Who Is Samridhi?
I'm a student at UC Berkeley, studying Economics and Media Studies, although my interests have never been particularly good at staying within one subject.
I've spent the past few years doing a little bit of everything: founding a nonprofit, working on Gen Z marketing initiatives, organising student events, experimenting with photography, and occasionally finding myself in situations that require more problem-solving than originally anticipated (the last-minute venue cancellation at Berkeley comes to mind).
A lot of my work revolves around people. What makes them care about an idea? What gets them involved? And how do you turn something that sounds good on paper into something that actually works?
At the moment, I'm particularly interested in marketing, consumer behaviour, and the relationship between brands and the people they're trying to reach.
When I'm not working on something, I'm probably planning the next thing. Or taking photographs. Or talking (quite a lot, apparently).
💌 Why I Do What I Do
I think I just really like getting people in the same room. Which sounds simple enough until you're trying to convince hundreds of college students to leave their dorms and actually show up somewhere.
At Berkeley, I've been doing a lot of that through the International Students Association (ISAB). We've been experimenting with events inspired by cultures around the world, from Lost in Pamplona, inspired by Spain's San FermÃn festival, to a party inspired by Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival. I love the process of taking a slightly ridiculous idea, figuring out how to make it work, and watching people get genuinely excited about it.
Of course, the process isn't always as glamorous as the Instagram pictures suggest. Our venue once cancelled at the last minute, which meant frantically calling people I'd never spoken to, negotiating a new space, and trying to get our money back (thank god I'd insisted on a contract). We somehow ended up with an even better venue.
But there's something about all of it that I genuinely enjoy. The brainstorming, the negotiations, the tiny details nobody notices, and especially watching people who might otherwise never have met end up sharing an experience.
I think that's also what connects a lot of the things I've done, from building Guzaarish to organising events at Berkeley. I've always been interested in people, what brings them together, what makes them care, and what happens when someone actually takes an idea beyond the planning stage.
And admittedly, I also just really like planning a good party.
© 2024. All rights reserved.