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In this episode, we invite you to our Aarti Party as we celebrate the annual food issues for Cary Magazine, Wake Living, and Main & Broad with dream guest Aarti Sequeira. Born in India, raised in Dubai, and educated at Northwestern University School of Journalism, Aarti's journey took her from serious journalism with CNN to stardom with Food Network. Known for winning season six of 'The Next Food Network Star,' Aarti shares fascinating insights about her career shift, cooking endeavors, and the impact of her cultural background. We delve into her experiences judging popular food shows like 'Guy's Grocery Games' and 'Halloween Wars,' and her life-changing move to Raleigh, North Carolina, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aarti also shares her profound Christian faith, entrepreneurial ventures, and future aspirations. Tune in for an inspiring conversation filled with stories of perseverance, authenticity, and the power of connection.
00:00 Welcome to the Aarti Party
00:51 Introducing Aarti Sequeira
02:18 Aarti's Journey to Journalism
03:49 From CNN to Food Network
06:41 The Rise of Aarti Party
10:51 Navigating Fame and Criticism
17:59 Judging Food Network Shows
22:02 Behind the Scenes of Halloween Wars
24:18 The Athletic Demands of Hosting
25:16 Moving to North Carolina During Covid
27:20 Challenges of Building Community in Raleigh
30:13 Embracing and Sharing Christian Faith
36:32 Entrepreneurial Ventures and Future Plans
42:28 Rapid-Fire Questions and Fun Facts
Creators and Guests
Guest
Aarti Sequeira
Aarti Sequeira is an Indian American chef, TV host, and Food Network Star winner who turned her passion for food into a global flavor adventure. From CNN news producer to beloved host of Aarti Party and Taste in Translation, Aarti brings heart, spice, and a storyteller’s touch to every dish—and every conversation.
What is What’s Up, Wake?
What’s Up, Wake covers the people, places, restaurants, and events of Wake County, North Carolina. Through conversations with local personalities from business owners to town staff and influencers to volunteers, we’ll take a closer look at what makes Wake County an outstanding place to live. Presented by Cherokee Media Group, the publishers of local lifestyle magazines Cary Magazine, Wake Living, and Main & Broad, What’s Up, Wake covers news and happenings in Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, and Wake Forest.
12 What's Up Wake - Aarti Sequeira
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Melissa: [00:00:00] We are throwing an arty party and you're all invited. We're celebrating our annual food issues for Care Magazine, wake Living, and Maine, and Broad, and one person came to mind as a dream guest to highlight these publications.
I'm just lucky she said yes. Artie was born in India, grew up in Dubai, attended a British school, but dreamed of becoming a serious journalist. So she [00:01:00] moved to the United States in 1996 to attend Northwestern University School of Journalism all before Skyrocketing to Food Network fame in Los Angeles.
Now she's in her Raleigh era and I'm so excited to chat with her today. Please welcome, chef, entrepreneur, author, food network star, Artie Sequeira. That's a lot of things.
It's a lot of things. It's that's why I have you here today and I'm so excited to talk. Thanks. Having so thank you. Yes. I'm so excited.
I love that I'm in my Raleigh era. Yes, I had to bring in a little Taylor Swift. I know she's everywhere. She is everywhere. So this is the first time I'm mentioning her on the podcast. Hi Taylor. Everybody drink? Yes. Okay. So I first came to know you when you were on and won season six of. The next Food Network star back in 2010.
Is that right? 2010. Yeah. I love this show and I really wish they would bring it back, but for those of you who don't know the show, contestants participated in cooking [00:02:00] competitions. And on-camera challenges with Star Chefs as judges, and the prize was getting your own. Food network show.
Yeah. So what I didn't know at that time was that you started out on the serious side of TV as a producer on CNN. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit
Aarti Sequeira: about that? Well, 'cause I grew up in Dubai during the first Gulf War, the og. Oh, okay. BOG. And that was the first time on our television network, 'cause we had one in Dubai.
That we had first of all, a 24 hour news channel. Because before that it would start at four o'clock and end at 11.
CNN was like just starting out back then, and so they piped in CNN 24 hours a day during the war. And so I was like, wait, this is what news could be. Know what I mean?
Yeah. It did change drastically. Yeah. You could, after nine 11 could actually go there. Because back then in any case, I just thought that it was so inspiring to me that I was watching [00:03:00] men and women go up to the. Literally the front lines and be like, this is what's happening. I see this, I talk to this person.
This is what's happening. And so that was so inspiring to me. And especially growing up as an Indian lady, there were pre-prescribed. Careers that, I was being invited to by my family and journalism was definitely outside of that. But there was something about this idea of drawing out people's stories and speaking truth to power and shining light in the darkness that I was like, I wanna do that.
And it had just enough honor and dignity and, financial stable stability that my parents were like, yeah, okay, you can do that. And so I came to the states to study journalism. Yeah.
Melissa: So you have called yourself a journalist by trade. And cook by obsession. How did you go from CNN to the food network?
The two are both on tv, but that's really where
Aarti Sequeira: the similarities end. I know. Well, when I I was moving up [00:04:00] the chain at CNN and doing really well. I always wanted to be in front of the camera, but it's very hard to get on that side of things. I can imagine. And so I started as a producer. Is that how most people start, by the way?
I've always wondered that. No, so the true blue way to start, and it's what I wanted, was to go to a small town and start as a reporter there.
Melissa: Gotcha.
Aarti Sequeira: And then you move your way up from a small market to a media market to a large market. From there, maybe a network will pick you up. Yes.
