The Shubha Crush Sunday Series was started with the main goal of highlighting the artistic experiences and influences of the creative women in Chicago. My friend and I came up with the idea for it after seeing a notable artist express her frustration via Twitter for not receiving adequate credit for her contribution to male artists’ music. As a singer myself, it was shocking and heartbreaking that there were such disparities in how male and female artists were being treated, even in a tight music community like that of Chicago. It was also around this time that huge female empowerment movements like #MeToo were springing up, so it felt like the world was saying “Take a stand!” to women everywhere.  I hadn’t had much experience interviewing people aside from school projects, but I thought I’d step out of my comfort zone and do something that was important not only for me but possibly for women all over the world.

Creating the series was really fun and natural. I had a lot of support from Chason, another musician in Chicago, my sister Priya, and my videographer Ron Brown. As soon as we all decided this was something we wanted to do, I applied for a creative grant from my school, the University of Chicago, and moved forward with finding interviewees who I personally thought would be a great fit to introduce the series. There were no specific criteria for choosing these women. I just wanted to make the interviews feel organic, fun and easy, so I asked some women I knew as well as some I had met through pursuing arts in Chicago. I also thought it was really important to speak to creatives in various fields, so I’m excited to say that as of now, the Shuba Crush Series features an author, musical artists, and a painting artist. When people watch the series, they’ll get to know these amazing ladies and how much work they’ve put into their crafts, and that is the main goal of it all.

I am really excited to see where this all goes since the support has been wonderful and I haven’t seen many projects that are similar to it. If you’re someone with a passion and drive, this is a great series for you. I strongly believe in being unapologetically myself and being supportive of others. I will say that though the Shuba Crush Sunday features women, it isn’t about putting any other gender down. It’s just about bringing women’s work to the surface and starting a conversation about how cool and inspiring underground female creatives are. I don’t think people realize how much work is put into writing a novel, making an album, staring a blog, or creating a fashion line etc., so it’s important to showcase those who are doing it., especially those who are doing it well. I hope that people who watch the series get inspired to work at their dreams knowing that there are others doing it too. Moreover, the timing couldn’t be better to release this series. March is about celebrating the contributions of amazing women in U.S.  history and bringing awareness to the obstacles they overcame, so it’s a perfect way to introduce these the Shuba Crush Sunday women’s work to the world as well. I hope you all love it and am thankful to everyone who has been instrumental in making this happen and helping me share these stories!

Xo, 

Shuba

To learn more about Shuba Vedula & Shuba Crush Sundays please www.shuba-music.com