We gotta keep doing this. We have so much fun doing it and if our story benefits somebody in any way, like we gotta keep going
dance to like an Indian song or something and boom, home base is right back to where it was
like in Footloose when you have problems,
yeah, just
go dance it out.
Let's go.
How can I help you? When we started getting questions like that, hard situations that they're going through, that's when I was like,
wow, like the most vulnerable and intimate family conversations. Like I feel like that would be a huge challenge.
From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. getindiana.com is your one-stop shop for everything Indiana.
From festival and event guides, to blog posts covering hidden gems, local businesses, small towns and more. Check it out and learn something new about the Hoosier State@getindiana.com. And don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter right there at the top. My guests today are Hallie and Suketu Patel and they are a husband and wife creators behind Half Past Chai, a weekly podcast about life, love, culture, and relationships from an Indian American interracial couple perspective.
And they have garnered over 200 million views. They live right here in central Indiana and also run a creative media company together called S Patel Productions. Suketu's personal journey of rediscovering his Indian identity and Hallie's enthusiastic embrace of that culture inspired much of their work.
And connection with their audience. I'm so excited to dive into how these two creators from Central Indiana, from Avon specifically, have garnered worldwide attention, have built this insane platform and are building something so cool right here in central Indiana. Patels, welcome to the show.
Wow. Thank you, man.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Thank you so much for having us. What an intro.
So special. I know. Let, I mean, shout out to Jenna. She crushes it when it comes to all things prep and intro, and I'm really excited to dive in this one. So I think. We first got connected in typical Indiana fashion. It's like you might see someone online, but then you also have like 17 personal connections, right?
Mm-hmm. Through Avon. And I had actually seen some of Suketu's original work well before I knew you even existed. So if anyone out there, uh, and everyone I think in Indiana should know this. Avon High School.
Yeah.
This was like one of the first videos that went ultra viral for you, right?
Yeah,
Avon did a lip dub.
To what song?
It was a mashup. So it was like a mashup of 50 different songs
and it basically featured like the whole high school, it seemed, where you were like walking through and touring and it was like, what did it get on like the Today Show or Good Morning America or something? Everything,
yeah. We were on every national news station.
We were in like French News station. We were in all over the world. It was wild.
And was that like the first video or like first time that you're, 'cause you'd been making videos ahead of that time. Mm-hmm. Had anything ever gotten any views or like, anything like that?
No. I mean, we posted this, I still remember because like we were in high school and I post the video and I go to sleep and I wake up with 10,000 views and people hear about like, you know, going viral and stuff and 10,000 views as somebody, a sophomore in high school.
This was the most insane experience of my life.
You're like, yo, we made it 10 th and then all of a sudden what, what platform?
It was on YouTube.
On YouTube. And all of a sudden though, then 10,000 turns into, I don't know what the video's up to today.
Yeah, it's at 1.6 million.
1.6 million. But that's like on platform.
'cause then it also got like, played all these other places and show and like it was on Twitter and then people like, I mean, I felt like I saw it everywhere.
Yeah, it was everywhere. Who,
who, whose idea was it?
The idea came from uh, a student who was already a senior and they were like, Hey, like I want to showcase all the senior.
Kind of lip syncing the, uh, the, the song. And so we got together. But one of our, one of the people who actually like led the whole thing was Adam Clark, one of our teachers there. He was fantastic to help us understand like what we needed to do. But it was like a whole production. Like it was, people were recording, there was people who were doing the lip syncing that we had to practice run one time.
But it was, it was an insane production. How,
like, did they stop school or was it like during school hours?
It was during an SRT, so like a student resource time.
So like kinda like study hall type? Yeah. And like stopping, especially Avon. This is a huge high school and it's really cool for them to be willing to be flexible.
'cause then they did it a couple years. In a row, right?
No, we actually did it. Oh, it was only two times.
Two
times
we did it. We did in 2014 and 2016
that, oh, so skipped a year.
Yeah.
So you get, you came back for like the senior year run?
Yes. So we were seniors that year. Yeah.
And from that moment, did you know that you wanted to be in the creative space?
The first time I, we went viral, that 2014 video, I was, it was like a drug almost. Like I, I have to do this over and over again. Like I gotta figure this out. Um, so since then I had, I think it was that year that I applied for like film school, but you know, I'm Indian, my parents are Indian, and they were like, Nope, you gotta be an engineer, a lawyer, or doctor.
So I became an engineer.
Ah. That, that, I mean, yeah, that is, I feel like, uh. Part of the culture. Yeah. I don't know anything about the culture, but I, the stereotype that you hear is like, you, you can't go pursue the film school or like the more creative path, like get something stable. Yes. That's going to provide for your family.
Exactly. So ended up doing the engineering route, but I never stopped making videos even in college or anything like that. Like I always made videos.
That's awesome. I love that. Well, today you guys run half past Chai. It's a weekly podcast all into like relationships and relatability and fun stuff like that.
But the key is you guys always are talking about chai. Mm-hmm. And I've never had chai, is it pronounced Chai
Yes.
Yeah.
But just to clarify, you do say in our podcast, we say half past cha because,
because in Gujarati, so that, that's the language that I speak in, in Gujarati. And you say cha, the original term chai was termed Cha Cha is a direct translation to tea and then it got translated into chai.
And so technically cha is the original term.
So you guys brought some cha. Yeah. And we're gonna be enjoying some cha. Can you talk, take me through, okay. I'm a coffee drinker. Mm-hmm. What am I gonna be expecting here in my first cha taste test?
Okay. So we were just talking about this yesterday because we get asked this question a lot.
People always ask, what does chai taste like? And it's really hard to describe, to be honest. I think the best way that we have figured out how to tell people who have never tried it before is that it's almost like a warm spiced milk, if that makes sense. Like, it is, like, I'm not a, I'm not a tea drinker.
Okay. I despised tea. I think it tastes like dirty water. Sorry if anybody likes tea. But this, because it has milk in it, or at least this is like the store-bought version. Like if you were to come over, I'd make it for you at our house, Uhhuh. And it would be, it would taste a little bit different, but this is very good.
Um, so I would say more like a spice. Milk that's warm, if that sounds appealing
to you. All right. Yeah. So do I just pour this in here?
Yeah, go for
it. All right. We're pouring it in.
Pour it in, and I
stir Stick in instant. Yeah, we get our ch going.
Oh man. I,
and then we give it a stir.
Yes,
you stir
it. Okay.
What, what brand? Like this is Instant Masala.
Mm-hmm.
Okay. Okay. Give it a stir.
So this is a brand that you can buy, um, in an international grocery store. Like one of our favorite stores is Patel Brothers. They have a few different locations. Any
relation?
No. I wish, wish, unfortunately
not.
I wish, maybe I should, I should, uh, get one of those franchises.
Yeah. You know, s Patel Brothers.
Exactly.
Except for there's no brothers.
Yeah.
Okay. Just us. And so, so then a good stir?
Yep. And it'll be all dissolved. So if you're making this at home
mm-hmm.
It's quite a different process because I'll have actual tea grounds, the actual spices to use, whereas this is just a fine powder that if you're on the go or if it's more convenient than this is what you would do.
Did it originate in India?
I think it actually originated in China, and then it like migrated to India.
Okay. Okay.
And then we really, um, started to like market it more. Like, it's always like known as like the Indian tea.
Take a whiff. Yeah. What do you think?
