Episode 9: Shivani Collado | Mic Check with Nikita

Join Nikita in the studio with Shivani Collado! Nikita and Shivani about carrying on the legacy her parents started by opening a staple of our community- Singh's Roti Shop, raising kids in tis generation, keeping the culture alive, and the effects of toxic social media. 

Follow Nikita and Shivani on social media platforms!

Nikita: 
Instagram | @indianprincessnikita @nikitagayaramproductions @miccheckwithnikita
Tik Tok | @miccheckwithnikita @nikitagayaramproductions 

Waheeda:  
Instagram | @shivcollado @singhsrotishop
Tik Tok | @singhsrotishop

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to My Tech with Nikita. I'm your host, Nikita Gyram, and today we have Shivani Collato from Sing's Row T Shop.

unknown 0:07

Hi guys.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Yeah, so I I want to talk about Sing's Row Tea Shop. It is a pinnacle of our community. Definitely. It's nice to hear. No, but it is. And that's not even something that I can, it's not an opinion. It's a just a fact in general, right? Like you guys have been around for so long. Earlier we're talking about almost 40 years.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yeah, it's crazy since 1990. And I was driving here and I'm like, oh my God, that's 36 years. 36 years in business. Like that's crazy. That's insane.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

And you know what I've noticed too, especially like there so many businesses have opened and closed on Liberty Avenue, but this is one spot that has definitely remained there, right? Like not, I know you guys were at a different place and then you expanded at some point. But in general, it is like the hub of Liberty Avenue, right? Like it's one of the businesses that made it, made Liberty Avenue the place where we would go for our our cultural things, right? Like, of course, there's like Sybil's, there's you guys, there's other, like, you know, a million shops um on Liberty Avenue, but Sings is the one spot that we can genuinely know that like if you go back in time, it's always just been there.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah, and I love that it's like the gathering spot for like community events sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

You know, it's nice to see everybody. And I feel like even though that we've been there for so long, and I, you know, I mean 1990, I remember when I was a kid going in there because we didn't have a babysitter, and me and my sister would play in like the chana bags and like go to sleep and like go in the backyard in the parking lot. Like that's when we had the smaller restaurant. And then when my parents expanded to the big one, I was in um, I think I was in junior high. And then by the time I got to high school, they're like, you need to come here and work on the weekends. I'm like, do I have to? So that was a little bit much for me, I won't lie, because it was kind of like a culture shock, even though I grew up in Queens. Yeah. Grew up, uh went to school in Queens, like but working there on the weekends, I'm like, gosh, it was tough.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

That was their way of like showing you the business. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Having that work ethic. Having the work ethic, yeah. Yeah. And I got the work ethic, so because obviously I'm still doing it, right? Took a break, but came back. Um, but how do I say like being in it since then? It was tough because I was still growing up.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

So I feel like people thought they knew me. I mean, thank God this was before social media, right? Yeah. Um so it was like a little, it was a you know, and you're you're growing up as a female too in the in the Liberty Avenue. Like, yeah, yeah. So that was that was a that was tough.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

I think, and I think this is where we share some similarities, is growing up in the business. People have seen you as a child and then they've seen every single phase of your life.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Yeah, which is weird. Yeah, it's like super weird, especially when I get customers now. I'm like almost 40. And I'm like, I mean when you were a child. So it's like, oh my god. I'm like, this is weird, but okay. Nothing bad, like all good stuff, but you know, it's kind of like, oh my god, this guy knew me. Yeah, I don't know you, but you knew me as a child.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Oh my god, I hear that all the time. I hear um, you know, I known you since you were so small.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

So small, so small. And I'm like, oh, nice, nice to meet you. I know, nice to meet you. I'm like, what on what are you supposed to say at that point? I remember you too.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

So I guess for those who don't know, um, if you can just give a little bit of a synopsis on Sings, how it came about, I guess. Um, and then you know, just like obviously, like I like we just said, we're going into almost 40 years. Um, but give me a little bit of a background on Sings itself, nothing big, nothing, just short.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Started in 1990. My parents started it, my mom and my dad. Um, it was uh a small restaurant. It started there. People started coming, lines out the door. This is just a breakdown. And then my dad was like, let's do a bigger one. And he wanted a bar, and uh, you know, we we did it, like it's still standing. We have a bar. There used to be music uh that was a big thing uh when we started the music, the nightlife. A lot of you know, musicians and local, I should say local musicians, Guinese and Trinity, they used to perform there on Friday and Saturdays. Yeah, it used to be insane, like a club. Um it kind of still is, it kind of still is on certain certain occasions, right? Um, so yeah, that's just the breakdown, and you know, we serve Trinity food, Guinese food. Yeah, it's but it's it's good.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

When did you get really involved? Like in terms of I know that you said that you were working there since you were 14, but in terms of really decision making and being a part of like management itself.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

