Carrie Bradshaw. Blair Waldorf. Andrea Sachs. Add Shruthi Nattanmai to the list of iconic New York ladies.
Almost every girl I know dreams of taking on New York City in all of its glory. Squished subway rides, charming coffee shops, thunderous traffic throughout the night. New York has become Shruthi’s muse for many of her writings, including the ones featured on her blog, The Gospel Shruth. “The Gospel Shruth was originally just me giving myself an outlet that was in no way related to school. I’ve loved to write for as long as I can remember, so starting a blog was a way for me to share that writing with the world, or at least my social media followers.” When opening up The Gospel Shruth’s homepage, you might never have thought that Shruthi was originally a suburbanite turned urbanite just two years ago. The landing page of her blog is a photo of the fashionista herself, dressed in business casual attire, looking around Washington Square Park while taking in all of New York’s beauty. She naturally fits in with bustling New Yorkers. Her blog posts range from dispelling myths about living in NYC, trend reports and satirical open letters to her freshman year dorm and “caffeinated lover.”
Attending the Fashion Institute of Technology(FIT) was not always in the blueprint. “I was very heavily influenced by this idea of what I was ‘supposed to do.’ I think it’s safe to say that some of that influence came from expectations of what career an Indian girl should choose, which was ultimately limited to the STEM field.” Both of Shruthi’s parents worked in STEM-related fields, which furthered her thoughts of what she was “supposed to do.” “I was dead set on going to the University of Chicago and living out these dark academia dreams that were definitely a result of my heavy consumption of young adult fantasy novels.”
While her grades were immaculate in all core subjects, Shruthi explored her artistry through extracurricular activities such as drama club, wind ensemble and a variety of dance styles. Even then, Shruthi, the girl whose wardrobe would have made Serena van der Woodsen jealous, felt she wasn’t artsy enough to attend FIT. With a push from her father, Shruthi began exploring programs at FIT where she found a major that practically had her name inscribed on it, Advertising and Marketing Communications. “It was the perfect crossroads between business and fashion, with equal parts technical work as there was creative.”
Once stepping foot on FIT’s campus, Shruthi hit the ground running. Her LinkedIn experience page is longer than any article you would find on longreads.com. Internship after internship. There is no doubt that Shruthi embraced both FIT and NYC and their offerings. A year and a half ago, Shruthi outlined her experience writing for FIT’s magazine, BLUSH, on The Gospel Shruth. She wrote, “I definitely intend on being a part of BLUSH magazine throughout my years at FIT, and hopefully even becoming a member of the executive board at some point.” She is now a senior beauty editor for the publication.
Recently, Ms. Nattanmai has been experimenting with new forms of journalism. She is a host of a new startup news media called the Asian American Herald. “I had no prior experience in interviewing others or journalism of that sort when Ashok Adikoppula, one of the creators of the network, reached out to me and asked me to host.” While hesitant to accept this new position, Shruthi ultimately took on this new experience with grace. Since May, she has been conducting Zoom interviews each week, videos she shares with her Facebook friends. “It’s definitely taught me a lot about effective interviewing processes as well.”
While this pandemic caused roadblocks for some, it seemed to have given Shruthi more opportunities to grow. Currently, she has been spending her time looking to the future and applying to graduate programs.
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