Summary

This is a true story of how my life was upended while I was on the verge of a breakthrough in saving the global economy between 2014 and 2018.

The Dream & Idea

It’s 2014, my final year at university, when my Iranian professor told us, “Design can save lives.” I felt certain of my purpose. I graduated with a degree in graphic design, my lifelong dream, and I was ready to help prevent major problems.

Jobless, I sat in the car one day with no money to my name, while my two immigrant Fijian-Indian Australian parents told me, “Go and make something of yourself.” That year, I watched the news, and my focus on public health began. I read books on Ebola and other advanced viruses, used a notebook to record my research, and illustrated concepts to prototype interfaces to help prevent pandemics before they occurred.

Infatuation & Irrationality

In 2015, I met my first-ever crush online on Facebook, Michael. I was not looking for anything, but when we agreed to meet, he was 6’2 tall and a handsome Filipino with a defined jawline. He seemed into MMA. So I let him in on what I was working on, not thinking he would tell anyone. As we parted ways, he stopped replying, and I made a reckless choice. Next thing I knew, I lost my vcard at 25 years old to someone I didn’t know. I was naive, sheltered, and irresponsible. He only let me see him once a year for 6 years.

The Journey

2015 – 2015 | Amtek

Lasted: 3 months

It’s 2015, and I worked for Amtek, an Australian-owned company that specializes in custom vehicular engineering solutions and specialty vehicle manufacturing, as a part-time administrator. They let me go before the probation period ended. In my spare time, I continued writing my pandemic-prevention paper as an essay, and I bought my first MacBook to transfer my notes.

2015-2015 | Dry July

Lasted: 3 days

Here, I was a graphic design intern for the large not-for-profit organization Dry July, which raises funds for cancer awareness. There I met a woman named Diana P., a Filipino. She set out a task for me, and as she was explaining it, she slammed the keyboard in front of me and said, “What are you doing here?” She then took me into the room and added, “You’re not following instructions”. I said, “I’ll give you a week to find someone else, deal?” That afternoon, after travelling from North Sydney in peak-hour traffic and thinking we had an agreement, she messaged me to say, “We’ve found someone else.”

I was embarrassed to go home and tell my parents that it didn’t work out. I stayed in the library for the next 2 days and worked on my project. I remained determined.

2016 – 2016  | Select Print

Lasted: 2 days

Here we gooo… another attempt at being a designer. Leanne, the Lebanese, kept staring at me, and the tension only grew. She argued so much with her husband that others labelled her the ‘bitch of the workplace,’ then she got in my face while I was sitting down and bellowed at me. I left; I didn’t resign; I packed my stuff up and said to myself, ‘Fuck this shit, I’m out’. I made no mistakes for her to let all that frustration get to me.

2016 – 2016 | Max Brenner

Lasted: 3 months

It’s 2016, and I scored a job at an Israeli chocolate bar called Max Brenner as a casual waitress. I was ready to save up my money for my project. I met a girl named Sandra who worked at Max Brenner and Victoria’s Secret, and Victoria’s Secret paid more. I couldn’t understand why a girl with a degree from UTS was working at a retail store that paid less than Victoria’s Secret. She said, “You should quit this job at Max Brenner and work at Victoria’s Secret; there’s higher pay at Victoria’s Secret”. And so I quit after 3 months and moved to Victoria’s Secret.

2016 – 2016 | Victoria’s Secret Retail Store

Lasted: 2 months

Anyone ready for 2016 and Victoria’s Secret with some mean girls? I had no clue what I was getting into; I was just ‘happy because the pay was better’. Sandra worked in another location while I worked in the heart of Sydney, at QVB and Victoria’s Secret. I worked silently even when my feet hurt; I worked with my team, as a team player, to help us earn commission. I thought I had made an additional friend, a Malaysian named Natalie. But no, colors turned to shadows when I made a mistake; I had purchased items over the counter. Oh no! I was in trouble, rightfully so. Here comes Siobhan, the Manager, a round-faced woman who had asked me a day earlier, “Are you scared of me?” 🙄. I was confident in myself, but I knew I had made a mistake.

As Natalie fixed the clothes on the shelves, Siobhan snapped at me, face in mine like a challenge. I grabbed my stuff to prevent escalation and left. It was disappointing to leave Victoria’s Secret this way, but I can take accountability.

Sandra ultimately excluded me, and her last words were, “Don’t tackle viral epidemics” and “Oh Nini, I’m cold”.

2016 – 2016 | Allcraft Printing

Lasted: 3 months

Behold, at last, I am a graphic designer working for Allcraft Printing. I was multitasking between several projects at a time, building skin in the game… or so I thought. There, I met Bilal and Emma (Asma), a Lebanese Muslim husband and wife. Bilal said to me, “You’re not allowed to make a mistake”. For the 3 months I focused on avoiding mistakes and managing multiple projects.

