Anjana 1:01
Are we doing this? Because we don’t have a guest this week or because we forgot to do an intro?
Epsa 1:08
Excuse me, we are the guest this week. Yes. The guests, the host, the editors, everything, all of the producers all of the above. So now that we’re here, and let’s just do a little check in, Anj & Sydney. How’s your Tuesday? just glad it’s not Monday.
Sydney 1:26
Yeah, I feel Yeah. Monday and Tuesday are like the hardest days of the week. And then once it’s Wednesday, it’s like, Alright, Fridays inside. It’s always like a countdown to Friday. Yeah, you know, yeah. Always counting down to Friday starts on like Sundays at Sunday night. Yeah. When the Sunday scaries hit like, all right, when’s Friday? So Well, it’s almost been like, in what March? It’ll have been a year since Anjana, like, since you and I first started talking right? And then coming up with ideas during quarantine when you were like, I don’t know
Anjana 2:05
Syd you and I went through so many ideas. Remember, back in August. We had like, what were we talking about? We’re talking about like three different company ideas that we just like a recruiting one was like for recruiting software, like recruiting software. And yeah.
Sydney 2:20
Because we were both going through like the pains of job applications. And we’re like, this sucks.
Anjana 2:27
Yeah. Yes, it does suck. And so yeah, we were we said that. And then we were like, well, we don’t have any experience with coding and stuff. We can’t afford someone to do it for us. Yeah, like our very last iteration was a blog. And yeah, and then Epsa was talking about doing a podcast on her own, which I’m sure Epsa is very glad that we’re doing it. Yeah.
Epsa 2:52
Like I, I do this thing where I have a lot of ideas, but I really need people that are like me to kind of help drive those ideas. So yes, I’m very happy. I’m like, super happy that the three of us are continuing to do this.
Anjana 3:06
But in the process, I think we forgot to introduce herself. So we wanted to use this episode to kind of just talk about our lives and what we do outside of reimagined
Epsa 3:17
Perfectly said Anjana, why don’t you just take it away? Who is Anjana Melvin? I really wish Okay, so in Anjana fashion. I’ll go first. Okay. Okay, so, Hey, everyone. I’m Epsa. If you know me, hey, if you don’t Hi.
Anjana 3:39
Please note how long she spends laughing about. But just so everyone knows, it was like a solid 20 seconds and you’re laughing.
Epsa 3:48
Okay, so I’m still laughing and composing myself, because I’m aware that was a dumb joke, but it had to be sad. But anyway, I’m Epsa. And I, you know, just like Anjana and Sydney, I graduated from Cal Poly, virtually kind of forgot about that whole experience. I’ve kind of blocked it out from my memory. But now instead of now from virtually graduating, I am now virtually working from home and my childhood bedroom right next to my desk, glued to my zoom screen. And it’s been quite a time. So I currently work at VMware, and I work in consulting and what is a consultant, you know, I am a glorified problem solver. But the problems I do solve are actually really cool. And I’ve been able to gain some cool insights and cool experiences, but aside from just the corporate world, let’s see what do I do in my free time? You know, I run this podcast with Anjana and Sydney, and I scroll through tik tok and I walk my dog and I go on the treadmill. And I’m currently working on making sure my top artists My top Spotify artists of 2021 is not Justin Bieber. I love Justin Bieber but I’m really trying to get out of my 12 year old music listening range. So that is what yeah, that’s all you need to know about me. Thank you.
Anjana, Epsa & Sydney: 5:12
Yeah, I mean, that was a pretty good, right. What do you say? I don’t think I can top that. I was like, I was gonna say, I don’t think so either. And that is what you must what you missed on E! Thank you so much. The top artist Justin Bieber is all you need to know. To know my top Song of the Year, it’s really embarrassing. What is it? It was Roxanne? Just 2020 or 2021? No, 2020. Sydney we just don’t have Spotify wrapped yet. Sydney? Sorry. It’s basically like the 13th month of 2020, though. So honestly.
