March 7, 2025 • 36 mins
Pinky Patel is the crown adorned TikTok comedian you’ve come to know and love for her no holds barred, quick and quippy style. She speaks directly to audiences from her glam cave though sometimes she calls it - something else.
She claimed TikTok stardom while still working her corporate 9 to 5 job and playing PTA mom on the daily. It was the Covid pandemic and a close friend who gave her the push she needed to change her life. And now she’s telling it like it is, making folks laugh, and living life on her terms.
Her #ISaidWhatISaid tour visits Newark just in time for Women’s History Month. Check out today’s episode where Gina and Pinky chat feminist comedy, lifestyle tips, and women empowerment.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (00:04):
This is Gina Marie Rodriguez and you're
listening to the Jersey ArtsPodcast.
Pinky Patel is thecrown-adorned TikTok comedian.
You've come to know and lovefor her no-holds-barred, quick
and quippy style.
She speaks directly toaudiences from her glam cave,
though sometimes she calls it…something else.
She claimed TikTok stardomwhile still working her
(00:26):
corporate 9-to-5 job and playingPTA mom on the daily.
It was the COVID pandemic and aclose friend who gave her the
push she needed to change herlife, and now she's telling it
like it is, making folks laughand living life on her terms.
Her I Said what I Said tourvisits Newark just in time for
Women's History Month.
Check out today's episode wherePinky and I chat feminist
(00:47):
comedy, lifestyle tips and womenempowerment.
I wore my crown just for you.
Yay, I love it.
I love it.
We're matching sort of.
Pinky Patel (00:57):
Sort of We'll get you there, don't worry, you'll
be wearing it all the time.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:02):
I just need to like get the streaks in
my hair too, and then we'll beon a good path.
Pinky Patel (01:07):
Yeah, whatever color you want, it doesn't have
to be magenta.
You know, whatever color speaksto you.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:11):
Yeah, you know, I've always wanted to go
blue.
Pinky Patel (01:15):
That would be spectacular.
I think you should.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:17):
Right, all right, well, now I have your
approval.
Not that you needed my approval, but yeah, I didn't, I didn't.
But how's your day going?
Spectacular.
How are you, gina?
I am very well.
I'm glad that you're here withme.
Pinky Patel (01:34):
Thank you for taking the time.
Thank you for reaching out.
I love doing podcasts.
It's so much fun.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:39):
Awesome.
Well, I'm glad it's not a chorethen I hate when it feels like
a chore.
Pinky Patel (01:43):
I know we just need a lot of coffee cups and then
we can, you know, do a littlecozy time.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:48):
I should have brought the coffee.
I'm a terrible hostess.
Next time I'll bring coffee.
Do you mind if I tell you astupid story?
Though first no?
Pinky Patel (01:58):
no, tell me however many stupid stories you want to
, I will.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (02:01):
I won't say it's so much a story as a
factoid.
So your videos, you know youtend to sign off not all the
time, but you sign off with okaybye, like a really clipped
thing, and somehow that hasentered my subconscious,
subconscious, subconscious.
Yeah, I forgot how to speakenglish, so that's fun.
Um, but I'm not a mom, but Ihave two dogs and, for whatever
(02:28):
reason, I now tell them okay byewhenever they're misbehaving
and I want them to listen to me,so I'll say okay bye and then I
walk away and then they followme and realize that they need to
do what I'm, what I'm saying.
Pinky Patel (02:41):
That's spectacular.
I mean, that's how we say,that's how we.
And phone calls they're soawkward, they're so like.
I realized that I, we all saythat like right, when we're
trying to hang up the phone.
And I know, you know, we'retalking less and less on the
phone as years have progressed,which makes it even more awkward
.
At the end Now we're just likeokay, how do we abruptly end
(03:02):
this conversation, like if youwere in front of me and I was
done conversing with you.
I can't just look at you, gina,and be like okay, I'm done, I'm
leaving, bye.
Like I have to wait.
Polite society says you have towait until there's a lull in
the conversation, like there'sso many rules you know.
And so I'm like no, let's alljust be awkward and embrace our
awkwardness.
Let's just do it and thennobody.
(03:22):
Then that's going to be the newnorm right, yeah.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (03:25):
Yeah, I'm on board with that.
When I was younger, I used tobe hey, thanks bye.
It was a very quick hey, thanksbye, and I would only do that,
you know, in text, like Iwouldn't dare to say that to
someone in person, I guess.
But I think that we should alljust adopt it because that's,
this is the new age, right, yeah, and just be like okay, bye,
(03:47):
and then hang up, exactly Allright.
Well, thank you for letting meshare my, my little factoid of
how I mother my dogs.
Pinky Patel (03:55):
Hey man, they're your fur babies.
They might not be skin babies,but they're your fur babies.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (03:59):
They are, and I love that you have made
that distinction between a furbaby and a skin baby.
You're one of the people whoapproves of skin babies.
Pinky Patel (04:07):
So you know what, as long as, as long as we're not
comparing and contrasting, Idon't care what you do with your
life.
Like is your life, is yourmoney, as long as you're not
hurting yourself and otherpeople.
Have at it, girl, do whateverthe F you want you know.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (04:20):
Thank you, I love that, and it's also very
feminist of you to say that.
I think that you know we'reentering March and that's
Women's History Month, so that'sa great segue right into my
first question Spectacular.
I set it up just like that, butI wanted to talk about I guess
I'll call it your journey intocomedy, because you didn't start
(04:43):
really posting until thepandemic hit, and this was
pandemic posting on TikTok, Imean really during a time that I
think most of the country, orwell, most of the planet, just
needed something to laugh at orlaugh about.
But I heard that you reallystarted doing it for an audience
of one and because I thinkfemale friendships are so
(05:04):
important, I'd really love tohear about that one person who
helped you I mean basicallyhelped pushed you into stardom.
Pinky Patel (05:11):
She's regretting her life decisions right now.
It is.
It all started because of, youknow, and this was it was.
It was really funny because Ialways had a Facebook page.
Because as soon as I gotmarried and I moved from
Connecticut to Illinois, I waslike, well, you know, being
brown, you're brown, I'm brown.
We know what the expectancy ofwomen is who are married, right.
(05:34):
And so I was like, well, my momis in Connecticut, I don't want
to snail mail pictures of hergrandbabies, right, babies,
right.
So I was like, she can ask mybrother to go online on the
Facebook.
So it started off as that and Iwas the mom behind the camera
because, you know, pregnancy,depression, everything just
compounded.
You could tell on my body, youcould tell on my face.
(05:56):
I hated being in front of thecamera.
And then, december of 2019, Iwas talking to my work wife and
you know, I was just like howfunny would it be if I like
started posting these randomthoughts of the day that I just
come to your off your cubicleand I just shout these things,
or I'll like message her onTeams my random thought over the
day, and it always made hergiggle.
(06:17):
I can hear her chuckling overthe wall, all of that, right.
And so then she was like, oh myGod, that that would be
hilarious.
So I started posting onFacebook a random thought of the
day and then that turned intoalong that timeline of December
of 2019.
You know, we work was difficult.
I was looking for a differentjob because the company like
(06:38):
they weren't you know, theyweren't respecting me and all
that stuff.
You know corporate life, youknow what I'm talking about.
And so then I go to my workwife.
Now we're told to stay at home.
Right now it's January,february of 2020, march is
coming up.
When they put us on lockdown,friday the 11th, right, it was
just like the big, ominous datethat they told us we had to stay
(07:01):
at home.
So then we stayed at home andthen I'm messaging her on Teams.
I was like how funny would itbe if I took these random
thoughts of the day, which werejust text, and I said them and I
recorded it and I put it onYouTube.
She's like, hey, girl, hey, goahead, I'll follow you there.
So every time I decided likeevery time I had this brilliant
idea, my work wife was like, ohmy god, yeah, I'll follow you
(07:23):
there.
And I was like done, yeah, itwas all for my work wife.
I call her my gothic queen, um,and she's very goth.
She's very like, heavilytattooed, very like if I know
exactly what high school groupshe would have been in in her
high school years.
You know, and I love that.
I like I'm the type of personwhere I will take the
stereotypes that you have thrustupon me and my girlfriends and
(07:47):
my people that are in my tribeand I will embrace those, those,
those things, and I will makeyou regret the fact that you
tried to make fun of me for itLike remember back in the day
when you were labeled a goth, itwas like so bad.
Now everything's going on.
I love the dark aesthetic.
I'm like you didn't like thisback in the 90s.