So that started when I was pregnant with my first child. Um I took a break. I went, I you know, I went to college, I worked in the city, worked at travel channel, it was great. Um, loved it. But then I kind of wanted to do more of the family business. Um I don't really remember what was going through my head at the time. I think I I thought I was gonna get a little bit of a break rather than commuted to the city all the time. Well, you said you were you were pregnant. I was pregnant, yeah. So you know when you're pregnant, you're not really thinking straight. So I started then. That was 12 years ago. Yeah. So I've been there ever since. Um and you know, my parents are getting older too, so it's good both me and my sister do it now too. So when I left my job, she left hers. And we both do it together. We decision making, we both talk about things. So it makes it easy because it's not just on one person. Because it's a big business, it's a lot, a lot of you know, a lot of responsibility. Yeah. Um, you can't really let things fall through the crack.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

When you decided to take this on, um, did you think about the possible like I guess pressure of keeping it going?

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Oh, yeah, I still think about that. Yeah. Yeah, because it's a hard business. Like I know like people walk in, they order their food and they leave, but there's a whole like life to that. Yeah you know, there's like blood, sweat, and tears in that place.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Um, it's uh so many people's livelihoods. We have so many employees at work there. It's not just like me and my family. It's like a whole a lot of people are depending on you for a paycheck in the end of the week.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

I feel like a lot of people think that just because it's been around for a really long time, the business almost like sells itself, right? Or lights on.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, no, you can't you can't think like that. Yeah. Especially as like uh I still say we are a small business because there's just one, right? There's one on liberty. Um, but you still have to maintain it. Like we still have to go. There's always somebody there. Like it's not just like, oh, I could take like five days off and be at home. No, I can't do that. And even if I do, I'm working for my phone. Yeah. You know, like they're checking in with me at work. Managers are calling, we're ordering things at home. It's never really, it's never you own a business, it's it's never really leaving. Like that's your lifestyle right there. Like, that's what it is. It's not a nine-to-five.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

No, it's not a nine to 24-7. Yeah, no. Those who own their own business, whether it's a restaurant business, or even the or even doing the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

This is your face in the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Yeah. You know? It really is. And and it's really interesting because I think um in the previous episode with Wajida, I I did speak about this, and her and I spoke about this. You really have to have the some sort of passion to do it. 100%. Otherwise, it just never works out.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

No, you you can't think, yeah, you can't think that, oh yeah, today's gonna be an easy day. No. No, that the minute you think it's gonna be easy day is when you get like a slap in the face. It's not an easy day.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

I've had like, if I have uh like podcast stuff or or even um like the dance things, I've been at dinner parties with my friends, and I'll have people calling me, like, because the girls are either at a gig or something, and I'm doing something else. My friends are like, don't stop working. And I'm like, no.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

No, yeah, no, no, I have to step away.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

I'm sorry, because this is not a nine to five. It's a full around the clock 24-7 job at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Even like I'm driving and I'm thinking about things for work, or like I'm sleeping and I wake up and like, oh my god, let me write that down, you know? Yeah, and in it never ends.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

So um, being that you and your sister kind of took, I guess I can say you took over the business. I can say that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

I yeah. Um, what has my parents are still involved, but for the most part, like we're the decision makers. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

So what has um what has changed from the management style from your parents to you guys? And I know obviously social media is the obvious choice, right? Like it's the obvious thing with the times that are that we are in right now. But in terms of just being more innovative with the things that you're being involved in, um, what kind of what did you and your sister bring to the table that your parents didn't at that time?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I mean, back in the days, my, you know, the restaurant was all cash. So once we got there, it was like, okay, we need to do credit cards. Yeah. Um, digital sign for the menu board, uh, website, things like that. Like that my parents couldn't do, you know, they weren't thinking about those things. And they were thinking about, okay, we have a line, we need to serve these people. Like, I don't have time to go and make a website. Like, you know, um, I just started, well, not just, but it's been probably about over a year, we started shipping food with Gold Belly um out of state. So that was a big thing. And you know, we're just trying to be accessible to everyone at the same time. Um, because people always ask, oh, do you ship royalty? Do you ship royalty? Like that's the number one thing I kept getting for years.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

And now we do. So, you know, that's one of the things that I I helped with. Um, the Uber Eats, all the food deliveries, things like that. Um that's actually a lot. It is a lot. It's it's a lot of even all the changes, you know, like the events that we do. Yeah. Yeah, we do that. Wow. So before that, your your parents didn't really sponsor things, right? Or they didn't. Actually, yeah. They were heavy with sponsoring. They've always been heavy with sponsoring. Um but now me and my sister, obviously, we kind of control what's what we're doing. Like what's in the budget. Yeah, what's in the budget or what's you know, try to make it easy for ourselves too. Like, I can't sponsor on a busy Saturday, like, you know, things like that. Um, and we try to work with everybody. It's not just like, oh, you're my friend, I'm gonna work with you. No, you don't have to be my friend for me to work with you. Yeah, especially when it comes to like sponsorships and giving things away and expect like giving food away, like you know, we can do that, we can help you for your event. Um but yeah, and what's good now is that like I know a lot of smaller groups in the community, like the not-for-profits. So, like we both do, so we both work with them one-on-one. So they call us if they need help with something. And it's good that they have somebody to go to, right? Yeah. Because everybody needs help at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