That's the usual way. But because I was an immigrant, I had, I remember talking to the dean of journalism and he had two things to say. He was like, first of all, I'm concerned that a small town somewhere is not gonna accept your accent. Interesting. Which I pushed back on because I was like, I've been around the country and I think it's okay.
But anyway, and if anything, we're a country full of accents. Well, and if anything, the British accent I could say exactly, say the sky is orange. Well, sometimes it is. I can say the sky is green and people will be like. Let me stop to think that just [00:05:00] because of the accent but also that the visa situation would be a little tricky for a small.
TV station to sponsor me and go through all of that. So I had interned at CNN when CNN offered me a job, I jumped at it. Right. Especially in those days, it was the 10 Ted Turner days and he loved having an international workforce. Yeah. You really don't get a bigger name. Yeah. Love, like you said, especially back then.
Yeah, of course you would jump at that opportunity. Yeah, so, and that was my dream. I'd grown up on CNN and then I got a job. At CNN. So it was amazing and I thought I was on the right trajectory. Yeah. And then when I got married, I moved from New York where I was working to LA where my husband lived.
'cause he's an actor. And it was right as everything was contracting in the news business. And so I didn't have a job. I didn't have an automatic job. It used to be you'd move from one bureau to another. No big deal. And so how did I move from news to cooking? I was unemployed, really thank God for unemployment.
I, and it was before phone, so I couldn't like just sit there and do nothing. [00:06:00] I watched the morning news, I watched the View, and I stopped at the soap operas. 'cause I was like, I know I have an addictive personality. This is not gonna be good. And I, my friend had given me the joy of cooking. And I lo, I've loved watching cooking shows since I was teeny tiny.
It was one of the pretend games I played. I played Cooking Show Host and Newsreader. Those were the two games I played. And so, so you really manifested your life. I don't know if I manifested it. I see it as like a gift from golly. It was very sweet about it, but I, I think I was watching all these shows and working my way through that cookbook, and my husband was like.
I see this change in you. You know what I mean? And he was, he's so perceptive and so sweet, and he got me a gift certificate to a cooking school in the neighborhood. And I started doing that and and then eventually did a couple of different things in between, worked at a restaurant helped to make a documentary about the genocide and Def D War would actually simultaneously, and then someone said, Hey, there's this show on, oh, and then I made a YouTube show.
Melissa: [00:07:00] Yes. This was I might be wrong, but I think at the beginning of the YouTube phase. Oh my gosh.
Aarti Sequeira: Yeah. It was when people were making YouTube videos for the joy of making a YouTube video. There was no money in no profit. Yeah. There was, there were no ads. Can you imagine a YouTube with no ads?
I would love that. I know apparently you can pay for that. But people were just making videos because it was a joy. It was this new democratization of making tv right, but on your tell, on your computer. And I was like, well, I have producer skills. I know I can do that. My husband had been shooting on camera since he was 16, so he helped me with that.
And we made a cooking variety show called Artie Party. I just wanna say for the record, that name was not my idea. In fact, when my husband broached that idea, I was like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And yet it has stuck. And so that is, I'm glad it
Melissa: stuck. It's the obvious choice. Choice.
He loves it.
Aarti Sequeira: He loves it. And it's a great way for people
Melissa: to remember your
Aarti Sequeira: name. That's what he said. And I agree. There are some people that are like, is Party actually your last name? And I was [00:08:00] like no, actually really, I liked, I love people and I'm. Definitely I get energy off being around people, but I like being at home as well and doing my nails like, like a quiet
Melissa: time.
Yeah. Yeah. So the prize for Winning Next Food Network Star was your own show. Called Arty Party. Walk us through that experience of becoming. Super well known essentially overnight. Yeah. The show lasted a certain amount of time, but it was not a long running season of the show.
And then all of a sudden you wake up and you are the Artie.
Aarti Sequeira: Yeah. It was, wild. When I was little, my, one of the nicknames my dad gave me, which I forgot about this, he used to call me showcase and it's 'cause I would just come out and be like, ta-da.
And for today's entertainment, jazz hands. Yes. And it's so funny because at a certain point I forgot that's who I was.
Melissa: One does as we grow up and have a real life and have to mature and pay bills. We did forget that. I thought it
Aarti Sequeira: started when I [00:09:00] was maybe 11 or 12. I got very self-conscious and I got this message that like, I was too loud and too much and too smart and too, and so.
It's everyone has that one or maybe a few incidents when you are around that age that really mark you. Right? Definitely. That's why middle school is so rough. But it's also a gift. So one of the things that it did to me is that I'm, I. I remember saying to a therapist once, I was like, I hate this aspect of myself that I'm like, water, like you pour me into a square vase, I'll be square.
You pour me into a round vase, I'll be round. And he was like, why would you see that only as a negative? He's there are positives to that too, which is that you make everyone feel welcome. And I was like, oh. I never thought about it that way. Yeah. So I think there's aspects of being showcase and then also being married to an actor that I think somewhere in the back of my brain, I was like, Lord willing, this will happen one day.
But I think I always thought that I would be the arm candy. I. [00:10:00] I always thought, wow, that, we would be at the red carpet on the Oscars. And that because he
Melissa: was really the one that was Yeah. He was doing it the gregarious Yeah. Actor in the family.
Aarti Sequeira: And I was the sort of the serious news person.
