Ashan and Kali: We Can Do Hard Things

Rachael: Welcome back to the final episode of this season's Formative, the podcast where today's leaders are interviewed by the leaders of tomorrow. Today our guest is Ashan Singh, a correspondent for ABC News Nightline. In this episode, Ashan shares how following his curiosity and asking a lot of questions led him to journalism. He also talks about what it's like to report from all over the world, and how doing the hard things, even when you don't want to, shapes you into becoming a better version of yourself. 

Rachael: Hello and welcome. My name is Rachael Gazdick, and I'm your host and CEO of New York Edge. On every episode of Formative, a student from our afterschool program joins me as co-host. Today, I'm joined by Kali from PS42Q. Kali, can you tell our audience a little bit about yourself?

Kali: My name's Kali. My hobbies are listening to music, dancing, and fashion. My favorite things to do is skate. I like roller skating. I like dancing, and I like dancing in rain.

Rachael: Wow, so much creativity. I love that. Okay, let's go talk to Asha.

Kali: My first question is why did you choose this career?

Ashan: Why did I choose this career? That's probably the best question. I like to think that the career chose me in a lot of ways because I was lost. I think when I was getting out of college, I was probably 21, 22 years old, and I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And so I think a lot of figuring out who I wanted to be, you kind of tell yourself, "Oh, I wanna do this," because you've heard other people wanna be a doctor or other people wanna be a lawyer. And so you tell yourself, "I wanna be a lawyer, too." And only till I got to working at a law firm, I realized, oh, this is kind of boring for me. I need to go do something a little bit more fun. And so I think I was looking for opportunities of what I wanted to do, and one thing that was really cool when I was in high school was I worked for the newspaper. And I remembered really loving taking photos and getting to report stories and tell people stories. And so I, when I started working at that law firm, I was like, "What if I actually got back into telling stories?" And there was an election happening that year, I had just gotten out of college, and all I could think of was like, wow, how can I contribute to this? So I started looking into different ways that I could become a storyteller, and before I knew it, I landed up at ABC News. It was pretty cool.

Kali: What's a typical day in your role?

Ashan: Typical day, I love that question. It's, it, there is no typical day, I guess that's the crazy part about my job. Um, but today, I came in and I shot a couple different pieces for a show that I co-host called GMA Life that's on Hulu and ABC News Live, which is like a weekly recap of Good Morning America. But then tomorrow, I'm going to Washington, DC to interview a couple experts about artificial intelligence and AI. And then in a couple weeks, I'll be going to Los Angeles to interview a couple of players who've gotten very famous playing Dungeons & Dragons. Yeah, so I'm learning a little bit about Dungeons & Dragons. I didn't know much before, but the cool thing about my job is that every day is different. And so what gets a little bit exhausting about my job is that every day is different. And so sometimes I don't know what tomorrow's gonna look like, you know?

Kali: What was your favorite story, and why?

Ashan: Favorite story and why? So I've gotten to do a lot of really interesting stories over the past, I think almost eight years now, all types of different stuff. So I got a bunch of different answers for you, because I think there's no... you can't pick a favorite child, you know? They're all kind of like my babies. Um, but one story that I really liked really early on in my career that I thought was really cool that I got to do was I got to interview Cardi B. And she was telling us about how she grew up in the Bronx, right? She's from here. And the story wasn't as much about Cardi B's music, it was about Cardi B's business advice for young people who are trying to learn how to be strong businesswomen and businessmen. Because Cardi B's a business, right? Nobody knows how to make a brand out of herself better than she does. So it was a really interesting story because it combined two things, this idea of financial literacy that people are always so curious about, and obviously Cardi B. And Kali, if you pull up that interview, you'll see on my face I was nervous. I was nervous in that interview 'cause Cardi B, she's too cool, right? She has her hat, it's like sticking out of the frame. She's wearing a huge hat, and she's kind of like trying to teach me how to sell something. She brings up her water bottle and she goes, "You're gonna sell me this water bottle." She goes, "Now buy my water." She starts yelling at me, and I'm sitting there like I'm, this is Cardi B, I'm terrified. So that was always one that sticks out in my memory.