That too, and then just community involvement. Like I feel like a a lot of people don't realize, like, okay, they they hear Sing's roti shop, right? They know great food, a place you can go to to, you know, it's almost like your one-stop shop, I guess you can say, right. But what I really wanted to highlight is the fact that you guys are so involved in the community, which is why I call it a pinnacle of our community, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Nice to hear.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Because at the end of the day, you're not just a restaurant on Liberty Avenue, kind of serving everyone, you're also involved in so many events. Like I know Pagger Parade is coming up. Yeah, that's gonna be a big one, and I'm excited. That's always fun. I was there last year, guys. Yes, I'm looking at my camera. I was there last year. It was a lot of fun. So if you're going to the Pagger Parade, make sure you stop at Sings After. March 29th. March 29th, Sunday, March 29th.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Make sure you be there. It's like a like a whole day for us. It's fun. Music, you know, people have a good time, the colors are being thrown. Yeah, it's it's a great day for like the community involvement. And yes, see a lot of local people like you know, it's nice.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

People come outside. It's really nice. One thing I love about the pogger parade is that it's like all of Liberty Avenue gets involved. So it's you don't feel like you can you need to only go to one spot, or you don't feel like people jump from one place to the next, which is kind of nice.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

I mean, I can't because I'm working, but I know like my cousins jump from one place to the next. And that's great because that's what you know, it's all about the community at the end of the day. Like, let's support everybody. Exactly. It's all about that.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

So maybe this could be a thought, but have you thought about expanding to other I don't have the mental capacity to do that?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

I'll be dream, I'll be dreaming about other places while I'm like worried about the one in New York.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

I mean, if you're shipping, I'm sure it's so tough. I'm sure Florida would love a Sings Roti shop. I'm sure Canada would love a Sings Roti shop.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

It's just so tough with like workers and you know, the thing is like when you own a business, you need to be there. Yeah, that's that's the problem, right? Like you're kind of married to that business. Yeah. So like owning like multiple, yeah, it's great. It sounds great, but you don't want quality control to go down because you're not there. What do people care about? You know, it's it's my business at the end of the day. Like somebody working there might not be like, oh, let me do the extra, let me go the extra mile for this person, you know? So that's uh, you know, you have to think like that too. But people ask us all the time, like, you know, come to so and so, come to this state, that state, all that. And it's just like it's so tough.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Have you thought about, and this is just me giving like random ideas, but great at great advice right now. Go ahead, tell me. Have you thought about maybe doing like pop-up events?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

I mean, yeah, I mean, we could do that. Like, I think that would be great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Like, you know, that like I'll take my entire kitchen with me. Yeah, like if you want to do it that way, sure. But like just in general, like, okay, um, I'm gonna give an example. Sanjay Maharaj events. He's doing Chutney World in Orlando. Oh, is he what it was in New York, uh, right? He's doing it on the April 4th. Okay, nice in Orlando. He's doing one in New York. I he did not tell me that. It's April 4th in Orlando, but like that would be like something where you, you know, that's a New York promoter is doing it. And it would be collaborative.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah, he would definitely work with me. He loves working with me. That's my cousin, so it makes it so much easier.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

But I'm just saying in general, like pop-up events like that, like that would be like a game changer.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

100%. It would probably take us to like another level. Yeah. Taking that idea and going with it. You should. Sanjay, call me.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

I would love, by the way, I to like go to a different like I just I told you earlier, I was just at Aruba, holy in Aruba, and going there and being like, oh my God, this is home cooked food right now from New York. This would be so great. That's so funny. My God. Um, okay, so I really wanted to know, just in general, um, aside from all of the great things that you and your sister have been doing to expand or kind of not just expand, but just in general, um leveling up the business, if that's the better term, right? Um what are things that you felt like you've had to say no to because you feel like it's wouldn't be great for business or it wouldn't be great for the community in general?

