By profession, Kanchi is a screenwriter with film production and set skills, but she lost her work during the writers’ strike and that, plus going through a divorce, put her at risk of homelessness. Fortunately her life is now reasonably stable, but this experience has left her with a profound connection to the guests we welcome to The Women’s Room.
While she was unemployed, Kanchi was extremely grateful to be accepted onto the Entertainment Community Fund Teaching Artist Program, which due to the strikes was free (sponsored by Sony Pictures). As part of this program she devised a storytelling syllabus and, after graduating in January 2024, she was keen to immediately try out her new workshops. Fortunately for us, she found The Women’s Room!
Kanchi has gotten our guests at The Women’s Room creating a zine (a small-circulation, self-published magazine). It includes articles such as “a day in the life” of some of our guests, collage, recipes, word games, and more. She is soliciting ad placements from local businesses and, once the zine is published, she hopes to sell the issues in our local community. There’s a real buzz in the air at TWR as our guests engage with the process of creation!
Half English and half German, Kanchi grew up in the UK but moved around a lot, and in common with many children of dual-nationality households she never quite felt like she belonged in either country. She says it has almost been a relief to move to the US and feel like a foreigner “for the right reasons.”
That sense of not quite belonging, and lacking much of a support network, is another thing that Kanchi has in common with many of our guests. She says she wants the TWR zine to “humanize” that experience of precarious living. She understands how a series of life choices – no single one of which seems like a bad or risky decision – can bring someone to a place where they no longer have a home. She wants to give our guests who have experienced that the gift of being seen and cared for, as individuals, through the telling of their stories.