Yes. Right. So it was so surprising in that way to now have, frankly, and he won't mind me saying this, like he was the arm candy. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, I remember we did a thing and he identified himself as, I'm just here as the arm candy and everybody laughed, you know? so it was a little overwhelming, but it was also okay, I think this is, I think this is happening, and I think this in some strange way is what I was made for.
I know that sounds really. Bombastic, and I don't mean it that way, but I, it doesn't, I think that it has taken a long time. Like here's what I'll say about it. It was wonderful to go from being nobody to somebody almost overnight. I went from. Having 10 friends on [00:11:00] Facebook to having 45,000.
Melissa: I did read that and that has got to be shocking. Yeah. Especially that was at the beginning.
A stages of Facebook too. Yeah. To wake up overnight and you have 45,000 people following you.
Aarti Sequeira: Yeah. And I learned very quickly the truth. That is you can have 44,999 people say. Lovely, wonderful, supportive, encouraging things about you, and one person will say something negative about you and you will not be able to let it go.
Yeah. That's what will keep you up at night. It sunk me and I remember my husband being like, you, what are you doing? You are giving this so much weight. But I think again, because I feel like I'm water, I was like, how do I appease this person? And honestly, that was 2010, 2011. We're now in 2025.
I only just this year learned how to handle that, which is that I have learned that in order not to take in that negative, I. [00:12:00] Attention. I also can't take in the positive and I was taking it way in. Right? Like I was letting the positive attention be an encouragement to me, which this, that's normal and not necessarily wrong, but I was maybe allowing it to have too much of a wind in my sail.
Melissa: Okay.
Aarti Sequeira: I was too porous.
Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. So how have you learned to make that change? That's quite a drastic change. Not just in, in show business. Not just in, in your line of work, but for any human being. Yeah.
Aarti Sequeira: I think that it might be, I think it's a product of a couple of things. I'm 46.
Melissa: I was about to say, things dos change. They change at 45. Right.
Aarti Sequeira: You know what I mean? And especially like now I have girl, I'm a mother of, I'm a mother of dragons. I've got girls. Mm-hmm. Only, and they're tweens. And so my focus is really on them. So a little part of me is say what you want about me. I don't care.
My focus on [00:13:00] is on them. Yes. So that is really helpful. But I really, it's an inside out work for me. I follow Jesus. And so that has, I think, really wrapping my mind around I. Who am I living for? Who am I living to please? And if I'm allowing, pleasing other people to take a spot on the altar that's higher, then that's a problem.
And so I think learning to pull that down it's, the first step of many, I'm sure. But it felt very liberating this year. I'm sure it's very freeing. Yeah. Yeah. Huge for me. Huge.
Melissa: I think I, I probably have reached that same type of I'll call it maturity because we are women of a certain age.
I think I'm exactly your age actually. But you do reach that point that it's more of a let them mentality. Yeah. And you're saying let them think negatively of me. Let them think, whatever of me. Just let them, that's not on me. Yeah, it is. It. [00:14:00]
Aarti Sequeira: It's a hard it's a hard balance, I will say.
Especially being in an industry that is very much based on, well, what did you think? Did you like it? Did you double tap it? You know what I mean? That is literally my bread and butter is whether you double tap that. So it's hard not to internalize it. So I think having a really strong sense of I gotta just do what I do because I definitely, especially at the beginning of Food Network Star food Network Star was a lot about what's your culinary point of view?
That was your number one thing is trying to figure out like what's your point of view and what's the story you're telling? And my story was a little complicated, right? You read it. I was born in India. I grew up in Dubai. I went to a British school in Dubai. I came to the States, I live in California.
I had all these things that informed who I am. I'm what they call a third culture of care at this point, probably a fourth, fifth. Culture kid. So there's a lot in this noggin. That's
Melissa: interesting. I've never heard that worded like that. A [00:15:00] third culture kid. A third culture kid. Yeah, that's, that does describe you though.
Yeah. You've been all over the place and you have so
Aarti Sequeira: many influences. There's a lot of us because of it, of, yeah, there's a lot of us, especially outside of the states, right? There's a lot of third culture kids, and so I actually think that might be my next book. 'cause my. Cookbook would be called Third Culture Kid.
I love it. 'cause that's who I am. Yeah. But that was a little too complicated for Food Network at that time. Now, if I did a show called Third Culture Kid, they'd be so ready for it. Right? Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah.
Aarti Sequeira: And
Melissa: so it's a great idea.
Aarti Sequeira: I had to make myself smaller and more appetizing. Fit into one box.
Yeah. And so when you're not
Melissa: a one box lady, I had to
Aarti Sequeira: change my recipes and all that kind stuff and some of that was good, but all of that to say. I think at this point, I think I see, I think when you get to your mid forties, which now I'm past that line you can see the horizon. It's in focus.
You know what I mean? My eyes might be failing, which they are, but I can see the horizon and I'm like, I don't have a lot of room left. So I gotta just focus on [00:16:00] being who I am and make the food that I wanna make and talk about the things that I wanna talk about because I don't have time to now keep appeasing people.
Melissa: You know what I mean? Well, being authentic on social media I think is really what people will identify with the most. Yeah. Because now we're used to it all. Yeah. We can spot a fake a hundred percent a mile away. Yeah. So the fact that you are so authentic authentically you I, I follow you on Instagram mainly.
But I love that about you. I can tell that this is who you really are. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it does make a big difference. You're not. Putting on? Yeah. Anything in your life?
Aarti Sequeira: Well, I think having a little bit of journalism training in the background was helpful and unhelpful helpful because with journalism training, you are all about the truth and only the truth.
