Why I Finally Started Writing About Culture, Confidence, and My Journey

I am a first-generation Indian. My parents came to the U.S. in the 1960s, and like many immigrants, they carried their traditions, values, and dreams with them. Growing up as an immigrant’s daughter, I was constantly learning how to adapt to American culture, retain my Indian heritage, and find and celebrate the positives in both.

Those early experiences shaped how I see the world. They fueled my curiosity about cultures, my desire to understand people, and my respect for how powerful—and beautiful—our differences can be. At its core, that’s what inspired me to create my own company, Seva Global: to share what I’ve learned and experienced, and to help others navigate cultures with more confidence, respect, and ease.

What Do We Really Mean by “Culture”?

When I lead workshops, I like to start with a simple question: “What is culture?” I always get a variety of answers: food, music, language; customs, beliefs, values; art museums, theatre, dance, ballet. All of these are true—and still just part of the picture.

One formal definition I often use is: culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, and arts. To me, it’s also our value system, beliefs, and assumptions—everything we’ve been absorbing since birth. Culture isn’t just “out there.” It lives inside us.

And it’s not just one thing. We all belong to many subcultures, shaped by where we live, our workplace culture, our ethnicity or race, our age or generation, our gender identity or sexual orientation, our social status, political views, and more.

Culture is also constantly evolving. Generations reshape culture over time. One of my favorite examples: traditional Indian dance. Today, you’ll see American hip hop woven into Bollywood choreography, and suddenly the dance looks a lot like an MTV music video. East meets West—and creates something entirely new.

It’s Not About Right or Wrong

When we talk about culture, people sometimes get nervous. They worry they’ll say the “wrong” thing or that there’s a “right” way to see a culture. Here’s something I want you to remember: culture is not about right or wrong. It’s about what has influenced us since birth.

I grew up in a small town in Ohio—Middletown. If you’ve read the book or seen the 2020 film Hillbilly Elegy, that’s my hometown. My high school had about 2,000 students. Roughly half were Black and half were white. I was the only Indian student. Because of that environment I fell in love with hip-hop music, learned to move between different cultural spaces, and understood, early on, what it felt like to be “the only one.”

Later, my children had a very different experience. They grew up in a predominantly Jewish community where they had Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off from school. Same family, different environments, different cultural influences.

This blog is my way of inviting you into that exploration with me. We’ll talk about travel, business, everyday interactions, and the small cultural details that can make a big difference. My goal is not to give you all the “right answers,” but to help you see more, ask better questions, and feel more confident across cultures.