Alright So from, from a smell perspective. Hmm.
Yeah. I do get some like holiday notes.
Yeah. It seems festive.
It does seem festive. Alright Cheers.
Cheers.
Cheers for the chai. Come on. Al
Alright
let's
go
That is good stuff, man. I don't know.
Yeah. It's like a sweet,
yeah. Describe
it. It it, it has a little more cream Yes. Than a. Than a tea.
Mm-hmm.
Because I'm not like a huge, like, spiced tea person.
Same. But it does have a little bit more of a, like a rich, smoother flavor.
Mm-hmm.
Alright. I, it's not what I expected. I thought it was gonna be way worse.
Yeah.
Really. Okay. I love chi is something like, I think I started drinking it when I was like way too young.
Oh.
But it's got caffeine in it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's actually good. Not that I didn't think it was gonna be good. But No, it's fair. It it like outkicked its coverage for me. Yeah. I thought it was gonna be like a spiced jasmine tea, which is very like harsh. This is not harsh.
Yeah.
What I wanna dive into is, oh, this journey is crazy. So anyone that doesn't know.
You guys were working at a big company here in Indiana. Um, you had a pretty great lifestyle. You know, the pathway to be executives or be, you know, business leaders in central Indiana paved out for you. You end up quitting your jobs at the same time to go pursue this dream of being content creators.
Where I wanna start from is one, let's do a little recap. Like, did you guys start dating in high school? How did you end up together? And then what led you down this path to start the podcast?
Oh man. Yeah, so we met in 2015. We were in high school. I was a junior, so Suketu was a senior. So he's a little bit older than me.
Not that that matters,
but were you just so drawn? Like, oh, that's the guy. He made the, he made the lip up video.
So I, okay. Funny enough, I knew who he was a little bit. I had stopped playing volleyball and I actually started managing the guys cross country team, which like everybody thought it was weird that a girl was managing the guys cross country team, but it was because my brother was a cross country runner and because I wasn't playing volleyball anymore, I was too late to actually join the cross country team.
And so I just thought it would be easier and so did he, that I would manage and like take times and essentially train, but not actually have to race. Yeah. Yeah. So it was like the ultimate deal. It was so much fun because I could be in shape, I could go to pasta parties, I could go to all these parties and everything.
Except for you have all the sacrifice of running and none of the reward of winning.
Exactly, exactly. But I wasn't like, yeah, see, I wasn't, I would train and I would like loosely train, but I wouldn't do like the hard hill workouts or like the 800 repeats, like I wouldn't do stuff like that. So it was actually kind of amazing.
I enjoyed it. I met so many of my lifelong friends, so I'm really grateful that I did that. But we met then, and I think I'd been managing for a week and I didn't really know anybody, and I kind of knew who you were, but I didn't think our paths would really ever cross, and I didn't fully know that you ran cross country either.
And I just remember like we'd followed each other on Instagram. The LIP DB came out. I immediately followed him. I was a freshman in high school, so two years had gone by before I actually met him face to face. And so I'm getting back from a run. Just taking my time, you know, whatever I'm doing after a run and you come up to me and the first words that you say to me are, Hey, aren't you that weird girl from track?
Yeah, that's what I said.
Smooth. Yeah. I'm like, what? We've never even talked before. How would you even know that about me? And then he's like, oh, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm like, who is this guy? He's so weird.
Yeah, that's exactly how it started. I was just so confused as to why she was managing the cross country team.
It didn't make any sense to me. I was like, why is like Allie, this person just like managing cross country team? And so I, we had that conversation. We, uh, started hanging out a ton and then ended up starting dating in that year in 2015. Um, then we went to college together at IUPUI Now it's IU Indy. And then we got a job together at the exact same company and then we started S Patel Productions together.
And then, so everything we've ever done has always been together since the day we've met. Mm-hmm. Which is crazy.
Yeah. And we started S Patel Productions in 2017. So Really it was just a way to pay through college. Yeah. And there wasn't really. I would say an end goal. Um, it was both for us to just have money while we were in school and have something to do and express our creativity.
And what were you guys doing for S Patel Productions? Like what was the like the original work,
the time, uh, we started was, uh, like making wedding videos. So like we would, um, help people do their, their wedding videography. And then we've moved into wedding photography and then we moved into both of those things and now we do a lot of brand building.
So, um, we help other businesses build their brand on social media.
Oh yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. Uh, the University of Indianapolis and IU Indianapolis, or I, Indiana University Indianapolis. So both of those schools have a history of churning out some of Indiana's biggest creators. Yes. If you guys know, obviously you guys, but if you know, um.
Joey Molinaro and Ben Polizzi both went to UIndy. Yep.
Oh,
and Mantis went to IU Indy. Yep. And Liam, have you ever seen Liam? Yeah. Love
Liam. Like
name's Liam. Yes. Iconic. He's from, uh, he still works loosely with the university or in, uh, IU Indianapolis. Yes, he does. Very. So, like, I don't know, there's something in the water here in the city of making creators.
It's gotta be, because I, I know a guy, his name is Deis er, he's actually on YouTube. He does doc. He does like these really intense, cool documentaries. Um, but
Oh, dude. And The Normies?
The Normies, yes.
They, they originally started, uh, creating out of, uh, IU Indianapolis.
So when I was in high school, my sister was going to school with ach, which is the guy who kind of like, is the, um, normie starter.
That was somebody I wanted to meet him so bad when I was a kid. I, I still remember, I was like, oh my God, he makes money from making videos online. That's crazy.
That's like he, and he has a similar background where his like had this thing where his parents did not want him to go pursue, uh, the like, creative route.
And he is like, you know, you have to kind of like have that conversation where you disappoint your family. Yeah. But then like have your redemption story where like it ends up working out. Yeah. It kind of
motivates you
almost. Yeah. So you guys are working on S Patel Productions, but you're also keeping the corporate job.
Yeah. You know, the corporate path alive. You end up going, working at Roche. Through their, I think the ADP program. Yeah. Which is awesome. Like if you're a young stud out there and you're looking for a cool, like Lily has one, the, Orr Fellowship has one and Roche has a really good one. There's some other companies out there where it's like two years right after you graduate.
Yep. Spectacular way to kinda like get exposed to a lot of different sides of a business. But on the other side of it, you gotta get yourself set up for a life in corporate.
Mm-hmm.
So at the time you're, you know, 22, 23, 24, you're gonna go in through this stage. Did you think that the corporate life was, was it becoming more appealing?
I really wanted to climb the ladder. Like when you're in a program like that, you see what success looks like. You see the people at the top. And so when you see that, you're like, wow, I want that and I can achieve that because I got accepted to this program. Yeah. So that I deserve that. And so like, I was very much so in the fact of like, okay, I'm gonna climb the ladder, I'm gonna figure this out.
Um, but then, uh, once you start to see success in a different avenue where, oh wow, I'm making more money here than I'm doing over here. Like, when do I transition? Like, what's, when's the turning point here?
Yeah. And it, and especially when it's like a content thing. It's like, well, is it a flash in the pan?
Is it consistent? Is it like, like when the, when the going's good on Instagram, the going's good, but when it's not and it's dry, you're like, oh, shoot, what do we do? Yeah. So, well, one, did you guys, did you like, disclose that you were dating as you were going through the interview process? Did you have to like sign something with hr?
We actually did have to.