Right. Ostensibly. Yeah. And so, I'm not interested in being an actor that's not my calling, which I say to my husband all the time when [00:17:00] he's can we do that one more time? I was like, no, that was it. You get that one take. That's it. Make it work. Make it work. Yeah. On the other hand, the way that I came up as a journalist, you are not the focus.
And so it took me a while to unlearn that and let myself be the focus again. And that can feel very vulnerable and really scary because people can and do not like you. Right. And so then I had to go, okay, is that the worst thing in the world? I cannot be liked by everybody.
That is a hard truth. I have to follow. It's part of that. Let them mentality. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent.
Melissa: [00:18:00] You've been on some of my family's favorite food network shows, like guys grocery games. Holiday Wars. My personal favorite Halloween Wars. You can you give us a behind the scenes take on what it's like to judge those shows?
And can we also take a minute and just imagine how surreal it must be to work with these icons like Guy fii? Yeah, it's amazing. I feel like if I met Guy I would just. Sit there and just stare at him and blink. Yeah.
Aarti Sequeira: Yeah. I think the gift is that I first met Guy on Food Network Star and Guy was big back then, but he wasn't what he is right now.
Yeah. You know what I mean? So, and I think he and I understood each other, which is that we love food, we have a sense of humor, and the most important thing for us is like preparing food with integrity, but pulling people together. Right. And so I remember on Food Network Star, we had to do film genres and I got horror, which is so ironic 'cause I hate horror movies, [00:19:00] hate.
And so I did a Turkey meatloaf in the shape of an eyeball. I told the story of those old school funny horror movies where someone would walk down the corridor and the eyes and the painting would go blink. You know what I mean? And he laughed. And that has always been the joy of my life is if I make somebody laugh, I'm like, that's it.
We're written. So it's been, I remember texting him once because I had done my cooking show and then let's talk about it. It got canceled. Three seasons in it got canceled. It got ca I got the news on my birthday. I actually didn't realize that it got canceled. It was such a good show. I agree.
But it wasn't rating, okay. What are you gonna do? People. Anyway, we'll just leave it at that. It got canceled and then I had a cookbook deal, so I managed to do the cookbook. In that time. When I started writing the cookbook, I got pregnant. In fact, that's how I figured out I was pregnant because when I opened up my spice tin, it smelled disgusting to me.
And I was like, oh [00:20:00] no. How am I gonna write this cookbook? And everything I was cooking tasted awful and I ended up. I still remember hanging on the oven door, knees on the floor, just weeping. 'cause I was like, I can't do this. Mm-hmm. the story of my life, I will tell you from doing that cooking thing onwards to today is.
Lord, why have you put me in this career? 'cause I'm not cut out for this. I constantly feel like I'm just treading water. I'm not professionally trained. I worked at a restaurant for six months. Like everything that I'm doing, I feel like I'm getting by the skin of my teeth. Mm-hmm. And it keeps me super humble, which I guess is maybe the reason why.
And so when, by the time I'd finished the cookbook and had come out, I had nothing else going on. There was no show. Food Network contract was gone. And I was like, I don't know what's gonna happen. And that's when Guy called and was like, would you like to come and judge on this show called Guy's Grocery Games?
And I was like I don't know why you think that I am. In the position to judge [00:21:00] anybody's food. But yes, I was so desperate. I was like, I will come. And completely felt outside of my comfort zone and did it and have loved it ever since. But it's been a masterclass watching someone build a career from a cooking show.
Think about it. He had a couple of restaurants in Sonoma and a cooking show, and now look at where he is and just being able to watch How he talks to people, how he directs his crew, how he talks, how he rewards people, how he talks to people when things are not going well, myself included.
You know what I mean? It's a very intimate relationship in that way where we have been through all the highs and lows, we've been through like weddings, funerals, all kinds of things. So I think that's one of the reasons that the show does so well is that the people who are on that show.
There's real camaraderie there. There's real history there, and it's just bubbling up over the surface. You
Melissa: genuinely like each other. Yeah. And you're
Aarti Sequeira: friends,
Melissa: you can tell that you're friends. Yeah, we've been,
Aarti Sequeira: it's like we've
Melissa: [00:22:00] been through stuff together. It's amazing. I.
So take us behind the scenes of say, Halloween Wars. Since that is my favorite. Yes.
Aarti Sequeira: That's so you do not look like a Halloween Wars. Look at you, you're so put together. Love it. You're so, so, such a
Melissa: nice southern lady. Halloween is my jam. Love Halloween. I will send you, show you some pictures of all the handmade costumes I've made for my kids throughout the year.
Wow. I love that. I am a master at. A glue gun. Ooh, yes. Good to know. Yes. Okay. So Halloween Wars we love, but I can imagine that's a very long day. Yeah, it is a long day. 'cause they've got many hours to come up with these CRE creations and are you just sitting there watching? Yeah. Are you snacking in
Aarti Sequeira: between?
Are you napping? I can't complain. 'cause really the competitors, it's an athletic event. Right. Because we will get there. We all get there around the same time in the morning, say, 6:00 AM right? But we go into hair and makeup, sip our marches and read through all the notes.
[00:23:00] And I am a dork, so I do all kinds of research on what they're doing. Shin Min, my. Coj Judge is just a master of anything to do with baking and sugar and so I often will just ask her questions, just understand the difficulty of what these competitors are doing. But then these competitors are going on this marathon for seven hours.
