DIDIHOOD ~ Issue 52

Author

The Didihood
February 28, 2024

Happy June!

We can't believe it's almost summer! Thank you to everyone who applied for our Didi Creative Fund, we received over 40 applications and we're excited to go through them and to be able to provide funding for some Didis and their creative endeavours! Grant recipients will be notified on July 3, so stay tuned!

Meet the Didi:
This month's Meet the Didi is Talya Macedo, a Creative Strategist and PR Practitioner in the global arts, fashion and entertainment industries. Her work skillfully lends itself to the current climate of media and editorial while positioning brands and artists as forward thinking, modern, emotionally intelligent entities. 

Tell us about your career, what inspired you to be a publicist and brand/image consultant?

 I appreciate this question because my journey has not been linear. I don’t think I ever planned or decided to take this path but my experiences, calculated risks, failures, life changes and curiosity brought me into this role. I was always a writer, storyteller (Indian people love telling stories!), producer and TALKER and I found my confidence in performing arts (music, dance, musical theatre), working in nightlife/events and travelling.

Becoming a brand strategist was an iterative process — I only started using this title in the last couple of years! It started when I was young and deepened my interests around the age of 25. I learned that I really liked digging into the stories of how things (people, art, products, fashion, architecture) “came to be” and how an origin story could be the throughline for someone or something's existence. I loved making it connect and amplifying it with copy, visuals and PR strategy.

Brand strategists often create a methodology.  I didn’t “go to school” for this specifically but I’ve allowed myself to be a sponge in every room I entered. When I did a program in Vancouver, a diploma in Global Fashion Marketing, there was a PR class that felt “natural” to me so I started developing my experiences in the fashion, beauty and music realms and allowed that to become the lens through which I saw brand strategy.

Curiosity has been key for me — it leads me into research and development mode and I’ve always followed it/allowed it. Even if the thing I’m learning to do isn't going to be “my thing”, I try to understand it so I can speak to it. 

Have you faced challenges in the industry as a South Asian woman? 

My challenges vary, depending on the environment. In truth, my name and my appearance afford me a lot of ambiguity. People know I’m a minority but they usually don’t know which minority right away and I’ve found this to be both a privilege and a constraint. I can work in a lot of different rooms, but people are not always comfortable with me there.

In 2017 when I was offered a job in a national PR agency that was very white and very corporate, I had the experience of being the minority voice (in an agency that didn't want to hear about it) while also drawing direct attention to the lack of diversity and inclusion in the assets and tactics that were being pitched.

This is where I developed my methodology more deeply — and started pitching and producing the assets (photo shoots, video shoots, key messaging, casting etc). I knew I needed to make the client storytelling matter — and I knew I wanted to make everything editorial and beautiful to do the subjects and subject matter justice, even if we were selling something.

My first shot at this was with an eyewear brand and it went well and after that a lot of people wanted me to work through my lens of experience but didn’t want to acknowledge the work they needed to do with their internal culture. It has been equal parts exhausting and fulfilling to work like this. 

 How do you maintain a network once you start working in this industry?

I think it’s about keeping every exchange you have with people in your networks genuine. I don’t cast a super wide net — some people will and it works for them. I try to focus on connecting with people with shared paths, interests and values across all the industries I want to touch. People I can have a genuine conversation with or people I know understand and share my team’s visions. I use social media to connect and to observe where opportunities might lie and I apply as much integrity as possible when connecting for collaborations. 

What is the highlight of your career thus far?

Winning a Shorty Award meant a lot to me and definitely made my parents proud! The campaign we won this for was through the UNFPA and gave me the opportunity to travel to London and NYC to help amplify the beautiful work. The experience stays with me. 

I’ve had the opportunity to work with global musical artists as well (Shay Lia, Little Simz) and these experiences have been enriching and challenging in the absolute best ways. 

I also started teaching effective communications to fashion students in the program I took in Vancouver. Before I started my career (and that program) I was a college dropout. It’s satisfying and fulfilling to know that there are so many ways to learn and to share knowledge and workshopping with a group of savvy, cultured and stylish Gen-Z’s will shift your whole lens!

What are some of your creative inspirations?

So many! Dance/movement, music, architecture, sex, photography and fashion are probably my every day sources. 

I love movies and look to podcasts and documentaries for new perspectives. Pop culture and powerful women. I’ve watched HOMECOMING at least a hundred times. I love to study the provocative, groundbreaking and guerilla style PR methods from the ’80s. 

I also have a group of incredible, disruptive, creative minds around me and around the world who coach me as I build and amplify ideas. Conversations with these folks are always colourful and always lead to inspiration. 

What advice would you have for younger Didis wanting to do what you are doing?

I would say that there are many beautiful, enriching things about our cultures, parents and faith/spirituality that we can and should hold on to. There are also many things we can safely let go of as the world changes around us and we have to choose survival. Choose your traditions for comfort and be discerning about what you want to honour. 

Whatever you want to do and especially if it’s something creative or challenging, don’t be afraid of failure, of shame or of your true self.  Your surroundings, experiences, cellular/generational memories, sexuality, quirks, beauty and desires all belong in the world and in this timeline. If something doesn’t exist, build it yourself.

Embrace your mistakes — don’t hold the shame to the chest the way we are often taught to do. Let failure become an opportunity of discovery that ignites passion. Tell the truth and TRY new shit all the time! Save money when you can, travel when you can and be kind to other women.


— Roohi Sahajpal

Issue 52
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