Okay, like you don't get totalk now.
(08:07):
So I embrace these, thesestereotypes, and I just I say
you know what?
I just flick them off becauseI'm like you're gonna, and you
know again, being a woman ofcolor, we have a lot of
stereotypes thrust on us.
So when I go on stage, I callout all of those stereotypes and
I embrace it and I'm just likeno, no, no, no, no, no.
You're going to say the Indianpeople are doctors.
(08:27):
Well, guess what I'm going tobe like?
I'm not the doctor Indian, I'mthe IT Indian.
Respect me, witch, you knowwhat I'm saying?
Like let's take these thingsthat people have put negative
connotation on, negative likebehind these stereotypes, and
(08:49):
let's make it something positive, right, yeah?
And I'm like no, we need toembrace these for whatever
community, either the Latinacommunity, the South Asian
community, let's embrace themand just blow these negative
people out of the water yeah, Imean, I love that.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (08:55):
And long-lived minorities, right,
who are?
Pinky Patel (08:57):
like we don't have minorities, we don't have this
country, so exactly as we'retalking about these different
minority groups.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:06):
I guess I'm wondering if there comes a
responsibility that you feelbecause you, you take on this
role of representation.
Right, While we've we've grownin terms of diversity, it's
still very limited when it comesto our media.
So is there a sense ofheaviness or what's that?
(09:26):
Uncle Ben quote with great,with great power, comes great
responsibility.
It does that affect you at all?
Pinky Patel (09:33):
Um, no, because.
So what I'm doing is I amfinding all of the women that
match my vibe so that I can putthem in my tribe, and so to me,
it doesn't matter if what yourskin.
It literally doesn't matterwhat your skin color is.
To me, it doesn't matter whatyour background is.
To me, what matters is does thecontent that I put out and then
(09:57):
, as a result, the standupcomedy show that I do, if that
resonates with you and if that'show you feel about yourself,
your future you're like you knowI want.
I want to break whatever traumathat I grew up with, like I
want to.
The goal in life is always to bea better person.
That's like the older you get,your goal should be how can I be
(10:18):
a better version of myself,whether that is mentally,
physically, whatever, right,like that's why a lot of women,
when they get older, they getinto physical fitness because
they have the time right.
Their babies are out of thehouse.
They'd have.
You know they have the time andmaybe that's when we are
supposed to.
You know, that's when we getour second wind is when we get
into the older stages of ourlife.
(10:40):
Like I'm 44 years old.
Okay, I know a lot of peopledon't know that because I don't
put it out there, but I'm likemy age should not matter to you.
It should matter what's comingout of this mouth.
It should matter what I'm doing.
It should matter how, like howI'm crossing that finish line,
like, am I bringing women withme or am I knocking other women
down in order to cross thatfinish line, Right.
(11:01):
So I love that quote with greatpower, responsibility, all that
stuff.
I love that Uncle Ben quote.
However, I don't like in thebeginning I used to have feel
that imposter syndrome, but I'mlike I had like an epiphany
recently which is it'sspectacular that you wanted to
reach out to me now to do thispodcast, because literally last
(11:22):
week I was like I was lookingout of the plane, the window in
the plane, on my way to Seattlefor my shows, right, and I was
just like you know what.
I've been given thisopportunity where I could talk
about all of the quote-unquoteinjustices to women, to South
Asian women, to people of color.
Right, like, take it down fromthe top, top level down versus
(11:45):
women, then brown women, thenSouth Asians, right, like that's
, and then if and then, on topof that, it's the women and
girls in my real life, in mycircle here, right.
So from top down, like that's,that's a lot of people and
that's how I want to like tackleeverything, right.
And so I was looking out thewindow and I'm just like I have
(12:07):
I've been traveling so much.
I've been looking at my audience, I've been listening to them,
I've been reading the comments.
I was like what, like I have somuch to give that I don't want
to just sit and like and, likeyou saw, I've been working out.
I've been like taking bettercare of myself, like even health
, like eating wise, like I likeCaesar salads.
(12:28):
Now, gina, I didn't like Caesarsalads before.
I never did because I was justlike, what is this?
I don't want to eat grass.
Now I'm eating grass, okay,gina, I'm so proud of you like
I'm eating grass.
I'm drinking warm swamp water.
I'm being so amazing.
Tea, tea is warm swamp water.
You knew exactly where you were.
Tea, tea is warm swamp water.
I knew exactly where you weregoing with it.
And, listen, I will doeverything that you want me to
(12:50):
do, but that doesn't mean I haveto like it.
That does not mean I have tolike it, and that's the thing I
want all women across this worldto realize, it's that, yes, we
have to do certain thingsbecause that's the time.
That's where you are in yourlifespan.
(13:10):
This is the timeline you're inRight now.
Guess what?
You have to be a mom and youhave to change those diapers and
you have to, you know, be thesnack witch and all that stuff,
because that's your job.
But when they get older?
Now, your job is to focus onyourself.
Your job is to focus onyourself and you don't have to
like what you have to do to be abetter version of yourself, but
you just have to accept it.
Right, you have to makeyourself get up and go outside
(13:31):
for that walk and just do it.
Put the headphones in, becauseyou need to do it.
Why?
Because it's going to give youthat alone time that you need to
have these great ideas to makeyou a better version of yourself
.
Preach, girl, preach, and like.
For me, that message goesbeyond color.
That message is womenempowerment.
(13:53):
Like I'm the one that will tellyou, as a good friend, as your
best friend or your cousin, oryour aunt or whoever, I'm the
one that will tell you, girl,this is not what we do?
How about we do it better?
Women empowerment is notblindly telling women they're
doing great when they're hurtingthemselves and or other people.
Women empowerment is makingsure that we are all have a
(14:16):
cohesive.
Like you know, this isimportant and this is really how
you should feel about it.
And if you don't, you'll getthere in your own time, but
right now you do you because I'malready there.
Then you can come into that, mytribe when you get there.
Mentally, everybody's differentmentally, right, like that's
why we have to go get therapy.
(14:37):
That's why we have to.
Not only are we physicallygoing and getting wellness
checks every year, we also haveto go and take care of the brain
.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (14:47):
Absolutely .
It's so important that youbring that up because I think
there a lot of times is thisconfusion between women,
empowerment and just yesingpeople.
It's about encouraging growthand in order to do that, like
you said, sometimes you justhave to say it like it is, you
know.
Pinky Patel (15:03):
Right and yes, the delivery matters.
Have.
To say it like it is, you know,Right and yes, the delivery
matters.
Right, the delivery for surematters.
Like you know you have to.
Your delivery has to match therecipient.
So if your, if your goal is to,you know, get that person who,
just who, feels reallyoverwhelmed with everything that
they have to do.
The message isn't witch, getyour ass off the couch.
(15:24):
You know it's not aggressive,it's they need to.
They need a little bit of kidgloves, not too much, but a
little bit right.
It's like okay, I understandthat you're overwhelmed, but
what can we do to alleviate thisfeeling of anxiety?
First thing you can do let'swrite a list right, like when
I'm talking to my girlfriends,I'm literally am I listening or
(15:45):
am I advising?
If they say listening, if theysay advising, now I'm in, like
you know, corporate pinky modeand I'm like this is what we
need to do to get you out ofthis.
Everything is a corporateproject for me, because that's
how my brain works and I'm likeyou guys made me learn how
corporate works, so now I'mgoing to use it for myself.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (16:04):
I think that's great.
You're turning, turningcorporate into good, which is
not really what you associatewith corporate half the time.
Pinky Patel (16:14):
So well, more than half the time.
Well, when you, when you thinkof stereotypes, do you think of
good or bad?
You think of bad, so I'm takingthose stereotypes and I'm making
them something powerful.
You want me, like I said, youwant me to adhere to the
stereotypes of what my peoplecan only be right.
Oh, your people are onlydoctors or IT people or
engineers, or small or 7-Elevenowners or hotel owners.
(16:36):
Well, guess what?
I'm gonna prove you wrong.
And then, when you're stuck andyou have no money, when you're
old, I will have the moneybecause I did all those things
that you put that stereotype onme.
I embrace those and I excelledat them.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (16:50):
Wow, I mean, just listening to you is
really.
It's inspirational and it'smotivational and it makes me
want to.
I don't know, I just want to dosomething.
I love how passionately youspeak about all of this and I
guess I would also love to knowwhat you would.
I don't know how.
I want to say this Do you haveadvice for people who are still
(17:12):
stuck in the doldrums of thenine to five, but they also have
a voice that they want to getout there and share?