We did. Yeah. But we were, when we started working. We were dating. Yeah. And then we got engaged and then we got married a year after that.
Nice. So
we didn't, so we did have to sign something.
Once we got married. We had to like, just sign. But it, it, it was just so, like we wouldn't get jobs relating to each other.
So our jobs were so different.
Yeah.
Um, so different buildings, everything.
And then while you were working, you guys decided to start a podcast. Hmm. So take me through the idea and then, because everyone probably has had the idea out there, like, oh, I'd love to start a podcast like sweetheart. We should start a podcast.
Whose idea was it and, and where? Like what really got the rubber to meet the road in, in creating the first episode?
It was neither of our ideas.
It really wasn't. Yeah. So before we even started the podcast, we were streaming Fortnite on Twitch. We loved it. Like that was our escape. That would be like our therapy after work.
Because like we'd have our work weeks on the weekends, like we'd do our creative stuff outside of work hours. And so we just had such good back and forth. I think that we started to build up a following. We started a discord from that and then people would be like, oh my gosh, you guys are so funny. You should start a podcast.
And our first thought is like, oh, everybody wants to start a podcast and everyone's gonna make fun of people who start a podcast because people will do it. They won't keep it going. Yep. People are gonna make fun of us. People are gonna judge us. And we got so much of that when we first,
but like, I don't know if it can get much.
Well one, I think the original conversation you guys had still stands of, oh, you guys are kind of like those weird people that like that come home from their corporate job to stream to stream Fortnite.
Oh yeah. Let's go back to
that. Like how many, like were you getting like hundreds of people that were tuning in or like that?
Like how did that look?
I would say we probably got a consistent 20 to 50 people watching. And it's sounds not a lot, but when you think about. Somebody watching you stream for like three to four hours. That's a lot of people. Dude,
that's crazy.
From that, that was our first time getting paid online. So we would make about two to $300 a month on Twitch.
And I was like,
just for playing games.
And that was the coolest thing. I was like, oh my God, I can, I can like buy another game to play. Like that's, that's paying for this. Right? So from there we started the podcast. Um, the first podcast we put out, got a thousand views on YouTube, and I was like,
the first day and we were like, no way.
Like
what?
There is no way.
What was the title? What was it about?
It's our, our interracial relationship. Something really simple like how we handle our interest, but
broad.
Yeah. Right.
It's simple but broad and relatable where there's probably a lot of people that are searching or looking for, uh, information about that.
Mm-hmm. Which is really interesting 'cause it's not just like. Love in life, or streaming Fortnite or whatever. It's, it's like, hey, you picked this kind of like a niche, but it's a broad enough niche that, you know, people were interested. A thousand views on your first podcast. Yeah. Post, like, that's insane.
With no following either. I don't even know if we'd officially started our Instagram. Maybe we started at that day, but I mean, yeah, we had no idea.
And like, what'd you talk about? Like what, take me back to the pilot episode. Like, did you have a script? Like did you, or did you just like turn on the mics and say, let's roll?
Yeah, we didn't even have the mics. Like we, we just had those, all these DJI little microphones and we talked about how we got together some of the struggles that we had to deal with. Like, uh, you know, like my parents didn't accept at first and how we handled different situations behind, okay, how do we get you, how to get Hallie to get into my life without, uh, like, without my parents getting mad or anything like that.
So that was a huge factor and, and a lot of people go through that situation where it's like. Uh, like, especially in the Asian culture, like your parents have a very, um, close relationship with who you might marry. And so that's something I didn't want. Like I wanted to pick who I wanted to marry. And so that was a conversation we had during that podcast.
Yeah. And that is what really started the conversation, I
think, to the right subset of people that's so relatable. Mm-hmm. And like, it is this like dopamine hit of content where it's like, from the first lip dub to getting, you know, 50 people watching you live stream, it's like, oh, this is fun. So you put the first, first one out.
What, what year do you guys, did you guys start it?
February 20, 23?
Mm-hmm. Yeah, we just celebrated our three year mark.
That's insane. It's
been three years.
That's insane. You put the first one out, you're off to the races. And then the thing with podcasts are usually you put out a first one and then you're like, oh, shoot.
Now what do we do? Right. So did you think of more topics or like how did you decide what you were gonna talk about? Or was it always just turn the mics on and see where it goes?
It was turn the mics on, see where it goes for a while. But then we actually stopped, like posting often and we, we started to see like a doubt.
Like we, we, we started to doubt ourselves. Like people started saying like, oh, like I guess anybody just can just start a podcast. And that started getting into our head almost. And so we, we really slowed down and then we went to India. And when we went to India the
first time a month later, yeah, Speaker 2: that's when we were like, let's just commit to this.
Let's commit. Every single week we post a video. So of 20 23, 20 24, and 2025, we posted every single week and we saw the effect of what happens when you stay consistent. So that that's, we, we slowly started to figure things out. I think we waited till mid, no, 2025 was when we first started doing likes.
Outlines for, for our videos and stuff. And we started figuring things out slowly through that. Wow.
And like, I think a lot of people expect the overnight success. Like, I'm gonna post it, I'm gonna become Jake Paul tomorrow. Mm-hmm. And look, what does the consistency and like the growth look like? Are you going from like, sometimes it's like, Hey, I want to go from, for us anyway, it's like, I wanna go from a couple hundred to a thousand to 1500 to 3000.
Like talk about how the slow growth and how it accumulated for you all.
There's cycles to social media growth. I think. Like there has to be big events that happen that help you have those spikes, but the slow growth is what builds as a community. I think that's where we've seen the most success. Like when we go to India, we're gonna have a spike.
Yeah.
And then when we go on a road trip, we'll have another spike or we have a guest on, we'll have another spike.
Yeah.
Uh, and then there's those consistent moments where it's just like us being at home, being normal people. It's gonna stay pretty stagnant, but that's also normal. That's true. But alive.
Yeah, exactly. Like it's,
it's like your heartbeat's still going. Yeah. Um, versus like, the worst thing you do is like, let it die and then try to revive it and then let it die, and then try to revive it. Yeah. Okay. So where throughout this journey did, did you start to see the writing of, okay, people are interested and there might be a thing here?
Honestly, the first episode we were like, okay, there's something here.
Yeah.
But how we tackle that, we're not sure yet. So that's where the consistency comes in of just. Kind of throwing it out there and seeing what works.
Yeah. How did you learn about being a creator and figuring out how to optimize your podcast and your YouTube videos in your short form and this, that and the other thing?
When I first started making videos, I made a vlog in 2018 and 2019. So every week I'd post two times a week. And what I realized it was, I was making what I wanted to make.
Mm-hmm.
And the second I shifted from, I'm making what I wanna make to, I'm gonna make what the audience wants to see, is when I saw the whole shift.
Mm-hmm. When we went into Half Past Chai, we were like, what does the audience gain from this? Like, how did they benefit? Like, like they need to figure out, we need to figure out ways that help them and their lives. And once we figured that out, that's when we started to see the turn of, oh wow, people actually are interested in this.
Yeah. Like what are some of the lessons or moments that you guys have shared on your podcast that have changed lives?
So we have a, uh. Ww do halfpastchai.com where people can submit questions and the questions of the week episodes, we do 'em every five episodes. So we will answer people's questions that they're going through different situations.
