Latest news with #PoojaTripathi
Economic Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
US-based Indian woman quit her five-figure dream job mid-meeting, finds life's ‘single most rewarding thing'
Synopsis Pooja Tripathi left her corporate fashion job after facing workplace mistreatment, seeking creative fulfillment and financial independence. She transitioned to comedy, creating the satirical web series "Brooklyn Coffee Shop," which gained viral success on social media. Tripathi's journey highlights the potential of social media as a platform for creative careers and the rewards of pursuing meaningful work. Pooja Tripathi left her fashion job after facing workplace issues. She then started creating comedy videos with a friend. Her web series, 'Brooklyn Coffee Shop', became very popular. (Screenshots: Instagram/ winnie_thepooj) In 2018, Pooja Tripathi was sitting in yet another last-minute meeting at her corporate fashion marketing job when her boss launched into a string of personal insults. It was not the first time she had seen this happen — colleagues had endured the same treatment before — but for her, it was the breaking point. Within minutes, she made a life-altering decision: she quit, right there in the middle of the meeting. Her mid–five-figure salary, the so-called 'dream job' in a glamorous industry, no longer felt worth the emotional toll. As she later told CNBC Make It, 'Having a job everyone thinks sounds cool and then feeling like you can't reach any goals day-to-day is not easy. You feel like a lie.' That moment of defiance would spark an entirely new career — one where she would not only find creative fulfillment but also double her income. Tripathi's next chapter began far from the glossy fashion runways. With no prior experience in comedy or acting, she partnered with a friend to create short, witty videos for YouTube. The early days were financially tough. She rented out part of her one-bedroom New York apartment, took on part-time marketing jobs, and filmed on a shoestring budget. Her creative breakthrough came in 2023 with Brooklyn Coffee Shop, a satirical web series she writes, produces, and stars in. The sketches revolve around a disinterested barista — played by Tripathi — navigating absurd drink orders from stereotypical Brooklyn customers, from crypto enthusiasts to wellness influencers demanding 'unsweetened collagen lattes with unpasteurized goat's milk.' Some episodes now rack up more than three million views on TikTok and Instagram, with one hitting eight million on Instagram alone, according to a Homegrown interview. The humor in Brooklyn Coffee Shop goes beyond quirky caffeine culture. Drawing inspiration from shows like Portlandia and Girls, Tripathi blends observational comedy with sharp cultural critique. The series lampoons how coffee shops in cities like New York have become stages for identity performance — where one's drink order can be as much a statement as one's fashion or politics. 'I've always quietly taken note of the ways Indian cultural practices are referenced, warped, and monetized in Western culture,' she told Homegrown. 'Don't get me wrong, I love turmeric lattes, but I understand how ridiculous it is to take ideas from a culture that has existed for thousands of years, package those ideas differently, and mark up the price 50x.' Behind the camera, Brooklyn Coffee Shop runs on the energy of a tight-knit creative circle. Cinematographer Eyal Cohen handles lighting, color, and visual effects; director Nitay Dagan shapes the storytelling; sound designer Sagi Shahar fine-tunes every interaction; and a rotating cast of comedians guest stars in the sketches. Tripathi says collaborating with such a skilled group is 'the single most rewarding thing' in her career so far. It is also the reason the series has landed both personal brand partnerships for her and commercial deals for the show itself — enabling her to leave part-time work behind in December 2024.
CNBC
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNBC
New Yorker quit her corporate role in the middle of a meeting—now she earns twice as much and is happier in her dream job
Pooja Tripathi might not have become a successful comedian if she hadn't quit her corporate marketing job in the middle of a meeting in 2018. By then, Tripathi had spent five years working in the fashion industry, but felt defeated after dealing with a toxic boss, she says. One morning, in a last-minute meeting, her boss started personally insulting Tripathi in front of her manager. She'd watched her coworkers experience similar bullying in the past — and decided to quit the job, where she earned a mid-five figure salary, on the spot, she says. "Having a job everyone thinks sounds cool … [then] feeling like you can't reach any goals day-to-day is not easy," Tripathi, 32, says. "You feel like a lie." The second act of Tripathi's career is more authentic, fulfilling and twice as lucrative, she says. With a friend, she started writing and acting for a YouTube series, and over time, became a successful content creator, she says. Tripathi started her most popular project, Brooklyn Coffee Shop, in June 2023. In the short videos posted to TikTok and Instagram, she plays a dry, uninterested barista who interacts with and often rejects a cast of stereotypical Brooklyn customers — a Pilates instructor, a guy who loves crypto — who try to order drinks like an unsweetened collagen lattes with unpasteurized goat's milk. Some episodes of the series are viewed over 3 million times. The success of the series has helped land Tripathi personal social media brand deals, she says. She now earns more than twice what she used to earn as a fashion marketer, enough to quit her part-time jobs and focus on social media full-time in December 2024, she says. The series is also starting to take on its own brand deals, she adds. Tripathi had to take risks to get this far, she says. She had no experience writing comedies or acting before she left her fashion marketing job. She took on a roommate in her one-bedroom New York apartment to save money and worked part-time marketing jobs to cover the bills while she built a social media following in her spare time, she says. "I had a very strong North Star, which was I needed another paycheck," she says. "My mom would call me and remind me I wouldn't have health-insurance [once I turned 26] … I think there's a fear in the core of all Americans that if we don't perform, if we don't make money, we can't go to the doctor." Juggling multiple jobs while trying to succeed in an uncertain career path was mentally exhausting — but coming up with Brooklyn Coffee Shop felt natural, Tripathi says. In 2023, she spent 30 minutes discussing alternative dairy products, like water buffalo milk, with a friend and barista in a café. She went home, set up her iPhone on a tripod and filmed herself acting out the conversation — playing both the barista and customer — in front of a makeshift greenscreen in her apartment, she says. That first installment of the series got over 1 million views, she says. The production of the series looks much different now. Tripathi splits the production workload with her boyfriend, Sagi Shahar, who helps with sound design, and her friends like Nitay Dagan and Eyal Cohen, the series' director and cinematographer, respectively. Another friend adds in special effects, like kiosk screens that prompt fictional customers to tip over 200%. Comedians like Kyle Gordon, Grace Reiter and Gianmarco Soresi now guest star as customers, too. "We can only do [what we do] because everybody is so technically savvy," Tripathi says. "Working with the guests [and crew] has been probably the single most rewarding thing about my entire career so far."
