
You're, you're on your, your,your dignity is on the line.
Lee (27:35):
Yeah.
Deepti (27:35):
uh, your values are on the line.
People question you.
People don't trust you.
They, and, you know, all theseyears I was like, oh yeah, I'm
a, I'm a good, I'm a goodperson, good values, I care for
people.
And then everyone startsquestioning everything about
you.
But it was a big decision andI'm glad I did it.
I did not win.
Um, but it was never aboutwinning sometimes, right?
(27:57):
It like even, starting acompany, it's not, I never
created because I was like, oh,I wanna create a billion dollar
business.
I created because I wanted todrive change.
And by running I drove changeand potentially inspired the
next person to say, I can, I canrun.
Rishma Sajani ran for Congress.
(28:20):
I think she was a first SouthAsian woman.
I think whoever ran forCongress, if I'm correct, and
she inspired me, right?
If someone like her can do it,I can do it and, and, and
representation.
You know, representationmatters.
Yes.
It is not a perfect saying atall.
'cause to me it's more aboutwhat you do once you are, once
you're in
Lee (28:39):
Yeah.
Deepti (28:40):
Um, but that kind of representation does matter and
does need to be seen andvocalized, um, and talked about.
And so I.
While I didn't win, um, I amglad that I did it because I
learned a lot about organizing.
I learned a lot about I learnedthat are not what you think
they are.
And until I started knocking ondoors, I didn't realize how
(29:04):
moderate, um, the community Ilived in was how, know, they
really felt as if, um.
were protection for them.
Right.
And, Communities of color dostill believe that.
And it opened my eyes to a lotof things that I didn't know
(29:25):
before because I In my bubble,in my small
Lee (29:28):
Hmm.
Deepti (29:29):
Um, and it's when I started to realize it was really
important to continue doing thework of listening to people,
getting out there, knocking ondoors.
Um, it was the first time Ialso heard something called, uh,
motorist rights.
I had never heard anyone talkabout motorist rights, and I was
like, oh, wow, okay.
Um, you know, I, I live in apart of Queens where we don't
(29:51):
actually have access to a lot ofpublic transportation, so it
made sense.
Lee (29:55):
Yep.
Deepti (29:56):
absolutely made sense, but it was just such an
interesting conversation where Iwas like, okay, constituents
are not just the people thathave the same values as you,
your constituents are, everyone.
And you have To haveconversations with them.
You have to learn to, um, agreeand disagree at the same time.
And, and I think that that hasmade me a better parent because
(30:18):
I don't always agree with mykids.
They want ice cream at allpoints of the day and candy.
Uh, I agree to disagree.
Um, but no, you know, you know,and, and it's just interesting.
I think that like.
We, a lot of us live in ourbubbles.
Um, we choose to live inneighborhoods that are aligned
with exactly what we believe in,but sometimes we don't.
(30:40):
And when we don't, what happensthen?
What are the conversationsyou're having?
How do you build forcommunities that don't
necessarily agree with you allthe time?
Um, so yeah, you know, there'sa lot that goes into politics
and entrepreneurship and I thinkthat there are definitely
things that collide.
Um, you know, even when I thinkabout.
Building a company is like acandidate, right?
(31:03):
You have a product Hmm.
or service and that's the
Lee (31:06):
Hmm.
Deepti (31:06):
You have to learn how to talk about them.
You have to learn how to sellthem.
Uh, you have to make themdigestible to everyone.
Um.
and that is like such a simpleway to think about it, but it
is, right.
Like the, the candidate is yourproduct or service and you have
to learn how to tell theirstory.
You have to learn how to talkabout, uh, how they're gonna
(31:27):
drive change and how they'regonna make people's lives better
and why they should be theproduct, um, that they buy or
vote for, right?
So it's a
Lee (31:35):
Yeah.
Deepti (31:36):
line in that perspective as well.
Lee (31:40):
Just really the way that you think about this is really
beautiful.
And thinking about visibility,you know, and you've brought up
that word a few times and.
Thinking about this in terms oflike inclusion at its core and
what better place than Queens,the most diverse place in the
world where you're going to havemotorist rights, people, you
(32:01):
know, with some of the, the mostdiverse immigrant communities
in the world.
Right.
So I, it brings me back to justyour resourcefulness, your
creativity.
There's a lot of creativity, Ithink, in the way that you see
entrepreneurship in ways thatlike.
I don't think other people withdifferent lived experience are
(32:22):
gonna be able to have that senseof creativity and
resourcefulness and innovationthat you've been able to have by
listening to people and goingback to listening to people.
It's really powerful bendingtools towards justice.
Just to bring those words backagain.
Bending tools towards justiceand in this moment where there's
(32:46):
like so much blatant injustice,injustice that has always been
there, but it's being likereally emboldened in so many
ways.
How do we keep bending toolstowards justice when the systems
around us feel like they arefighting against that?
Deepti (33:05):
I think the, one of the most important things is to get
rest.
I don't know that that's apopular answer.
I know that we have to keepfighting and that we need, I
think people get annoyed when weare joyful.
People don't want us to behappy.
(33:25):
People don't want us tocelebrate the joy that does
exist, even in fire of it all.
If we don't celebrate thelittle things that are
happening, we'll all continue toburn and we'll all continue to
fall down.
And I think that this, this,the, there's so much injustice
right now, right?
It's exhausting, it's enraging.
(33:45):
And honestly, sometimes itfeels like Im impossible to keep
going.
But I think.
That's what it means to embodyjustice, right?
Not just talk about it.
Um, it means like even whensystems around us are doing the
opposite, it means showing up inthose small ways.
You know, how do we lead, howwe, how do we hire, how do we
(34:05):
tell our stories, how we
Lee (34:07):
Yeah.
Deepti (34:07):
other, right?
And I think that that's alsoreally important, the joy of it
all.
Um.
In the small things that, thatare happening.
So we may not be able to burnthe whole system down, and I
don't think we need to burn itdown.
I think we can bend pieces ofit.
We can disrupt narratives, wecan build safety within our
communities.
We can model leadership.
(34:28):
Um, and can, know it and showwhat it looks like when it's
rooted in empathy and not ego.
Lee (34:37):
Yeah.
Yeah,
Deepti (34:38):
know,
Lee (34:39):
yeah.
Deepti (34:39):
isn't, you know, justice isn't necessarily a
destination, it's a direction,right?
And we
Lee (34:45):
Hmm.
Deepti (34:46):
toward it, even when everything around us is telling
us not to, because we've seenwhat happens when we don't.
So I think it's, it's a slowand steady process.
It's not gonna happenovernight.
Um, the same thing about
Lee (35:00):
Yeah.
Deepti (35:00):
right?
