Mango Bites 🥭

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Mango Bites!!

Hi! It’s Shaunak - the guy who’s been emailing you about Desi professional events in NYC.

I’m thrilled to launch Mango! After meeting many of you at the various events I’ve hosted this past year, I felt the need for a centralized space to foster more support and connections within NYC’s Desi community. Mango aims to fulfill this need through regular professional events including happy hours, activities, and dinners. Mango Bites (this newsletter) is your one-stop shop for staying updated on our latest plans.

If this is your first time hearing from me, you likely attended the Tech Week Mango launch party last night at Sugar Mouse. Thank you so much for coming 🫶. I hope you got to meet as many amazing people as I did, and had some awesome Hidden Grounds’ chai 🫖 

Expect to hear from me about once a month with the latest schedule of what we’re cooking 🧑‍🍳. If Desi events and content aren’t your thing, hit unsubscribe and you won’t hear from me again.

Oh, and while you’re at it, please follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to make sure you never miss a bite 🦷 

Upcoming Mango Events 🎇

Register on the links below!

• Desi Investor Dinner (7/2) - For investors looking to build network with other Desi investors

• South Asians in Product HH (7/25) - Pretty self-explanatory lol - come through if you work in product management, product analytics, or an adjacent field

• Mango x TechWalk (8/14) - A mid-day walk through Central Park with incredible Desi co-hosts!

The Scene 🪔

Other South Asian events I’m keeping an eye on in the city

Cool Desis Doing Cool Thing 🐘

Highlighting people in our community making strides in diverse fields!

Aman Kandola is the Founder and CEO of Tether Data, a software startup solving data problems for operations teams using AI. Previously, he studied computer science at Harvard, was an early and growth stage software investor at Bessemer Venture Partners, and VP of Strategy and Operations at Courier. 

Why do you do what you do?
I’m working on this specific idea because I personally felt this pain in my last startup where I led the finance, data, and revenue operations teams. But the reason for starting something generally is that I love solving hard problems with a small team that I love working with and that starting something from scratch, particularly a business, is one of the greatest vehicles for expressing creativity and generating value for society.

What does your Desi identity mean to you, and how has it influenced your journey?
I grew up in a neighborhood in NYC with a lot of fresh Sikh, Punjabi immigrants who, in my opinion, aimed too low because they had never seen what was possible for them - most grew up on farms, hardly anyone went to college, most people had minimal english language skills, and the highest ambition was to buy a house in Long Island and get their kids married. That was it. I want to both show that people (Desi or not) should feel free to dream big and go after their dreams and we should leave our mark on America as a whole - we here and we ain’t going anywhere.

What advice do you have for those entering your field?
I would say to not worry too much about whether starting something will work out or not - if you’re excited about working on something, just go do it. It’ll be confusing and stressful at first, but you’ll find ways to work through it. It’s really easy to rationalize not going for it (I spent many years doing that so I’m speaking from experience), but you can keep doing that forever. If you want something to happen, you have to just go for it!

Aman’s favs 🌟 
🎬 Bollywood Movie: Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year
🍛 Desi Eat: Saag
🌶️ NYC Restaurant: Turntable Chicken Jazz

Meme Bazaar 👳🏽‍♀️

Random Stuff 💃

• Want to sponsor an event or host something with me? Get in touch!!

• Have a friend who’d want to be on this newsletter? Sign up for Mango Bites here!!