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Um, something I had to say no to.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

And it doesn't have to be because like the budget didn't, you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah. Um it would just if if it's a no, it's because of timing. Okay. Like timing doesn't work for us, or we don't have staff that day to provide whatever you're asking for. Um, or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Have you ever had to say no to something because I guess the person or or company is doing a type of event that you may not resonate with.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

100%.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah. Yeah, 100%. And how does that like how does that conversation kind of work? Because and the reason why I asked that is because a lot of people really tend to believe that if you have a specific type of business, whether it's food and catering or like providing DJ services or things like that that you really give it. Yeah, I know. And that you don't really have to think about what you're a part of.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yeah. And I know a lot of people do that's the thing too. Like, I don't want to work with people that think like that, right? Yeah. Because I feel like in the end of the day, you don't respect my time or business. You're just asking for free things. Yeah. Um, but if it's a no, like it's just it's gonna have to just be a no. Like, we can't do I'm sorry, we cannot do this at this time.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

And that's it. But you I usually get that from people that I don't know. Okay. Like people that know, they kind of know what to ask for, or you know, they're very nice about it. Yeah. It's never really like uh give me X, Y, and Z. It's kind of like, what can you help us with for this event? Yeah. And we know what event is going on too. It's not just gonna be like some made-up event in the year. Yeah. And I always ask for flyers too.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Um, okay, now I kind of want to go into a little bit of your personal life.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

My personal life. If possible. Yeah, let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Um okay, so you are someone, again, that's grown up in the community. You come from a family that has a restaurant business that is a pinnacle of our community, like I said earlier. Um, I guess one, how has it affected your personal life in terms of, you know, you did marry outside of your culture? Um, we did talk about this a little bit earlier, which is why I'm bringing it up again. But I really do want to know, like, being that you are a face of a brand, right? Social media, the generation that we live in, people obviously want to dig into your personal life. They would like to know a little bit more. They're a little bit more nosy about it, right? Um, again, I'm just gonna say this at the camera. She's been with her husband since she was six, uh, sorry, 18. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

So I don't think a lot of people know that. They don't, I don't know. I don't know what they know actually. Who knows?

SPEAKER_02 19:06

But being that you've been with him for so long, obviously you both have had the privilege of growing up together in this community, right? Doing everything and doing everything together. But now that the generation has changed and social media is a really big prominent part of our lives. How has that, I don't want to say challenged your relationship because obviously if you've been together for so long, yeah, you can't you have that foundation built, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:32

I think it's more challenging for me. Yeah. Not even our relationship is like fine. He like, so I was telling you earlier, we I had an incident where somebody, I posted something on our business page on Facebook, and somebody just like commented back and was like, you do this for all the money, and kind of referencing my husband or my family life. I don't know. And I was just like, What are you talking about? She was just kind of saying, like, I married for money. And I usually I get random, you know, every now and then you get a comment. You're just like, whatever, delete block, right? Yeah. This one, I was just like, no. Oh no, not today, miss. Not today. And I feel like Facebook honestly has taken taken a level of its own where people just feel too comfortable to say whatever. Yeah. Like they don't realize there's actually somebody reading your messages. And this person was like an older woman in the community, probably. And I just felt like, you know what? You not, you know, you need a little lesson right now. So what did I do? Copied and pasted, reposted, and people were just so upset that she, you know, said that because it's kind of like, how do you? I've been with this dude forever. You know, we we we do both. He's Catholic, I'm Hindu, we we do both. I celebrate a yearly prayers every single year with my kids and my husband. Um, I have a godfather. Like, I don't know. Like, I don't know what more you make it work, yeah. It's for us, it's just it's not even like it's work, but it's it just kind of like comes naturally. Yeah, and I guess that's what a marriage is. Like, it should just be naturally, you should be comfortable with the person that you're with. Yeah, I don't have to explain myself. He was just kind of like, people are doing this in 2026, like they're really saying these things. I was like, I guess, but yeah, so I think she blocked me because tried to click on her profile the other day and it wasn't going. But she needed to learn a lesson. I'm sorry, but you can't go around telling people things like that. I think, and we were saying this earlier, it just really isn't anyone's business. No, it's not anyone's business what's going on in somebody else's life. I think but social media has given people the opportunity to feel like me posting something is part of their life, I guess. I don't know. I also feel like um

SPEAKER_02 22:02

People who are in the public eye, no matter how big of a person you are in society, right? Whether you're just someone who just posts on a regular or you're someone who is this massive star, right? You give a part of your life, but then you're allowed to keep some of that. So when people start commenting on the part that you're not really showing as much, and then when you do try to show those little glimpses, yeah, glimpses of it, they feel the liberty that to say, like, 100%, I'm gonna say whatever I want to say.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

