Listen to Scratching the Record Episode 2 | Writer and Digital Strategist Zoneil Maharaj
My guest this week is the talented writer and digital strategist, Zoneil Maharaj. Back in 2013, I first met Zoneil when he interviewed for the engagement editor position at Vegas Seven magazine. Myself and several coworkers were packed into a conference room so Zoneil could ask us questions about well, what it’s like actually to live in Las Vegas. Luckily, we were able to convince him to join us.
At Vegas Seven, Zoneil managed the magazine’s social media accounts with ease and naturally sought out reporting assignments: covering arts and entertainment and the city’s hip-hop scene in particular. If Zoneil felt ever felt uneasy about living in a new city, he never showed it. One of the things I admired while working closely with Zoneil was how immersed himself in his work and community. He quickly built connections and showcased a writing style decorated in rap references, recognizable even in brief social media captions. You can read more of Zoneil’s writing in The Guardian, Desert Companion, Anxy Mag, and more. (For a tug at your heartstrings, please read: The Dog Dad Days of Summer.)
As you’ll hear in the interview, some of my favorite work from Zoneil has combined his writing talent with an entrepreneurial spirit to create new opportunities, like Oh Dang!, the independent arts & culture website he ran from his apartment, or @DTLV, an online community representing the people and places of Downtown Las Vegas with nearly 50,000 followers.
Read an excerpt from our conversation below and listen to the entire episode here:
What drew you to journalism? What were you learning about yourself and the skills you were picking up?
I think it was telling stories that weren't often told, or at least telling stories of people who weren't always represented. One of the tenets of journalism is giving a voice to the voiceless. And it wasn't something I knew going into that, but it felt great to be able to share people's stories. And it was just very rewarding. It gave me a sense of community. I was a very quiet kid. I think doing journalism really opened the world up for me. It gave me a sense of direction and purpose, and that's what I've done ever since.
I remember interviewing I interviewed a local rapper, a Cambodian rapper at an open mic, and he said, “I want to print this out. Let me know when it's out. I want, I'm going to frame it and put it up on my wall." Because he’d never been interviewed before. And I was like, oh, that's really dope to me that I can make that happen for someone.
You’ve mentioned this thread of community and local stories. What do you connect with in telling untold stories?
I think in the Bay Area [working for AOL hyperlocal news site] Patch, that's when I started to understand what community meant and the value of just participating in the community: going to farmer's markets and hanging out at coffee shops and getting to know people. That's not something I'd previously done. I started to see the value in that connection.
A lot of my lifelong friends are people that I met just by hanging out in these coffee shops. There's a coffee shop in Union City called Paddy's, which is no longer around. But I remember I walked in one day and it was crowded and there wasn't a place to sit. The owner Paddy, who's still a good friend of mine to his day, he scanned the room and said, “Do you know Kevin?” He was like, “Kevin Zoneil is a reporter. Kevin's selling snapback hats online. I think you'll get along.” And he just sat me down and walked away. Now Kevin's one of my best friends.
I saw the value and personal growth for myself to connect with other people and engage with people and community. That’s what I try to bring with my work—to really to just bring people together. I think we're better as a community, as a society if we know our neighbors. Especially now with so much division and hate. People hate just because they disagree on a political ideology or whatever. I think when we strip all that away and get to know people as just people, I think we're better that way and we're stronger as a people. And so that's what I try to do with my work—to connect those people as is connect people and bring them together.
It's harder to hold hate towards somebody once you know their story or a piece of their story, and you can see things that you have in common. If you don't get to know that person, you don't have a sense of that shared humanity really. Also, shout out to Paddy for making those connections and being the inspiring person that he is!
Yeah, shout out to Paddy! Yeah, I think some of it probably does come from my background being a person of color. I strive for representation. I've had to fight for my representation. If I can do that for others and show the humanity of all of us, I think that that makes us better as well. That's one of the things that drives me. I think that's kind of always been my strength, whether it's journalism or social media, is creating community.