Spotlight: Anjali Mehta's Climb from hardship to advocacy

By Kireth Sandhu - December 2024

Today we’re featuring a truly inspirational Melanin icon. Anjali Mehta (@theanjlife) is a filmmaker, gender violence survivor, and mountain climber. Her powerful storytelling advocates marginalised voices. Read on to find out about the person and extraordinary journey behind the stellar social media content.

1. Your advocacy work touches on deeply personal themes, including gender violence. How has your journey as a survivor shaped the way you approach storytelling and advocacy?

It's interesting, I would actually say that it's a bit of the opposite - that being a longtime storyteller has shaped my journey as a survivor and as an advocate. It's rooted in two things I value above all else: vulnerability and authenticity.

Finding ways back to myself required me to tap into myself completely, to the point where I felt like I was walking around in the world completely raw. To me, that is vulnerability. Being an artist and storyteller allowed me to tap into that place because peeling back your own layers is an important step in finding and telling a story.

And on authenticity, I learned early on as a storyteller that it felt inauthentic to tell stories that were not mine, especially since so much of my artistic work is based on systemic injustices. This meant finding a story that resonated with me personally to tell it authentically. If I didn’t resonate, it wasn’t my story to tell.

That translates to advocacy as well. It’s not about speaking for survivors; it’s about amplifying our voices and creating a space where survivors feel seen, heard, and vulnerable enough to share their own truths.

2. Climbing mountains is a literal and metaphorical challenge. What lessons did you take from those experiences that have influenced your advocacy and personal resilience?

The mountains have taught me so much.

That nothing ever goes to plan, so you better be able to think on your feet and pivot. I learned this from my mom on one of my first mountains, 9 years old on Mount Snowdon in the UK. She turned us around before the summit because the weather turned really bad, and may have blown one of us kids off the mountain.

Or that you will be uncomfortable, whether it's cold toes and fingers, or overheating and losing all of your energy, or your feet are aching from being on them for 36 hours, or you aren't sleeping because of the altitude, or you're sleeping in a wet tent because it started chucking down with rain unexpectedly, or you've developed blisters, or you're out of breath even though you are the fittest you've ever been and you've been training for an expedition for years.

That it's less important to think about the summit than it is to think about taking the next step forward, which is much more accessible.

And that you cannot get to the top of a mountain without a strong team supporting you. Whether it’s your loved ones at home, a guide, or climbing partners, it’s a team effort.

Each of these lessons informs my advocacy work. There will be unexpected bumps in the road. It will feel uncomfortable. While it’s important to have a vision, focusing on small steps and creating a strong team are the best ways to create meaningful impact.

3. In your advocacy work, how do you ensure that the voices of survivors and marginalised communities remain at the forefront of your projects?

In every meeting with our partner organisations and survivors, I start by saying that we are here to listen. I am not here to speak; I am here to hear you.

Centering the needs of survivors requires listening. This means that our work with different organisations and survivors always looks different, because their voices drive solutions. There’s no cookie-cutter strategy except to listen.

Too often, there’s a government-driven or legal strategy-driven approach that sidelines survivors. I am committed to shifting that. Survivor voices should drive any strategy, whether it’s legal, advocacy, or grassroots.

4. What advice would you give to young South Asian professionals who want to use their skills to advocate for causes they care about but feel held back by cultural or personal limitations?

Don’t look at the summit; take the first step.

For me, the first step was identifying my why. Why did I want to move into advocacy to combat gender-based violence?

The next step was identifying my how. What am I good at that could be a way to get involved?

The third step was identifying my who. Who is my strong team I can talk to about this cause? Who could join me on this journey?

Most importantly, give yourself grace and space to learn, grow, and listen. Change is a process, but your unique voice and lived experiences can drive it, even in spaces you might feel silenced.

Find out more about Anjali here: https://linktr.ee/anjaliamehta*