Epsa: 5:50
So passing it on passing the mic passing the plate onto the you Sydney? Yes. said Who are you? Right? Yeah,
Sydney :5:59
Like they I said, I don’t know if I can top that. But I’m Sydney. I’m one of three co hosts, co producers, co editors. But when I’m not working on the podcast, I’m a market researcher at a company in San Francisco. And when I’m not doing that, I love baking. As Epsa and Anjana know, I feel like our messages are basically just sending each other like half baked harvest harvest, like back and forth. Um, yeah, so I love baking. In my free time. Yeah, like most people been working from home in my childhood home hoping to move to San Francisco soon. Which will be exciting. But for now, I’m working here with my three cats to keep me company.
Epsa 6:53
Three. Sydney, you got three co workers? Yeah, yeah. I love that for you.
Sydney 7:00 They’re often late to work and they leave early. So and they sleep like six hours a day. But living the life that we all wish we had. But
Anjana 7:07
Living rent free to genuinely rent free. Yeah. I guess that leaves me the least interesting.
Epsa 7:18
Anjana, cmon hype yourself up
Anjana 7:21
Just kidding mostly, but also not really. Um, my name is Anjana I am also a Cal Poly grad. As everyone already mentioned, I graduated a year ago, actually, like almost exactly a year ago, and still like calling myself a recent grad.
Sydney 7:38
That’s okay, you can hold that title for the next, I think another year before it expires.
Anjana 7:43
Okay, sounds good. Thank you, that’s reassuring. Um, I currently work at a startup called bande, which is spelled bande, but it’s pronounced bond. And it is a fitness startup. So it’s a live stream virtual fitness startup. And I work as an associate researcher, so I do both UX and market research. I also run their university ambassador program, and do a bunch of other marketing stuff because we are a small lean team powerful team, but it working at a startup just means you’re doing like 100 different roles that aren’t what you got assigned, but it’s fine. It’s super fun. I love my job. And outside of work, I have a quarantine puppy. Her name is Tulsi. And I play with her most of the time when I’m not working, or during the podcast. Um, what else? I also like yeah, like Sydney said, we we bake a lot. I’m usually cooking something new every weekend by half baked harvest or New York Times cooking. Um, and yeah. And that’s it. For me, I guess.
Epsa 8:54
Yeah. So that’s the three of us. In a nutshell. That’s really all you need to know about us.
Anjana 8:59
I think like a lot. I think all three of us were looking for something. Like, like you said, Sydney earlier, a passion project when none of us had jobs back in July. But I think, you know, there was just a lot of bad news going on. Everywhere, like everything was just like, a shit show. It was just yeah, it was just all bad. And I think we kind of wanted to focus on the future. And like, what how much potential there was to really change like I like we say in our intro, or Syd mentioned how COVID just exposed a lot of broken systems, anything from criminal justice reform, to climate change to the workforce. There’s so many things that just really needed to change and we didn’t have a push for it until COVID. And so I think what we’re really excited about for this podcast was interviewing woman who will change the world and make us all excited about the future.
Sydney 10:04
Couldn’t have said it better myself. And yeah, here we are at I mean, the beginning of 2021, but also 13th month of 2020. It’s okay. There’s still a lot. So basically. Um, but yeah, I think for me, too, I’m just really excited to keep growing the podcast to keep bringing on really amazing guests and learning from people who are, you know, not just in the corporate world, but in other industries and fields as well, too. Yeah, lots of things I had for us, I think this year.
Epsa 10:41
I totally agree. And I think I’m just looking forward to continuing to have authentic conversations, because right now I, all that really holds us together is our conversations and just being honest, vulnerable and open about her experiences. Because I think, I mean, like, I think all of us like growing up and just in the industries we’re in, like, we’re all taught to, like put on a facade or put on a mask. So it’s really nice. Speaking with individuals on the podcast, and learning from them.