I think what made it worse for me is the fact that we started doing our videos for Sainks, like the funny videos and like the promotions, and I started putting my face out there. Yeah, that made it a little worse, but I I I don't want my kids really involved in that whole aspect. I do post them on my personal, but at the end of the day, like they have to know like this is a family business. Yeah, you know, like this is how I grew up, I grew up in this. Times are changing now because of social media, so they'll be on TikTok once in a while and they'll see a video pop up. Like, oh, that's you. And I'm like, yes. And uh, you know, I you do want to protect them, but I do the older ones, like I won't you know, you should know. You should know this is how you get your livelihood. And when you ask me to take you to the mall, this is where it's coming from, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Okay, so then you've said a few things that I actually want to touch on. Um, since we're still talking about family life, what you just said about having your kids know where they like what what they're what they're provided where it's coming from, does how big of the cultural aspect is and I don't know if I'm even saying this correctly, how big is cultural culture um part of your thinking when it comes to raising your kids?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Well, I think they see a lot more culture when they come to Queens. So like when they come to work with me. Um, so you do bring them to work with you and not that. The two older ones, yeah. Oh wow. I'm like, let's go, you're gonna go to work today. They pack shelves, they don't really do anything crazy. Um, they play with like the roofie flower. Uh but when they come to Queens, they see like they see that I work. Uh it's not like I'm not working, like I'm working, like I'm physically working, you know. They do see that, and I want them to see that because you can't just think that, you know, yeah, this is like an easy lifestyle.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

I also think it's great because one, they're seeing the culture just even if it's from a little bit of an outside perspective, like they're seeing you interact with people, people, they're seeing you talk to people who are part of our community and our culture. But then they're also seeing their mom one taking care of them at home, but then also coming to work.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

Which is a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

And they know I work. When I work, it's like, okay, guys, I need to work.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Like a lot of times I ask to go and I'm like, it's Saturday, it's busy. I I can't really like watch you. Um, and I won't bring them because on those days it's just like madhouse in there. Yeah. But you know, I try to bring them as much as I can so they can see what's going on. You know, talk to the workers even, the employees that's that's there.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

Does now that now shifting a little bit with the social media aspect, does you uh like you putting yourself more on on social media and doing all the videos? Um do you have those conversations with them to sort of prepare them mentally for the the generation that they're in now?

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Well, I don't, they're not allowed to have social media. Okay. The only thing they recently got was TikTok, but then I detox them every now and then and I take away their phones. So they're going through a detox right now. Um, and it's only my two older kids that have phones, but they recently got a phone. I mean, like for Christmas of last year. And they're 12 and 11. So that's great. Yeah, no, because we didn't have that. Yeah, exactly. Like old side, like you know, I'll take you to your friend's house for a play date, but I don't really want them sitting scrolling. That's you know, I try not to do that. I don't want them doing that. I don't think it's good for this, you know, the younger kids to be seeing all that that's going on.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

So, and the reason why I asked this is because growing up for me, as much as I was kept a little bit sheltered, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Like I was sheltered too, though. Yeah, yeah, 100%. I didn't get to go anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Yeah, I knew my parents know this.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

I tell my kids all the time, you're lucky you get to go to birthday parties. I never got to go to anybody's birthday party.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Yeah, I wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere. I wouldn't be allowed to spend the night by somebody's house. I was out of the birthday.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Are you kidding me? You can't even ask. You cannot, no, girl, let's not even go there. No.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

That was out of the question. Yeah. I grew up on Long Island. I was I would go with my parents to their shows and events. I told you this earlier. They would make me go home. Like as soon as like 10 o'clock came, they were like, You're going to. So you still got to go to a show.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

I didn't even get to go to a show.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Well, I went to work. I was at a show and I was like in the back, but like had to see from like the dressing room door. Like I wasn't allowed, like backstage. I wasn't allowed to be like anywhere near anyone. And by 10 o'clock, like, or by the time the show was sort of coming over and like the party was about to start, my grandparents would come pick me up, take me home. Um, I wasn't, I didn't grow up on Liberty Avenue. I didn't grow up going to Richmond Hill.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

Yeah, that was all me.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Um, I went to like dance class because my dad was teaching me how to dance and and things like that. But that was kind of it. Like I would go to dance class and come home.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

So you say, but you still had a culture, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Like I did still because I grew up very um uh I actually always selectively sheltered.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

Yes. Selective. I grew up in Queens. Like I went to elementary school, junior high school, Edison for high school. Um, so like a lot of my friends, I like I see them come to work. Like I see them when they come to the restaurant. I still talk to a lot of them in Queens. Yeah, it's nice to have that type of relationship. And you know, I don't know. It it was hard, like working there and then having to go to high school, and then your friends are like, actually, no, my friends were actually very nice about it. I feel like it was just like certain customers that would be like, Oh, I saw your daughter, X, Y, and Z place. I'm like, I don't even know how to get there. So bad resurrection at the time. But I remember I used to take doubles and alopie for my friends in high school.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

If I tell you the stories, oh my god, what? Oh my god. Oh, about the I see that, yeah. No, about yeah, about like seeing your daughter and like what where? When? I'll so I'll tell you this. My dad told me this story. So this is where this was probably the first time that I really experienced um sort of being known, right? From because of my parents. I think I was 14. It's always when you're 14. So when you're about to hit a like Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 28:55

You've hit puberty and then you're like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

So a little out there, but not fully. Exactly. It's like awkward, awkward age, too.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

