About Lakshmi

Lakshmi Gandhi is a reporter, editor and social media manager based in New York City. She is currently a freelance journalist who specializes in literature, identity and pop culture. Her articles have appeared in NBCNews.com, HISTORY, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, The Juggernaut, Metro New York, and other publications.

Over the course of the last decade, Lakshmi has interviewed bestselling authors, independent film makers and experts on immigration, religion, teen culture and diversity. Some highlights include interviewing Ilyasah Shabazz about the legacy of her father Malcolm X, chatting with Richard Branson about the art of a good business deal, talking with bestselling author Kevin Kwan about what makes the perfect beach read and profiling the so-called Mipsterz — the Muslim hipsters of Brooklyn — about creating a thriving faith-based artistic community.

A passionate advocate for diverse books and film, Lakshmi and her close friend Asha Sundararaman also review and discuss pop culture from a South Asian perspective each week in their weekly newsletter. After beginning her journalism career as a desk assistant at the PBS Newshour, Lakshmi was a Punch Sulzberger Scholar at the Newmark School of Journalism, from which she graduated in 2008. She received her BA in history from Bryn Mawr College and is also a longtime member of the South Asian Journalists Association.

You can find Lakshmi on Twitter at @LakshmiGandhi, where she often gives book and coffee recommendations.