Interview of Madhulika of PreetiRang Sanctuary

I recently had the pleasure of visiting PreetiRang Sanctuary and was so inspired by Madhulika's wisdom and passion that I had to share her with you. She has taught me many things about Hinduism and Indian culture and has left me completely inspired.

Can you tell me a little bit about your background? Where are you originally from? What brought you to the US?

I was raised by very supportive and encouraging parents, i.e., parents did not differentiate between sons and daughters. Realizing that I am very intelligent and wanted to study Engineering, they agreed though they would have preferred that I follow the common path of getting a Bachelors’ degree and getting married.

Two more notable recollections about my parents are:

1. They always told us, “Do what you want to do and be happy that you are doing what you want to do."

2. Without telling us what to do or not to do, they made it plenty clear that anything less than one’s best is NOT acceptable. An example is, throughout school, a Bachelors’ degree and 3 Masters’ degrees, I have NEVER missed an assignment, actually never missed even one question on an assignment. I didn’t know it was possible to go to school and “face” a teacher without completing my assignment.

Our oldest taught me it’s not possible to do every assignment when he was in High School.

I remember joking with my mother after that, “You and Papa didn’t raise me right. You didn’t teach me that I could take shortcuts. You didn’t tell me I could skip assignments.” My mother laughed, “I don’t know to this day that it is possible to go to school without completing assignments and I would teach that to my children even today."

Also, I am highly influenced by the discipline, hard work and integrity of my maternal grandfather who was the Chief Justice of India. I wish I could achieve a fraction of what he did.

I am originally from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. I got married to a gentleman, settled in the USA, and had just gained admission at Yale University for a MSEE (Master of Science in Electrical Engineering) degree.

Interview Feature: Christina Roberson

Meet Christina Roberson, a makeup artist and hair stylist located in Southern California (Orange County and Los Angeles). I'm really excited to feature her on Within Color because she is one of few who aren't afraid to step outside the box and be adventurous. I am in awe of her incredible talent and spirit and am so ecstatic that she's graced us with this fantastic interview. 

1. What made you want to be a makeup artist? What is it about makeup that you love?
As a child, I wanted to be an artist. I'm thankful that my parents saw my talents at a young age and pushed me into the arts -- I attended art hakwons growing up in Korea and my parents always provided me with tools and supplies for whatever I wanted to create. As I got into my teen years, I became obsessed with fashion magazines. I would save my lunch money to be able to buy four or five magazines at a time, keeping at least one or two in my schoolbag at all times. I was so intrigued at how these were the same models over and over again..yet they looked completely different each time. As I got older, I realized that for the everyday person, makeup could make a difference in self-esteem and confidence, which seemed to be a factor that determined acceptance or rejection in our society. So though I was originally influenced by fashion models, I wanted to be a makeup artist for the everyday person; the woman who doesn't have time for herself because she's too busy taking care of everyone and everything else, the man with skin insecurities who wishes it wasn't stigmatized for males to wear foundation, the boy who wants to dress up and feel glamorous.

Interview Feature: Phuong

Meet Phuong Pham. Ridiculously crafty, ridiculously talented, and just an amazing artist all around. She has  been transplanted to Los Angeles by way of Philly and Baltimore. She has an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking though now she has been mostly working on her drawing and fiber arts these days.

I've admired her from afar for many years, so I was really excited when she agreed to do an interview for Within Color and man, did she deliver. 

Interview Feature: Maitri

With the continued growth of Within Color, I'm hopin' to regularly feature and interview more women of color artists, fashionistas, activists, etc so I'm ridiculously excited to kick off this newest blog feature with Maitri Mehta, a powerhouse of creative talent and witty commentary. I've been following Maitri's embroidery journey from its beginning stages and I am damn proud to see her flourish and succeed in something that brings her genuine joy. Cliche and overused, but she is surely a force to be reckoned with. I have absolutely no doubts that Big Things are comin' up for this babe. Maitri, don't forget us when you're rich n famous from your creative pursuits one day.



1. What made you want to pick up embroidery? 

Desperation honestly. Possible Personal Journal, but I was feeling really low and hadn't created anything in a long time-- I couldn't write! Apparently it's hard for me to be a prolific poet when I'm Sad. So I needed something to pour all my sadness/bad energy/nasty anxiety into and embroidery is something that was always peripherally on my radar. I draw a little bit and used to paint in the past and just wanted something new to teach myself. I was hoping the learning process would help me shut off my brain a little bit and it totally did.

2. What are your daily sources of inspiration?

Don't mean to sound like a rustic wall plaque you see at Pier 1 Imports but ~inspiration is everywhere.~ I went to the gynecologist today and picked up a little pamphlet which has some sweet, simple illustrations re: how to give yourself a breast exam and I think I want to stitch it into a series. 

3. Which embroidery project did you most enjoy working on? 

I think the slut pomegranate was my favorite because I used some needle painting and shading and I love how it turned out! I taught myself a bunch of new and different stitches for that one.