So sometimes people submit questions saying, Hey, like, I've run away from home because my parents don't accept my relationship. I don't know what to do. That's a, that's a deep que, how am I supposed to like answer something like that, right? Like, how, how can I help you in that way? When we started getting questions like that, that's when I was like, wow, people are actually listening to us.
They want our advice. They want us to reach out to 'em and actually help them in their life on, on, on figuring out these hard situations they're going through. Um, so that was when we first were like, wow, where we truly are making, we, we are making an impact. And then in, in, in situations like that, like people will submit their emails and so we'll communicate back and forth.
Uh, to help anybody in their situation without it like even being on camera.
Yeah.
Um, but that has been a huge part in us continuing the journey because there are, there's always people reaching out about these really hard situations.
Yeah.
Yeah. I think one of the biggest moments that has stuck with me, I can't remember exactly when this was, it might've been last year, maybe in 2024, but we've released quite a few vulnerable podcast episodes, like our breakup texts when we were texting during our breakup in 2016, and like conversations that we've had, like how family conversations have gone, how I wasn't accepted for a little while, and sharing that has been so rewarding.
And I'll never forget when we, I think it was a story submission we got, but somebody had written into our website and said, I listened to this podcast episode with my mom and it allowed me to like, open up and have the conversation with her that I wanna be with somebody maybe who isn't in the Indian culture.
And we've had like a. Close moment for the first time in years, and I felt like I could really be myself. And so it's stuff like that, that's like, gosh, we gotta keep doing this. Mm-hmm. We have so much fun doing it. And if our story can provide help or benefit somebody in any way, like we gotta keep going.
Yeah. I mean, was it hard, I think there is a stereotype that people kind of laugh about a little bit when it comes to, you know, like parents being very involved with picking their children's spouses or like, you know, approving of their children's spouses. Was that hard for you, Hallie, to like break down those barriers in your guys' own relationship and then on the back end to share about that, like the most vulnerable and intimate.
Like family conversations, like I feel like that would be a huge challenge.
Absolutely. Yeah. And being so young, enduring, something like that. Right. I mean, I was six SE 17, almost 18 when we started dating, and so to really go through that kind of stuff in high school for higher level things that I can't understand of me coming from a very traditional American family having lived in Indiana my entire life.
That wasn't a concept that I could grasp. And so to me, I'd be like, well, why can't you just tell him? Like, what? Like I don't get it. I don't understand. And it was once we really started to have those hard conversations in our relationship and I saw what he was going through and how hard that was on him, then I was like, oh, okay.
Which is crazy. 'cause I used to remember back to my high school relationships and I was definitely not talking about like multi-generational influence and like the history of hundreds and hundreds of years and how it's been. And I'm like, yo, like we're like, get in a fight about like Olive Garden or like going to Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen on Friday.
Like that's
wild. Like we're in high school talking about, okay, if we were to get married someday, how would our wedding look? And how would we celebrate our cultures and religions in that sense? Like, if we're gonna keep 'em, like, if we're gonna be separate like we are, I mean like, I'm Christian, he's Hindu.
How do we celebrate that? We're like watching YouTube videos. And that's a, that's a big place where the podcast started because we didn't see any couples like us. And so we didn't know who to turn to. We wish that we would've had a podcast like ours when we were going through the breakup and the hard times that we did so early on in our relationship.
Yeah. Interracial couples are, are hard, but interfaith couples on top of that. That's another level of like, okay, like how, how does that work?
And this could be about faith or anything. It's either like my way or the highway. Mm-hmm. It's like we're both this 'cause we're choosing to unite our lives. We're both this or we're both that.
Talk to me about how you guys have had conversations and structured your lives to continue some independence, but also like, uh, one plus one makes three.
Whenever we first started talking about it, it was very much so this is like how I operate. It was a very like, eye focused conversation and we weren't thinking about each other as much.
And so I think once we shifted, once we got outta the whole college life. I think that's when we started to take things a little more seriously and start to consider each other.
Yeah.
Um, there was a whole nother point of conversation when we moved in together. We got married and then moved in together, and that itself taught us a lot about like how we live as like individuals and then how we need to operate as a couple and a married couple.
Like that was a huge turning point in our relationship of like figuring things out. Me and Hallie talk about this on the podcast all the time. The first year of marriage was the hardest year of our life.
I thought that was supposed to be the honeymoon phase.
Uhuh. No, no, no. It was so hard because
Like what?
Like what made it hard?
Well, much, much to what you said. We came from previously thinking exclusively in the eye mindset. We weren't thinking like a team yet because, and not to say that we weren't full, our frontal lobes weren't developed when we got married. I mean, I was 22. You were 24, which is young to get married.
But we've been together for like seven years at that point. So we were like, why not? We wanna get married, we wanna start our lives together. Let's do it. But we had such an individual mindset and that really didn't come into play until we actually lived together, because we, even throughout college, we lived at home.
So we had our parents, they were, we were very fortunate to have that, but they were taking care of a lot of stuff for us, so we didn't really have to think about it. And so when we actually got out and started to form our own opinions, that first year of marriage, we were like, oh, I like this. Why don't you like that?
What was the first point of contention? You know, like, oh my gosh, you get back from whether it's a honeymoon or whatever it is, you were living together and you're like, oh,
groceries
man. Oh, yep. That was it.
I remember. Holy crap. That was our first conversation. That was our first like, fight almost where, uh, Hallie comes home and she spent $300 on groceries.
And I was like, Hallie, what are you doing? We don't have $300 to spend on groceries like that. This is the first trip. Like we spent $300 in a month for groceries, not for one trip. And that was our first like, oh my gosh, like is this what she
clarify? Is this how she buys groceries? Just clarify. We had no groceries in the house.
We were just moving in. We had no spices. We had no nothing. So like $300.
So it was, and if anyone doesn't know and needs to follow skate too, 'cause E is a number cruncher. Mm-hmm. Very much like, I mean, you started to put out finance content and things like that. And it's very clear that you are in the numbers, knowing where every penny goes.
Yes. So $300 in the, he's like, what have I done? Yeah. I might be over my head. Okay. And so like what, where did you like, I guess for being fairly young, getting married, it seems like you have mature conversations. Do you have advice for listeners out there, whether they might be in their twenties with serious relationships, or maybe they've been married for a lot of years and are looking to.
Get maybe back to or dig in deeper on conversations. Mm-hmm. What do you think the advice you'd have for deeper conversations in your relationships?
Gosh, the biggest thing that we struggled with for so long, and it was because we were so afraid to disagree on religion and cultural aspects, is we didn't wanna have the hard conversations.
We would be avoidant, we'd be very conflict avoidant. And you have no idea how many people I run into now, or people that watch our podcast or people that write in and say, oh yeah, well I just don't know how to bring this up. Like, I know it's gonna cause an argument, but you should bring it up. You can talk about it.
I think that's the biggest thing that happened. As we started to mature, we were able to have those harder conversations and we did them at such a young age that we got used to it. Yeah. So we were comfortable with talking about the harder topics.
Yeah. 'cause the worst thing, right, is just like shoveling it down and just like the resentment builds and you're like that $300 on groceries and then in your mind it becomes like a $3,000, $3 million problem when it was 300 bucks.
You know? You could have figured that out.
Exactly. I, I think one of the biggest things that we've seen people say to us who usually have the biggest problems are like, Hey, like, you know, me, me and my wife don't fight. We don't, we don't have any issues. Those are the people that usually have the most issues.