Seven hours. By the way, the day before they've been. They've also been working, doing a little bit of prep work. So that, there's, 'cause seven hours is there's not a lot of time.
Melissa: So It is, but it's not it's a long time to be standing up. Yeah. Active. But to build pieces is very stressful.
Yeah.
Aarti Sequeira: To build three foot, five foot pieces. Yeah. That's not a lot of time. So they're exhausted. I, my hats are off to them all the time. And I think that comes through in the way that Hinman and I judges that we're just like, we don't know how you are doing this. Mm-hmm. Are Are you okay? Do you need some water?
Do you need a co, get this girl a [00:24:00] coffee? But it's, yeah. So we are checking in every couple of hours to make, just get a sense of how the story is unfolding. We have a massive screen in the back where our rooms are, and so we can check in and watch every single camera. That's the other thing is the camera guys are out there for seven hours too.
Melissa: Very true. Yeah. And they're carrying
Aarti Sequeira: those heavy cameras and the whole night, and so it's just athletic all the way around. I have the least athletic part of it. I have to eat everything, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, poor thing. Such a heavy burden. But yeah, I've learned so much from watching that show because I didn't really know that much when they asked me to come and host it or judge it.
And they were like, we that, that you coming in almost in the place of the viewer. Wait, how did you do that with the pumpkin? Yeah. Fresh eyes. Yeah. I've come to really adore working on that show 'cause I've learned so much about it. it's like camp, like every year we just get to see each other again.
Melissa: So maybe this October I can tag along and I'll fly out there with you. I just, I'll just [00:25:00] stand there and watch. I won't say anything. Yeah, I would just love to see it. It's incredible. I'm incredible obsessed with that show. Yeah,
Aarti Sequeira: it's incredible. The set is so stinking. Beautiful. Like I don't think, I bet it comes through nearly as much as when you're actually on it.
It is a work of art really.
Melissa: Let's talk about North Carolina. And how. This whole thing came to be that you guys moved here. You've got your husband and two daughters. You moved here in 2020 at the height of Covid. Is that correct? We moved here. We got here February 7th,
Aarti Sequeira: 2020.
Melissa: Oh,
Aarti Sequeira: wow. You got here the month before the world stopped, by the way, when we left LA on January 27th.
On January 28th, my husband had a really high fever and was wheezing. Yeah, yikes. And we were in Arizona staying with my sister. And my husband was coughing so much, he was like, I think maybe it's the dogs 'cause he's allergic. I. And I was like, oh, I don't know. He, I, he was like, I think it's making me worse.
I think we should leave early. So we left and we [00:26:00] went to New Mexico. And in New Mexico he had a coughing fit that really scared me. And we went to the urgent care, but at that point they didn't know how to test for it. So they were like, oh, you have flu B? And I was like I don't know about that. So we drove across the country and actually cut our trip short because then I caught it as well.
The kids never got it. Thank goodness. Yeah. But again, that was another marker, right? 'cause kids weren't getting it at first. So we got to Raleigh and I was like. This is not great. And also, Raleigh in February was a little gray. Everybody was inside. Yeah. It wasn't like the best time of year to come to a new town, but that's what had happened.
We weren't showing off our splendor. It's okay. And we. It was rough. Yeah, it was really rough actually for the first couple of years because everybody was so divided and everybody was so scared. I remember trying to comfort a neighbor 'cause her dog had died and I went to give her a hug and she was like, oh no, COVID.
Yeah. And I was like, okay, this is so hard for me. If there was any more evidence for me and my husband that were extroverts, I mean we there, there is no further than [00:27:00] 2020 'cause like my in-laws for them life was very similar. They went for their walks. They, went to church, they went to the grocery store.
Everything was the same. Whereas we were used to like going out to restaurants, going to a show, going to the movies and we were not able to do any of that, and both of us were like dying on the inside. You know what I mean? It was really rough.
Melissa: Now you've been here for five years?
Mm-hmm. Are you settled in, do you feel like Raleigh is your home?
Aarti Sequeira: Not yet, honestly. Really? Yeah. It's been tough. I don't know if it's specific to Raleigh or what is happening everywhere, is I just feel like it's been hard to find community. I've only ever lived in big cities like the places I've lived.
Yeah. Dubai, Chicago. Yeah. Dubai, Chicago, New York and la. And one thing in common with all these places, I'm sure there's lots of people could say, but is that it's very transient. People move in and out of there a lot. And so, I think people are [00:28:00] used to that. So I felt like. Even in New York, it was easier to make friends.
I think in Raleigh, what I have found is because it's only newly transient, right? You've only newly had people moving in here. For me, it's been hard to break in because everyone's got very full busy lives and they've got generations of family here. They've
Melissa: got roots,
Aarti Sequeira: which is really beautiful. But that means like I, we have one friend here and.
I'll be like, you wanna get together? And she's I can't do it this weekend. 'cause these in-laws are here and I can't do it the week and after that. 'cause those in-laws are here and the weekends are stacked. And so that has I, I'm just telling you honestly, like that has been really tricky.
Melissa: I will say too, as a mom, I do feel like.
You're, how old are your girls now? Nine and 11. So they're in the age now that it's hard to make and maintain friendships? Yeah, because the kids are so busy. Yeah. every weekend is full for me. Taking the kids to basketball practice. Dance [00:29:00] recitals. All the things, birthday parties, everything that they've got going on that it's very hard to maintain.