Like, I don't love the systemand I can't bring it down
tomorrow.
And it, it's.
Its roots are in a veryterrible, come from a very
terrible place.
I work, I'm trying to workwithin that system and finding
the ways in which I can leadwith empathy and not ego.
I don't have to be at theforefront of every movement.
(35:20):
I don't
Lee (35:22):
Yeah.
Deepti (35:22):
be the leader that gets elected.
Just because I didn't win whenI ran for office doesn't mean
there aren't other ways for meto create and lead.
I always talk about in thismoment, how can we be
innovative?
How can we learn from techentrepreneurs?
And then how can we as techentrepreneurs learn from the
(35:42):
organizers, how do we cometogether to drive those
solutions that will really leadand pave the way of the future?
You have women that are nowstarting companies talking about
menopause.
So we need to get innovative,we need to get creative, we need
to talk about the problems, andwe need to help each other and,
and not feel like only one wayto do it.
(36:05):
And that's what I mean by byego.
'cause I think a lot of timesfounders will say, I need to be
the one at the, at the panel.
I need to be the at theforefront of this issue.
And organizers are the sameway.
How do we give the mic tosomeone else?
Um.
Just today I got an email froma friend who was like, you know,
(36:26):
I was gonna apply for thisthing, this like grant or
fellowship and you know, Ithought actually this is
something that's right up youralley, not mine.
I don't belong in this, so I'mactually gonna, I'm gonna cheer
you on to do this thing.
I think you should apply.
Instead of me and him, himtaking the seat back and saying,
you should do it.
(36:47):
Was so important to me.
And I think that that'ssomething that we can all learn
from is like, how do I giveopportunities that might be
coming my way, no matter howscarce they are?
How can I give them to somebodyelse?
How can I the platform I haveand and showcase somebody else's
work?
Lee (37:06):
Yep.
Yep.
And that's really what we needin our society right now, right?
We can see so much gatekeepingin terms of the Democrats
keeping out younger, moreprogressive voices, really
gatekeeping.
Deepti (37:17):
Mm-hmm.
Lee (37:18):
like black and brown voices I'm seeing, especially in my
community, right?
And it takes so much confidencefor people to create space for
others and share space, andshare leadership.
It takes so much confidence tolead with empathy instead of
ego.
It's beautiful.
So Deepti, can we talk aboutthis exhaustion?
I'm seeing this in mycommunity.
(37:39):
The activists and organizerswho've been fighting for
generations are tired.
A lot of the entrepreneurs Iknow are so.
Exhausted, whether it's fromthe tariffs or the stress of the
last five years, or parentingwithout enough support, like how
do we deal with the exhaustion?
How do we recover and rebuildeven as things continue to
(38:03):
change around us?
Deepti (38:06):
Oh, wow.
That's a, that's a loaded,loaded question.
Um, because I'm feeling thisway.
Right.
Lee (38:18):
Yep, me too.
Deepti (38:21):
I, I think that it's time to rebuild with care at the
center.
Um, I
Lee (38:28):
Ooh,
Deepti (38:28):
it
Lee (38:28):
wow.
Deepti (38:29):
to recovery starts with allowing ourselves to rest.
I.
To grieve, to name what'sbroken.
And I have grieved a lot inthese last few years, and that's
why I'm saying this, likesomeone had to literally say to
me, joy and grief can coexist.
I thought I only had to grieve.
Um.
(38:51):
I thought that if someonepasses, the only way to move
forward is to grieve them and tomiss them.
But you can also do theopposite and find joy in them
being in a place that wasnecessary for them in their
journey or whatever it is.
but then, so, you know,recovery starts from allowing
(39:11):
ourselves to rest, grieve, andto name, you know, what is
broken, um, and then to rebuildright slowly and intentionally
with each other.
And that might look likeresources, setting new
boundaries.
Right?
I didn't even think aboutboundaries before.
I didn't realize that I couldsay no to people.
but then I became a parent andI was like, I am, I am.
(39:35):
I've created life and now I amresponsible for this life and I
can, that helped me setboundaries because I realized.
It was really important to makesure that I was giving my kids
the tools that I didn't havegrowing up or the resources I
didn't have.
And that could only
Lee (39:53):
Yeah.
Deepti (39:53):
I set boundaries.
and then telling the truthabout what we need.
I don't think we
Lee (40:00):
Mm.
Deepti (40:01):
I think sometimes we hide the tools we really need to
care for ourselves, and I thinkit's really important that we.
Um, name the truth about thethings
Lee (40:13):
Yeah.
Deepti (40:13):
need to feel better.
Right?
And that could be rest, thatcould be saying no, that could
be saying yes.
You know, I met someone theother day where they were like,
yeah, I'm in my era of sayingyes to everything.
And I'm like, oh, be carefulwith that one.
He learned to set yourboundaries.
Um, but maybe that's what thatperson needs, you know?
And in that moment, that's whatthat person needs, that they
were shutting themselves from.
(40:35):
Newness from new opportunitiesthat they didn't, you know, they
didn't say yes enough, and theydidn't get enough of that
community they needed.
and we can't build, we can'tbuild new systems using the same
tools that burned us out.
So choose different ones,right?
It could be empathy, empathy,collaboration, softness, joy.
(40:58):
That's not weakness.
That's how we last, I think.
Um,
Lee (41:02):
Yeah.
Deepti (41:03):
And each of us has to find that way for ourselves.
And it doesn't have to beshowing up to a protest.
It can be saying like, Hey, I'ma great storyteller,
organizers, let me help createthe speeches for some of your
nonprofit leaders that aregoing, that are gonna go up and
speak because they're notnecessarily the best at it.
And I can help them write theirstories, I can help
Lee (41:24):
Yep.
Deepti (41:25):
If they're really good at the storytelling, I can help
them.
Deliver it in a better way.
We all have different skillsets.
How can we show up for eachother in different ways that
doesn't necessarily us?
and then like, you know, thelast thing I'll say is let's not
be critical of our owncommunity.
(41:45):
Oh, that
Lee (41:46):
Yeah.
Deepti (41:47):
show up to this.
And it's like, we don't knowwhat was happening in their life
in that moment, in that day.
Lee (41:52):
Yep.
Deepti (41:52):
had a kid at home who was throwing up and they
couldn't get up and get out ofbed to show up the next day.
We don't know.
Lee (41:59):
Yep.
Deepti (42:00):
em, empathy leaning really hard into that.
The criticism, let's not, let'snot criticize each other.
let's learn from each other'schoices and, and
Lee (42:10):
Yeah.
Deepti (42:11):
those, right?
Like Lee, you've decided to doso many things in the last few
months that we've talked about,and I'm only learning more from
them.
Like, wow.
are so strong for making strongand brave for making those
choices.
