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As someone who was born in the \u201980s and thus is not a digital native, I\u2019ve enjoyed making Internet friends since my parents first got a computer when I was in the fifth or sixth grade. I\u2019ve spent countless hours in dial-up chat rooms, writing bad poetry on LiveJournal, carefully crafting my away messages on AOL Instant Messenger, and eventually networking on Twitter and Facebook, connecting with people from all over the world.\xa0

When I first \u201cmet\u201d Ruvani de Silva in 2019, it was online. In fact, despite having talked numerous times for stories, as writing colleagues, and as Instagram friends, we\u2019ve never met in real life. But chatting with her about her first piece for Good Beer Hunting\u2014titled \u201cA Rare Gem or a Llama in a Suit? \u2014 South Asian Women on Navigating (and Advancing) the Craft Beer Industry\u201d, which was published on January 20, 2021\u2014was the first time our conversation focused solely on Ruvani\u2019s experiences as a South Asian woman in craft beer.\xa0

The idea to pursue this story coalesced for Ruvani during the pandemic, as it allowed her to finally have the time and space to ask the question: Where are all the other people in beer who look like me? As she took to social media to find other South Asian women who publicly enjoyed craft beer, she found that, although their numbers were small, their experiences in the industry united them in a way she\u2019d never experienced before.\xa0

In the piece, the women she meets share a palpable sense of relief at having found one another. The story feels like it\u2019s following a community and a camaraderie as they form in real time, thanks to Ruvani\u2019s quest. And even though the members might be far from one another, their shared experience now binds them together, and allows them to claim and relish in their own space in beer.\xa0

In this interview, we discuss Ruvani\u2019s upbringing in London and now, what it\u2019s like being a Brown Brit in Texas. We talk about her entry into both beer and writing, as well as the catalyst for her piece. She also examines the difference between feeling overtly welcome in beer spaces and how that\u2019s not necessarily the same thing as feeling unwelcome, and the challenges\u2014and opportunities\u2014she\u2019s experienced as one of the only South Asian women in a given taproom.\xa0

This piece is joyful. It\u2019s optimistic, it\u2019s full of surprises, and it\u2019s illuminating. Most of all, it\u2019s honest\u2014an unflinching, open look at what it\u2019s like to be her.\xa0