And so I, something that I've started to know is like the people who actually take the time to communicate and have the arguments, whether it's like a, a civilized argument or something that can, like, actually you can get something out of it. Um, where, where, where you both are disagreeing and then you actually come up with a compromise.
Those are the times where you'll be the strongest together.
Yeah. And when you talk about like these big, whether it's an argument or big decisions, like at some point in this journey, you guys had to make a huge decision to leave your corporate steady jobs to go pursue this content creation dream. I wanna know whose idea.
Oh my gosh. It was her.
I knew it. I knew it. Yeah, it was me. Okay. So how do you pre, like, this is a big thing. 'cause one, I think that, again, we wanna put ourselves in Cate shoes for a second. You loved making videos. This is your passion. Like, I don't know, uh, Hallie, did you create con No, this was like Suketu's thing.
Yeah.
That he had been interested in for a long time. But on the other side, you're balancing like your family expects you to be an engineer. That goes the engineering path. So it's not just like when Nate quits his job and starts a media company and his parents are like, all right, don't go broke. Like whatever.
It's like. There's this deeper level of what you're expected to do. So not only do you have to get the courage to leave your steady paycheck, you also have to get the courage to have that hard conversation with your parents. So talk to me about how that idea was originally presented.
My goodness. We had very different experiences at the company we worked at.
He was in an ADP program, getting set up for leadership, being praised, like you had a great experience. Not to glorify it too much, but like it was a great experience. You learned so much from It was, and it's good for anybody in it. However, I was not in that program I wanted to be, but I was not. I was a data scientist, so I was working a lot in R&D doing clinical trials, working with the FDA.
It's a very tedious process and I had so many studies that I was working on all the time. But if we wanna backtrack a little bit. In high school and college, I never really knew what I wanted to do. I kind of went into college just thinking I'd figure it out, and I originally was gonna be a nursing major, like to be a nurse, and two weeks in, I didn't think that I was smart enough to do that, so I pivoted and did something completely different and switched to data science because it was a new program because I was told there would be job security.
Wait, you didn't think, and this is, this is an interesting perspective, you didn't think you were smart enough to be a nurse Yeah. Until you went with data science. Uh
huh. Tell me how it makes
sense, which, like, uh, and like nurses are very smart and like, I think data science just seems like a very like, intense job,
right?
Like not as intense as maybe, maybe a different kind of intense as nursing is. Absolutely. But if you were to like, you know, survey a thousand people, they'd probably be like, oh, I'm probably not smart enough to be a data scientist.
Yeah, yeah. No, and I, I think it was because I was in like chemistry, I was gonna have to take biology and I was not really ever that great of a student.
I, I think I just struggled to apply myself. And so I psyched myself out so much. I was so insecure. I told myself, oh my gosh, I, I don't think I can do this. I don't think I wanna be a nurse after all. I just, I don't think I'm cut out for it. So then I pivoted to the data science and I felt the same way there.
I never really found my thing. Um, and, and just to even go back further, ATU had been making videos since 2013, so even before the lip dub. So he'd been obsessed with it for years. So it's been his thing. He's always wanted to be creative. And then for me, he would make videos while we were in high school and college, and I didn't wanna be a part of 'em.
I wanted nothing to do with it. So I would not wanna be seen in the videos. I would be so shy, so nervous, I would like cover my face up. I didn't wanna be in them at all. So to think that I went from that. So where I am now, being on camera constantly is crazy.
Where do you think that a feeling of empowerment came from?
Where you got excited and energized by making content?
When we were doing all of our creative stuff on the weekend, when I was looking forward to the weekend solely because of that, because I hated my job so much. So like I mentioned in college, I felt, you know, like dumb traditionally. And I, I didn't think that I was good at it.
I felt the same way in my job. And so constantly feeling like you're not good at your job and then having something creative that you look forward to on the weekend, I knew I was good at photography. And then from there, when you started to make tiktoks. That kind of blew up as well. I started to get in on them and then I started to make my own videos and I thought, oh, this is really fun.
And so from there it really kind of started to build, and I would say that was in 2023. Yeah. Which was not that long ago that I started to build up that confidence online and build my own community. Yeah. I feel like, oh, this is something I'm really excited for this outside of my job. Yeah. So that's kind of where the initial thought came from.
So, set the scene. Where did the conversation happen? Speaker: The LaGuardia Airport?
Yeah. So you're sitting in the LaGuardia Airport. What a spectacular place to have deep, meaningful conversations.
Right.
Hallie had told me, Hey, like, I just, like, we were going back home, so like going back to work. Right. And Hallie was like, I, I literally can't, like I do, I do not want to go back because I don't wanna go to work.
And when that conversation came up, it started to kind of hit me, like in my, in the back of my head, it's like, you go to work and, and you make money like that. That's just a thing that everybody does. Like you have to survive. Right? And in, in my head, it didn't make sense to quit because if you're a normal person, you go to work and you make money.
And so when she said like, I just can't do it, that's when the, that's the first time. Like I saw her actually struggle to tell me something. So I was like, okay, well let's figure it out. Let's figure out something we can do about it. And so we came up with a plan that would allow her to quit her job in a year.And so once that we saved up enough money, we got to the point, it was like April, April 12th was when Hallie was gonna quit of 2025, April 12th, that date came. And Hallie was like, you should quit with me. And I was like, Hallie, what? What are you talking about? Like we gotta have insurance, we gotta have healthcare.
We gotta have healthcare. We gotta have like 401(k). Like what are you talking about? Like what? I can't quit. And we ended up. Having a really hard conversation be like, if we don't do this now, we will never do it. And so when it comes to the videos we make, it's us together. When it came to us doing our jobs, it was us together.
When a podcast, it was us together, okay, let's just do this together. And so we waited another month and. In July, uh, we quit our corporate jobs.
We gave a very generous six week notice. Yeah. In June or whenever that was. But yeah, so we told our managers, I remember you told yours on a Friday. I had to wait.
It was a long weekend and I had to tell mine on a Tuesday. So there's just this anticipation building that both of us are anxious, both of us are, because for him, I'd been anticipating quitting for a year. And so for, I, I was tortured for a year thinking like, oh my gosh, like, am I making the right decision?
It's just gonna be me. This is gonna be so hard. I am scared, but I need to do this because I don't wanna go on my job. And I've tried to find other jobs and it just wasn't working out. And it was very hard to find a job even at that time. So that like me having a year to prepare versus you having like a month is crazy.
Yeah, I
was losing my mind.
Like what was the final decision or final factor? I'm sure there's a pros and cons list, all the things, but what was the final domino that fell? That tipped the scales, that quitting your corporate jobs to pursue content was the right idea?
We had done such a great job of saving money and figuring out life in terms of doing everything right.
We got married, we bought a house, we did the corporate job for five years, and it was like, okay, let's just stop doing what everybody tells us to do and just, just figure out how to do it by ourselves.
How big was your platform at that time?
50 or 60 K On Instagram? Yeah,
60 K. 60
K is when we less than 10,000 on YouTube.
Yeah, we had 7,000 subscribers on YouTube when we quit our job. The day that we quit, we had 7,000 subs, and then a month after we quit, we had 20.
That's insane
growth. So when we quit that, we had a ton of videos that blew up. Um, about
quitting your corporate job.
Yeah, about
quitting, because everybody wants to live vicariously through the people who quit their corporate job.