Anjana 11:12
I love like, continuously learning and growing from the people that we talked to, for sure. And with really great guests. if you the two of you could have like your ideal, the ideal, ideal ideal podcast guests. Yeah, who would you hard.
Sydney 11:25
That is a really awesome question. I know, that’s hard to think of like on the spot, too.
Epsa 11:35
I know way to go Anjana, way to give us a hard question. And then you’re gonna answer last. Okay,
Anjana 11:42
I’ll answer first. In my fashion, as you say, I would probably say, like Sallie Krawcheck, who I think is really, really cool. And I’ve been following her work for with Ellavest for, like, maybe a year now. And I think what she’s doing in terms of like, woman’s financial freedom, and just financial literacy and trying to get, you know, more woman investing more women saving for retirement. Just like giving women the courage to invest in themselves. I think that’s very remarkable. And, and like, I’m excited to see where she takes all of us. But she would be a very cool podcast
Epsa 12:27
No, I totally agree. I think she would be such a phenomenal guest and just someone who’s had a lot of just insane impact, too. I think for me, a really interesting guest would be I don’t know if you guys know Elizabeth smart. There was that one documentary about her, she was actually kidnapped in like, 2012 in Utah and found and now. Yeah, so now she’s like an American child safety like activist and commentator for ABC News. But I love just like, mystery podcasts and things of that sort. And I think her story in her shadow whole lifetime documentary, kind of discussing her experience, and now how she’s taken that and increased emphasis, and making sure like, the resources are there for children like her. I think she would be so cool, her story’s insane. Her just everything that she’s been through and like, how after that experience, she’s still able to get up every day and work with children that were in similar situations, probably, like really traumatizing situations, like her and she just continues to do so. She’s so dope. I recommend if you haven’t seen her documentary, I think it’s just called the story of Elizabeth smart, highly recommend it. Add that to my list. Syd, what about you? Um, yeah.
Sydney 13:44
So I can’t think of a like a name in particular. But I think a company that I know, the three of us really love and have purchased from for sure. Not an ad but the girlfriend, the girlfriend collective, I just think it would be really cool to bring on a guest who could talk about just like, sustainability, yes. But also just reimagining like, what body types look like and like body type acceptance, from their marketing perspective. And the ads that they have are super inclusive. So I just I think like diving into, you know, like the fitness or like the fashion industry from that viewpoint would be really cool to talk to.
Anjana 14:36
I think girlfriend is a very rare brand that has really nailed D&II in you know, at the very least their marketing but in all their communications like I think I think they’ve been doing really, really well. So COVID doesn’t seem like it’s ending anytime soon. But, you know, I think I think we’re have been really really impressed by the people that we’ve met so far. And how much of a bright future there is still, despite everything. But we’re really excited about the people that we’ve had so far and also the people that we’re going to bring on in the future because we genuinely think there’s a lot of good people in the world doing really cool things.
Sydney 15:25
Yeah, definitely. And we hope that you all enjoyed learning about us in this like, six month delayed introduction about the three of us. And as always, if you guys have any ideas for guests that you’d like to hear from on the podcast, reach out to us, DM us, if you have our number text us, all that good stuff we want to hear.
Anjana/Sydney 15:53
I love how you said text,because you know it’s just our parents listening to. No, like a lot of our friends have our numbers.
Epsa 16:00
To my five friends that listen to this podcast, please text us.
Anjana 16:10
My two or three followers on Twitter that like my tweets.
Sydney 16:12
I’m one that needs to get a Twitter.
Epsa 16:16
Okay. Next pod. Sydney’s going to have a Twitter so actually direct all your questions towards Sydney’s Twitter. But also, we wanted to thank just everyone who has tuned into the podcast has listened has all the answers. Thank you so much just for supporting what was a idea in quarantine that has now blossomed to a full on project and like Anjana & Sydney said we’re super excited to continue reimagining things.