Prachi Gupta Biography: Book, Career, Brother, Age

Prachi Gupta is an award-winning writer and journalist based in New York. She is the author of the memoir “They Called Us Exceptional and Other Lies That Raised Us”, which explores the model minority myth and its harmful effects on her Indian American family. Here today, you will know more about Prachi Gupta’s life, career, and achievements.

Early Life and Education

Prachi Gupta was born in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where she spent the first few years of her life. She then relocated to Jhansi, where she completed her schooling at Army School and Silver Line. She excelled academically and was influenced by her parents’ high expectations and strict discipline. She also faced racism and bullying from her peers, which made her feel isolated and inferior.

She moved to the United States for college and attended Cornell University, where she majored in computer science. She graduated in 2008 and worked as a software engineer for a few years. However, she soon realized that she was not passionate about coding and wanted to pursue a career in writing instead.

Career and Experience

Prachi Gupta quit her engineering job and enrolled in a journalism program at New York University. She started writing for various publications, such as Salon, Fast Company, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast. She also launched her own blog, Feministing, where she wrote about feminism, politics, and culture.

In 2014, she joined Cosmopolitan as a senior writer, where she covered topics such as reproductive rights, immigration, and sexual assault. She interviewed celebrities such as Hillary Clinton, Mindy Kaling, Amy Schumer, and Kamala Harris. She also wrote viral stories such as “How to Run for Office” and “The Truth About Campus Rape”.

In 2017, she became a senior reporter at Jezebel, a feminist website that covers news, entertainment, and culture. She co-hosted Jezebel’s former politics podcast, Big Time Dicks, which focused on the impact of policy and legislation on marginalized communities. She also wrote investigative pieces such as “Stories About My Brother”, which revealed her brother’s involvement in the men’s rights movement and his death from a blood clot after limb-lengthening surgery.

In 2021, she published her debut memoir, “They Called Us Exceptional and Other Lies That Raised Us”, which is a prequel to “Stories About My Brother”. The memoir is written in the second person and addressed to her estranged mother and chronicles her upbringing in a dysfunctional family that subscribed to the model minority myth. The myth is the idea that Asian Americans are successful, obedient, and assimilated due to their hard work and cultural values. However, Gupta exposes the dark side of the myth, such as the pressure to conform, the internalized racism, the mental health issues, and the generational trauma.

Awards and Recognition

Prachi Gupta has received several awards and recognition for her work as a writer and journalist. Some of them are:

• In 2019, she won the National Magazine Award for Personal Service for her story “How to Run for Office”, which was published in Cosmopolitan.

• In 2019, she also won the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference’s Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest for her story “Stories About My Brother”, which was published on Jezebel.

• In 2020, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential Asian Americans of the Decade by Gold House.

• In 2021, she was featured on PBS NewsHour to discuss her memoir “They Called Us Exceptional and Other Lies That Raised Us”.

• In 2021, she also received rave reviews from critics and readers for her memoir. The book was praised for its honesty, courage, and insight into the model minority myth.

FAQs

What is Prachi Gupta’s net worth?
Prachi Gupta’s net worth is not publicly known. However, according to ZipRecruiter, the average salary of a senior writer in New York is $82,000 per year. Additionally, according to Publisher’s Weekly, the average advance for a debut memoir is $60,000. Based on these estimates, Prachi Gupta’s net worth could be in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Is Prachi Gupta married?
Prachi Gupta is not married. She has not revealed any information about her personal life or relationships. However, in her memoir, she mentions that she dated a white man named Matt for four years during college and that they broke up after graduation.

How can I contact Prachi Gupta?
Prachi Gupta can be contacted through her website, where you can find links to her social media accounts

Twitter: @Prachi_Gupta

Instagram: @Prachi_Gupta

Email: [email protected]