How do I learn from that?
Or how do I understand that?
see that's what they need inthis moment, but maybe that's
not the right decision for me.
(42:31):
Right.
And vice versa.
You
Lee (42:33):
Yeah.
Deepti (42:33):
me.
Lee (42:34):
Yeah.
Deepti (42:36):
so yeah, I mean, I hope that we, we name what's wrong.
We, we lead with and, and werebuild with care at the center.
Lee (42:46):
That, you know, rebuilding with care at the center feels
like such an amazing focusingmechanism and.
And even, you know, as you saythat deep tea, it's like there's
so many ways that we're allbeing hard on ourselves for not
doing enough.
But I love that of us each justknowing how we can best
contribute us trusting ourselvesalmost as, you know, our own
(43:10):
individual activistentrepreneurs, and where do we
wanna see movement?
How do we wanna impact ourcommunities?
And giving ourselves a chanceto rest, you know, and to do
things differently.
And I'm so grateful to you,deep Dee.
I'm grateful for thisconversation.
I'm grateful for your work inthe world, and I'm just always
(43:33):
learning from you, and I'm sograteful that we could have this
conversation today.
Deepti (43:38):
Absolutely.
I'm always learning from you,so thank you for, for this
conversation and for creatingthis podcast and also just me
space to speak.
Lee (43:47):
Always.
I always enjoy our connections,my friend.
Thank you.
Welcome back to Empathetic Presence.
I'm your host Lee Today.
I'm so excited to share myinterview with Deepti Sharma.
I first met my friend Deepti asan entrepreneur.
She has created companies.
She has led.
Activism within her community.
She has run for office inQueens, New York.
She's a parent, and I wasreally interested in talking to
(00:28):
Deep ti about the connectionbetween organizing and
entrepreneurship.
We talk about bending toolstowards justice.
We talked about building trustas a mechanism in
entrepreneurship, and we talkabout listening to communities
instead of just pitching.
Welcome Deep ti.
I am so excited to chat withyou.
Deepti (00:49):
It so.
Lee (00:49):
to be here.
I am always excited to be inconversation with you, Deepti,
and you're someone I admire somuch.
You do so many things.
You're a mission-drivenentrepreneur.
You're an activist, you're aparent, you're a community
member, and I wanna hear fromyou.
(01:10):
How do you tell your storygiven that you do so many
amazing things?
Deepti (01:17):
Well, first of all, hearing you say those, all those
things, I'm like, I just, I'mexhausted.
I don't know if you feel this,but, um, as a parent and an
entrepreneur and all the otherthings that I try to do to help
my community, I'm constantlyexhausted, both physically and
mentally, um, but really excitedthat there are.
Really simple ways for us toget together and help each other
(01:40):
in community.
'cause I think that's what Ifeel like I need the most, um,
is to be surrounded by peoplethat ha are thinking about how
we can collectively worktogether towards a brighter
future where we're all thrivingand not just surviving.
'cause I feel like a lot ofentrepreneurship and parenting
is just survival.
so my journey, you know, I'm a,um, native New Yorker, born and
(02:03):
brought up in Queens, New York.
Queens has always been home forme.
I have, you know, lived abroadand studied abroad and traveled
a bunch.
But Queens has always been myhome and I'm really excited to
raise my children here.
Uh, they actually go to thesame elementary school as I did,
and it's the wildest thing tosee them.
Yeah, my.
My now 7-year-old was in mykindergarten class for his three
(02:26):
K program and I'm pretty surethe cubbies have never changed.
Um, and he was using mine orwas Yeah, or was right next to
mine or something, and it'sreally wild.
Um, so yeah, I have not leftNew York.
Don't know how to leave NewYork.
Um, I love the city so much,but um, I think it's why I've
chosen it to be my spirit.
(02:47):
Place to continue to, you know,live but also build and create.
Um, so my journey started, youknow, I would say in middle
school my school was a part of aprogram where we did community
service as a part of ourlearning.
It was one of the pillars ofour education.
So what that meant was everyweek I went to, um, a preschool
(03:09):
or a kindergarten class andspent time with the students.
One year we went to, um.
To a classroom where some ofthe students were disabled and
one of the students had cerebralpalsy.
And I had never experiencedcerebral palsy in my life at
that age.
It was probably 12 or 13, um,maybe a little bit younger.
And I remember watching a kid,um, having a seizure.
(03:32):
It's, it's a very distinctmemory.
'cause a kid was in awheelchair and I didn't know
what to do.
And I saw the teachers, youknow, the paras like very
calmly, like, handled thesituation.
And this was normal, right?
This happened a few times aday.
Um, but in that moment I waslike, wow, I really wanna find a
way to help people.
Um, you know, I'm a veryprivileged person.
I didn't know the words at thattime, but I realized that I had
(03:55):
something, um, that this kiddidn't, right?
And so I just wanted to.
Every week I wanted to go backand try to bring some sort of
joy, um, into this, into thiskid's life.
Um, and I tried to do thatthroughout the four years that I
spent doing community servicein the school that I was in.
But that moment really I thinkwas the opening of what my life
(04:15):
has led me to do, um, which isalways trying to create new
opportunities, um, for.
You know, underserved,overlooked, what, however we
wanna call it disadvantaged.
Um, but, but people that areconstantly not given the
opportunity to, um, live theirbest selves right, live their
best lives and, and, and, and,and really thrive in, in the
(04:37):
community that really is therefor them.
Um, and so, yeah.
And so that when I got tocollege, that turned into
politics.
I thought, you know, as, as a.
As a South Asian, it's alwayslike, oh, doctor, that's the way
to help people.
But when I got to college,politics really kind of became
my space.
I started working on my firstcampaign in 2005 for somebody
(04:59):
who was running for mayor.
Um, I.
And I think that's where I fellin love with the idea of
electing someone that couldessentially drive change, create
policies, create, um, thingsfor a community to be able to
thrive and not just, you know,survive.
And so politics became a thingthe next four years.
(05:19):
I worked on differentcampaigns.
I worked for a politicalconsulting firm, kept thinking
this was gonna be the thing forme.
Um, fast forward 2008.
I was graduating in a recessionand the thought of law school
hit me thinking, okay, wellgetting a job right now is gonna
be incredibly hard or it's notgonna pay well.
Um, what about law school?
(05:39):
And that's, you know, when youwork in politics, that feels
like the next naturalprogression.
And, um, while I was studyingfor my LSATs, I.
I think very much fell out oflove with the idea of going to
law school and, um, accidentallystarted my first company Food
to Eat, which, um, in its firstversion was a online ordering
platform for food trucks andcarts.
(06:01):
The way that happened was I wasstanding in line at a food
truck and waited for 30 minutesfor a peanut butter cookie.