And how?
Not that everybody has the samepath, but how would they use
your journey as a guide?
Pinky Patel (17:26):
I understand that what I'm about to say is very
cliche.
It is a very cliche and insteadof using the word but I will
use the word.
However, however, I feel thatif I can do it, anybody can do
it.
Like I, honestly, and this isnot me like falsely hyping women
up.
This is me, speaking from myown experiences these past five
(17:51):
years.
Like this is me living thislife where I literally Gina, I
literally, when COVID started,when they told us to stay at
home, I was.
I was on LinkedIn looking forother consulting corporations
that did the same thing that Idid at the corporation.
I did it here in theChicagoland area Because I was
like they're not using me to myfull potential and I'm so like.
(18:13):
I made my own job description,I made my own position, I put
process improvement things inplace, but I was not valued.
I was undervalued.
Things in place, but I was notvalued.
I was undervalued.
I was told when I asked for ateam and it was literally, it
(18:35):
was the director, it was me andher five teams and I had to
support the five teams.
I'm talking from softwareinstallation to execution, to
best practices, to reports, tooutputs, everything.
But when I asked for a team.
I was told well, your positionhas no ROI, so we cannot give
you headcount.
And so from that moment on, Iwas driven to find a better life
(18:57):
.
It started with me trying tofind a different position, the
same position in a differentcompany.
And then COVID happened and Iwas like I see all these people
posting stuff.
My friends tell me I'm funny,let me post stuff.
And I and I would do it.
I did it strategically why?
Because I did not want to getin trouble.
I would make content while Ihad reports running on my
(19:18):
computer in this vagina cave andI, while my my reports were
running, while I had accessgoing I know you know all these
words I'm saying I would, on theside, be making content.
This is the tripod I used tomake content on myself.
It's literally on the side ofmy desk.
I would post a video on thehour every hour for five hours,
(19:44):
five videos a day.
I was posting because peoplewere putting dumb content out
there and I literally I hatemyself, like I'm not looking at
myself at all.
I, just this year, started beingproud of what I was seeing on
the screen, just this past year,recently, and so until then I
did not have the camera facingme, I just talked as if I was
talking with my friends in mybackyard.
(20:06):
I pretended I created anenvironment where I felt
comfortable there's no audiencehere and then I posted it and I
was like you know what, I don'thave to go back to that.
I don't have to go back to thevideo if I don't want to.
I don't have to look at thecomments if I don't want to.
I don't have to defend myselfif I don't want to and like
don't have to defend myself if Idon't want to and like,
realistically, you don't have todo those things.
(20:28):
It's those influencers that putthat pressure on people like us,
who want to be content creators, who have important messages to
promote, who have motive.
Like, like you said, like if mygoal in life is to do something
spectacular so that I can goand I can motivate people, I can
be a motivational speakerbecause I have the experience
(20:48):
behind me Versus a lot ofmotivational speakers out there.
All they've done is read books.
They haven't actually walkedthose steps.
They haven't traveled, theyhaven't done on average for the
past three years.
They have not had 30 flightsfor the past three years.
On average 40,.
Actually they have not gonefrom city to city and been in
front of people and looked atpeople and known what the people
(21:11):
need.
I have.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (21:14):
You have to literally just post I love
hearing your growth, like I cantell that after being told.
What an insulting thing, by theway, to be told that you, like
you, have no roi basically.
Pinky Patel (21:25):
But on top of that, gina, not even on top of that,
it was a woman telling me this.
I hate that.
It was a woman director who wasmore concerned about how far
she could piss off the fencewithin the men's locker room so
she could be with those higherups then growing the women who
were on her team, and from thatthat and I didn't even know that
(21:46):
was called lack of womenempowerment.
The things that I know now isbecause I have chosen to go
online and surround myself withthings that help me mentally
instead of hurt me mentally.
And that's the other part ofthis.
Right, like, what are you doingto let people know that?
Hey, just because you see it onyour screen does not mean
(22:07):
that's how life really is.
I don't care that it's a movietheater or it's your cell phone
and you think you're looking atsomebody's in real life.
You're not baby girl, you arenot.
You are looking at somethingthat they recorded all day and
they clipped it into a 60 secondor 15 minute video for you.
And being from that side nowbecause before I was just a
(22:30):
consumer, I was just a contentconsumer I was like, oh my God,
oh my God, oh my God, give memore Right.
And then I went to the otherside I was like no, I know what
it takes and these witches halfof them, a majority of them are
lying to you, so it's not goingto be easy.
I don't want to misinterpretthat.
I want full transparency.
(22:51):
Some days I'm like should I evencontinue to post?
These videos are not doing well.
And then other days I'm likeyou know what?
I'm going to post a video thatis old, that did well, that was
viral and it's going to be okaybecause it's still me.
It's your platform.
You post what you feelpassionate about, as long as
what did I say?
I said it twice already You'renot hurting yourself or other
(23:14):
people physically or mentally,and if you can check that off
your list, am I hurting myself?
No Check.
Am I hurting my audience?
No check.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (23:25):
I wish more people had that point of
view because, like you said,there are other influencers out
there who don't necessarilyadhere to those rules,
unfortunately.
But you also said somethingthat I want to repeat briefly
following accounts that arehealthy for you.
That's so pivotal in a worldwhere we are dominated by social
(23:49):
media and the misinformationthat is available on social
media.
You have to make theseconscious decisions that I am
going to follow people who bringme joy, people who educate me
and people who are pushingkindness.
I think some of us forget thatwe have control over what we are
(24:11):
taking in.
Pinky Patel (24:12):
The thing is, if somebody is not helping you grow
, glow or go, you're going tosay no.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (24:21):
I love that so much.
Pinky Patel (24:24):
Right, like as as a human being.
If you are surrounding yourselfwith people that fit those
first three things, then you sayyes, but if not, you say no and
you move on.
You don't have, this is not anairport.
You don't need to announce yourdeparture, unfollow and move on
with your life.
You don't have to write inthere.
I'm so disappointed in you.
Do you say that to friendswhere you just like you, ghost
(24:44):
them because over time you stoptexting?
You don't have to write inthere.
I'm so disappointed in you.
Do you say that to friendswhere you just, like you, ghost
them because over time, you stoptexting, you don't go back and
you're like I know I haven'ttalked to you for two years, but
I've just been so disappointedin you and that's why we're not
talking anymore.
You don't do that to people inyour real life.
So why are you doing that to astranger's comment section just
because you didn't like whatthey posted?
Like if somebody has posted athousand videos and you only
(25:06):
didn't like one, then maybe themessage wasn't clear in the
video.
Overall, you like that personand that's okay, but if you keep
going back to their content andit's just not, like it's not
your vibe, your gut check isjust off and women have this
intuition and I want women tostart using this intuition
because, like I said, if thatperson doesn't match your vibe,
(25:30):
they're not part of your tribe,they're not you are saying some
wonderful stuff here.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (25:36):
I feel like I'm I don't know.
I don't want to put a negativespin on it, I just feel like
I've been schooled, but in thebest possible way.
So no.
Pinky Patel (25:45):
And here's the thing Like the reason I feel
like you can hear sometimes thepassion when I'm talking about
things like this is because Icome from the same boat.
Like we've been told that youknow we can't do certain things.
We've been told that we've beenlike we've been given this
blueprint and how to be an adult, but it's the shittiest
blueprint that we've been given.
(26:05):
It wasn't a blueprint of, likeyou know, again, going back to
corporate project management,you get smees in the room and
then you figure out what thebest practices.
So why can't we have that forhow to be a woman, how to be an
adult?
Let's get the.
Let's get women that we feellike you know, that we resonate
with in our life, that fit ourvibe.
Let's learn from them and thenlet's grow and let's create more
(26:27):
women like that, so that whenwe go anywhere in this country,
we feel safe traveling alone,when we go anywhere in this
world.
Because let me tell you, Idon't know how old you are.
I'm not going to ask you howold you are, but this is a
message for everybody as soon asyou are financially able to
start traveling by yourself as awoman, you need to start
(26:47):
traveling by yourself, because Ihave been doing that since
October of 2024.
I have been traveling by myselfto these shows and I have
learned so much.
I have been observing.
I've learned so much aboutmyself.
Because?
Why?
Because when I'm in that hotelroom, when I'm in that airplane,
when I'm in that shuttle, whenI'm in that Uber, when I'm in
(27:08):
that car commuting from city tocity, I don't have noise from
other people telling me how I'msupposed to live my life, giving
me their opinions.
