A huge thank you to the many folks who helped Season One of this idea come to life and a peek into what lies ahead.
WATCH the VIDEO VERSION of this episode right here.
Thank you to Brian Sanders for taking a Craigslist connection to a 2 hour long phone convo with so much free info, encouragement and advice. Juan Paul Linares for donating your Audio Technica at2020 & mixer. Neha Balthazar for the poppin' logo design - main logo & the separate episode logos. Navneeth Narasimhan for sticking it out through the 8+ months, quality control, mixing! Meera Sinroja for acting in the web videos, being a dope line producer on these micro shoots & generally being a very positive force!
Thanks to all my guests for your honesty, trust and bravery in openly sharing your journeys - all parts of it. It was the single most important thing required to do justice to this show. Kulanandini Mahanta Star of Episode One, Arjun Shankar Star of Episode Two, Nipun Nair Star of Episode Three, Anushya Badrinath Star of Episode Six, Chloe Bean for the track 'Sea of Hearts' and so much more, Divya Gangadhar, Sundeep Joseph, Ghita Benslimane & all other guest bloggers, and Sharon Brenner and Liz Profumo & Lorraine D'Alessio of D'Alessio Law Group.
To all those who answered the first survey I sent out way back in Aug 2016.
Those who provided me emotional support to carry on when things got challenging and moments of hopelessness almost won over. You know who you are. Your energy fuelled this production at the most crucial points <3
Sandhya Ramachandran circa Oct 2017. She sports a septum ring & now rocks basic flannels.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Aliens with Visas will be back for a second season that will pick up where we've left off, with a focus on two big questions: What does it really mean to be American? What is success - a clearer definition - and more on the unique factors that stand in the way of getting there.
I feel deeply apologetic about the dwindling regularity of content with this season. Social media management, even. This is purely due to AwV being pretty much a one woman show. You know that golden rule - time, money, resources. I took a lot of time due to a lack of the other two, which took a fair toll on me and the show.
This is a self funded project that took about 9 months to finish, which required working 10+ hours each day. There have been no donations. Every contribution of skill was paid for out of pocket - even if it was a very meagre amount. I would love to build this as a movement to help future batches of international students and I'm even willing to work day jobs to fund my dreams but I worry if I will have the same willpower for 10 more months to work alone for free.
I need your help with Season Two - mostly in marketing and publicity. My personal views are that money can be funnelled in with the help of a marketing team - even if it's two driven, efficient people. I'd much rather have people volunteering to provide marketing expertise. But who knows, I might have to go against that and launch a Kickstarter or a Patreon page. Watch this space!