'cause at this time, foodtrucks and carts were all the
rage.
Um, and there were so many newfood trucks and carts coming up.
And I thought to myself like,why did I just wait 30 minutes
for a cookie?
I'm a New Yorker.
I never wait in line.
For some reason, I did, and Ithink I would just didn't wanna
(06:22):
go back into the library andstart studying for my LSATs
again.
So I was like, you know what?
This is my only breathing time.
Um, but I quickly like, youknow, I, you know, so I was in
New York City, you know, I wasin Manhattan.
I would go, um, to Manhattan,to the public library on Fifth
Avenue and 40th.
Um, because I just wanted toget out of my environment and go
(06:43):
to something that wasdifferent.
And I'd walked up and down andthere'd be so many different
food trucks and carts, and I'dstart talking to a bunch of
them.
And through that experience, Istarted hearing a lot of
stories, um, about immigration,about.
Not being seen.
You know, I remember talking toone food cart owner who, um,
(07:03):
served coffee and bagels in themorning, and his story was he
had created the Afghanistancurrency.
I.
He was selling coffee in bagelsin New York City, and it was
the wildest thing.
It's like if we just take amoment to talk to people, we
learn so much about them, right?
I mean, I feel like this iswhat this podcast is, is to
learn from each other, hearpeople's stories, and see how we
(07:27):
can help each other throughone.
One way or another.
Um, anyways, that experience oftalking to all these food
trucking cart owners led me tostart my, the first version of
Food to Eat.
Um, and you know, we quicklypivoted into, um.
A corporate catering platformas opposed to just working with
food trucks and carts as aonline ordering platform.
(07:49):
Um, and that happened through,again, just listening to our
community of folks that we hadon our platform.
But, um, food to eat in itslatest and last form it was a
corporate catering platformwhere we centered immigrant
women, um, black and brownrestaurant owners and food cart
owners to be able to getcatering opportunities at large
(08:11):
corporate offices.
And so what that meant was I.
Companies like Warby Parker,the Skim, Microsoft, they were
ordering, uh, food from ourplatform from all of these
amazing vendors.
Um, and this, the unique partof what we did was, um, we were
creating an opportunity for themto have the, the restaurants
and food trucks have access tothese corporations that they
(08:33):
never had before.
They were never able to applyfor these large, um.
Gigs because these companiesdidn't really know if they could
actually handle them.
So we curated the restaurants,um, and we helped them actually
build up to be able to feed 3,4, 500 people at a time.
Um, because a lot of the timesthese small places didn't
(08:54):
actually have the means to dothat.
Lee (08:56):
And Deepti, I first met you when you were doing food to eat
and I just was so moved andinspired and it makes so much
sense to me that in you tellingyour story, you start with New
York City and Queens and thatthat is, you know, the, the real
like.
Uh, the mechanism that has likecentered all of your work,
(09:18):
whether you have been running abusiness, whether you're running
for office, whether you are acommunity activist, New York
City has been at the center, andit's not lost on me that you
were born and raised in the mostdiverse county
Deepti (09:32):
Yeah.
Lee (09:33):
world.
Right
Deepti (09:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lee (09:35):
You know, and I love that you have in this almost
multihyphenate way, you could bein any industry, you could be
in any kind of sort oforganization.
You're so resourceful andcreative, and you keep coming
back to entrepreneurship andwhat is that, that pull for you
towards starting something?
Deepti (09:59):
I mean, I, I always think about collective care and
action and, um, you know, forme, collective.
Action is when people cometogether to create change, um,
that they can't do alone.
And you know, when I wasstarting Food to eat, you know,
you could see, oh, you know,it's a, it was just a catering
platform, but really what it waswas.
(10:20):
A way to create newopportunities for restaurant
owners.
It was a way to add to theirbottom line.
It was a way for them to beable to grow and scale so that
in turn, they can provide fortheir families.
Now going back to the story of.
The man I met who was sellingcoffee and bagels, um, and back
(10:42):
home in Afghanistan had createdthe currency like he had
designed the currency is thatwhen he came here, he was
looking for an opportunity to beable to make money so that he
could send his children tocollege, he could provide for
his family.
Um, what I noticed in theseconversations was that a lot of
them weren't, um.
You know, chefs that weretrained, they were just doing
(11:04):
what they knew best, which wasproviding a, you know, nice home
cooked meal for their families.
And they thought, well, I cando that in, in cart form, in
restaurant form.
And um, if the food is goodenough, then people will
continue to come.
And I.
I realized that a lot of themdidn't have business backgrounds
either.
They weren't thinking aboutscale, they weren't thinking
about what if I serve morepeople in one day.
(11:25):
They were just doing things theway they were told and somebody
had done it before them.
And so to me it was reallyabout care.
Um, it was, you know, thepeople that were often shut out
of the corporate world, how canI help them?
By listening to them, right bybuilding trust and designing a
business model that worked forthem and not just for the bottom
(11:46):
line.
Something that really helpedthem be able to provide for
their families, help them toreally feel good about what they
do on a day-to-day basis.
And so for me, that was, um,what, you know, really drew me
to entrepreneurship, um, is thisidea of collective care.
Um, and not immediatelythinking about the hockey stick.
Um, which is what every.
(12:08):
Investor.
Once, right?
Every person in the ventureworld wants to see this hockey
stick and probably why it wasreally tough for me to raise
money, um, also being a woman,um, and a woman who didn't have
an Ivy League background or theresume that they wanted, uh,
given who I am.
(12:29):
Um, but yeah, I mean, I think,so for me it was really about
how do I dive into thecommunity, listen to them, and
create something that had neverbeen created for them before.
Um, I.
While listening to them, um,even like, you know, I was
saying even when we pivoted intothe corporate catering, um, we
pivoted because it was reallyhard for us to fundraise.
(12:49):
Um, as a solo founder, it wasreally hard being a woman.
It was really hard.
Um, I was being asked questionslike, when are you planning on
having children?
And, and to me it wasridiculous 'cause it was like,
how is that relevant to mebuilding my business?
Um.
And so, yeah.
So to me, entrepreneurship hasalways been about a form of
organizing.
Um, especially because, again,going back to women, immigrants,
(13:13):
people of color, refugees,they're often never given
opportunities or capital andthey don't have the same access.
Um, so I created it.
My first company centeredaround that so that I can
showcase how.
If you center people that areoften overlooked, that aren't
given opportunities, um, whatthat means.
(13:33):
And you can actually build amillion dollar business, which I
did, you know, by 2020.
We were, um, one of like, Ithink it's less than, I don't
know the exact percent, but it'sa very small percentage of
women own businesses that makeit to a million dollar revenue
mark.
Um, which to me is crazy.
