Hi, everybody. Today's excellent fresh take involves discussions of some difficult topics,

including self-harm, suicide, and alcohol and drug use. If those are not comfortable

subjects for you or things you want your children hearing, please be advised before you start

listening to this episode. Thanks, and I hope

you enjoy it. Hello, and welcome to What Fresh Hell Laughing in the Face of Motherhood. This is

Margaret, and today I am talking to Jothi Chand. Jothi is an author, speaker, and mental health

advocate with a dedicated audience of

over 300,000 across social platforms where she is known as at Mama Jotes. Her work blends humor,

vulnerability, and cultural insight shaped by stand-up comedy, improv, and an MFA in writing

for children and young adults from

Hamline University. Today we will be talking about her new book, Fitting Indian. This is her debut

graphic novel with a second book already in development. Welcome, Jothi. Hi, thank you so much

for having me. I'm excited to be here.

This book is kind of right in our strike zone. I feel like covering really serious and emotional and heavy topics with a kind of lightness and a humor blended in.

Tell me about your journey to writing this book and why you decided on a graphic novel format, which I think is really interesting.

So the book itself is fiction, but it was actually inspired by true events.

When I was 18, I attempted to take my own life.

And, you know, I'm lucky to be here today 18 years later to be able to talk about it and tell the story.

But the reason this book had to be written is because years later to be able to talk about it and tell this story. But the reason

this book had to be written is because it was exactly that. It had to be written. Like I had to

write it. It was part of my own healing process. And I knew if I had something like this as a Indian

girl growing up, like maybe I wouldn't have felt so alone in my struggles. There were a lot of brown

...