Yeah. So that's what really helped, uh, kind of kickstart a few things. It took us about another six months to get to a hundred K on Instagram, and that also helped us a lot
because today, yeah, you have over a hundred thousand on Instagram. You have 20,000 on YouTube, your personals are all over 10 k like you guys are rocking and rolling.
Uh, I do have to ask and, and then we're gonna get into the next part of the story. How did you tell your parents?
Ooh. Honestly, my parents kind of had, uh, the no, like they knew this was gonna happen at some point because I'd done this thing for five years. I've done what they told me to do for five years.
Right? Yeah. And so I had the conversation like, Hey, like, Hallie's gonna quit. That's what I said first. I was like, Hallie's gonna quit her dad.
Yeah. Threw me under the bus.
It's like, she's gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine. And they're like, okay. No, I think you guys are like, they saw the platform succeeding and it was fine.
Yeah. And then a week later I was like, Hey, so I'm also gonna quit. And they're like, what are you talking about? My dad is the one who's more concerned. My dad has been in India. He owns a lot of land, and so he had to, uh, you know, he's like a business owner there. So like he's farming and doing the things.
He's like, the the most stressed that I've ever been in my life was when I, when I owned a business because I had employees that I had to worry about. I had to worry about if the rain would come to make sure the plants were fed in time. So like, I had so much stress in my life, and then when I came to America and I got a job, he's like, I don't have any more stress.
I go home and I don't have to worry about anything. He's like, when you get into the business world, it's just gonna be more stressful. And I was like, dad, I get it. I totally understand, but I'd rather pick my stress, right? I'm always stressed at my corporate job too, but I, I'd rather be stressed about trying to make my own business work than, uh, making some billion-dollar corporation work, right?
Mm-hmm. So I think that's what helped me convince him. Um, but even like Hallie's parents, like that was a tough conversation too because Hallie's parents have history in the corporate world. Like Hallie's dad worked in corporate for 33 years at the same company. So I was more scared to tell Hallie's dad than my dad.
It's like, yeah, like I turned, I turned my daughter over to you, expecting you to climb the corporate ladder for the next 30 years and be stable and you're, you're quitting to drag my daughter into this video boy world. Like what are we doing?
Yeah. That was a tough conversation.
It was, I was more scared, I think, than anything to have that conversation because I knew just how badly my dad wanted me to continue doing what I was doing, and I was growing, you know, I would get like a promotion every few years.
He wanted me to get my MBA and like really do kind of what he did because I mean, he was successful in the path that he chose and he really worked hard to get there. So I think sometimes people can't fully grasp something until they see it. Yeah. And so like, we weren't doing anything huge or crazy with our business.
So for us to tell people that we were quitting and leaving and our jobs to go do our business full-time, people were like, what? What do you like? Why,
like your little wedding photography thing? Yeah. Like your little podcast.
Like, you mean how many weddings do you have planned for this year? And it's like, it's not all about the weddings, but um, definitely.
How do you balance that? Like, I mean, we have something similar here where it's like, how do you balance what the exterior perception is and what's safe and secure and what other people are telling you to do with opportunity, passion, and what's driving you to wake up and be excited every day?
I think the question that you have to ask is like, what, what's the worst that could happen?
That's the question that I started asking myself is like, okay, if it doesn't work out, then guess what? There's so many other jobs out there, right? Like, you can always go back. And one thing that we were so confident about was making sure that we had runway. What is it? Like, what do you mean by runway? The, like en enough saved to where we have zero stress about anything.
So that's the only thing that like kept me. Making sure that whatever we're gonna do is the right decision. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. At least we found out in our twenties and not when we're like 40 or 50. You know what I mean?
Yeah. And then you end up being a 50-year-old that like, oh, I should have, I once grew a page back in my day to 50,000 followers and Right.
Grandpa, you're being senile again. Like, chill out. Okay. You wake up the Monday after you quit your jobs. Both of you, you have no health insurance. You have no income. Uh, what do you do that Monday morning? What time do you wake up and what, what are the first things you do
that first Monday? We fully treated it like our nine to five.
We got dressed, we went downstairs, we got on our computers, and we sat there and we worked on stuff until five worked on what? I couldn't even tell you, I don't remember at this point, but we were so stressed that day by we, I mainly mean circ too, but we were very overwhelmed that day because it's, I mean, you know what?
It's like you leave and then you're like, oh my God. Now what?
I was, I was freaking out. Like, honestly, like, honestly, I thought it was, I thought it was all cool. I think I made a video that day that said like, first day of like not having a job and I, I made the video and I was like looking back and I was like, man, did I mess up that?
What did I do? What did I just do?
Yeah.
And it, it took me a while to realize that the nine to five life doesn't work in the business world. Not at all. Like you can't just like wake up at nine, start working and, and wait work till five. That just doesn't work. We figured out ways to like not do that system.
It took a month. It took a month to really figure out what we needed to do, how to get business, how to work with brands, how to make money and, and the different avenues of money.
Dude, that is like a. Uh, like a masterclass all on its own, if you like figuring out your first significant deal. Mm-hmm. And you're like kind of going back and forth and you're like, oh yeah, yeah.
We have like templates and contracting and you're getting a free subscription to DocuSign and like, oh yeah, send this over. Like, it's nuts. And it isn't for, I would say, the faint of heart, but it is figureoutable. Like it's all figureoutable and there's a lot of times where you just have to like, have you ever heard the Carrie Underwood song, Jesus Take the Wheel.
Yep. Some of it's a little bit like that. Like pull your heads off, just like breathe for a second and just like, Hey, this plane's gonna land itself. Like, you know, stressing out today is not gonna help them respond about your deal faster or like get the deal closed.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I agree. It's, it's tough when you are trying to, especially when you first start, because you think you need to do so much.
But the honest truth is if you just do what you're good at those deals and all the things will just come to you.
I always say like, get back to your home base. Yeah. You know, like when in doubt if you ever find yourself. Floating out at sea in the wide world of entrepreneurship. It's good to have a base, which is why I love the content business.
You know, like there, there's really two sides of it. Like are you growing revenue or are you growing audience one in doubt? Do and like, what are the actions that provide both of those? Okay. Make more good content that helps you grow audience and then work with brands. Talk to brands, reach out to brands.
One of those two things, if you wake up in the morning and have no clue what to do, look at your scoreboards, keep them in balance and, and there you go. So did you guys have like home bases where it was like, Hey, whenever we get lost, we have to get back to our North North Star?
Yes. You know what? I think our, our, our one thing that we do that's really funny is.
Dances.
Oh my gosh.
One thing that does really well on our content, like we will dance to like an Indian song or something, and boom, our, our like home base is right back to where it was
like, all right, yeah, we,
let's just dance.
Yeah. Like, oh, it's like, it's like Kevin Bacon, like in Footloose, when you have problems, just go dance it out.
It's one of those things that we absolutely hate doing. Like, we don't want to dance because I suck at dancing. It's,
it's fun. It's not that we hate it, but also at the end of the day we're like, okay, what can we do to give use to Suketu dance? And it works every time.
Yeah. Like when in doubt, eat a tenderloin.
Yeah,
exactly. Like,
like there'd be days where you're like, so full. And I'm like, yeah, you gotta do the thing again, Nate. It's like, I don't wanna do, do the thing. Alright. This is a small town breakdown on general one. It's great. Like, so relatable. It's fun. Um, yeah. Okay, so talk to me about learning. About what different content performs and how to like optimize and get better as well as audience.