And it's, again, it goes backto.
Access to a network, access tocapital, um, and, you know, give
(13:57):
people being given the rightopportunities, right?
Being invited to do things thatthey've never been able to do
before.
Lee (14:04):
Yeah.
Word opportunity.
And you have said that, andthat is so much of.
What you have centered yourlife's work on is creating those
opportunities.
And even the way you talk aboutas organizing, you know, I've
never heard of that before.
I've never thought of that.
And it's almost like you arecreating these opportunities for
(14:26):
people to build in their ownway instead of this idea of
entrepreneurship, which I thinka lot of us have, which is like
you have to do it a certain way,or there's a way to do business
and you have to fit intosomeone else's.
System and mold, which we knowhow racist and exclusionary and
historically prejudiced thatentire world has been.
(14:47):
And so can you talk a littlebit more about what you're
saying about the connectionbetween entrepreneurship and
organizing and collective actioncollective care?
Deepti (14:57):
Yeah.
I mean, so there's, if we wereto think about it, you know, I
think it's really simple.
Um.
What entrepreneurs can learnfrom organizers and vice versa,
right?
So it always starts withpeople.
Um, organizers know that changestarts by deeply understanding
the needs, struggles, and thedreams of the community.
And entrepreneurs can buildbetter and more impactful
(15:18):
businesses if they start bylistening and not pitching.
You know, not going immediatelyand saying, Hey, I know what
the problem is and this is whatthe solution is.
Right?
But if you, so what's mostimportant, and again, they learn
from each other, is by actuallyunderstanding, well, yes, this
is the problem.
Why does the problem exist?
Um, what is the history behindthe problem?
(15:40):
And then going to say to them,here's a solution I'm proposing.
What do you think about this?
If you don't think this is theright way, how would you propose
it be better?
Right.
So really starting with thepeople and not the product you
think they need.
Um, and then really buildingtrust before scale.
Organizers know that trust isearned over time.
Entrepreneurs, you know,because.
(16:01):
They have investors that theyhave to answer to.
They often rush to scale, butreal sustainability comes from
relationships and not justmetrics.
So not always thinking abouthow do I provide that hockey
stick?
It's really about how do youbuild that trust, which again,
takes time.
It doesn't happen overnight.
You can't just go to a placeand say, I think you should sign
(16:22):
up for my platform.
Um, and I learned that the hardway because when I was building
the platform and I was goingto, you know, restaurants or
food trucks and saying, Hey,sign up.
They're like, who are youagain?
So I had to learn to like buildthat trust and to showcase why
they should trust me, why I amthe right platform for them to
join.
Um, the next thing I thinkabout is like, power is
(16:43):
collective, right?
Organizers don't necessarilywait for permission.
They mobilize people.
You don't always have to waitfor someone to tell you.
It's now your turn to run foroffice.
Um, you know, and entrepreneurscan learn to share decision
making, build with, but not justfor users, right?
Co-create solutions.
Even when we pivoted food toeat from a consumer platform to
(17:06):
a B2B platform.
We co-created by actuallytalking to the restaurants and
the food trucks we were buildingthe platform for, and said,
okay, if this B2C platform isn'tworking, what do you need?
And they were like, cateringwould be so much.
Better.
What if you centered yourplatform, not around consumers,
but businesses that neededcatering.
(17:27):
When we get an order that isfor 300 people, that helps us so
much more than a $50 order,right?
So a thousand dollars orderversus a $50 order.
And so we.
Started to co-create, um, andthen messaging, right?
I think, I think entrepreneursare finally actually getting
this and they're building and,and, and you see this more when
(17:48):
you see women and people ofcolor building, but organizers
are brilliant storytellers.
Um.
Entrepreneurs can learn tocommunicate vision in ways that
inspire and not just selling.
So instead of just constantlythinking about how can I sell a
product?
Um, why not tell the story?
And, and it goes back to evenSimon Sinek who says, sell the
(18:10):
why not the what and the how.
Um, so I think that like thesethings are known, but they're
not really lived and they're notreally.
Uh, entrepreneurs or foundersaren't necessarily always
leading because there's thisconstant need to get things done
immediately.
There's a constant hustleculture.
(18:31):
I mean, I think about how muchI ate, breathed, lived shit,
like hustle, right?
It was always like, if Iwasn't, you know, busy, I didn't
feel like I was doing enough.
If I wasn't up till one in themorning working, I thought I
wasn't doing enough.
And it comes from, a part of itcomes from being a child of
(18:53):
immigrants too, but a part of itcomes from the American dream
that we were sold.
That if you work hard play, youknow, you can play hard.
And that's not necessarilytrue.
We do have to take care ofourselves.
You know, I've been teachingthat to my kids constantly.
You know, yesterday, Mondaynight, my, you know, we're,
it's, it's Wednesday today.
Monday night.
My son had, um, soccerpractice.
(19:14):
He had a really hard fall.
The next day he was complainingabout her getting hurt and he
felt sore.
And I was like, okay, we'regonna take a break from soccer.
And he couldn't fathom the ideaof not going to soccer
practice.
He's like, no, I have to go.
And I was like, no, no.
Coach understands that you hurtyourself and you need to take a
break even if you think you cango back and play.
(19:35):
It's better to take the rest.
It's better to heal thanrushing into something you don't
know is healed yet.
Um, and I think all of thatcomes back to the hustle culture
that we continue to think isokay.
Resting is okay.
I, I tell the students I workwith, I teach at Barn and
(19:55):
Columbia and that the, thestudents I work with, I always
tell them, building in the quietis okay.
You don't have to showeverything all the time.
You don't have to be on socialmedia all the time being like,
look at me.
Look, follow my journey.
Sometimes in the quiet is wherethe most amazing things come
(20:15):
out.
Lee (20:16):
I'm so grateful, deepti, that you are teaching
entrepreneurship because yourstudents are really lucky, and
the way that you think aboutthis is really counterintuitive
to the way that we're socializedto think about, you know, scale
just for scale's sake growth atany cost, and.
Capitalism really as the mainforce and you are advocating for
(20:38):
something really different.
And if it's okay, I just wannagive you some of your own words
back because they're reallyimportant for us to ruminate on.
And what you said aboutlistening and not pitching and
listening to the people closestto the problem, what you said
about organizers being the beststorytellers trust before scale
(20:59):
and that power is collective.
This idea that we don't have tolike ask for permission to
lead, I think is really, reallypowerful.
And also thinking about thisfrom a shared leadership and
shared decision makingperspective feels like really
important in this moment.
And so much of what you'resharing, I think could.
(21:20):
Almost, you know, be seen inany format, whether it's like
political organizing, runningfor office, running a company,
you know, and you've even ranfor office before.