So I've been having to thinkabout things on my own and we
need that and we women, we arenot given that luxury to have
quiet time.
So the noise is notinfiltrating and I want to be
(27:30):
like.
I want other people women toknow it is very difficult to be
the best version of yourself.
I still have no idea how muchprotein I'm supposed to eat.
I have no idea how much protein, how many grams of fiber.
All I know is I need proteinand fiber.
So when I go throughout my day,I'm like give me food with
(27:52):
protein and fiber, don't give meanything else.
Like, keep it simple.
It's hard.
It for sure is hard.
I'm not going to lie to youabout that.
But if I can do it, knowingthat it's hard and hating to do
hard shit.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (28:05):
Anybody can yeah, I'm, I'm with you, and
what's so crazy about what youjust said is that I've been
asking the universe for a signrecently because I had these
plans to travel and I don'treally have anybody to travel
with and I was wondering I don'tneed anybody, girl, you don't
need anybody, I know.
And I guess you just kind ofgave me the sign that I was
(28:27):
asking for.
Pinky Patel (28:28):
It's time, you know what you need to start doing.
So after today.
I need you and I tell everybodythis I need you to start a
notepad on your phone and it'sgoing to be titled travel
destinations and you're going tomake a list of all the places
you would love to go in theworld as you think of it.
So like if you're watching amovie today and the movie takes
(28:49):
place in switzerland, you'relike, oh my god, I would love to
see the tulip fields in springin switzerland, where the fuck
it is.
You're gonna write it on thislist.
I told roommate number three tostart, that he's in sixth grade
.
He just got a cell phone and Iwas like, hey, bro, you need to
start travel list, travel bucketlist.
So when you get older and whenyou have money and when someone
(29:09):
says where would you like to go,you can say hold up, and you
can pull your list up, becausenine out of 10,.
When somebody asks you, gina,where's your next vacation,
you're probably like I don'tknow.
Now you can go to your notepadand you can see and you can
figure out where to go, and thenyou can organize and be like,
how much does it cost you?
You're probably like, how am Igoing to figure that out?
(29:31):
You know how you're going tofigure that out.
You're going to use the toolsyou have.
You're going to go online onGoogle.
You're going to type in howmuch does it cost for me to go
from Chicago, illinois to Londonfor a one week vacation, and
you will get a report on howmuch it costs, because the
internet is endless.
Let's use these resources.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (29:50):
Yeah, oh my gosh, I'm excited.
Pinky Patel (29:54):
I'm.
I want to motivate women.
This is how I want to.
This is I want to useeverything that I've learned in
all in 44 years of life, and Iwant to put it to good use.
It's fine.
You know what it might soundsilly when I first told you
everything in my life is aproject, like a corporate
project.
But a lot of us we especiallyelder millennials and baby g's
(30:16):
which is what I am right we havebeen taught what is it?
You have to get a corporate job.
You have to get a corporate job.
You have to get a corporate job.
You have to get a corporate job.
So let's take everything I'vebegrudgingly learned and let's
make it useful for our real life, for a life that matters to us.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (30:34):
I mean, I genuinely think that's brilliant
because we, like you saidbegrudgingly, we have honed
those skills, so we may as welluse them.
Why throw them out?
They are still useful in somesense, right?
Pinky Patel (30:46):
just because it's not traditional mom skills, that
doesn't matter.
Nobody says, oh, that's, that'snot dad like.
So why are you telling me it'snot mom like?
If dad can babysit, I canbabysit too, if I can be a
default parent.
Guess what?
Dad can be a default parent,whatever part of life you're in
right now, regardless if you'rea parent or not.
What are you?
Be a default parent, whateverpart of life you're in right now
, regardless if you're a parentor not.
(31:07):
What are you?
Regardless if you've had crotchgoblins or not, whatever part
of life you're in right now, Ican guarantee you you're
probably like how can I makethis better?
So it's, it's not a mom thing,it's a woman thing.
How can I make this better?
Like I've been told this newtour, this, this third tour, I
(31:27):
said what I said I.
I talk heavily about what Ijust talked about right now,
like I am on stage talking aboutthat for 75 minutes for the
part of life that I'm in rightnow, where there are other women
, and it has nothing to do withbeing a mom, it has everything
to do with being a woman.
And I feel like this is notlike it's not kids or no kids,
(31:52):
it's not.
Oh, you're indian or not indian, it's not.
It's just are we women?
Have we been told we can't doshit?
Have we been have to?
Have we had to, like I said,begrudgingly do things because
that's the timeline we're inright now?
But that doesn't mean that's it.
The average lifespan is like 80years old.
Are you kidding me?
(32:13):
When I'm 80,?
Do you know where I want to die, gina?
I want to die traveling fromcity to city Every month.
I want to be traveling to adifferent real estate, different
house I have in differentcities across this world, and I
want that for every woman outthere.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (32:27):
I want that for myself too.
I did write that in mymanifesting journal, so I'm I'm
on the right path.
Pinky Patel (32:32):
Yeah, no, I'm serious.
This we, we need to take whatwe've been taught and and turn
it around and make it benefit us.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (32:42):
I mean, you've been to NJPAC before and
that's coming up soon, so I wantto know if there's anything
you'd like to say to your Jerseyfans as we wrap up.
Pinky Patel (32:53):
Listen, yes, I'm going to be in Newark, new
Jersey, on, I believe, friday,march 14th, and I know it's St
Patrick's Day weekend, so youcan start it off with me, okay,
because, listen, if there's onething 14th and I know it's St
Patrick's Day weekend, so youcan start it off with me, okay,
because, listen, if there's onething that South Asians and
Irish people have in common andwe can throw down with Johnny
Walker whiskey, okay, we canthrow it down.
(33:15):
And so the message to everybodyout there is I've been in and
around Edison, new Jersey, andif I don't see all the south
asians and brown people comingout, I might never come back.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (33:26):
I'm just kidding, I will we're talking
like a mecca here, so I get it.
Pinky Patel (33:31):
Yeah, I feel like if you didn't come to the first
two shows, you know what.
No hard feelings, because thoseare practice.
This show is the one that youwant to be at.
This show is talking about allthe stages of life that we women
have been through and the angst, and just once you hear it, I
hope you get to come out, gina.
(33:51):
And once you hear it, it'sgoing to be spectacular.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (33:56):
I'm looking forward to it.
I'm genuinely, genuinelylooking forward to it.
This conversation has beenwonderful, so I'm excited to be
an audience member, and youheard her guys.
The first two times werepractice, so if you missed them,
you can come out now.
It's never too late.
Pinky Patel (34:10):
No, and then after that, you're going to be like,
oh my God, I'm going to come outevery time she's here because
she's spectacular.
Like listen, I'm asking peopleto just take one chance on me,
Because if there's one thing Iknow about my own South Asians
is that we are very frugalpeople.
We are very frugal and the onlytime we want to spend money is
(34:31):
if we have 100% guarantee thatwe're going to have a good time.
And this is me tellingeverybody in the Newark and
Edison area that you are 1000%going to have a spectacular time
.
So much fun, in fact, that Iadvise you to wear Depends to my
show because you will tinkle alittle bit, because that pelvic
(34:52):
floor is probably busting iswhat I'm saying.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (34:57):
Like you said, nothing is taboo.
I love it.
Pinky Patel (35:00):
Nothing is taboo.
The older I get, the more we'regoing to talk about things, and
everybody's just going to belike get.
The more we're going to talkabout things and everybody's
just going to be like, yeah, howcome we never talked about that
in real?
Gina Marie Rodriguez (35:07):
life before.
Oh, I'm excited for it.
I mean, I want to heareverything you have to say about
perimenopause and everythingthat comes after that.
It has been such a pleasuretalking to you.
Should I just say okay, bye.
Now I mean, that's up to youhow you want to end it.
Pinky Patel (35:23):
It was spectacular.
Thank you for helping me.
Okay, bye.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (35:28):
Okay, bye.
Pinky Patel will be cracking upaudiences at the New Jersey
Performing Arts Center thisMarch 14th at 8 pm.
For tickets and moreinformation, be sure to visit
NJPAC.
org.
If you liked this episode, besure to review, subscribe and
tell your friends.
A transcript of this podcast,links relevant to the story and
(35:49):
more about the arts in NewJersey can be found at
JerseyArts.
com.
The Jersey Arts Podcast ispresented by ArtPride New Jersey
, advancing a state ofcreativity since 1986.