And my parents were divorced at that point, and I had started going out with my dad in Queens and stuff like that because he was living in Queens when we were doing like every other weekend, you know, things like that. Um and my dad calls me and he says someone on Facebook messaged him. I don't remember if it was Facebook or someone called him and said, I think it was it Facebook, it maybe it wasn't Facebook because I don't know if Facebook was really around at the time, but it was either a phone call or a message or something he had gotten. And they said, We have seen pictures of your daughter on an adult entertainment site. Oh god, no. And my dad called me and was like, Have you sent anyone pictures? And I was like, No, I'm 14. Like, and 14 Did you even have a phone? I don't even remember because I was so young, right? And guys, like I'm looking in this camera to say this, but like 14, my age, I'm 31. That was early 2000s.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

15 years ago, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:07

So, like, what was that 2010, maybe? If that I don't even remember, I don't can't even do math, but like early 2000s. So for a person my age, early 2000s, you didn't really have a phone. Life at 14 was kind of like I was watching Disney Channel.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

100%.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Yeah, I was watching Hina Montana, I was watching Sister Sister, I was a part of that era, Lizzie McGuire, all of that. TJI, what is it, TJI Fridays? Yeah, we would go to TJI Fridays, like things like that, right? So, like we when I like say innocence at 14, like actual innocence at 14. Like it's not like how the generation is today. No, generation is different.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

It's very different.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

So when my dad called me and asked me, I was like, what are we talking about? I'd be like, Can I see the photos? Can they send it to you? My dad, like, was he was like, if it's true, like I don't want to see my daughter that way. Yeah, obvious. So he was like, I need to send it to your mother because your mother then needs to like. Did he have the photos? He had a link from somebody and someone, my he sent it to my mom. My mom clicked on it, and he was like, She's like, it's like a spam. A spam. Yeah, there's like no one, there's nothing. And I was like looking at my parents, like, guys, like we're doing this right now. I've yeah, never sent anyone anything, but I get it. Like, you have to be safe and you want to know, like, because you know, and you also don't know like creepy people could like take random pictures, do whatever at that time.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

I mean, I feel like that's what's going on now. So all this AI with AI stuff, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

But like at 14, that's what this like my parents were getting phone calls.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

They used to get phone calls in the restaurant, probably, about me being X, Y, and Z places. And I just remember thinking to myself, like, I don't even know how to get there. Yeah, like I don't even know where that is. Cause I never, you know, at 14, you're not leaving to go anywhere but school and back. But like you're not allowed, I wasn't allowed to like walk all over Liberty. 100%. Yeah, same. And then I would the most places I would go to would be like McDonald's. I mean, this is what McDonald's was good. McDonald's and the library. Yeah. And maybe the pizza spot. But you would go to like these little, like we would have like the bagel shop or whatever. Like, you know, you those are like things on Liberty Avenue. And then I would just, but mostly like somebody would walk me there too. Yeah. I don't remember ever remember being like, oh, let me just go pick up and leave.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

Yeah, no, my dad had got also gotten a phone call one time saying that I was on Liberty Avenue with a man, and my dad was like, My daughter lives on Long Island. Like, where's where where is she gonna be on Liberty Avenue? I don't know, I don't understand. She lives on Long Island, guys. Like, she doesn't live in Queens with me. She comes, she comes here on the weekends, like when she comes to see me. But other than that, like, and it was a random, it was one of those like there was no way I could be in Queens because I was at home with my mother and like and they knew and they just kind of knew. And they were like, She was with this guy, and my at that time, I think when he got that phone call, I was probably 16, turning 17. And my dad was like, whether my daughter is with a man, a woman, her friends, that is none of your business. Like, just she's gonna do what she needs to do as long as we know why do you care? Exactly. Like, how do you not know that's a fence? So that's good. He's like, How do you not know if like if she is on Liberty Avenue with a man? How do you not know that it's because we've given her permission to actually you know what I do?

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Remember the day jams from back in the days? That's what I was like thinking, like going to Liberty, and I'm like, what? Club Tomatoes day jams. Well, yeah, and then when Sanjay had Parrot, is it Parrot? Parrot back in the days. And because we're family, um, my mom used to go because I couldn't go anywhere. So my mom and his mom would be hanging out while I was at a day jam at Parrot, which she would be on, you know, like the Parrot, whatever the club floor was, just like in a corner with his mom. And I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Well, okay, it's funny that you say that because for me growing up, right? I started probably going to a club when I was like 17, turning 18. Because you know, back in the day it was like 18 and up for girls, 21 for guys, right? Um, but I was going to the club with the permission of my parents. So like my parents would have to call up at that time when I was going, it was level.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

And my parents would call up Sunday and be like, my daughter's coming.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

That is so fun.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

She needs a section. I mean, that's good though. But yeah, that's how it would be. Like, cause we were like you couldn't just go and like wait.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

You couldn't just go and wait.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