I remember when we early talked, you were like, well, we actually want to keep growing our American audience and not just grow solely an Indian audience and balancing that piece too, which is development that, that we've never had to think about here.
When we actually learned about like the whole content game and, and how the science works behind it.
It's, it's all about the first 10 seconds of your video, first five seconds of your video. If you can't grab the audience attention in the first five seconds, if there's not any text on your screen in the first five seconds, no one's gonna watch like it, it sucks to, to, to see that. But like that is something that we've focused on a lot is, is making sure the audience is in the know exactly what's gonna happen for the rest of the video within the first five seconds.
And once we figured that out, that's when we started to see a lot of, of, uh, success and in terms of the audience and who we, how we pick, who watches what we do. It's all about making sure that me and Hallie are both in the video together explaining our situation. When it comes to that, then, then we understand like, okay, this is gonna be a US audience or the UK audience, because so many people go through the exact same situation as us.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And one of the biggest things I think that we do now that we've learned over time is to determine success on videos. We go back all the time and we look how a week of videos performed, what did well, what didn't do well, and then we use that data from like how things did. We watched the average watch time, like we watch all the things, we look at all the insights and we see what did well, okay, how can we do more of this?
How can we do different variations of this? Obviously this struck a chord with somebody, so just taking that and observing all of that did well and all that did not do well. Like, we'll make decisions off of that.
How do you balance what you want to make and what you enjoy making and with what the audience wants?
We definitely find a way to incorporate both, I would say, because we got to a point, there were a lot of times, and we've even talked about this with our podcast, because there'll be some times where we're like, oh, we don't feel confident talking about this. We're like, this isn't really us. And so we find a way to personify it.
Like with our short form content as well. There are definitely things like, yeah, maybe you don't wanna do dances, but we find a song that you loved growing up and we'll figure out a dance to do to that, if that makes sense.
Okay. What about, um, when it comes to brands Mm. How have you been able to work with brands?
What are the coolest brands that you've worked with? Because I think that's a big thing where everyone thinks you get a hundred thousand followers and all of a sudden you're making million. The the floodgates open and million dollar checks just get parked in your lap.
Ha ha. No. Our first brand deal was in 2020 5th of January, and it was for $250.
Oh yeah. What was
it? And it, it was a, uh, ice cream, Indian ice cream brand. It was fantastic. It was great. I was like, oh my God, $250. Are you kidding me? This is the most insane thing I've ever to eat.
Something that I probably would've paid seven bucks for anyway.
Yeah, exactly. And so we spent so many hours making this ad for them and it was like, it's still one of the
best ones we've
made today.
It by way, it was amazing. It was fantastic.
For 250 bucks.
Yeah. For two 50 bucks. And so once that first one came out and we showed people what we could do and how many views we could get, that's when we started to see some of these things pop, come in. Yeah. Like people started to reach back out to us. We started to get bigger and bigger deals.
And then when those deals started going away again, we were like, okay, what can we do? So we started Why
do you think they started to go away?
Because I think we stopped trying to, we, we were so focused on our jobs at the time that we stopped making so much content and that like we, we, we try and make one thing every single day, but sometimes that can not happen if you have a job.
And so it, it, it caused us to like lose some brand deals here and there. And when we realized, okay, what can we do to get those brand deals back, we started to just make videos with brands that we liked. Like I made one video where I said, the biggest mistake I ever made was buying a Tesla because of how much it depreciated.
And then I talked about like, Hallie has a Honda CRV and we gotta deal with Honda. That's sick. What in the world is happening? Like we just mentioned this brand and they saw the video.
And if you start to create good content, like brands find it.
Yeah.
And like, 'cause you gotta think that the social media manager, whoever it is, is like scrolling, scrolling, trying to find how they're gonna stick out.
And they're like, oh, this was basically a free ad anyway, let's go. Mm-hmm. And so you end up getting a brand deal with Honda.
Yeah. That was literally, we quit our jobs. Mm-hmm. And the next day they reached out and were like, Hey, we want to do a brand deal with you. It was our biggest brand deal ever. It was,
did they give you a Honda?
They did not give us a Honda.
No Honda, no lease.
No. What
the,
but it was a, it was a big deal for us because they kind of validated like, oh my gosh, we just quit. Now we're getting the first time we're getting a deal like with a national brand. And so it helped us kind of stay motivated almost. Yeah. To like, okay, this, this can work.
And even before, right before Honda, I think they were around the same time, we had a really good month that really validated us and set us up for when we actually did leave our jobs. But it was during the time that the NBA finals was happening. And Pacers obviously were in the NBA finals or they're about to be, they weren't fully in at that time, I don't think.
But we got reached out to by YouTube. And so we did like an interview street style asking Hoosiers like, which it was so out of our wheelhouse, sick. And so we were like talking about the NBA finals and like asking questions and like. That plus the Honda thing. We're like, this is a, this is a dream and we're only really doing this part-time.
Imagine what it could be like if we go full-time and really pursue this thing.
And, and I wanna go back to that, that NBA finals thing. I asked YouTube, I was like, why did you pick us? Like, why did you pick Nate Spangle? Like he would be 10 times better at exactly what you're asking for. Yeah. And they said, oh, he's on our radar.
Hey
YouTube.
Hey, you're on the radar.
Let's go.
Um, let's say, I don't think I ever told you that. No, I just remembered that we asked. Wow. YouTube dropping the news.
Well, there, there were probably not, we're still trying to crack our code on YouTube. Mm-hmm. But like at that point, I mean, you guys had over 5,000 subs on YouTube.
Yeah. Yeah.
So it's like you're rocking and rolling, growing there. Uh, that's pretty sick. Let's go. I do love, man, on the street stuff. So, um, well that was fun because I think after the first time we ever met, I ended up seeing you guys at uh, WNBA Allstar. Yes. And the after party that Gainbridge hosted. Shout out to our friends at Gainbridge.
And I remember, ah, dude, I one. It was awesome. WNBA, the All Star weekend was sick. And Gainbridge ended up renting out a spot, uh, the, in downtown indie and threw this like red carpet party. Like there were legit celebrities. Oh yeah. Diplo djd, it, Carly Pearce played a set, like it was awesome. And I just like walk in there and I'm like, not a lot of locals.
Yeah. Like not a like, and if they are, they're like the upscale locals. And I'm like walking in there like, okay, we gotta find someone that we know and we gotta start vibing. And I see you guys, you're working it, like you're taking photos and I walk up to Suketu and I'm like, yo. Alright, who do we got here?
Like anyone? Cool? And he goes, yeah, Caitlyn Clark's right behind you. And I literally turn around and like six feet, like kind of up in her own little section is Caitlyn Clark. And I'm like, Hallie, take a picture. Let's go. Still an iconic photo with Caitlyn in the back. Love it. Um, that's pretty sick. And was, was most of your revenue coming from S Patel Productions or the half past Chai side?
So I think for 2025 it was definitely half and half. Yeah. So we, we made half from S Patel Productions and then we made half from brand deals. Yeah. So that was our split
Yeah. Forecast for 2026. Spl.
I think it's gonna be mainly brand deals We're focused in on social media because there is the most scale ability Yes.
With social media.