The show was co-founded by andcurrently supported by funds
from, the New Jersey StateCouncil on the Arts.
This episode was hosted, editedand produced by me, gina Marie
Rodriguez.
Executive producers are JimAtkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez,
(36:13):
and my thanks to Pinky Patel forspeaking with me today.
I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez forthe Jersey Arts Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
This is Gina Marie Rodriguez and you're
listening to the Jersey ArtsPodcast.
Pinky Patel is thecrown-adorned TikTok comedian.
You've come to know and lovefor her no-holds-barred, quick
and quippy style.
She speaks directly toaudiences from her glam cave,
though sometimes she calls it…something else.
She claimed TikTok stardomwhile still working her
(00:26):
corporate 9-to-5 job and playingPTA mom on the daily.
It was the COVID pandemic and aclose friend who gave her the
push she needed to change herlife, and now she's telling it
like it is, making folks laughand living life on her terms.
Her I Said what I Said tourvisits Newark just in time for
Women's History Month.
Check out today's episode wherePinky and I chat feminist
(00:47):
comedy, lifestyle tips and womenempowerment.
I wore my crown just for you.
Yay, I love it.
I love it.
We're matching sort of.
Pinky Patel (00:57):
Sort of We'll get you there, don't worry, you'll
be wearing it all the time.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:02):
I just need to like get the streaks in
my hair too, and then we'll beon a good path.
Pinky Patel (01:07):
Yeah, whatever color you want, it doesn't have
to be magenta.
You know, whatever color speaksto you.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:11):
Yeah, you know, I've always wanted to go
blue.
Pinky Patel (01:15):
That would be spectacular.
I think you should.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:17):
Right, all right, well, now I have your
approval.
Not that you needed my approval, but yeah, I didn't, I didn't.
But how's your day going?
Spectacular.
How are you, gina?
I am very well.
I'm glad that you're here withme.
Pinky Patel (01:34):
Thank you for taking the time.
Thank you for reaching out.
I love doing podcasts.
It's so much fun.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:39):
Awesome.
Well, I'm glad it's not a chorethen I hate when it feels like
a chore.
Pinky Patel (01:43):
I know we just need a lot of coffee cups and then
we can, you know, do a littlecozy time.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:48):
I should have brought the coffee.
I'm a terrible hostess.
Next time I'll bring coffee.
Do you mind if I tell you astupid story?
Though first no?
Pinky Patel (01:58):
no, tell me however many stupid stories you want to
, I will.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (02:01):
I won't say it's so much a story as a
factoid.
So your videos, you know youtend to sign off not all the
time, but you sign off with okaybye, like a really clipped
thing, and somehow that hasentered my subconscious,
subconscious, subconscious.
Yeah, I forgot how to speakenglish, so that's fun.
Um, but I'm not a mom, but Ihave two dogs and, for whatever
(02:28):
reason, I now tell them okay byewhenever they're misbehaving
and I want them to listen to me,so I'll say okay bye and then I
walk away and then they followme and realize that they need to
do what I'm, what I'm saying.
Pinky Patel (02:41):
That's spectacular.
I mean, that's how we say,that's how we.
And phone calls they're soawkward, they're so like.
I realized that I, we all saythat like right, when we're
trying to hang up the phone.
And I know, you know, we'retalking less and less on the
phone as years have progressed,which makes it even more awkward
.
At the end Now we're just likeokay, how do we abruptly end
(03:02):
this conversation, like if youwere in front of me and I was
done conversing with you.
I can't just look at you, gina,and be like okay, I'm done, I'm
leaving, bye.
Like I have to wait.
Polite society says you have towait until there's a lull in
the conversation, like there'sso many rules you know.
And so I'm like no, let's alljust be awkward and embrace our
awkwardness.
Let's just do it and thennobody.
(03:22):
Then that's going to be the newnorm right, yeah.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (03:25):
Yeah, I'm on board with that.
When I was younger, I used tobe hey, thanks bye.
It was a very quick hey, thanksbye, and I would only do that,
you know, in text, like Iwouldn't dare to say that to
someone in person, I guess.
But I think that we should alljust adopt it because that's,
this is the new age, right, yeah, and just be like okay, bye,
(03:47):
and then hang up, exactly Allright.
Well, thank you for letting meshare my, my little factoid of
how I mother my dogs.
Pinky Patel (03:55):
Hey man, they're your fur babies.
They might not be skin babies,but they're your fur babies.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (03:59):
They are, and I love that you have made
that distinction between a furbaby and a skin baby.
You're one of the people whoapproves of skin babies.
Pinky Patel (04:07):
So you know what, as long as, as long as we're not
comparing and contrasting, Idon't care what you do with your
life.
Like is your life, is yourmoney, as long as you're not
hurting yourself and otherpeople.
Have at it, girl, do whateverthe F you want you know.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (04:20):
Thank you, I love that, and it's also very
feminist of you to say that.
I think that you know we'reentering March and that's
Women's History Month, so that'sa great segue right into my
first question Spectacular.
I set it up just like that, butI wanted to talk about I guess
I'll call it your journey intocomedy, because you didn't start
(04:43):
really posting until thepandemic hit, and this was
pandemic posting on TikTok, Imean really during a time that I
think most of the country, orwell, most of the planet, just
needed something to laugh at orlaugh about.
But I heard that you reallystarted doing it for an audience
of one and because I thinkfemale friendships are so
(05:04):
important, I'd really love tohear about that one person who
helped you I mean basicallyhelped pushed you into stardom.
Pinky Patel (05:11):
She's regretting her life decisions right now.
It is.
It all started because of, youknow, and this was it was.
It was really funny because Ialways had a Facebook page.
Because as soon as I gotmarried and I moved from
Connecticut to Illinois, I waslike, well, you know, being
brown, you're brown, I'm brown.
We know what the expectancy ofwomen is who are married, right.
(05:34):
And so I was like, well, my momis in Connecticut, I don't want
to snail mail pictures of hergrandbabies, right, babies,
right.
So I was like, she can ask mybrother to go online on the
Facebook.
So it started off as that and Iwas the mom behind the camera
because, you know, pregnancy,depression, everything just
compounded.
You could tell on my body, youcould tell on my face.
(05:56):
I hated being in front of thecamera.
And then, december of 2019, Iwas talking to my work wife and
you know, I was just like howfunny would it be if I like
started posting these randomthoughts of the day that I just
come to your off your cubicleand I just shout these things,
or I'll like message her onTeams my random thought over the
day, and it always made hergiggle.
(06:17):
I can hear her chuckling overthe wall, all of that, right.
And so then she was like, oh myGod, that that would be
hilarious.
So I started posting onFacebook a random thought of the
day and then that turned intoalong that timeline of December
of 2019.
You know, we work was difficult.
I was looking for a differentjob because the company like
(06:38):
they weren't you know, theyweren't respecting me and all
that stuff.
You know corporate life, youknow what I'm talking about.
And so then I go to my workwife.
Now we're told to stay at home.
Right now it's January,february of 2020, march is
coming up.
When they put us on lockdown,friday the 11th, right, it was
just like the big, ominous datethat they told us we had to stay
(07:01):
at home.
So then we stayed at home andthen I'm messaging her on Teams.
I was like how funny would itbe if I took these random
thoughts of the day, which werejust text, and I said them and I
recorded it and I put it onYouTube.
She's like, hey, girl, hey, goahead, I'll follow you there.
So every time I decided likeevery time I had this brilliant
idea, my work wife was like, ohmy god, yeah, I'll follow you
(07:23):
there.
And I was like done, yeah, itwas all for my work wife.
I call her my gothic queen, um,and she's very goth.
She's very like, heavilytattooed, very like if I know
exactly what high school groupshe would have been in in her
high school years.
You know, and I love that.
I like I'm the type of personwhere I will take the
stereotypes that you have thrustupon me and my girlfriends and
(07:47):
my people that are in my tribeand I will embrace those, those,
those things, and I will makeyou regret the fact that you
tried to make fun of me for itLike remember back in the day
when you were labeled a goth, itwas like so bad.
Now everything's going on.
I love the dark aesthetic.
I'm like you didn't like thisback in the 90s.
Okay, like you don't get totalk now.
(08:07):
So I embrace these, thesestereotypes, and I just I say
you know what?
I just flick them off becauseI'm like you're gonna, and you
know again, being a woman ofcolor, we have a lot of
stereotypes thrust on us.
So when I go on stage, I callout all of those stereotypes and
I embrace it and I'm just likeno, no, no, no, no, no.