Can you talk about like theline between politics and
entrepreneurship and what'sthere?
Deepti (21:41):
Well, actually I wanted to touch upon something you
talked about, like, so when Iteach, uh, one of the first
questions I've, I've gottenasked about is what do I feel
about capitalism?
I.
Lee (21:52):
Hmm.
Deepti (21:52):
know, I, I never have enough time because I'm like,
how long do we have?
We, my course that I teach atBarnard over the summers is a
three week course, so it's, it'snot a very long amount of time
that I have to go outside thelines of the course, but I, I, I
do struggle with capitalism,right?
Because it wasn't built formost of us.
But I also think that it's asystem that we're living in, and
(22:13):
I think about how can we use itto create things that our
communities need.
That's the only way I thinkabout it, and it's always
Lee (22:20):
Wow.
Deepti (22:21):
stuff, right.
For me, entrepreneurship hasalways been a tool, not just to
build wealth, but to buildpower, dignity, and visibility
for.
Everyone who is left out.
Um, and that's the way I'vealways seen it for myself, and
that's how I built food to eat.
Um, you know, I've built, I'veused business and I've used my
(22:41):
company to feed people during acrisis to create jobs for
immigrant women to challenge whogets to be seen as a founder.
Um, so it's not perfect and I'mnot trying to romanticize it in
any shape or form, but Ibelieve that.
the tools that we have andbending them towards justice.
That's how we make space andthat's how we build new models.
(23:02):
Um, and I think that's the wayI've been trying to create
myself, teach it, talk about it.
Um, yeah, so going back to thequestion of entrepreneurship and
politics and how that happened,so, you know, like I talked
about politics was.
I first fell in love with, howdo I create change for my
(23:25):
community?
How do I create a space forcreating new opportunities for,
for people?
Um, so for me, there isn'treally a line between
entrepreneurship and politicsbecause entrepre
entrepreneurship is political.
Every decision, every decisionyou make from who you hire, who
you center, who you ignore, um,how you price.
(23:47):
Who you serve is a reflectionof your values.
I didn't become political whenI ran for often.
I feel like I've always beenpolitical When I chose to build
a company, um, it's, I, I builtit to center it around
immigrants, around women ownedbusinesses, around black and
brown people.
Um, I challenged corporatebuyers to think differently
(24:08):
about their vendors.
When I used my voice.
Um, you know, about motherhoodand equity in public all, so all
of it, everything to me hasbeen political.
I don't think there's a line.
Um, I think some people try tocreate a line, but for me it
doesn't really exist, right?
So, um, especially if you're awoman of color.
And so when I decided to run,I.
(24:29):
know, I ran because in 2020Food to Eat took a big hit.
Now we operated with, um, theidea of people by serving
people, um, and feeding them intheir offices.
We were sheltered in place.
We went
Lee (24:44):
Yeah.
Deepti (24:45):
in revenue to zero in one day.
Lee (24:48):
Yeah.
Deepti (24:49):
Wall Street Journal had decided to
Lee (24:50):
Wow.
Wow.
Deepti (24:54):
yeah, I
Lee (24:55):
Yeah,
Deepti (24:55):
think I've
Lee (24:56):
I know.
I don't think.
Deepti (24:56):
the fact that I.
Like my first baby was gone,but instead of freaking out in
that moment, I really, you know,I remember like talking to my
husband, talking to my parents,and I was like, wait, if I'm
suffering, I.
There's restaurants that aresuffering and all those
employees are suffering, they'reall losing their jobs.
(25:17):
They're gonna go food insecure.
What can we do to help?
So I, and I, I think you mightremember this moment where I
started emailing the crap out ofeveryone I knew and was like,
Hey, I started a GoFundMe page.
Please, um, donate as much asyou can.
We are going to use this to tryto keep the restaurants we
partner with that are again, themost vulnerable, um, in
(25:37):
business.
that they can keep theiremployees in, you know, in jobs.
And we're gonna try to feedfamilies that are going food
insecure and.
That was a very important timebecause, you know, I started
doing it on my own.
I started applying for grants.
We raised $160,000 and then wehad an incredible partnership
(25:58):
with World Central Kitchen.
So Jose Andres and his team,they run World Central Kitchen
and they do, you know, all ofthis amazing work.
And they came to New Yorkbecause they realized, um, New
York was of the epicenters of.
And, um, we fed over half amillion New Yorkers with their
team.
And, and that was trulyincredible in that moment.
(26:19):
know, I didn't know what washappening with my company food
to eat, and I was like, itdoesn't matter.
But if in this moment I cankeep my team around to help, you
know, thousands of New Yorkersacross the city.
Why not?
And that's what we did.
And in that moment when I wasout on the streets, my kids were
at home, you know, they werebeing watched between me, him,
(26:41):
my parents, who were alsoworking, in that moment when I
was out on the streets and I waslike, I have this privilege to
be out here to help people.
To feed people.
Yeah.
What is a bigger way and moresubstantial way for me to be
able to create change?
What if I ran for office andyou know, I did my due diligence
(27:03):
and there was a seat that wasgonna be open, and I decided
over the summer of 2020, I thinkit was like July or August when
I went in and I actually handedin my application.
Got it notarized, Did the thingand I decided to run for
office.
Um, and that was a really toughdecision because it's not easy
(27:26):
to run for office.
I.
Um, everything is on the line,right?
You're, you're on your, your,your dignity is on the line.
Lee (27:35):
Yeah.
Deepti (27:35):
uh, your values are on the line.
People question you.
People don't trust you.
They, and, you know, all theseyears I was like, oh yeah, I'm
a, I'm a good, I'm a goodperson, good values, I care for
people.
And then everyone startsquestioning everything about
you.
But it was a big decision andI'm glad I did it.
I did not win.
Um, but it was never aboutwinning sometimes, right?
(27:57):
It like even, starting acompany, it's not, I never
created because I was like, oh,I wanna create a billion dollar
business.
I created because I wanted todrive change.
And by running I drove changeand potentially inspired the
next person to say, I can, I canrun.
Rishma Sajani ran for Congress.
(28:20):
I think she was a first SouthAsian woman.
I think whoever ran forCongress, if I'm correct, and
she inspired me, right?
If someone like her can do it,I can do it and, and, and
representation.
You know, representationmatters.
Yes.
It is not a perfect saying atall.
'cause to me it's more aboutwhat you do once you are, once
you're in
Lee (28:39):
Yeah.
Deepti (28:40):
Um, but that kind of representation does matter and
does need to be seen andvocalized, um, and talked about.
And so I.
While I didn't win, um, I amglad that I did it because I
learned a lot about organizing.
I learned a lot about I learnedthat are not what you think
they are.