You weren't allowed to. And then you also like I wasn't allowed to be outside at night without my parents knowing where I was, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Like we weren't, and I think my parents But that's still like I know like you might think it's them being overprotective, but honestly, I would do that with my own kids. No, but now in the direction that we live in, I'm trying to go and you know, I'll pick you up.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

Uh my but I I loved it at the same time as much as people would think like we were sheltered and you know, yeah, we maybe were confined. We weren't because my parents had brought us up in a way where, like, when it was time to go to the club, we trust you, you can do what you need to do.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

And as long as we're there to pick you up and take you home safe and we know that you're okay, even if that's all that mattered. That's all that mattered. Even if, like, my dad gave me my first drink.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Like, I mean, yeah, same in our house household.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

He was like, as long as if you can't, if we can't trust you, how to how are you gonna trust yourself to be outside? Like he would always say to me, like, you want to drink, you want to learn what it's like to be tipsy, you want to learn what it's like to be drunk, but you're gonna do it at a family party. You're not gonna go to the club and do that by a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Yeah, because we it was the same thing for us. Like our my parents would give us drinks when we were younger. Is it harder now with your kids though, being that it's a different generation? Like my 12-year-old, she wouldn't even like, she's like, I don't want that. If I always feel like, oh, cool, mom, like here, have a drink. She'll be like, No, I'm good, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

No, but I I mean in the sense of like when they go to school and stuff, do they feel the difference of like like what? Being raised a little bit differently. Because from what you're scat what what you're saying, I almost feel like you're emulating.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Like they would ask me certain things. I'm like, no, we don't do that. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Yeah. But do they get the pressure at school? And I and the reason why I'm asking this question is because I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Because you know what? There are actually a lot of parents who are very strict, strict with their kids. Oh wow. Like no sleepovers. Um you can't really go by a friend's house on the weekends, unless it's like a scheduled play date or whatever the case is. But I do know from both sides of my the older kids, like their parents are pretty, you know, on top of that. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

Because the generation now is like, I think, I think more parents are getting a little bit more strict from what they've they're almost emulating what their parents did because now the generation is just so different, right? Like I almost feel like those who have had kids in the lot from like 2000 and up were like, we were so sheltered, so confined, so strict.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

We don't want our kids to our kids to I'm the same way too. Like I won't, you can't go to your friend's house or you can go to this birthday party. I wasn't, I didn't have birthday parties I was able to go to. Um, but what's the difference is that I'm friends with these parents. Yeah, you know to be involved. Yeah, you have to be involved. Yeah, you have to be in PTA. Um, yeah, but I'm friends, like I have their numbers, I text them, you know. If I have a question about school or something or work, whatever the case is, I text them, yeah, call them, I drop them over. I s I talk to the parents, like I would go in their kitchen and hey, what's going on? You know?

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Because yeah, you're my kids are friends with your kids, but we need to have a relationship too. Yeah, it's not just a drop off plate aid and keep it moving. Well, you need to feel comfortable just going in that house. Exactly. And I think that was the difference with our parents, you know, and us. Yeah. They didn't have uh that type of relationship with my school friends' parents.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

You know, I feel like now, like all the friends that I went to like in high school, like I know their parents now. Yeah, you know, or like my mom would know whoever. Yeah. This one's mom or whatever the case is. It's different. I think the millennium millennium, right? Like that age group, I think they're more involved with what's going on with their kids. And they're open about it. Nothing there's nothing to be ashamed about here. Like, let's have an open conversation.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

I've noticed that too, and I've also noticed so there's I've noticed there was there's two sets of types of millennials, right? The ones that were, I guess, sort of grown up towards the boomer age, right? Where is it boomer or gen X? Maybe Gen X.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Okay. That's uh the generation before uh before millennials. No, that's uh be after. No, yes, is millennium the Gen Gen X? Gen Z?

SPEAKER_02 39:03

Gen Z, Gen Z. So the Gen X, right? The Gen X group of of um before millennium, before millennials, or even like early millennials. Yeah, they felt they were too strict, like their parents were too strict, so now they're even less less strict with their kids. Yeah, but then there's the millennials that were grown up in like the 80s and 90s that are like, no, we see this generation now. We don't want our kids growing up this way, they're gonna grow up the way we grew up, yeah. See, so there's like a mix I mean, there's always a cycle too, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:32

Yeah, but I I don't know, you gotta let your kids have experiences, and yeah, I didn't do anything.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

Yeah, I didn't get to do anything.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

What? Neither did I actually. I mean, you still got to dance, I didn't even get that much.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

But like me dancing was like people think that because it like I was dancing at a show, it was like, oh my god, she got to hang out. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

No, but I mean like you had a hobby, right? Like you had something to do outside of school. But you had things, I did, but I had to like in high when I was in high school, I would do like all these activities, yeah, just because I felt like I needed to do something other than go to school.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

But we were also we were also taught that like extracurriculars was like the way to get into college. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

So that's all my high school, like I was president of um Edison, yeah, um, prom committee, yearbook committee, like everything. Me too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

I was treasurer for our student council. I was a part of the yearbook committee. I did chamber orchestra because I did the mystery.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

It was fun. It gives me something to like look forward to. Like I do Jamaica Rotary now, and it gives me like, you know, let me meet some people in the community. Why not? You know?