You're going to say the Indianpeople are doctors.
(08:27):
Well, guess what I'm going tobe like?
I'm not the doctor Indian, I'mthe IT Indian.
Respect me, witch, you knowwhat I'm saying?
Like let's take these thingsthat people have put negative
connotation on, negative likebehind these stereotypes, and
(08:49):
let's make it something positive, right, yeah?
And I'm like no, we need toembrace these for whatever
community, either the Latinacommunity, the South Asian
community, let's embrace themand just blow these negative
people out of the water yeah, Imean, I love that.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (08:55):
And long-lived minorities, right,
who are?
Pinky Patel (08:57):
like we don't have minorities, we don't have this
country, so exactly as we'retalking about these different
minority groups.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:06):
I guess I'm wondering if there comes a
responsibility that you feelbecause you, you take on this
role of representation.
Right, While we've we've grownin terms of diversity, it's
still very limited when it comesto our media.
So is there a sense ofheaviness or what's that?
(09:26):
Uncle Ben quote with great,with great power, comes great
responsibility.
It does that affect you at all?
Pinky Patel (09:33):
Um, no, because.
So what I'm doing is I amfinding all of the women that
match my vibe so that I can putthem in my tribe, and so to me,
it doesn't matter if what yourskin.
It literally doesn't matterwhat your skin color is.
To me, it doesn't matter whatyour background is.
To me, what matters is does thecontent that I put out and then
(09:57):
, as a result, the standupcomedy show that I do, if that
resonates with you and if that'show you feel about yourself,
your future you're like you knowI want.
I want to break whatever traumathat I grew up with, like I
want to.
The goal in life is always to bea better person.
That's like the older you get,your goal should be how can I be
(10:18):
a better version of myself,whether that is mentally,
physically, whatever, right,like that's why a lot of women,
when they get older, they getinto physical fitness because
they have the time right.
Their babies are out of thehouse.
They'd have.
You know they have the time andmaybe that's when we are
supposed to.
You know, that's when we getour second wind is when we get
into the older stages of ourlife.
(10:40):
Like I'm 44 years old.
Okay, I know a lot of peopledon't know that because I don't
put it out there, but I'm likemy age should not matter to you.
It should matter what's comingout of this mouth.
It should matter what I'm doing.
It should matter how, like howI'm crossing that finish line,
like, am I bringing women withme or am I knocking other women
down in order to cross thatfinish line, Right.
(11:01):
So I love that quote with greatpower, responsibility, all that
stuff.
I love that Uncle Ben quote.
However, I don't like in thebeginning I used to have feel
that imposter syndrome, but I'mlike I had like an epiphany
recently which is it'sspectacular that you wanted to
reach out to me now to do thispodcast, because literally last
(11:22):
week I was like I was lookingout of the plane, the window in
the plane, on my way to Seattlefor my shows, right, and I was
just like you know what.
I've been given thisopportunity where I could talk
about all of the quote-unquoteinjustices to women, to South
Asian women, to people of color.
Right, like, take it down fromthe top, top level down versus
(11:45):
women, then brown women, thenSouth Asians, right, like that's
, and then if and then, on topof that, it's the women and
girls in my real life, in mycircle here, right.
So from top down, like that's,that's a lot of people and
that's how I want to like tackleeverything, right.
And so I was looking out thewindow and I'm just like I have
(12:07):
I've been traveling so much.
I've been looking at my audience, I've been listening to them,
I've been reading the comments.
I was like what, like I have somuch to give that I don't want
to just sit and like and, likeyou saw, I've been working out.
I've been like taking bettercare of myself, like even health
, like eating wise, like I likeCaesar salads.
(12:28):
Now, gina, I didn't like Caesarsalads before.
I never did because I was justlike, what is this?
I don't want to eat grass.
Now I'm eating grass, okay,gina, I'm so proud of you like
I'm eating grass.
I'm drinking warm swamp water.
I'm being so amazing.
Tea, tea is warm swamp water.
You knew exactly where you were.
Tea, tea is warm swamp water.
I knew exactly where you weregoing with it.
And, listen, I will doeverything that you want me to
(12:50):
do, but that doesn't mean I haveto like it.
That does not mean I have tolike it, and that's the thing I
want all women across this worldto realize, it's that, yes, we
have to do certain thingsbecause that's the time.
That's where you are in yourlifespan.
(13:10):
This is the timeline you're inRight now.
Guess what?
You have to be a mom and youhave to change those diapers and
you have to, you know, be thesnack witch and all that stuff,
because that's your job.
But when they get older?
Now, your job is to focus onyourself.
Your job is to focus onyourself and you don't have to
like what you have to do to be abetter version of yourself, but
you just have to accept it.
Right, you have to makeyourself get up and go outside
(13:31):
for that walk and just do it.
Put the headphones in, becauseyou need to do it.
Why?
Because it's going to give youthat alone time that you need to
have these great ideas to makeyou a better version of yourself
.
Preach, girl, preach, and like.
For me, that message goesbeyond color.
That message is womenempowerment.
(13:53):
Like I'm the one that will tellyou, as a good friend, as your
best friend or your cousin, oryour aunt or whoever, I'm the
one that will tell you, girl,this is not what we do?
How about we do it better?
Women empowerment is notblindly telling women they're
doing great when they're hurtingthemselves and or other people.
Women empowerment is makingsure that we are all have a
(14:16):
cohesive.
Like you know, this isimportant and this is really how
you should feel about it.
And if you don't, you'll getthere in your own time, but
right now you do you because I'malready there.
Then you can come into that, mytribe when you get there.
Mentally, everybody's differentmentally, right, like that's
why we have to go get therapy.
(14:37):
That's why we have to.
Not only are we physicallygoing and getting wellness
checks every year, we also haveto go and take care of the brain
.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (14:47):
Absolutely .
It's so important that youbring that up because I think
there a lot of times is thisconfusion between women,
empowerment and just yesingpeople.
It's about encouraging growthand in order to do that, like
you said, sometimes you justhave to say it like it is, you
know.
Pinky Patel (15:03):
Right and yes, the delivery matters.
Have.
To say it like it is, you know,Right and yes, the delivery
matters.
Right, the delivery for surematters.
Like you know you have to.
Your delivery has to match therecipient.
So if your, if your goal is to,you know, get that person who,
just who, feels reallyoverwhelmed with everything that
they have to do.
The message isn't witch, getyour ass off the couch.
(15:24):
You know it's not aggressive,it's they need to.
They need a little bit of kidgloves, not too much, but a
little bit right.
It's like okay, I understandthat you're overwhelmed, but
what can we do to alleviate thisfeeling of anxiety?
First thing you can do let'swrite a list right, like when
I'm talking to my girlfriends,I'm literally am I listening or
(15:45):
am I advising?
If they say listening, if theysay advising, now I'm in, like
you know, corporate pinky modeand I'm like this is what we
need to do to get you out ofthis.
Everything is a corporateproject for me, because that's
how my brain works and I'm likeyou guys made me learn how
corporate works, so now I'mgoing to use it for myself.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (16:04):
I think that's great.
You're turning, turningcorporate into good, which is
not really what you associatewith corporate half the time.
Pinky Patel (16:14):
So well, more than half the time.
Well, when you, when you thinkof stereotypes, do you think of
good or bad?
You think of bad, so I'm takingthose stereotypes and I'm making
them something powerful.
You want me, like I said, youwant me to adhere to the
stereotypes of what my peoplecan only be right.
Oh, your people are onlydoctors or IT people or
engineers, or small or 7-Elevenowners or hotel owners.
(16:36):
Well, guess what?
I'm gonna prove you wrong.
And then, when you're stuck andyou have no money, when you're
old, I will have the moneybecause I did all those things
that you put that stereotype onme.
I embrace those and I excelledat them.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (16:50):
Wow, I mean, just listening to you is
really.
It's inspirational and it'smotivational and it makes me
want to.
I don't know, I just want to dosomething.
I love how passionately youspeak about all of this and I
guess I would also love to knowwhat you would.
I don't know how.
I want to say this Do you haveadvice for people who are still
(17:12):
stuck in the doldrums of thenine to five, but they also have
a voice that they want to getout there and share?
And how?
Not that everybody has the samepath, but how would they use
your journey as a guide?
Pinky Patel (17:26):
I understand that what I'm about to say is very
cliche.
It is a very cliche and insteadof using the word but I will
use the word.
However, however, I feel thatif I can do it, anybody can do
it.
