Author: Ashwini Anburajan

Bio: Ashwini Anburajan is Founder and CEO of a Social Data Collective, a private data marketplace that allows consumers to access, control and monetize their data. Social Data Collective allows consumers to trade data from a variety of sources for high quality products and services offered by brand partners. She was previously Director of Partner Development at Buzzfeed, and at Outcast prior to that. She has created cutting edge thought leadership and has advised some of the largest names in media on their social publishing strategy, including USA Today, New York Times, Hearst and CondeNast.

Contributions:

Best Picture? Slumdog Millionaire Sparks Heated Debate Among Indians About Their Country’s Image: News Analysis From FI2W

Posted on: 02 Mar 2009

By Aswini Anburajan, Feet in Two Worlds reporter It was easier with Gandhi. Now that’s a movie a country and its people can love, wrap their arms around, and shout praise to. Love, peace, and Satyagraha (nonviolent resistance) — they roll off the tongue with an easy lilt that represents the best of what India […]

News Analysis: Geithner’s Problems Refocus Attention on Undocumented Gardeners and Housekeepers

Posted on: 15 Jan 2009

Democrats and Republicans alike appear to have little stomach to derail the nomination of Tim Geithner, President-elect Obama’s pick for Secretary of Treasury, despite his failure to pay $43,000 in taxes on time, and his hiring of a housekeeper who briefly lacked proper work papers. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid dismissed Geithner’s troubles this week […]

Two Bangladeshis and An Argentinean Walk Into A Polling Place …

Posted on: 04 Nov 2008

JACKSON HEIGHTS, NY – Aswini Anburajan, FI2W reporter Only in New York City, and especially only in Queens, would this reporter find herself surrounded by three loqacious voters of such different origins — two Bangladeshi men and one Argentinean woman — all eager to break down the reasons why they were voting for Barack Obama. Mohammed […]

More Reports of New York Election Law Violations Against Immigrants

Posted on: 04 Nov 2008

NEW YORK – Aswini Anburajan, FI2W reporter Throughout New York City there have been reports that voters have been asked to show identification, in violation of New York election law. Laura Matthews, a second year law student at the City University of New York, said that voters in Jackson Heights were asked to show ID […]

Jackson Heights, Queens: A Babel Tower of Electoral Activity

Posted on: 04 Nov 2008

JACKSON HEIGHTS, NY – Aswini Anburajan, FI2W reporter Coming from Manhattan, you can feel the difference as you step off the subway platform at 72nd St. and Broadway in Queens. A primarily ethnic community, Jackson Heights is home to, among many others, Colombian, Asian and South Asian immigrants. Outside the polling place at P.S. 69, Spanish-language […]

New York Buzzing With Excitement: T-Shirt Vendors Proclaim Obama The Winner

Posted on: 04 Nov 2008

NEW YORK – Aswini Anburajan, FI2W reporter Union Square is buzzing with vendors and election volunteers. There are even people from Comedy Central who are handing out buttons for the cable channel’s “Indecision 2008.” Some of the vendors have proclaimed an early victory for Obama, selling T-shirts that proclaim him the winner of today’s election. […]

A Caribbean View: Obama Victory Will Bring Carnival, Trinidadian Says

Posted on: 04 Nov 2008

Voting in Harlem, by CarbonNYC/Flickr NEW YORK – Aswini Anburajan, FI2W Reporter Keith Shaka Daway is “sixty and a few months.” Originally from Trinidad, he says today is a chance to “vindicate” all his “ancestors” and the “freedom fighters” who have gone before him. “Nat Turner, John Brown, and aaaaallll of ’em. I’m pulling that […]

A Sign of Long Waits in Harlem: The Garcias Brought Folding Chairs

Posted on: 04 Nov 2008

NEW YORK, By Aswini Anburajan, FI2W Reporter Carmen Garcia came prepared for the long wait at the polls today. She and her husband brought metal folding chairs in anticipation of the long lines. Every five or ten minutes, the older couple from Puerto Rico, get up and carry their chairs a few feet further. They […]

“I Marched In Selma”: The Thrill of an Historic Day in Harlem

Posted on: 04 Nov 2008

NEW YORK – By Aswini Anburajan, FI2W Reporter Sadekh is an immigrant from Senegal. Standing in a line to vote in Harlem’s Little Senegal on 116th St. and Fifth Avenue –a line that’s down the block and represents about a two-hour wait– he is adamant that he’s not voting for Obama because he’s black. He […]

Morning in Spanish Harlem: A Fifty-Something, Voting for the First Time

Posted on: 04 Nov 2008

Voting in Brooklyn, by Elisbrown/Flickr. NEW YORK, By Aswini Anburajan, FI2W Reporter Lexington Ave. Running through Spanish Harlem is pretty quiet this morning, it looks like almost any other day. But voters are lined halfway down the block at the community center on 120th and Lexington. Small signs saying “vote aqui” and “vote here” line the […]