About Me
Priya Kumar, 22, is a graduate student in journalism and management at Harvard University. She earned her B.A. from Claremont College in media studies and psychology, and diploma in filmmaking from the New York Film Academy. Currently, she is the editor for The Alewife newspaper in Boston.
Priya has also been the managing editor for Swadharma, a Hindu journal at Harvard University. She enjoys writing about religion in general. She believes in adoptng positive qualities from different religions. "That's what Hinduism is about: acceptance," she said. Additionally, her interests are writing about Indian cinema and profiles of extraordinary people living in ordinary places. She believes in keeping her doors open. "You never know the greatness, the innate goodness in others. Hence, one should look out for these," she said.
She is also a skilled artist. She dances, sings, models, acts and loves being spontaneous. (She can copy Steve Urkel anytime!) She is a trained dancer in Kathak and Bharat Natyam, and enjoys performing folk and Bollywood film dances as well. Bhangra is a big part of life, but she also enjoys doing garba raas, rajisthani and bangla dance.
Priya is also a gifted singer. Her forte is Hindi music, but she can also sing in Italian and English. She also enjoys singing adhunik, or modern bengali songs. Music doesn't have a language, and she listens to whatever sounds melodious. She even wrote her own songs (in Hindi) at one point!
"I called my 'album' "Darpan." It reflects my thoughts about life,love, success...the basic needs," she said, recalling her days in Pitzer College. Sh talks about being inspired to write one of her songs at 3 am! "I am always inspired at the most odd hours!" she said. Oddly enough, she has only disclosed her ideas to her brother- who came up with ideas for Darpan's background score! "Very few people know about my album; I had kept a low profile at that time," she explained. She was waiting for the right moment to make her singing debut, for her, 19 years was entirely too young. "I wanted to sing a song with substance, like the one I recently recorded [Talking Circles.}," she said, when asked about her unique taste in music.
Other than music, She has done promotional modeling, photo shoots, and editorials, but nothing beats fashion shows. "I love setting the ramp on fire," she says.She models for Dulhan Bridal,a modeling agenc based in New Jersey. She is also a sought after model for boutiques in the Boston area. Paul Mitchell, Clothetime and JC Penney are only a few places she has workd with. "Oh this can be a long list. And if you make me start, I won't shut up about it!," she said, with an air of humor.
Her hobbies include petsitting, teaching dance, cooking with her mom ( and washing the dishes afterwards!), and playing pool, bowling, teatherball, and softball. "I hate dirt and clutter," she said, in her house. "Yeh,I know it's fun trashing elsewhere," she chucked. She loves eating, sleeping, family time with her parents and her younger brother, parties and meeting new people. Cats are her weakness. If she had it her way, all of the cats in the Adoption Center section at Petsmart would be in her house! She loves dogs as well. "They are very cooperative when it comes to taking pictures," she said, before accounting for scartches on her hands by her neighbor's cat. In Boston, she has six cats in her neighborhood. She named one of her cats Duchess. "I rescued her from a shelter [at age 18]," She recalledHer future goals are to finish her M.A. in journalism and later study media law. She likes writing that is "intellectually stimulating." "Newspaper headlines filled with colummns of gossip have unecessarily occupied the space reserved for serious news," she said, expressing a distate for journalism today. But she will change that, once she becomes a full-fledged journalist. "I write about obscure people, who deserve public limelight," she said.
Priya's compassion also extends to the needy in her country and beyond. She wishes to support them, through her charity performances. She cares about the homeless in the US, street children in India and beyond.
She also plans to continue with fashion shows and dancing. "There's no limit to it," she said. She wants to dance her whole life! But the ultimate goal is to earn a Film Fare Award someday.
