Sanjana Tarigopula's 'The Lemonade Stand' Podcast Tickles Eardrums And Taste Buds

Upper West Side NY

28 October, 2021

12:40 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY LUCIA AUERBACH OCTOBER 25, 2021 Lemonade often delights the sense of taste, but for Sanjana Tarigopula, BC '25, lemonade is strictly for the ears. Tarigopula is the founder of "The Lemonade Stand," a podcast highlighting Generation Z in the economic and entrepreneurial world. "The Lemonade Stand" began this past June at the end of Tarigopula's senior year of high school in Bangalore, India. The twice-per-month podcast launches in seasons, with season two premiering Monday, Nov. 1. With a strong focus on modern business, "TLS" captures how young people are innovating and profiting off of technology. "I think we [Gen Z] integrate technology a lot more into our everyday stuff," Tarigopula said. "We have a lot more tech-focused mindset or perspective on business and the economy." Tarigopula is familiar with the podcast world. In high school, she, along with two other friends, created the podcast "She Said What?" which focused on societal issues from a female perspective. When they made the transition to college, the three parted from the podcast. Finding herself better suited for the niche of Gen Z economics, Tarigopula ventured away from the focus on societal issues in her new podcast. The development of "The Lemonade Stand" as a concept was more gradual, but the name itself has been in Tarigopula's brain since she was a child in Texas, where she managed her own lemonade stands. "Entrepreneurship has always been something that's at the forefront of my mind. … Everybody says they started [with] a lemonade stand. That's, like, the baby version of entrepreneurship," Tarigopula said. "Everybody thinks Gen Z are babies, so we might as well put baby entrepreneurship together to make 'The Lemonade Stand.'" Tarigopula used the skills she learned from audio and video editing Bollywood mixes in addition to her knowledge on Spotify and Really Simple Syndication—a web feed that allows websites to stay updated—to construct the podcast. Having grown up in South Asia, Tarigopula loves to focus episodes of "The Lemonade Stand" on South Asian creators as well as "girlbosses." Tarigopula claimed that she feels like projects and initiatives designed to include Asians often still exclude South Asians. By highlighting South Asian creators in her segments, she found a community of people with shared life experiences while amplifying South Asian voices. Each episode focuses on influencers, entrepreneurs, or individual business tips. Listeners can learn about new forms of entertainment and how to make their own business cards. Alexandra Fasulo, a Fiverr millionaire, was one of Tarigoupla's first interviews on the show. Due to Fasulo's "engaged Instagram community," Tarigoupla said she received 10,000 streams on her first episode, which has fluctuated little since. "Even though our streams are doing good, it's not about any of that. … It was just about being proud of what I put out." Tarigoupla asserts that "The Lemonade Stand" is a major part of her identity because it combines all the things she is passionate about: representation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and lemonade. "It's my child," she said. "I love taking care of it." Season Two will continue to expand the breadth of economic topics covered by including more digital-facing subjects, such as how to make money from OnlyFans and Instagram stardom. Tarigoupla calls it "reconstructing the constructs" on what it means to be successful in the modern era. As Tarigoupla ventures further into the Barnard-Columbia environment, she has found a larger community in which to engross herself. After joining Columbia Women in Business and Columbia Bhangra, she has found herself a family that will continue to support her podcast and give her new entrepreneurs to cover. "I see my podcast fitting into nearly every single club. … Being able to educate people about professional skills or how to approach the job market in 2021 is something that's really important to me." Staff writer Lucia Auerbach can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.