The Tamil Creator

EP #21: Shayna Mehta – Aspiring Doctor & Award-Winning Div 1 Basketball Player Challenges The Notion That Brown Girls Can't Ball

Ara Ehamparam Episode 21

Shayna Mehta (one half of @brownsplashsisters) is a recent graduate of Brown University (Class of 2019) where she majored in Biology and played four years of NCAA Div 1 Basketball while winning Ivy League Rookie Of the Year. She joins Ara to discuss her decision to choose medical school over a professional basketball career, balancing athletics + academics, using basketball as a vehicle for change in India through @crossoverbasketball, her love for @stephencurry30 / @warriors, and much more!

Follow Shayna - https://www.instagram.com/shaynamehta_/

Timestamps

00:54 - Introducing Shayna Mehta
02:03 - Shayna’s upbringing; Tamil roots, love for basketball and the Warriors
06:32 - Balancing athletics and academics, winning Ivy League Rookie of the Year
09:58 - Choosing between the WNBA and med school
12:46 - Using basketball as a vehicle of change through “Crossover India”
16:33 - Where Shayna sees herself in the next 3-5 years
17:57 - Shayna’s dream job
19:22 - What motivates Shayna?
21:42 - Love for travel; favourite places she’s been and where she wants to go
23:30 - Shayna’s insecurities
24:29 - Shayna’s reaction to being admitted to medical school
25:00 - The personal legacy Shayna wants to leave behind
25:52 - Advice Shayna would give her 16-year-old self
27:41 - The White Tiger
29:22 - A habit that changed Shayna’s life
30:27 - Admiration for Mindy Kaling and Stephen Curry
34:07 - Advice Shayna has for other Tamil creators
34:38 - Creator Confessions
39:10 - The Wrap Up

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