And until I started knocking ondoors, I didn't realize how
(29:04):
moderate, um, the community Ilived in was how, know, they
really felt as if, um.
were protection for them.
Right.
And, Communities of color dostill believe that.
And it opened my eyes to a lotof things that I didn't know
(29:25):
before because I In my bubble,in my small
Lee (29:28):
Hmm.
Deepti (29:29):
Um, and it's when I started to realize it was really
important to continue doing thework of listening to people,
getting out there, knocking ondoors.
Um, it was the first time Ialso heard something called, uh,
motorist rights.
I had never heard anyone talkabout motorist rights, and I was
like, oh, wow, okay.
Um, you know, I, I live in apart of Queens where we don't
(29:51):
actually have access to a lot ofpublic transportation, so it
made sense.
Lee (29:55):
Yep.
Deepti (29:56):
absolutely made sense, but it was just such an
interesting conversation where Iwas like, okay, constituents
are not just the people thathave the same values as you,
your constituents are, everyone.
And you have To haveconversations with them.
You have to learn to, um, agreeand disagree at the same time.
And, and I think that that hasmade me a better parent because
(30:18):
I don't always agree with mykids.
They want ice cream at allpoints of the day and candy.
Uh, I agree to disagree.
Um, but no, you know, you know,and, and it's just interesting.
I think that like.
We, a lot of us live in ourbubbles.
Um, we choose to live inneighborhoods that are aligned
with exactly what we believe in,but sometimes we don't.
(30:40):
And when we don't, what happensthen?
What are the conversationsyou're having?
How do you build forcommunities that don't
necessarily agree with you allthe time?
Um, so yeah, you know, there'sa lot that goes into politics
and entrepreneurship and I thinkthat there are definitely
things that collide.
Um, you know, even when I thinkabout.
Building a company is like acandidate, right?
(31:03):
You have a product Hmm.
or service and that's the
Lee (31:06):
Hmm.
Deepti (31:06):
You have to learn how to talk about them.
You have to learn how to sellthem.
Uh, you have to make themdigestible to everyone.
Um.
and that is like such a simpleway to think about it, but it
is, right.
Like the, the candidate is yourproduct or service and you have
to learn how to tell theirstory.
You have to learn how to talkabout, uh, how they're gonna
(31:27):
drive change and how they'regonna make people's lives better
and why they should be theproduct, um, that they buy or
vote for, right?
So it's a
Lee (31:35):
Yeah.
Deepti (31:36):
line in that perspective as well.
Lee (31:40):
Just really the way that you think about this is really
beautiful.
And thinking about visibility,you know, and you've brought up
that word a few times and.
Thinking about this in terms oflike inclusion at its core and
what better place than Queens,the most diverse place in the
world where you're going to havemotorist rights, people, you
(32:01):
know, with some of the, the mostdiverse immigrant communities
in the world.
Right.
So I, it brings me back to justyour resourcefulness, your
creativity.
There's a lot of creativity, Ithink, in the way that you see
entrepreneurship in ways thatlike.
I don't think other people withdifferent lived experience are
(32:22):
gonna be able to have that senseof creativity and
resourcefulness and innovationthat you've been able to have by
listening to people and goingback to listening to people.
It's really powerful bendingtools towards justice.
Just to bring those words backagain.
Bending tools towards justiceand in this moment where there's
(32:46):
like so much blatant injustice,injustice that has always been
there, but it's being likereally emboldened in so many
ways.
How do we keep bending toolstowards justice when the systems
around us feel like they arefighting against that?
Deepti (33:05):
I think the, one of the most important things is to get
rest.
I don't know that that's apopular answer.
I know that we have to keepfighting and that we need, I
think people get annoyed when weare joyful.
People don't want us to behappy.
(33:25):
People don't want us tocelebrate the joy that does
exist, even in fire of it all.
If we don't celebrate thelittle things that are
happening, we'll all continue toburn and we'll all continue to
fall down.
And I think that this, this,the, there's so much injustice
right now, right?
It's exhausting, it's enraging.
(33:45):
And honestly, sometimes itfeels like Im impossible to keep
going.
But I think.
That's what it means to embodyjustice, right?
Not just talk about it.
Um, it means like even whensystems around us are doing the
opposite, it means showing up inthose small ways.
You know, how do we lead, howwe, how do we hire, how do we
(34:05):
tell our stories, how we
Lee (34:07):
Yeah.
Deepti (34:07):
other, right?
And I think that that's alsoreally important, the joy of it
all.
Um.
In the small things that, thatare happening.
So we may not be able to burnthe whole system down, and I
don't think we need to burn itdown.
I think we can bend pieces ofit.
We can disrupt narratives, wecan build safety within our
communities.
We can model leadership.
(34:28):
Um, and can, know it and showwhat it looks like when it's
rooted in empathy and not ego.
Lee (34:37):
Yeah.
Yeah,
Deepti (34:38):
know,
Lee (34:39):
yeah.
Deepti (34:39):
isn't, you know, justice isn't necessarily a
destination, it's a direction,right?
And we
Lee (34:45):
Hmm.
Deepti (34:46):
toward it, even when everything around us is telling
us not to, because we've seenwhat happens when we don't.
So I think it's, it's a slowand steady process.
It's not gonna happenovernight.
Um, the same thing about
Lee (35:00):
Yeah.
Deepti (35:00):
right?
Like, I don't love the systemand I can't bring it down
tomorrow.
And it, it's.
Its roots are in a veryterrible, come from a very
terrible place.
I work, I'm trying to workwithin that system and finding
the ways in which I can leadwith empathy and not ego.
I don't have to be at theforefront of every movement.
(35:20):
I don't
Lee (35:22):
Yeah.
Deepti (35:22):
be the leader that gets elected.
Just because I didn't win whenI ran for office doesn't mean
there aren't other ways for meto create and lead.
I always talk about in thismoment, how can we be
innovative?
How can we learn from techentrepreneurs?
And then how can we as techentrepreneurs learn from the
(35:42):
organizers, how do we cometogether to drive those
solutions that will really leadand pave the way of the future?
You have women that are nowstarting companies talking about
menopause.
So we need to get innovative,we need to get creative, we need
to talk about the problems, andwe need to help each other and,
and not feel like only one wayto do it.
(36:05):
And that's what I mean by byego.
'cause I think a lot of timesfounders will say, I need to be
the one at the, at the panel.
I need to be the at theforefront of this issue.
And organizers are the sameway.
How do we give the mic tosomeone else?
Um.
Just today I got an email froma friend who was like, you know,
(36:26):
I was gonna apply for thisthing, this like grant or
fellowship and you know, Ithought actually this is
something that's right up youralley, not mine.
I don't belong in this, so I'mactually gonna, I'm gonna cheer
you on to do this thing.