Adult relationships and friendships because we're living through our kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Aarti Sequeira: It's also a season of life thing. I'm super aware of that too. Yes. It's, it is
Melissa: definitely so, so it's
Aarti Sequeira: been tricky, but there are things about, like, whenever I, 'cause I travel a lot, so whenever I come back I'm like, oh my gosh, the air is so clean.
It's so green. This spring, I know I don't have allergies, so I thought it was glorious. The yellowing, yes. The, apart from the pollen, but I was like, look at every tree is mm-hmm. On fire. Yes. And, and I love that. I love that. Life is easier. I love that. Everything's 20 minutes away.
Everything is super affordable. My kids are doing jujitsu in comparison. Yeah, in comparison, my kids are doing jiujitsu. We were able to buy a home. When we actually interact with people, they're wonderful, but it's just been hard to build that into something lasting. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa: And I think that in a way, social media has made it harder. Yeah. Because we [00:30:00] feel like we're closer to people because we're liking, we're commenting, we're seeing your life behind the scenes. So we feel like we're closer to people, but it's actually the opposite.
Yeah. It's tricky. It's a challenge. It is tricky. Yeah. Speaking of social media, I do follow you on social media and one thing I admire. Is that you are vocal about your Christian faith? Yeah. You've got books called My Family Recipe Journal with prayers and scriptures. Mm-hmm. And unwind A devotional cookbook for the Har and Hungry.
Let's talk about your faith and how it shapes your work and how you, I feel like over the years you've become more and more vocal about your fate. Yeah.
Aarti Sequeira: I didn't grow up Christian. I grew up Catholic and it was very sort of the culture of it. It was very real to my parents. Not so much to me. I. So I, it was really like meeting my then boyfriend, now husband in college and four years of going, okay, but hang on.
What about this? Well, okay, if [00:31:00] God is real, what about this? See that? You asked the journalist and you too. You've gotta ask the questions. All the questions, do the research. We even got married and I still was not Christian and he is a Christian and has been since he was 13. I remember sitting on my couch, I still remember in our teeny tiny apartment in LA and I was like.
Okay. But here's the thing. I, okay I understand, I like Jesus. Like he seems like a cool guy, and I was like, but I don't wanna be one of them crazy Christians. You know what I mean? Like those crazy ones. And my husband was like, why do you feel like that's inevitable?
Like why would you think that you would change that, that things would be subtracted from you, that make you? Something like that, I think. And so. It. I went into this like kicking and screaming. I want people to understand that I grew up in a Muslim country. I have a Hindu first name. I come from a Hindu Muslim country.
I studied Hinduism Buddhism in college in my twenties. I did the whole like, new age thing. Like I, I went all over the world. And [00:32:00] nothing has captured my heart, like the story of Jesus. And and Jesus himself. And so, I think it's been a slow build where I think it's always been inside, but I never knew how to bring it to the outside and I was also nervous about it, frankly.
I remember I. Hearing about a meeting behind the scenes at Food Network where they were trying to think of a show for me and one guy, very sweet, still love him to this day, was like, one thing I always notice about her is that she prays before she eats, which is so funny. Like this teeny tiny thing that I would always feel embarrassed about doing, frankly.
'cause you're at a restaurant, people, food, put food down, you immediately start eating. And I'd have to stop while someone's talking and just put my head down and then, I always felt like, oh, I feel like I'm being rude, but I gotta do this. Anyway. So they were like, oh, maybe we could build a show around faith and spirituality and food because there's a hundred percent a connection there.
And somebody else in that meeting was like, well, I wouldn't want her to be [00:33:00] pigeonholed. And so that has stuck with me. Where I was really scared, I think, to talk about that aspect of things. 'cause I did not want to be pigeonholed. I. It was actually 2020 when I started doing this Monday motivation thing, which is the first time I started talking about breathing, eating community through the lens of scripture.
And it took off. I just followed the horse in the direction it was going, which was that I'll do a cooking video and it'll get maybe a thousand views, but I'll do a Monday motivation, it'll get 4,000 views. So I was like, well, let me just, I just kept going on that. And then I remember one day that there was an opportunity I was really excited about.
It was a show idea I was so excited about. I've written the one sheet, the whole nine, and somebody else made it. And I was on the phone with my manager, who is also a Christian. And I was so mad. I was like, I can't believe it. This is the only show [00:34:00] I've ever wanted to do, and now there's no way that I'm gonna get to do it, because it's not like they're gonna give another Indian lady a show.
It's the exact same thing, and I was what am I supposed to do? I'm just so mad. Like, why would God let this happen? What am I supposed to do? Write a devotional cookbook. And he was like, well, that's a good idea. I was like, yeah that's actually a really good idea. Yeah.
And then that's how that happened. And it was scary. It was scary on so many levels because writing a cookbook is scary. Writing all those devotions is even scarier. 'cause you don't wanna mess that up. You don't wanna mess up people's theology. But also to then put out a cookbook and let everybody know this is where I stand.
Melissa: Well, because I do feel like it, it can feel polarizing. Yeah. But again, we're circling back to the fact that you are being you and authentically yourself. Which a big part of yourself is your Christian faith. Yeah. So, while maybe you're turning, and again, we're also circling back to the fact that it's that [00:35:00] 1% that might not Right.
A hundred percent agree or like what you're talking about. Yeah. And those are the most Vocal, right? You're welcoming so many more people in that do want to hear other like-minded and similar beliefs.
Aarti Sequeira: I think they wanna yeah. I think that we think that there's an army out there that's ready to burn your house down.
