The Naina Redhu Experience | Digital Marketing, Social Media, Online Brand Building in India

Episode 172 of The Naina Experience. Supriya Joshi is a family law lawyer in Mississauga, in the Greater Toronto Area. She graduated Windsor Law in 2016, was called to the Bar in 2017, and practises exclusively in family law and litigation at Subhash Joshi Law Professional Corporation on Drew Road. She is the first lawyer to come on the podcast.Supriya and I met years ago because of a shared love of Suryagarh in Jaisalmer. We have travelled together since, in Rajasthan and to Binsar.In this episode we covered the reality of running your own practice and the delegation problem, why hiring in family law has a sensitivity layer most jobs don't, and two of Supriya's cases that have been reported and cited as precedent. One was a spousal support claim from a short marriage that involved violence and relocation. The other was a jurisdictional argument on whether issuing an application is enough or whether it needs to be issued and served.We spent time on how the Ontario courts are working through family law applied to South Asian multi-generational families - joint ownership, family violence presenting differently, and whether large sums from parents to adult children are loans or gifts. Her observation post-COVID is that lawyers are more litigious, not less, because virtual hearings lowered the friction.On AI - Supriya has read submissions citing fully hallucinated ChatGPT cases, and the newer version of the problem is real cases with fabricated quotes attached. Her line: lawyer and advocate are two different things. The advocate part is the human part, and that part isn't getting replaced.Outside the law, Supriya is a serious World War II historian. Grandfather in the Indian Air Force, great-grandfather fought in Burma. She has visited most of the Western Front and a lot of the Eastern Front, and keeps an RAF air mask on her desk.Best line: I divide property for a living.Supriya Joshi - Legal Aid Ontario DirectoryNaina's WebsiteNaina on InstagramNaina on YouTubeCome on the Podcast

Episode 171 of The Naina Experience is with Shefaly Yogendra, author of Uncharted Spaces, board director, and one of the sharpest pattern-spotters I know. We recorded on the morning of her book launch at The Shard in London. This is her first book.Shefaly introduced me to the word metacognition years ago. Her definition: what we do is what we get engrossed in, and the learning comes when you abstract one layer up to see the principle underneath. The best use of formal education is to apply its principles to your own life. Most people reserve them for work and miss the point.We talked about what boards actually do. Shaping strategy. Overseeing money and people. Protecting the regulatory and social licenses that let a business operate. We talked about principle-based versus rule-based governance, and why the first 100 days on any new board are about listening. Two eyes, two ears, two hands, one nose.We talked about CEOs and the fact that the serial CEO is no longer a thing because the stress is too much. Boards have a human and a legal obligation to intervene when a CEO is in duress. We talked about "trust in God, but lock your car" as a framework for verification. We talked about the epistemic crisis and what happens to public discourse when nobody brings facts to the table.The part I needed most was about building a personal board as a solopreneur. A small group of people you trust for sense-making and challenge. Some good in peacetime, some in wartime. Know which is which. Shefaly reframed Australia as my own uncharted space. I had been calling it survival mode.Uncharted Spaces is out now.Book InstagramBook WebsiteBuy on AmazonNainaInstagramWebsiteSpotifyYouTubeBook your own podcast episode

Saurabh Bhatia is the founder of Comix.one, a marketplace, crowdfunding platform and community for indie comic creators, all in one place.In this episode we talk about his 20 years in tech, growing up on A.H. Wheeler stalls in nineties India buying Nagraj, Chacha Chaudhary, Archie and Richie Rich, and the fact that we both kept our Archie collections in newspaper-covered wooden boxes until we were 35.Saurabh ran his own comic book Kickstarter in 2017, raised around six thousand US dollars and produced two printed volumes. What he discovered after his campaign ended is the problem Comix.one now solves. Every creator he spoke to had a campaign in February, another in August, and in between the community they had built just dissolved. Comix.one closes that gap as marketplace, crowdfunding and community in one place.Creators on Comix.one keep 85%. The platform takes 15%. On Amazon, creators hand over around 65% and still have to fight an SEO game. Print on demand through Comix Wellspring now ships books from creators in Australia, the US, Canada, Mexico and the UK to fans in America. There are print partners in Canada and China too, both introduced by creators already in the community.We talk about working alone for two years before his sister joined to build the front end and the catalogue jumped from 200 books to 2,000. About bringing in PR help from people who used to run PR at Archie Comics and manage creators at King Features, the syndicate behind Popeye and Beetle Bailey. About DM-ing the head of marketing at DC Comics on LinkedIn and getting a response.We also get into the deliberate choice not to raise VC money, why well-funded platforms like Comixology and Zestworld kept losing alignment with their communities, the AI debate in illustration, and why Saurabh believes the value is always in the process.Guest links:Website: Instagram: Twitter: YouTube: Host links:Instagram: Website: YouTube: Book the podcast:

Episode 169 of The Naina Experience Podcast with Deepika Jindal - empowerment coach, meditation teacher, and founder of Circle of Calm in Sydney.Deepika moved to Australia from India 21 years ago. She spent years in corporate and public service before a moment of clarity during meditation gave her the courage to leave a toxic workplace and start coaching women full-time.We talked about people pleasing, self-doubt, the inability to receive, nervous system dysregulation, and the conditioning that keeps women from advocating for themselves. Deepika shared how she watched talented women get passed over in every workplace because they were not vocal about their contributions.Her coaching program takes women from self-doubt to self-trust. She runs corporate mindfulness programs and has worked with Reuters and Capgemini. She has just launched monthly women's circles in Sydney starting April 2025.This conversation got personal - I shared where I am post-breakup, my struggles with honoring myself, and why I have been chatting with Claude AI as a coping mechanism. Deepika reminded me that nothing beats human connection and that movement helps emotions process instead of getting stuck.Deepika Jindal - Circle of CalmWebsite: circleofcalm.com.auInstagram: @circle.of.calmNainaWebsite: naina.coInstagram: @nainaYouTube: The Naina Experience on YouTubeSpotify: The Naina Experience on SpotifyBook a spot on the podcast: naina.co/product/the-100-podcast

Swapna Namboodiri is a multi-disciplinary environmental and sustainability artist based in Adelaide. She works with upcycled single-use plastic - turning it into sculptural wall pieces, large-scale installations, and wearable art. No formal training. No gallery representation. International sales since 2017.In this episode: 6 years at Infosys (with a full creative practice running every evening after work the whole time), the move from Bangalore to Doha to Adelaide, building 136K Instagram followers through raw process content, her wearable art piece Amphitrite at Australian Wearable Art on the Sunshine Coast, and a commission for Bank Australia and Parley for Oceans launched at Martin Place, Sydney.We also get into the practical - shipping, pricing, Art Finder, Blue Thumb, and what it looks like to build from scratch in a country where nobody knows you yet.Swapna's WebsiteSwapna on InstagramSwapna on FacebookSwapna on YouTubeNaina's WebsiteNaina on InstagramNaina on YouTubeCome on the Podcast

I first met Jane Richards at a wine tasting at the Australian Ambassador's residence in India. She was there on an Austrade mission representing South Australian wine producers. When I moved to Adelaide a few years later, she picked me up from the airport. This is Episode 167 of The Naina Experience.Jane and her sister Claire grew up near the Limestone Coast - one of five kids, always around country. Their father did irrigation for the wine regions opening up across South Australia in the 1980s and collected quite a wine cellar along the way. Claire went to Roseworthy to study viticulture and winemaking. Jane liked the drinking side more.In 2002 they bought land on the Limestone Coast to be grape growers - not winemakers. The plan was to grow fruit and sell it to wine companies. Some of their Cabernet and Shiraz was going into Penfolds Bin 389. When the economics stopped making sense, they built Eight at the Gate. First bottle with the name on it: 2017.We cover the real numbers behind cool climate viticulture - Coonawarra Cabernet at 7 tonnes per hectare versus 25 in a warmer region, and what the diurnal shift does to flavour development. We also talk about the limestone country itself and the cave systems underneath the vineyards, selling into India (Delhi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru) and what product registration per state actually costs, the challenge of competing with large bottle shop chains, and why direct-to-consumer is where they put their energy.Jane also explains why she sends a 30-second personal video to every new customer. "Thank you. We see you." The repeat business from that is not an accident.Find Eight at the Gate at eightatthegate.com.au and on Instagram at @eightatthegate.The Naina Experience is hosted by Naina Redhu - photographer and content creator at naina.co. New episodes every week. Book your own episode at naina.co/product/the-100-podcast.