Kali: So I have this question, even though I have lots of questions.

Ashan: Yeah, I got time.

Kali: How do you get stories?

Ashan: How do I get stories? That's a really good question, 'cause that can come in a few different ways. A lot of the time my boss, the executive producer, she'll assign a story and say, "Wow, like, this is really something. We gotta look into this," right? And then a lot of the times I'll be like, "Hey, there's this interesting thing that I read about. We should take a look at this." So for example, um, you know Lil Nas X? The dude who does the song Old Town Road. When he was bubbling up five or six years ago, he was only blowing up on TikTok, and like grownups didn't know anything about TikTok six years ago. Like, they had no idea it existed. And I was... I'm not that young, but I was young enough back then where I could be like, "Hey guys, there's this kid on this app and he's about to blow up. We should take a look at him." And they were like, "All right, you might be onto something." So I think you'll realize the more you look around you'll be like, this could be a story, this could be a story. So I'm always thinking in terms of a story. And I think anytime you realize everybody you meet has a story, right? When you realize that it's a story that applies to something that's going on in the country, then you realize, okay, maybe this is something we would like to report on, you know?

Rachael: How do you get people to talk to you?

Ashan: That's the toughest part, right? When it comes to being a storyteller and being a reporter, your word is kind of all you have. So I think a big thing is making sure, like, letting them know you're gonna do right by them. Also, like, when it comes to telling somebody's story, especially when they're opening up about something really harrowing or heartbreaking, they may not trust us. And I think it's really building that trust on a personal level, the same way any of us would with our friends and our close relatives. So I think that's sort of first and foremost the biggest thing, letting people know like, "Hey, my work speaks for itself, and we're not here to do you dirty." And I think that usually does enough. Also, like, we work for a big organization that people know, and I think that's incredibly helpful. But I think just having that resume of stories where you can kind of say like, "Oh, I'm not really comfortable talking about my illness," and then you realize, oh, I've actually done so many stories about people who are speaking out about the time that they had dealt with something similar. And it just lets people see your work and build their trust organically. But it is the toughest part about doing this work.

Kali: Okay. So what's the hardest part of your job?

Ashan: Hardest part of my job, not knowing where you're gonna be next sometimes, you know? So, um, I got a dog at home, and sometimes I just gotta say bye. Say, "Chef, I gotta leave, man." And I always get a little bit sad when I know that I gotta say bye to my dog and get back on a plane and go somewhere else. But it's exciting, because I get to come back with stories. Like, let me tell you where I've been. I've been to this place and this place, and I can tell you about all these crazy places. But it is tough leaving home, you know? It makes you miss it a little bit, especially when you're on the road so much.

Kali: What places have you traveled?

Ashan: Oh man. I've traveled to a lot of places. So inside the country, I've gotten to go to almost I think I've been to 40 out of the 50 states, maybe 43 out of the 50 states. I still haven't been to Hawaii or Alaska, which I'm dying to go to. And then I haven't been to the Dakotas, like North and South Dakota. Um, I'm just curious. When you live in a city, you're like, what's going on over there? But then as far as places outside of the country, I've gotten to go to a bunch of cool places. I've gotten to go to Disneyland Paris in France. I've been to Iceland. I've been to Jamaica. I've been to Finland. Do you know about Finland? Have you ever heard about Finland before?

Kali: Yeah.

Ashan: Finland is this country that's super north in Europe, and they have this month in June where there's no darkness. It's light all the time. And so I was there during this month in June, and the sun never went down. It was crazy. And then I also have been to Poland and I've been to Germany, and that was when the invasion started in Ukraine. That was a little bit more of a serious story. But I've gotten to go to some pretty cool places just to tell stories, which I've always really appreciated.

Kali: That sounds cool.