'cause you're talking about Jesus and food, right? There might be some people that are like that, but actually the vast majority of people are either. A hundred percent like yes. Or there are people who are like, I'm not super open to Christianity, but there's something about the way that you are talking about it and linking it to food.
Yes. That I'm willing to entertain it and I'm like, yeah, okay, let's go. I don't need you to a hundred percent agree. But if you are open to it, that's great. Let's talk about it, and that, I think those are the conversations that I find. The most gratifying and the most oh, okay. This is, again, this is maybe actually what I'm here for.
I'm not necessarily here to give [00:36:00] you the best Rogan Josh recipe or the best chicken curry recipe. I will do my best to supply those for you and because I actually wanna figure those out. But those things have, they. They will bring me to tears and I'm like someone writing to me and being like, I made you a chicken curry and it was stupendous.
I'm like, great. But someone writing to me and being like, Hey, you posted about a difficult time in your faith, and it really encouraged me and I just got baptized last week, which someone just wrote to me. That brings me to tears. You know what I mean? Unbelievable. Yeah.
Melissa: So speaking of cookbooks, you are certainly an entrepreneur.
You've got a QVC cookware line. Yeah. And most of which has an Indian flair with colorful prints and designs. Really beautiful line. Thanks. And as well as a beautiful new line of shirts. Yeah. One of which you're wearing today. Gorgeous, bright print on them. What a one. I'm it today. So random. So [00:37:00] what's next?
Because I saw that you're coming out with the shirt line. And I thought, well, my goodness, what is next? Yeah. So what is next? Is your brain just constantly going and thinking of things there? Yeah, there
Aarti Sequeira: are, it's funny. I was so first of all, I have to give huge credit to, I have a whole team of people that really God put into my life and I would not be doing all the things that I'm doing without them.
Quite often. It starts with my husband and it builds out from there. But every single person on that team believes in me more than I believe in myself. I will. The full on point blank period, that's how it is. And so quite often they will bring something to me and I'll go, there's no way I can do that.
I'm like, yeah, no, you can, and we're meeting next week, so get it together. So the clothing line has been so exciting because it's the first thing outside of the kitchen because I, it was unexpected. Yeah. It's unexpected, and I think that's the thing is that so many people in the food space have come up through the food space, which makes a hundred percent sense.
But I've come from outside of it and so [00:38:00] I'm trying to figure out, well, where's my role here? Especially as in this season of Food Network, and I think it's glorious, right? With shows like Tournament of Champions, house of Knives what is it called? 24 and 24. There are very Chefy Chef chef, chef shows, and I think that those are shows that really showcase and honor.
The years of unglamorous time spent on the line, right? Where you have fileted a flounder 550 times in one year. You know what I mean? And so then when guys like, and today's secret ingredient is flounder, you're like, got that in my sleep. Whereas I have never fileted a flounder, so I've been trying to figure out, well, where's my role in this new world?
And the thing that I always come back to, whether it's. Making a recipe or my days, interviewing firefighters after nine 11 at CNN is story. Story is my, it's my thing. I got delayed the other day 'cause a captain didn't show up for his flight, whatever, in [00:39:00] Colorado Springs and it was a connecting flight to Denver.
So I was like, forget it. And I got in a cab and me and Kim drove to Denver and God bless Kim. She's probably 60 something, maybe seven, two something. And she's got a God-given lead foot. God bless Kim. She was like. We're gonna get there. And I just started asking her questions and she was such a fascinating woman.
And I just was like, yeah, okay. This is one thing because I'm looking at everything going, okay, so how, what does this mean about who I am and how I can build on that? Is I, you give me a minute and I will interview you 'cause I wanna know your story. So I don't know what that means. I think that I'm praying for some sort of show that helps me to use that for good in some way.
I do think that everything, if it hasn't already moved, is moving to your phone or streaming. And so trying to figure out where's my place there? And in a weird way, coming back to YouTube in a big way where I started, I feel [00:40:00] like when I go back to YouTube, it's not f if it's when it's coming back as a.
Like a returning person as opposed to someone who's just coming to it brand new, a seasoned, if you will. Yeah. Have roots in it. I'm a little part of me is I helped build this thing. Yeah. You know what I mean? I helped build this thing, so I'm coming back now so that, I'm excited about that.
And then I wanna keep building the clothing line. Especially because a lot of the feedback I got was that a lot of women were like, Hey, we're disappointed that your sizes don't go bigger. There's a lot of women that feel really underserved by retail, by clothing, retail. So I'm really excited to serve them.
And then, I don't know, we'll just see where it goes. I, last night as I was going to bed, I was trying to organize everything that I have to do. I was like, I should make a list of all the different parts of my business. And there were like seven different arms and I was like, okay, maybe don't take on another arm right now.
Because the other day I was like, at this coffee shop that I really love in Palm Desert, California. And [00:41:00] then I started thinking about doing a coffee line. Oh. Showcasing you do have mugs. I do have mugs, and I'm obsessed with coffee. And I also think that there's really beautiful Indian coffee beans that people don't know about.
So I've been thinking about that too.
Melissa: I'm excited because my husband is in Nepal right now. Ooh. And I asked him to bring Of course, to bring me something back. Yeah. And he told me it was coffee. Yeah. I'm so excited to try. He said, this is the best coffee I've ever had. Ooh. So is he gonna
Aarti Sequeira: send, bring you the whole setup?
I, Oscar? No, I don't think so. But now is he still there? Oh yeah. Ask him if they ask him if they make filter coffee.
