Nandini Balial

Born and raised in India, Nandini moved to the U.S. with her family when she was 9. She began freelancing in high school by interning with and writing for the Fort Worth Weekly, her hometown's alternative newsweekly. During and after graduating from New York University with a BA in cinema studies, she worked in a bookshop and as a nanny, housekeeper, washerwoman, corporate event host, luxury florist associate, fact checker, post-production drone, and even a Cyrano de Bergerac for a finance bro's Tinder account. Most recently, Nandini worked as a high school English teacher in the same school district that educated her, but chose to resign during the pandemic rather than take a baseball bat to the cars of her school district’s administrators. Her bylines include Wired, Defector, The AV Club, The Week, Ebert Voices, and Harper's Bazaar, among others. Nandini reluctantly lives in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @nandelabra and subscribe to her Medium blog.