{"id":32258,"date":"2017-12-01T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studybreaks.com\/?p=32258"},"modified":"2018-07-03T12:30:39","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T17:30:39","slug":"rookie-upasna-barath-videographer-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studybreaks.com\/tvfilm\/rookie-upasna-barath-videographer-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Videographer Upasna Barath Is the Rookie of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow Us<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>

Like many college students, Upasna Barath has questions: Is it okay to be a romantic? How do you find what you\u2019re passionate about? How do you know if your crush likes you?<\/p>\n

Unlike many college students, Barath doesn\u2019t endlessly ponder her questions alone on the couch; she answers them on the internet, for a publication that draws thousands of readers each day, in the hopes of connecting with the many, many teenage girls out there wondering the same things.<\/p>\n

Barath is a writer and video contributor to the online magazine Rookie, a site that publishes writing, photography, artwork and more by and for teenage girls. Editor-in-chief Tavi Gevinson began the website, which was a transition from her personal style blog, in 2011 at the age of 15.<\/p>\n

Since then, Rookie has grown into a social media bastion boasting over a quarter million followers, as well as a four-series line of books<\/a> featuring compiled and new writing from the magazine. Barath contributes personal essays to the site and is the creator of her own ongoing video column, \u201cUpasna Asks,\u201d where she answers common questions facing young adult girls.<\/p>\n

Some would call Barath\u2019s start with Rookie serendipitous. In 2015, after favoriting one of the publication\u2019s tweets, Gevinson noticed the notification and clicked on the personal blog Barath had linked in her bio. She read Barath\u2019s essays, reached out to talk and the ongoing collaboration was born.<\/p>\n

Though such a story is probably every Rookie reader\u2019s dream, in reality, luck played only a small part in Barath\u2019s journey; she had been preparing for the opportunity, unknowingly, her entire life.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cA very smart person named Tavi Gevinson once told me, \u2018You do not have to know now.\u2019 I don\u2019t want to make decisions for the person I haven\u2019t become.\u201d(Photography by Jacob G. Perry, North Central College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI grew up an only child, so when I spent time alone, I would just write a lot of stories on notebook paper,\u201d she says. Barath later began to type out her stories and then transitioned to recording nonfiction, real-life stories on a personal blog. When Gevinson found Barath, the burgeoning author had no aspirations of a freelance writing career; she was just writing to survive.<\/p>\n

After she began her partnership with Rookie, Barath began to shift the way she thought about the stories she was recording. \u201cWhen I saw other people [writing] for their career, I understood how significant writing had been for me growing up, and I started understanding how it was the same for other people, that there as a whole community out there that used writing as an outlet that was part of their identity,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In her essay writing, Barath tackles serious topics with a keen eye for observation and a gripping honesty. She\u2019s written about parental expectations, fear, student protests and being a minority on campus, and her essays have sparked important conversations between teen girls across the country.<\/p>\n

While Barath enjoys sharing her thoughts and writing about important topics, the satisfaction does little to make the task of baring her personal life on a public platform easy. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize before how brave of me it was to do that,\u201d she says of writing personal essays for Rookie. \u201cAnyone who puts their life out there on the internet is doing a brave thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her essays are usually serious in tone, Barath\u2019s \u201cUpasna Asks\u201d videos tend to be lighter and cover a wider range of topics. And yet, though the videos can be silly and fun (which, admittedly, is a big part of their charm), Barath treats every question, even simple ones, such as \u201cDo I have to grow up?\u201d with her trademark insightfulness. Engaging seriously with these topics gives teen girls a voice and a space to grapple with the problems going on inside of their heads.<\/p>\n

Barath says that being able to share her personal life through the videos has been freeing. \u201cThe one I did that struck a chord with me was \u2018Does My Crush Like Me Back?\u2019 I was able to admit to the world that, yeah, I kind of suck at this, but it\u2019s great that [the readers] can navigate it with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, the conversations she\u2019s able to start on Rookie have helped her as much as they\u2019ve helped her viewers. \u201cIt\u2019s made the world feel a lot smaller, in a good way, and it definitely makes me feel less alone,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Barath continues to write and produce videos for Rookie, her future interests are uncertain. She\u2019s pursuing a double major in economics and theatre, with current plans to go to law school after graduation. And yet, she\u2019s also interested in script writing for television and expanding her essay writing into a book format.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know who 2019 graduated Upasna is, and I don\u2019t want to make any decisions for her yet,\u201d she says. \u201cA very smart person named Tavi Gevinson once told me, \u2018You do not have to know now.\u2019 I don\u2019t want to make decisions for the person I haven\u2019t become.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The North Central College student, author and serialized videographer for Tavi Gevinson’s renowned girl-power publication is writing to survive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11431],"tags":[9402,14692,14693,10696],"coauthors":[6478],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRookie of the Year<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"North Central College's Upasna Barath, an author and serialized videographer for Tavi Gevinson's renowned girl-power publication, is writing to survive.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/studybreaks.com\/tvfilm\/rookie-upasna-barath-videographer-writer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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