Melissa: Okay.
Aarti Sequeira: Because in. As far as I know in India, because it's a very South Indian thing, so maybe in Nepal they do it differently. In South India, we make what's called filter coffee, which is very much like the Vietnamese setup.
There's a little, it's a two compartment can
Melissa: system. I think our producer, Joe was making something similar to that in his little kitchen.
Aarti Sequeira: it's a similar idea to a [00:42:00] pour-over. Okay. But it's these beautiful brass, inter interlocking canisters again.
Ah, business idea. Exactly. And I brought one back from India because I was so into this. It is just a slope. Very what's the word? Like analog way of making coffee, you heat up your water, you pour it over the coffee, you walk away, you come back and there's a, they call it a decoction.
Then you add milk and sugar to it and there you go. There's your coffee. I'm gonna get
Melissa: him to throw one in his carry-on. It's this
Aarti Sequeira: small.
Melissa: He can do it. Great. Great. Okay, so this is the perfect transition. It's time for our What's up, Roundup, where I asked some quick questions before we say goodbye. And my first question is about coffee.
Oh my gosh. I have read that. You're a self-described coffee addict. Yeah. What is your favorite coffee spot in the triangle? Jabal. A hundred percent hands down, no question. Yeah. And I, believe it or not, I've never been what? In the world? The world. Okay. I will meet you there. Yes. We'll have coffee. Yes.
There's a lot more questions I have for you, so we'll just have, and
Aarti Sequeira: specifically the [00:43:00] Lafayette Village one, I actually wrote unwind there.
Melissa: Okay. That's the one. So they actually,
Aarti Sequeira: they have a copy of it that I've signed to them. Nice. That I told Andrew I'd written it there and he was like, really moved.
So, yeah.
Melissa: What is your go-to? I'm exhausted and don't feel like cooking meal.
Or anything in particular that your daughter's request? I.
Aarti Sequeira: Always eggs. They, it's so funny. Eggs are actually very difficult, right? Like they're to get right. To get right. They're incredibly difficult. Someone just sent me a vi, I just did a whole thing on how cottage cheese is disgusting.
And then somebody sent me a, I saw that, yeah. Disgusting. I stand by it and someone sent me a video where they put. They were like, just put your cottage cheese and your eggs and scramble it and you won't even tell the difference. And I looked at it and I was like, those look disgusting. Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah.
They, you don't
Aarti Sequeira: want the lump be white lumps all over. I was like, no. I did
Melissa: have an opinion about the cottage cheese thing that I will tell, I will share it with you later.
Aarti Sequeira: I, [00:44:00] the only way I eat it. Okay, well I can't wait for that. I think go-to is probably a grilled cheese. Like a good grilled cheese.
I like to put slices of tomato in it. I do as well. I think that's the only way to go. Yeah. My youngest daughter Heartly disagrees, but I do a combination of mayo and butter on the outside to get it crispy brown, but also still flavorful.
Melissa: That sounds amazing. You, I have also read are a fan of comic books.
I am. Well, my husband is. Oh, your husband? Okay. So we'll go with that. Yeah. If you were to be turned into a comic book character or a superhero, what would be your power? Ooh.
Aarti Sequeira: I. I think it would be the power of persuasion that all of a sudden you're like, wait, you were right. We should go watch that movie.
And you'd be like, I know, right? Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Because I think you could get a lot accomplished and people wouldn't even know. Yeah.
Melissa: You've been a judge [00:45:00] on Christmas cookie challenge? Yes. If you had to choose one kind of cookie and that's the only kind you could ever eat again. Which one would you choose?
Aarti Sequeira: A chocolate chip cookie with flaky salt. I. And somewhere in between the crispy and chewy. I don't like them to be too chewy, like a toll house, but I don't like them to be super crispy, like the Tate house ones. I'm with you. Mm-hmm. Somewhere in between the two. My favorite chocolate chip cookie in Raleigh in case you're interested is at bittersweet downtown.
She makes the best. I also
Melissa: have not been there
Aarti Sequeira: the best chocolate chip cookie, and they're always available.
Melissa: Okay. All right. I'm heading there because now I want a cookie. Yes. And finally, you're known as the Spice Queen. What is your top number one spice that you cannot live without? Cumin? Yeah,
Aarti Sequeira: I love cumin.
In my first cookbook, I have a whole section where I talk about like the seven spices you should always have on hand, whether you're cooking Indian food or not. Either for their medicinal value or their flavor value [00:46:00] or both. To me, cumin, it's a dated reference, but you and I will get it. Cumin is like the Angelina Jolie in her international Goodwill Ambassador era.
It plays nice with everybody, whether you are talking about Mexican food, Indian food, Chinese food, middle Eastern food, it's almost everywhere, and there's not. A dish on earth apart from maybe dessert, maybe that it doesn't play well with. So I cannot live without cumin and I only buy whole cumin.
Cumin seeds and coriander seeds lose their flavor very quickly. Or a ground cumin ground coriander loses its flavor very quickly. So I did not know that very quickly. Coriander seed is like a fainting lady you grind her and she's ah, I'm. Taking to the bed. I'm dead. Like dead.
She's done. She's done. So I don't waste money on buying them ground already. So buy 'em whole grind 'em yourself. You can grind a batch. And you'll be, you'll see a whole new side of both of those spices.
Melissa: You've just given me an entire list of [00:47:00] things to try. Yeah. Yay. Thank you so much for being here.
It's the power of persuasion. Exactly. Exactly. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for having me.