Gitika Merani is the Director and Principal Mortgage Broker at Your Finance Network in Sydney. She trained as an architect in Pune, built a career there, and then moved to Australia after getting married - only to find her degree unrecognized and her experience uncountable. What followed was a decade of rebuilding: a design firm, interior projects including Indian restaurants in Harris Park, a commercial furniture estimating role, a baby, COVID lockdown as an essential worker, and eventually a complete career change.The pivot happened when her husband Naveen asked one question: what was your end goal as an architect? Getting people into their homes. What would it be as a mortgage broker? Same answer. That insight became the foundation of Your Finance Network, which she started in late 2021 after doing the Certificate IV and working as a loan processor first to learn the industry from the inside.Four years in, the business has grown almost entirely through referrals. Last year, Naveen left Westpac after eleven years and joined as managing partner - handling commercial loans and SMSF while Gitika focuses on residential. They are also building a back office in India, combining both economies.A large part of her work is with the Indian and South Asian community in Sydney. She understands the cultural drive toward property ownership - "apna ghar hona chahiye" - and helps clients navigate a system that looks nothing like what they left behind. Grants, low-deposit entry points, equity strategies, guarantor structures. The myths and fears around investing. The mechanics of negative gearing. And one thing most people don't know: mortgage brokers don't charge fees. The bank pays on a settled loan. Consultations are free.There's a client story in this episode that stays with you: a single mother who had been forced to move three times in two years. Gitika got her a pre-approval, walked her to auction, helped her win. The woman invited her to the housewarming as guest of honour. "I felt so embarrassed," Gitika says. "But I was so humbled."We also talk about isolation when you first migrate, the Adelaide property market, the guilt of making content while the world burns, and a small-world moment: Gitika went to school in Pune with my sister Akanksha.Follow Gitika Merani on Instagram: @gitikavFollow Your Finance Network on Instagram: @yourfinancenetworkYour Finance Network website: yourfinancenetwork.net.auYour Finance Network on YouTube: YouTubeYour Finance Network on Facebook: FacebookYour Finance Network on TikTok: TikTokFollow Naina on Instagram: @nainaNaina's website: naina.coBe a podcast guest: naina.co/product/the-100-podcast

Episode 165 of The Naina Experience Podcast - and this one is very close to home, literally. I'm joined by Saurik Dheer, a young entrepreneur and creative director based right here in Adelaide. Saurik moved here in August 2024 to do his MBA, having never visited Australia before - not even when his cousin got married in Melbourne two years earlier, because he was too busy running his business in India to leave.We talk about his background in music - which he has studied since the age of 4 - and how that shaped the way he approaches filmmaking and creative direction. His process is unlike anyone I've spoken to before: he thinks of the music and the emotion first, and then the visuals arrange themselves around that in his head. It's not a learned technique. It's just how he's wired.We also talk honestly about what it's like to be a young Indian creative professional trying to break into Adelaide's industry. He reached out to every creative agency in the city - over 20 of them, multiple times - and didn't hear back from a single one. We both know that feeling. But then Adelaide Fringe found him at an event and came back two days later with a brief and a budget. It's a start.And he had an idea for a niche events company that I'm still thinking about - a Mexican luchador wrestling match in a boxing gym with taquerias and tequila. Adelaide is a blank canvas, he says. Someone just needs to paint on it.Connect with Saurik Dheer:

Episode 164 of The Naina Experience Podcast - and this one has been a long time coming. I'm joined by Ravi Sagar, founder of SPARXSYS, a software company based in London. Ravi and I have known each other online since the very early days of Twitter - we're talking 2007, when there were so few Indians on the platform that you just kind of knew everyone who was there. But we had never actually spoken to each other until this conversation. Worth every year of the wait.Ravi dropped out of IIT Delhi after just 6 months, finished his engineering degree in Delhi, worked at a few companies, got an offer to move to the UK, and took it. That was ten years ago. He now runs SPARXSYS, which builds software products including apps that work within Jira - the project management tool used by teams worldwide. He also talked about how his company is now using AI to record and summarise all internal meetings, so you can ask it what happened in an entire quarter and get one clean report back.We also had a really honest conversation about what it's like to leave India and build a life somewhere else. Coming from Delhi, London can feel quiet - even boring - at first. He loves going back to India, loves the food and the chaos of Delhi, but after about three weeks he's ready to return to the UK. That push and pull between two homes is something I completely relate to as someone who moved to Australia a year and a half ago.And then things got very meta - Ravi asked me about my content workflow and I ended up explaining exactly how I use Opus Clip and Claude AI to turn a one-hour live conversation into short clips, transcripts, and blog posts. So this episode is also a behind-the-scenes look at how this podcast gets made.Connect with Ravi Sagar:

Connect with Varun, Amrit Bhawan & Ekat LivingAmrit Bhawan WebsiteBook your spot on the podcast

Conversation with Vaishali @augustrum who is an illustrator, calligrapher and artist based out of Darwin.

#TheNainaExperience podcast with @gora.pakora.jamie talking about his journey, dis-ease to healing, spirituality, being connected with his body & modern medicine.Book your spot on the podcast.

Soundarya is one of the co-founders of Sattva & Sage, which is a curated lifestyle marketplace that brings India's finest homegrown brands to Australia. They are based out of Adelaide, South Australia.

Gayatri Singh is a Private Chef, Supper Club Host & Recipe Creator in Melbourne, Australia. @gayatriisingh on Instagram

People change!

In conversation with Vibhinna Ramdev, who is currently in Adelaide with her show "Why English", for Adelaide Fringe

It's a conscious practice. Pay attention to what you're paying attention to.

And other influencer marketing things.

Also consciousness, energy, vibration, activation & other things with Exploring Consciousness with Jamie Miller.

Cooking and talking

Gratitude, Internet comments, teeth

In conversation with Adi Parmarr, stand-up comic from Amsterdam

A brief conversation with Kushi Venkatesh bk, Adelaide-based stand-up comic

This interview question needs to GO

Post something, anything, right now

A paradigm shift for more peace and ease in your life

A couple of examples of how I am currently practicing AUDACITY in my life

I did this experiment to become more aware of my relationship with money, how my self-worth is tied to work, how professionalism is a strong part of my current identity, etc.

The value of women and my not wanting to be of any value to anyone!

How my approach to online comments & trolls etc has changed

Exploring consciousness, beliefs, stories, self-love and a spot of crying when chanting OM

Someone offered to help for free and then told me I was being ungrateful because I wouldn't do what they were asking me to do. Giving is a choice. As is receiving. Expectations aren't exactly "free". A fascinating subject!

Changing perspectives, beliefs, identity and traveling inwards with Jamie Miller aka Gora Pakora Jamie

My experiences with conscious connected breathwork with AkankshaRedhu.com

Even after a successful 20+ years as an independent photographer / solopreneur, the voices in my head mybheago "who do you think you are?"

What made the shift for you to be open to receive and revive. What changed? Why now?

The effects of posting multiple videos per day on social media

A conversation with Jamie Miller. Talking about how we listen to music, about relationships, the thinking mind, etc.

Some details of how I immigrated from India to Australia

With Jamie Miller "gora.pakora.jamie".

Men, Masculinity and Love

I'll be honest. I'm rambling. Not just on the podcast. But also in life.

This too, will be a distant memory.

Goodbyes. Screenshots. Plants and parked cars.

Love and divorce.

A short break-up story. Could be continued.

Lakme Fashion Week with FDCI in New Delhi. #LFWxFDCI #LFWSS24 The Photographers pit, the shows, the basement parking, 5 days of MADNESS! I loved it ❤️ October, 2023.

Why do we shy away from asking? A bit of a lean towards freelance photographers.

What obstacles have you faced in life? Is it an obstacle if you don't know how it's affected your life? Is it really an obstacle?

Join the live Q&A Session on instagram.com/naina every first Wednesday of the month, at 4pm India Time

Visit Instagram.com/naina every first Wednesday of each month, at 4pm (India Time), for the live Q&A Session.