Journey
I’m a late ’90s kid who was born in India, brought up in Nigeria, and shaped by Dubai and England in many ways.
My childhood was a patchwork of Indian and Nigerian culture and nuances. I unconsciously inhabit a space between spaces as a Third Culture Kid (although we didn’t have a term for it back then).
Being a TCK comes with a ton of baggage↗ but, over time, some morphed into my strengths: the ability to make connections between times and spaces, a sense of respect for cultures and the human condition, and the ability to blend in or stand out depending on the context and environment.
Retroactively, I take this as proof of my destiny as a writer — but in reality, my journey wasn’t as obvious.
I majored in the Arts in high school and Journalism with a side of English Literature and Psychology for my Bachelor’s degree. At that point, I knew I wanted to be a writer, and Journalism was the only well-accepted and respectable route I could think of. I wanted to tell human interest stories.
I nourished my curiosity about the long-form narrative at The University of Sheffield, in a tiny but cosy dorm room with a view of a tree that changed with the seasons. Degrees ticked off my list, I did a few stints of interning and freelancing but quickly grew disillusioned by the industry. I wanted work that would nourish my creativity, not trample it.
I began work as a content writer, using the high-paced startup environment to try my hand at everything from management to branding to data creation for AI tools. These were challenging years in a not-very-conducive environment, but I stuck with it, already on the wrong side of comfortable.
When COVID-19 struck, it also drew the blinkers away from my eyes, as it probably did for many other people. I began the slow and doubtful process of convincing myself that there were better things out there. I realised I needed a creative career if I wanted to feel fulfilled — one that was at the intersection of technology and the humanities, which is what I was particularly curious about.
Cut to today: my current role is wonderfully poised at that intersection and is all kinds of challenging and creative. I spend many of my days writing thoughtfully researched essays on esoteric topics of my choice. The circle is closed, la boucle était bouclée.
© Sindhu Shivaprasad 2022