I think you should apply.
Instead of me and him, himtaking the seat back and saying,
you should do it.
(36:47):
Was so important to me.
And I think that that'ssomething that we can all learn
from is like, how do I giveopportunities that might be
coming my way, no matter howscarce they are?
How can I give them to somebodyelse?
How can I the platform I haveand and showcase somebody else's
work?
Lee (37:06):
Yep.
Yep.
And that's really what we needin our society right now, right?
We can see so much gatekeepingin terms of the Democrats
keeping out younger, moreprogressive voices, really
gatekeeping.
Deepti (37:17):
Mm-hmm.
Lee (37:18):
like black and brown voices I'm seeing, especially in my
community, right?
And it takes so much confidencefor people to create space for
others and share space, andshare leadership.
It takes so much confidence tolead with empathy instead of
ego.
It's beautiful.
So Deepti, can we talk aboutthis exhaustion?
I'm seeing this in mycommunity.
(37:39):
The activists and organizerswho've been fighting for
generations are tired.
A lot of the entrepreneurs Iknow are so.
Exhausted, whether it's fromthe tariffs or the stress of the
last five years, or parentingwithout enough support, like how
do we deal with the exhaustion?
How do we recover and rebuildeven as things continue to
(38:03):
change around us?
Deepti (38:06):
Oh, wow.
That's a, that's a loaded,loaded question.
Um, because I'm feeling thisway.
Right.
Lee (38:18):
Yep, me too.
Deepti (38:21):
I, I think that it's time to rebuild with care at the
center.
Um, I
Lee (38:28):
Ooh,
Deepti (38:28):
it
Lee (38:28):
wow.
Deepti (38:29):
to recovery starts with allowing ourselves to rest.
I.
To grieve, to name what'sbroken.
And I have grieved a lot inthese last few years, and that's
why I'm saying this, likesomeone had to literally say to
me, joy and grief can coexist.
I thought I only had to grieve.
Um.
(38:51):
I thought that if someonepasses, the only way to move
forward is to grieve them and tomiss them.
But you can also do theopposite and find joy in them
being in a place that wasnecessary for them in their
journey or whatever it is.
but then, so, you know,recovery starts from allowing
(39:11):
ourselves to rest, grieve, andto name, you know, what is
broken, um, and then to rebuildright slowly and intentionally
with each other.
And that might look likeresources, setting new
boundaries.
Right?
I didn't even think aboutboundaries before.
I didn't realize that I couldsay no to people.
but then I became a parent andI was like, I am, I am.
(39:35):
I've created life and now I amresponsible for this life and I
can, that helped me setboundaries because I realized.
It was really important to makesure that I was giving my kids
the tools that I didn't havegrowing up or the resources I
didn't have.
And that could only
Lee (39:53):
Yeah.
Deepti (39:53):
I set boundaries.
and then telling the truthabout what we need.
I don't think we
Lee (40:00):
Mm.
Deepti (40:01):
I think sometimes we hide the tools we really need to
care for ourselves, and I thinkit's really important that we.
Um, name the truth about thethings
Lee (40:13):
Yeah.
Deepti (40:13):
need to feel better.
Right?
And that could be rest, thatcould be saying no, that could
be saying yes.
You know, I met someone theother day where they were like,
yeah, I'm in my era of sayingyes to everything.
And I'm like, oh, be carefulwith that one.
He learned to set yourboundaries.
Um, but maybe that's what thatperson needs, you know?
And in that moment, that's whatthat person needs, that they
were shutting themselves from.
(40:35):
Newness from new opportunitiesthat they didn't, you know, they
didn't say yes enough, and theydidn't get enough of that
community they needed.
and we can't build, we can'tbuild new systems using the same
tools that burned us out.
So choose different ones,right?
It could be empathy, empathy,collaboration, softness, joy.
(40:58):
That's not weakness.
That's how we last, I think.
Um,
Lee (41:02):
Yeah.
Deepti (41:03):
And each of us has to find that way for ourselves.
And it doesn't have to beshowing up to a protest.
It can be saying like, Hey, I'ma great storyteller,
organizers, let me help createthe speeches for some of your
nonprofit leaders that aregoing, that are gonna go up and
speak because they're notnecessarily the best at it.
And I can help them write theirstories, I can help
Lee (41:24):
Yep.
Deepti (41:25):
If they're really good at the storytelling, I can help
them.
Deliver it in a better way.
We all have different skillsets.
How can we show up for eachother in different ways that
doesn't necessarily us?
and then like, you know, thelast thing I'll say is let's not
be critical of our owncommunity.
(41:45):
Oh, that
Lee (41:46):
Yeah.
Deepti (41:47):
show up to this.
And it's like, we don't knowwhat was happening in their life
in that moment, in that day.
Lee (41:52):
Yep.
Deepti (41:52):
had a kid at home who was throwing up and they
couldn't get up and get out ofbed to show up the next day.
We don't know.
Lee (41:59):
Yep.
Deepti (42:00):
em, empathy leaning really hard into that.
The criticism, let's not, let'snot criticize each other.
let's learn from each other'schoices and, and
Lee (42:10):
Yeah.
Deepti (42:11):
those, right?
Like Lee, you've decided to doso many things in the last few
months that we've talked about,and I'm only learning more from
them.
Like, wow.
are so strong for making strongand brave for making those
choices.
How do I learn from that?
Or how do I understand that?
see that's what they need inthis moment, but maybe that's
not the right decision for me.
(42:31):
Right.
And vice versa.
You
Lee (42:33):
Yeah.
Deepti (42:33):
me.
Lee (42:34):
Yeah.
Deepti (42:36):
so yeah, I mean, I hope that we, we name what's wrong.
We, we lead with and, and werebuild with care at the center.
Lee (42:46):
That, you know, rebuilding with care at the center feels
like such an amazing focusingmechanism and.
And even, you know, as you saythat deep tea, it's like there's
so many ways that we're allbeing hard on ourselves for not
doing enough.
But I love that of us each justknowing how we can best
contribute us trusting ourselvesalmost as, you know, our own
(43:10):
individual activistentrepreneurs, and where do we
wanna see movement?
How do we wanna impact ourcommunities?
And giving ourselves a chanceto rest, you know, and to do
things differently.
And I'm so grateful to you,deep Dee.
I'm grateful for thisconversation.
I'm grateful for your work inthe world, and I'm just always
(43:33):
learning from you, and I'm sograteful that we could have this
conversation today.
Deepti (43:38):
Absolutely.
I'm always learning from you,so thank you for, for this
conversation and for creatingthis podcast and also just me
space to speak.
Lee (43:47):
Always.
I always enjoy our connections,my friend.
Thank you.
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