Ashan: It's very cool. It's very cool to see things through the lens of the news and what we get to do, because you feel like you're just a fly on the wall. You know when you're on vacation, you're trying to enjoy and see all the sights, but when you get to do what we do, you see how kids go to school there, how people live everyday life there, and I feel like it's like, oh, you get to be that fly on the wall, which I think is cool, and it gives you a different perspective.

Rachael: Can you tell us a story about a time you made a mistake and how you grew from it?

Ashan: Yeah, no, I love that question because I make mistakes all the time, and I think what will show you who you are as a person is how you respond in those moments. So a couple years ago, before I was a correspondent, I was a PA at Nightline. And we had this job where whenever breaking news would come, we had to go down. So long story short, former First Lady Barbara Bush just died, and Byron Pitts, the anchor of Nightline, had to run down, sit in the chair. And I was controlling a pad that controls the shots that come up on the screen. I messed up. I hit the wrong button. The frame went to black, which means it was a blank screen while Byron Pitts was talking. And in television, even one second feels like a lifetime. And I remember thinking my career is over, they're gonna fire me. They were yelling at me on the sound system. And I thought I was gonna get fired. And I think one of the biggest lessons I had in that moment was I had to take accountability for what had happened. I messed up, but I said sorry. And the more I've realized it's hard for people to say sorry. And I think that taught my newsroom a lot about me. I was 22. I was young in a newsroom, and I took responsibility. And I did not get fired. But the bigger lesson is you have to own up, fess up, and say that was on me. And then you move on and learn from it.

Kali: How do you overcome your fears?

Ashan: Oh man. I don't know if I ever will overcome my fear, especially when you're on set and you get the jitters a little bit. There's always a little bit of fear there, right? And I think that fear is good, 'cause that's what wakes you up in the morning. I think practice is the biggest thing. If you're scared of doing something, do it 100 times. And I think also sometimes you just gotta take a shot and be like, I'm gonna try my best. It may not work out, but it's me versus myself. I never look at it like, is everybody gonna laugh at me? I look at it like, will I be disappointed in myself if I don't try?

Kali: That was very nice. Was there ever a time in life that you didn't wanna do something?

Ashan: Oh man. Every day. I didn't wanna run this morning, Kali, but I had to run. I think life is about doing the hard things. You have to put the work in on things you don't wanna do in order to get to the things you do wanna do. And when you learn to do those boring things, you learn to fall in love with the process.

Kali: Can you tell me how you were when you were my age?

Ashan: Oh man. I was super curious. I was always trying to figure out how I could help people. I'm an older brother, so I always liked being responsible. But I was also mischievous. I asked way too many questions. I think I drove my teachers crazy because I was always asking why. But that may be why I have this job now.

Kali: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Ashan: I don't even know where I see myself tomorrow. In 10 years, I hope I'm still telling stories that matter. I hope I'm still doing what I love. And on a personal level, I hope I get a car one day. I just got a dog. And I hope I've visited every continent. I still need Antarctica.

Rachael: Very cool. So the last question we always ask our guests is, if you could go back and speak to yourself at Kali's age, what would you tell yourself?

Ashan: I'd say that thing you're telling yourself you don't wanna do, beat yourself at that. Compete with yourself. If you're telling yourself you don't wanna do homework or work out, ask how good you can be if you push through it. Think about future you. Even if it's hard, future you will thank you.

Rachael: Thank you so much. This was great.

Ashan: For sure. Appreciate you. And Kali, it was so awesome talking to you. And please let me know if I can answer any questions or anything that you need. I gotcha.

CREDITS

Thanks for listening to Formative, a production of New York Edge. I’m your host, Rachael Gazdick. Our production partner for this series is CitizenRacecar. This episode was produced by Hajar Eldaas, post-production by Alex Brouwer, original music by Garrett Tiedemann. Thanks to the whole team at New York Edge for making this series possible. Never miss an episode by subscribing to the series at newyorkedge.org/formative or wherever you get your podcasts.