SPEAKER_02 40:42

I'm just gonna say this like because I I think that this conversation should be a part of the podcast. But um the TikTok generation of these older it's too much.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

You're telling me you're I mean, I'm I protect my kids, right? Yeah, who's protecting them from doing this? Like, does anybody tell them like this is weird?

SPEAKER_02 41:03

It's just such a bad representation of our it really is no, it really is taking it to another level.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

And then what bothers me is that if you have if you want it to be a talk show, so I'm just saying, right? Do we need to talk about people that are in the community or in Guyana or Ternet, like whatever, wherever you whoever you're talking about? Like real, like can we talk about like something fake? Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 41:29

Yeah, um, statistically, uh those uh TikTokers are Ghanese, most of them. Those views are crazy though, like people are obviously watching. The the Guyans reputa representation or or the reputation is not uh the same as what it would be for Trinidadians, right? Okay, we're somewhat considered lesser um as Indo-Caribbeans, but it's those same people that are bringing negative light to our community.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

This is not what TikTok and Facebook is for. Are we in their business? Like, can we just mind our business?

SPEAKER_02 42:06

Yeah, or like I I don't know. I don't I don't even, you know, talking about this, I don't even want to bring light to it. But to be very honest, I agree with you. I feel like I feel like there's just so much frustration behind it, but like why are people watching?

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Yeah, can we stop watching? Like, maybe if we stop watching, I mean, I don't watch, I just know about it because it just pops up, but my workers talk about it, and I'm like, I stop, let's not talk about this. And I get the idea of like any presses, like or any publicity is is good publicity, but it's really not not in this case, uh it's not, it's and besides it being like Guy and Easter, it's the community, it's the community, it's it's and then we're all one people, like we're all from the same culture, backgrounds, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Yeah, and okay, like I'll I'll give you an example of this, right? Um the Caribbean music awards, yeah. It happens here in New York, right? We don't have Indo-Caribbean representation like that. We had Ravi who went recently, like last year. He went to both both years, actually, but he went last year and he got an award for award for um what his contributions are, right? Okay. But if you look at the grand scheme of things in the Caribbean, us Indo-Caribbeans, we're technically not even considered a genre and we're not even considered a culture.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

We're not even on the radars. Like if you what is it? The radar? No, like if you fill out a form. Yeah, we're not even like a I don't identify as Asian. Yeah. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

Like I've never I had to put like Pacific Islander or something. And it's like not that's like Hawaii, it's not the same.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Like that doesn't make sense to me. Like we're in 2026, and yeah, I think the Guinese population is pretty large. It is in the United States of America. Yeah. Uh, how do we not have our own? I don't even know.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

It's it's so uh representation. It it's so crazy to me because it's like we Are fighting so much, or there's so many people in our community that's fighting for that representation to be considered overall in the Caribbean community. Right. But then there's people like this that don't allow us to further ourselves because if it's another culture looking in, or even the Caribbean in general, they'll be like, well, they're just fighting on TikTok for no reason.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

I know it's kind of like it's just embarrassing.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

It it really is embarrassing. And it's not something that we want to be known for.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

But and I know people will be like, oh, they're crazy, blah, blah, blah. But at the same time, like, what are we really doing right now? Like, what are we doing? Yeah. Like you really have to stop and think and take a step back and just listen to what they're saying. How does this help anyone? It doesn't help anyone, it hurts people in another day, regardless, because they're talking about somebody, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Thank you all for watching. Thank you so much, Shivani, for being here.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

I loved it. I loved every moment of it.

SPEAKER_02 44:56

So did I. I think um, again, just going, especially since it's women's month and this will be aired this month itself. Um, I think it's amazing that two women can come together and have just chill an amazing conversation and just have great vibes. I was thinking the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

The vibes were on point today.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

And I loved it. I think we talked about a lot of good things. I think we did highlight Sings Roti Shop as the true pinnacle of our community that it is and yourself, because you and your sister are doing amazingly to push forward that brand and just being a part of the community in general.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

Um, and I'm so happy that we got to do this. I know we've been talking about this for a few months.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Yes, but we made it happen, so that's all that matters.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

Exactly. Um, but just for all of our viewers, Sing's Roti Shop is doing a Pagua after party um on March 29th. So after the Pagua Parade, make your way over. I've been there before, I was there last year. Vibes are amazing, drinks are amazing, food is amazing, the music is amazing. So come out there and celebrate without your entire community. Um and yeah, uh, thank you again for watching. Mike Check with Nikita and Shivani. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

Of course, thank you.