Like I, honestly, and this isnot me like falsely hyping women
up.
This is me, speaking from myown experiences these past five
(17:51):
years.
Like this is me living thislife where I literally Gina, I
literally, when COVID started,when they told us to stay at
home, I was.
I was on LinkedIn looking forother consulting corporations
that did the same thing that Idid at the corporation.
I did it here in theChicagoland area Because I was
like they're not using me to myfull potential and I'm so like.
(18:13):
I made my own job description,I made my own position, I put
process improvement things inplace, but I was not valued.
I was undervalued.
Things in place, but I was notvalued.
I was undervalued.
I was told when I asked for ateam and it was literally, it
(18:35):
was the director, it was me andher five teams and I had to
support the five teams.
I'm talking from softwareinstallation to execution, to
best practices, to reports, tooutputs, everything.
But when I asked for a team.
I was told well, your positionhas no ROI, so we cannot give
you headcount.
And so from that moment on, Iwas driven to find a better life
(18:57):
.
It started with me trying tofind a different position, the
same position in a differentcompany.
And then COVID happened and Iwas like I see all these people
posting stuff.
My friends tell me I'm funny,let me post stuff.
And I and I would do it.
I did it strategically why?
Because I did not want to getin trouble.
I would make content while Ihad reports running on my
(19:18):
computer in this vagina cave andI, while my my reports were
running, while I had accessgoing I know you know all these
words I'm saying I would, on theside, be making content.
This is the tripod I used tomake content on myself.
It's literally on the side ofmy desk.
I would post a video on thehour every hour for five hours,
(19:44):
five videos a day.
I was posting because peoplewere putting dumb content out
there and I literally I hatemyself, like I'm not looking at
myself at all.
I, just this year, started beingproud of what I was seeing on
the screen, just this past year,recently, and so until then I
did not have the camera facingme, I just talked as if I was
talking with my friends in mybackyard.
(20:06):
I pretended I created anenvironment where I felt
comfortable there's no audiencehere and then I posted it and I
was like you know what, I don'thave to go back to that.
I don't have to go back to thevideo if I don't want to.
I don't have to look at thecomments if I don't want to.
I don't have to defend myselfif I don't want to and like
don't have to defend myself if Idon't want to and like,
realistically, you don't have todo those things.
(20:28):
It's those influencers that putthat pressure on people like us,
who want to be content creators, who have important messages to
promote, who have motive.
Like, like you said, like if mygoal in life is to do something
spectacular so that I can goand I can motivate people, I can
be a motivational speakerbecause I have the experience
(20:48):
behind me Versus a lot ofmotivational speakers out there.
All they've done is read books.
They haven't actually walkedthose steps.
They haven't traveled, theyhaven't done on average for the
past three years.
They have not had 30 flightsfor the past three years.
On average 40,.
Actually they have not gonefrom city to city and been in
front of people and looked atpeople and known what the people
(21:11):
need.
I have.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (21:14):
You have to literally just post I love
hearing your growth, like I cantell that after being told.
What an insulting thing, by theway, to be told that you, like
you, have no roi basically.
Pinky Patel (21:25):
But on top of that, gina, not even on top of that,
it was a woman telling me this.
I hate that.
It was a woman director who wasmore concerned about how far
she could piss off the fencewithin the men's locker room so
she could be with those higherups then growing the women who
were on her team, and from thatthat and I didn't even know that
(21:46):
was called lack of womenempowerment.
The things that I know now isbecause I have chosen to go
online and surround myself withthings that help me mentally
instead of hurt me mentally.
And that's the other part ofthis.
Right, like, what are you doingto let people know that?
Hey, just because you see it onyour screen does not mean
(22:07):
that's how life really is.
I don't care that it's a movietheater or it's your cell phone
and you think you're looking atsomebody's in real life.
You're not baby girl, you arenot.
You are looking at somethingthat they recorded all day and
they clipped it into a 60 secondor 15 minute video for you.
And being from that side nowbecause before I was just a
(22:30):
consumer, I was just a contentconsumer I was like, oh my God,
oh my God, oh my God, give memore Right.
And then I went to the otherside I was like no, I know what
it takes and these witches halfof them, a majority of them are
lying to you, so it's not goingto be easy.
I don't want to misinterpretthat.
I want full transparency.
(22:51):
Some days I'm like should I evencontinue to post?
These videos are not doing well.
And then other days I'm likeyou know what?
I'm going to post a video thatis old, that did well, that was
viral and it's going to be okaybecause it's still me.
It's your platform.
You post what you feelpassionate about, as long as
what did I say?
I said it twice already You'renot hurting yourself or other
(23:14):
people physically or mentally,and if you can check that off
your list, am I hurting myself?
No Check.
Am I hurting my audience?
No check.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (23:25):
I wish more people had that point of
view because, like you said,there are other influencers out
there who don't necessarilyadhere to those rules,
unfortunately.
But you also said somethingthat I want to repeat briefly
following accounts that arehealthy for you.
That's so pivotal in a worldwhere we are dominated by social
(23:49):
media and the misinformationthat is available on social
media.
You have to make theseconscious decisions that I am
going to follow people who bringme joy, people who educate me
and people who are pushingkindness.
I think some of us forget thatwe have control over what we are
(24:11):
taking in.
Pinky Patel (24:12):
The thing is, if somebody is not helping you grow
, glow or go, you're going tosay no.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (24:21):
I love that so much.
Pinky Patel (24:24):
Right, like as as a human being.
If you are surrounding yourselfwith people that fit those
first three things, then you sayyes, but if not, you say no and
you move on.
You don't have, this is not anairport.
You don't need to announce yourdeparture, unfollow and move on
with your life.
You don't have to write inthere.
I'm so disappointed in you.
Do you say that to friendswhere you just like you, ghost
(24:44):
them because over time you stoptexting?
You don't have to write inthere.
I'm so disappointed in you.
Do you say that to friendswhere you just, like you, ghost
them because over time, you stoptexting, you don't go back and
you're like I know I haven'ttalked to you for two years, but
I've just been so disappointedin you and that's why we're not
talking anymore.
You don't do that to people inyour real life.
So why are you doing that to astranger's comment section just
because you didn't like whatthey posted?
Like if somebody has posted athousand videos and you only
(25:06):
didn't like one, then maybe themessage wasn't clear in the
video.
Overall, you like that personand that's okay, but if you keep
going back to their content andit's just not, like it's not
your vibe, your gut check isjust off and women have this
intuition and I want women tostart using this intuition
because, like I said, if thatperson doesn't match your vibe,
(25:30):
they're not part of your tribe,they're not you are saying some
wonderful stuff here.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (25:36):
I feel like I'm I don't know.
I don't want to put a negativespin on it, I just feel like
I've been schooled, but in thebest possible way.
So no.
Pinky Patel (25:45):
And here's the thing Like the reason I feel
like you can hear sometimes thepassion when I'm talking about
things like this is because Icome from the same boat.
Like we've been told that youknow we can't do certain things.
We've been told that we've beenlike we've been given this
blueprint and how to be an adult, but it's the shittiest
blueprint that we've been given.
(26:05):
It wasn't a blueprint of, likeyou know, again, going back to
corporate project management,you get smees in the room and
then you figure out what thebest practices.
So why can't we have that forhow to be a woman, how to be an
adult?
Let's get the.
Let's get women that we feellike you know, that we resonate
with in our life, that fit ourvibe.
Let's learn from them and thenlet's grow and let's create more
(26:27):
women like that, so that whenwe go anywhere in this country,
we feel safe traveling alone,when we go anywhere in this
world.
Because let me tell you, Idon't know how old you are.
I'm not going to ask you howold you are, but this is a
message for everybody as soon asyou are financially able to
start traveling by yourself as awoman, you need to start
(26:47):
traveling by yourself, because Ihave been doing that since
October of 2024.
I have been traveling by myselfto these shows and I have
learned so much.
I have been observing.
I've learned so much aboutmyself.
Because?
Why?
Because when I'm in that hotelroom, when I'm in that airplane,
when I'm in that shuttle, whenI'm in that Uber, when I'm in
(27:08):
that car commuting from city tocity, I don't have noise from
other people telling me how I'msupposed to live my life, giving
me their opinions.
So I've been having to thinkabout things on my own and we
need that and we women, we arenot given that luxury to have
quiet time.
So the noise is notinfiltrating and I want to be
(27:30):
like.
I want other people women toknow it is very difficult to be
the best version of yourself.
I still have no idea how muchprotein I'm supposed to eat.