They argued a lot, and they weren’t afraid to show it. One day Emma, in her own defence, deflected and talked back to her husband and said, “Why are you treating me like a punching bag? Why aren’t you treating Nandini like a punching bag?” I stayed because I went to UNSW Michael Crouch’s Innovation Centre for The My Big Idea Conference, pitched my idea, and scored an MVP on the weekend.

Another time was my final time there; I finally made a client so mad that they complained in the 3rd month. Emma’s last words were, “We’re not ending on good terms”. So then I left.

2017
Homeless

Lasted: 1 week

At this point, I had nothing left but my laptop and a dream, and I had never passed probation for any of my jobs. I was at my lowest. For about 1 week, I was thrown out of my house. My parents had had enough of me; I constantly had to prove that ‘I was the one who was going to save the world’. My relationships at home broke down.

I moved into a motel in Summer Hill with clothes and my laptop. I worked on my pandemic-prevention project there while looking for a job. When that failed, I told my aunty in North Sydney that I had no more money for the motel and that I was away from home. She took me in, and I stayed with her and my cousin. I continued looking for work and working on my project.

I was invited by Mary Liu, a Chinese origin entrepreneur, to the UNSW Innovation Centre. I was dismissed for my project. I knew and felt like a pandemic could hit at any point this time. Ultimately, I returned home to my parents because I was going through my rock-bottom phase to try and save the global economy. I went from staying in the library to being homeless.

2017 – 2017 | Timbertime Toys

Lasted: 6 months

I was at my lowest here. I met a man named Nick. He was my manager. Long story short, he used to throw things around the room, get emotional, and cough in my face.

To get away from this chaotic manager, I needed a reliable referee, but I had no one. I turned to Natalie from Victoria’s Secret, but she backdoored me and said she wouldn’t even be a referee. Then a girl named Tuyen Nguyen, a Chinese person, coincidentally told me that I ‘never worked for Max Brenner,’ apparently.

I ultimately left this very ugly environment.

2019 – 2023
The COVID-19 Pandemic

This is where consequences hit. Notice how I underline all their backgrounds. Please keep up with me because I’m just getting started.

Their Consequences

Lasting: Forever

👎🏾 Diana P, the Filipino girl—I Googled her that afternoon to find out who this woman thinks she is; oh, wait, she’s got a photo of herself kissing some other Filipino actress’s husband. Yuh, that’s right. The woman was disrupting Diana Zuibiri’s house and family.

She advocated for cancer awareness; well, guess what happens during viral pandemics? Resources become scarce, and the bigger killers excel at mortality. So well done, numb nut; the world just lost more lives because of you.

👎🏾 Leanne, the Lebanese woman—oh, according to her friend, she went through a difficult divorce with her then-husband. Leanne is no longer a rock with a rock on her finger; Leanne’s rock bottom.

👎🏾 Bilal and Emma, the Lebanese couple and managers—oh darling, they want to free Palestine. You know what’s funny? The best part of all this is that, during the pandemic, the Beirut Port Blast happened, and it cracked Lebanon’s economy alongside COVID and the historical civil war between Shia and Sunnis. And then, during lockdowns, radical Islamists were recruiting online since 2020. Then, when Israel started hammering Hamas, she put up a flag to free Palestine. Go and save Lebanon if you think I was not good enough to save it, including every other country then, if you think so highly of yourself.

Here’s a little lesson. When you place a person or people into lockdown, it isn’t natural. It goes against our nature to be social. And when the Islamists didn’t have anyone to challenge their worldviews, they were driven mad. According to East Asian Form article The Rise of Lockdown Radicalism. The lockdown was challenging for Muslim people in particular.

👎🏾 Michael, the Filipino guy I had a crush on and lost my vcard to? Yeah, he’s never had a win in MMA, and he’s got videos of him getting knocked out twice by the same guy he rematched. Anyway, who wants that to go viral? I guess… we don’t have anything in common. I’d switch off every woman’s vagina watching him getting pounded by his opponent.

👎🏾Amtek—Did you know that 95% of people don’t want to die alone in isolation units from any kind of virus? Developing isolation units is like accepting all 17 problems that come with pandemics.

The Conclusion

All these South)/ East Asians and Lebanese people who came for me are paying the price with this whole ‘Stop Asian Hate’ and ‘Islamophobic’ bullshit movements. As if they were trying to help a South Asian like myself to keep the global economy safe from pandemics. Fuck around and find out, losers. I’m onto bigger and better things in my life now. I start my new job on the 21st of September.

The best part is that all my work is in my portfolio. The research paper, presentation, and interfaces to rapid genome systems, while they never tried to save 9 billion people who run the global economy. I’m the one who knows how to save every last bloodline, good or evil, and good and evil people.

If you overlook designers who want to make a meaningful impact on the global economy, you end up paying a price you never expected to pay.

So, in other words, to never take the time to get to know what an individual has to offer the world is a good way to make an enemy of the world. If you ever need to get rid of someone for solvable, petty problems to ensure they never conquer the much larger problems, at least look at what they are trying to do and match it or compete with them. Because after all, not being able to save 9 billion people bears no merit.