I have no idea how much protein, how many grams of fiber.
All I know is I need proteinand fiber.
So when I go throughout my day,I'm like give me food with
(27:52):
protein and fiber, don't give meanything else.
Like, keep it simple.
It's hard.
It for sure is hard.
I'm not going to lie to youabout that.
But if I can do it, knowingthat it's hard and hating to do
hard shit.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (28:05):
Anybody can yeah, I'm, I'm with you, and
what's so crazy about what youjust said is that I've been
asking the universe for a signrecently because I had these
plans to travel and I don'treally have anybody to travel
with and I was wondering I don'tneed anybody, girl, you don't
need anybody, I know.
And I guess you just kind ofgave me the sign that I was
(28:27):
asking for.
Pinky Patel (28:28):
It's time, you know what you need to start doing.
So after today.
I need you and I tell everybodythis I need you to start a
notepad on your phone and it'sgoing to be titled travel
destinations and you're going tomake a list of all the places
you would love to go in theworld as you think of it.
So like if you're watching amovie today and the movie takes
(28:49):
place in switzerland, you'relike, oh my god, I would love to
see the tulip fields in springin switzerland, where the fuck
it is.
You're gonna write it on thislist.
I told roommate number three tostart, that he's in sixth grade
.
He just got a cell phone and Iwas like, hey, bro, you need to
start travel list, travel bucketlist.
So when you get older and whenyou have money and when someone
(29:09):
says where would you like to go,you can say hold up, and you
can pull your list up, becausenine out of 10,.
When somebody asks you, gina,where's your next vacation,
you're probably like I don'tknow.
Now you can go to your notepadand you can see and you can
figure out where to go, and thenyou can organize and be like,
how much does it cost you?
You're probably like, how am Igoing to figure that out?
(29:31):
You know how you're going tofigure that out.
You're going to use the toolsyou have.
You're going to go online onGoogle.
You're going to type in howmuch does it cost for me to go
from Chicago, illinois to Londonfor a one week vacation, and
you will get a report on howmuch it costs, because the
internet is endless.
Let's use these resources.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (29:50):
Yeah, oh my gosh, I'm excited.
Pinky Patel (29:54):
I'm.
I want to motivate women.
This is how I want to.
This is I want to useeverything that I've learned in
all in 44 years of life, and Iwant to put it to good use.
It's fine.
You know what it might soundsilly when I first told you
everything in my life is aproject, like a corporate
project.
But a lot of us we especiallyelder millennials and baby g's
(30:16):
which is what I am right we havebeen taught what is it?
You have to get a corporate job.
You have to get a corporate job.
You have to get a corporate job.
You have to get a corporate job.
So let's take everything I'vebegrudgingly learned and let's
make it useful for our real life, for a life that matters to us.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (30:34):
I mean, I genuinely think that's brilliant
because we, like you saidbegrudgingly, we have honed
those skills, so we may as welluse them.
Why throw them out?
They are still useful in somesense, right?
Pinky Patel (30:46):
just because it's not traditional mom skills, that
doesn't matter.
Nobody says, oh, that's, that'snot dad like.
So why are you telling me it'snot mom like?
If dad can babysit, I canbabysit too, if I can be a
default parent.
Guess what?
Dad can be a default parent,whatever part of life you're in
right now, regardless if you'rea parent or not.
What are you?
Be a default parent, whateverpart of life you're in right now
, regardless if you're a parentor not.
(31:07):
What are you?
Regardless if you've had crotchgoblins or not, whatever part
of life you're in right now, Ican guarantee you you're
probably like how can I makethis better?
So it's, it's not a mom thing,it's a woman thing.
How can I make this better?
Like I've been told this newtour, this, this third tour, I
(31:27):
said what I said I.
I talk heavily about what Ijust talked about right now,
like I am on stage talking aboutthat for 75 minutes for the
part of life that I'm in rightnow, where there are other women
, and it has nothing to do withbeing a mom, it has everything
to do with being a woman.
And I feel like this is notlike it's not kids or no kids,
(31:52):
it's not.
Oh, you're indian or not indian, it's not.
It's just are we women?
Have we been told we can't doshit?
Have we been have to?
Have we had to, like I said,begrudgingly do things because
that's the timeline we're inright now?
But that doesn't mean that's it.
The average lifespan is like 80years old.
Are you kidding me?
(32:13):
When I'm 80,?
Do you know where I want to die, gina?
I want to die traveling fromcity to city Every month.
I want to be traveling to adifferent real estate, different
house I have in differentcities across this world, and I
want that for every woman outthere.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (32:27):
I want that for myself too.
I did write that in mymanifesting journal, so I'm I'm
on the right path.
Pinky Patel (32:32):
Yeah, no, I'm serious.
This we, we need to take whatwe've been taught and and turn
it around and make it benefit us.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (32:42):
I mean, you've been to NJPAC before and
that's coming up soon, so I wantto know if there's anything
you'd like to say to your Jerseyfans as we wrap up.
Pinky Patel (32:53):
Listen, yes, I'm going to be in Newark, new
Jersey, on, I believe, friday,march 14th, and I know it's St
Patrick's Day weekend, so youcan start it off with me, okay,
because, listen, if there's onething 14th and I know it's St
Patrick's Day weekend, so youcan start it off with me, okay,
because, listen, if there's onething that South Asians and
Irish people have in common andwe can throw down with Johnny
Walker whiskey, okay, we canthrow it down.
(33:15):
And so the message to everybodyout there is I've been in and
around Edison, new Jersey, andif I don't see all the south
asians and brown people comingout, I might never come back.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (33:26):
I'm just kidding, I will we're talking
like a mecca here, so I get it.
Pinky Patel (33:31):
Yeah, I feel like if you didn't come to the first
two shows, you know what.
No hard feelings, because thoseare practice.
This show is the one that youwant to be at.
This show is talking about allthe stages of life that we women
have been through and the angst, and just once you hear it, I
hope you get to come out, gina.
(33:51):
And once you hear it, it'sgoing to be spectacular.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (33:56):
I'm looking forward to it.
I'm genuinely, genuinelylooking forward to it.
This conversation has beenwonderful, so I'm excited to be
an audience member, and youheard her guys.
The first two times werepractice, so if you missed them,
you can come out now.
It's never too late.
Pinky Patel (34:10):
No, and then after that, you're going to be like,
oh my God, I'm going to come outevery time she's here because
she's spectacular.
Like listen, I'm asking peopleto just take one chance on me,
Because if there's one thing Iknow about my own South Asians
is that we are very frugalpeople.
We are very frugal and the onlytime we want to spend money is
(34:31):
if we have 100% guarantee thatwe're going to have a good time.
And this is me tellingeverybody in the Newark and
Edison area that you are 1000%going to have a spectacular time
.
So much fun, in fact, that Iadvise you to wear Depends to my
show because you will tinkle alittle bit, because that pelvic
(34:52):
floor is probably busting iswhat I'm saying.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (34:57):
Like you said, nothing is taboo.
I love it.
Pinky Patel (35:00):
Nothing is taboo.
The older I get, the more we'regoing to talk about things, and
everybody's just going to belike get.
The more we're going to talkabout things and everybody's
just going to be like, yeah, howcome we never talked about that
in real?
Gina Marie Rodriguez (35:07):
life before.
Oh, I'm excited for it.
I mean, I want to heareverything you have to say about
perimenopause and everythingthat comes after that.
It has been such a pleasuretalking to you.
Should I just say okay, bye.
Now I mean, that's up to youhow you want to end it.
Pinky Patel (35:23):
It was spectacular.
Thank you for helping me.
Okay, bye.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (35:28):
Okay, bye.
Pinky Patel will be cracking upaudiences at the New Jersey
Performing Arts Center thisMarch 14th at 8 pm.
For tickets and moreinformation, be sure to visit
NJPAC.
org.
If you liked this episode, besure to review, subscribe and
tell your friends.
A transcript of this podcast,links relevant to the story and
(35:49):
more about the arts in NewJersey can be found at
JerseyArts.
com.
The Jersey Arts Podcast ispresented by ArtPride New Jersey
, advancing a state ofcreativity since 1986.
The show was co-founded by andcurrently supported by funds
from, the New Jersey StateCouncil on the Arts.
This episode was hosted, editedand produced by me, gina Marie
Rodriguez.
Executive producers are JimAtkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez,
(36:13):
and my thanks to Pinky Patel forspeaking with me today.
I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez forthe Jersey Arts Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
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