Yeah. Well, and is it, is it challenging? Like as we've built out our business, we can see the like, okay, we're starting, you know, different newsletters and there's opportunities to start new podcasts or new social platforms. For you all, it's like a growing audience and scale on the brand deal side.
Mm-hmm. Because it's, there's only two of you to go out and like, you know, do more weddings or corporate gigs. Is there a plan to bring in more people? Because another part about building a company that's fun is having, I don't know, like people say like, don't judge the disgust of your company by how big your company is.
Yeah. But I think the sweet spot of like a few employees, like makes the team aspect fun. Is that on your radar?
I really want to get somebody into S Patel Productions just to be able to. Do the editing, do some of the, like the planning stuff. Yeah. That we don't, we can like, take off our plate. I think buy back, buying back your time is, is crucial for any business.
Dude. It's kind of crazy as like an a business owner because it's like you start to, you know, make money. Let's say like you, when you have a startup and you start to, you're, you're side hustle or whatever it is, makes over a hundred thousand dollars a year and you're like, oh man, I can, like, I could you, you think in your head like, oh, I could be pocketing some serious money if I just did all this work.
And then you end up like outsourcing and buying. So you like Rob Peter to pay Paul to like keep growing your company? Yeah. Um, because yeah, you're buying back your time. Like, yeah. If I did all of these jobs and held the camera and edited it and wrote the scripts and recorded it. Yeah. Like you could make money at the bottom, but it's insane.
Like the time commitment there.
Yeah. I think one second. You figure out the whole aspect of what you, you're actually making less money if you end up hiring somebody. Yes. But over time, that's gonna like. Pay you dividends. Like it's,
yeah. Where it's like, you know, making $5,000 a month because you have an editor and the editor's making, you know, $20,000 a month or whatever it, you know, like, or whatever those numbers are, and you're like, oh yeah, I, I can do almost nothing.
I can just hang out and like maybe close the deals or, you know, find the new opportunities. It's a constant balance. When you think about your dream brands to work with for half past Chai, as you, if you had to structure the perfect brand deal, what would it be?
I mean, honestly right now one of them is kind of in the works.
Oh yeah.
Would you say so,
so something that you'd eat with, with Chai is Parle-G,
which
we
brought you some,
we brought you some, those
biscuits.
And so that is a brand that we are actually Yes, sir. Making conversation with them this morning. Oh. So hopefully something works out well with them.
How do I pronounce this?
Parle-G. Parle-G
Parle-G.
Yeah, exactly.
I'm having some parlay G and you gotta, that's where you come in and like, Hey, you jump in. Hey, hold on. Parle-G.
Yeah. Yes.
Is that better?
Exactly.
Yeah. Alright, well let's try some of this in a little taste. Is this an, is this Indian food?
Yes, it is. It is a glucose biscuit.
That's what there is. Glucose
biscuit. I mean, I think that whoever is like, like big food in India might need to reframe their marketing.
Yeah.
I don't know if I'm going to the store and buying glucose biscuits, Uhuh,
but that is one of the best biscuits that I've ever had in my life. I've been eating a still little kid.
Alright.
Uh, but that's a brand that I'd love to be able to work with. Um,
okay.
There's so many other brands, like one thing that we've started doing is our own individual brands. So like, I've been making finance videos, Hallie's been doing fitness stuff. Hallie would love to work with a company like Brooks.
Um, I would love to work with a company. Thank you. Like rocket Money or something like that, you know what I mean? There's so many financial companies.
Shout out into it.
Yeah, exactly.
So dip for like one to two seconds.
Just one, two seconds. That's it. All right.
Oh, one to two seconds. Yeah. Here we go.
And then we're done.
Glucose biscuit down the hatch.
Oh
yeah, man. Yeah. It is addicting.
Mm-hmm.
Yo. Yeah,
and we actually brought another kind that's I, that I love, it's called Parle Nice Time. They're biscuits. They're kind of similar, but they have coconut sugar on top.
Mm-hmm.
So, yeah, it's pretty good. Speaker 3: Gosh. Robert is gonna love his glucose biscuit. That's really good.
Tell him it's a glucose biscuit. Mm-hmm. Not what it's actually
called. Yeah, that would be a good one. Like Midwestern Hoosier tries his first glucose biscuit. Ooh, there you go. You might need to shoot that when we get outta here. Yeah, let's do it. That would be pretty funny. Please do. Um, we live in a world where the social media life is.
I think that it's cla like very, it seems very romanticized. Like, oh yeah, it'd be so easy. I could just quit my job and post on Instagram all day and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and make a million dollars, which like some people do, and That's awesome. Talk to me about what the reality of that looks like versus what you expected and advice you would have for up and coming creators that want to leave corporate America to pursue either content or entrepreneurship.
If you can't do it while having a job, you probably can't do it with, without having a job. That's something that I've told a lot of people.
Yeah.
And it, it's something that you have to be fully committed to and you have to have fun doing it.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
If you don't have fun doing it, I'm just, it's just not gonna work out.
And if it's not growing as a side hustle, it's like the time isn't the thing. Yeah. It's the, it's the content, it's the quality. Right. Exactly. Like you should be able to. On the side, build it up to something that makes some money or gets some amount of views, that's like significant. And if you're like, oh, I would just quit my job and go all in.
You haven't like cracked the code of social media. You haven't cracked the code of the content. Like I think that as a side hustle, yeah, you can get it to 2050, maybe like 50,000 followers, like kind of growing there and then you start to like, oh, like I, I could go do this.
Yeah, I agree. I think it's it, it takes time to do it and then when you do figure it out, you have to be.
You have to be confident in the, the, the revenue that you're making and, and, and understand that, okay, if I quit, these are the situations that I'll be put in. Figure out your whole retirement plan. Figure out the insurance stuff. Like if you, if you can figure that out all before you quit, that's gonna set you up for success.
I think that's the biggest. I think some people are, are so excited to quit and then they're gonna make content about quitting their job and like doing all these
and it's gonna blow up and you're gonna gain 13,000 subs on YouTube.
Yeah.
Yep. And then it's like, okay, the dust settles on that and like, do you wanna be the people who post about quitting their job or do you want to create content that actually goes without and helps people?
Yeah. I think that's the biggest thing is if you can figure out a way to make the world a better place, you'll, you'll succeed in some way.
Yeah.
And I think what people get wrong is that, like you said, oh okay, yeah, you could quit your job and just post about quitting your job and that's it. But you have to make a whole brand out of yourself to build an actual community.
You need to be one of a few different things. Either relatable, funny, you, you build something that has value, but you, you have to put so much work into that. And I think that's what people get wrong, is that you can't just like post whatever. You have to be so intentional about it and almost tell a story with every piece of content that you're creating.
So Kate two, how many videos do you think you posted before the lip dub?
Oh my gosh. Probably at least a, I probably posted a hundred videos before the lip up, but I, after the lip up after the success, I probably posted over a thousand videos before us going viral on TikTok, over a thousand videos.
Like, everyone's like, oh, just post.
And it's like, and they post like, 2, 3, 4, realized no, because even you guys got, I would say, a good end of the deal where your first podcast got a thousand views. Yeah. Like, that's awesome. Like incredible. And, and I do think that that first topic, being rel like, uh, being relevant to lots of people is so cool.
And then they must have gotten in there, seen the content, because that's the other piece too. YouTube or any social media platform, like you can gamify your way a little bit, but at the end of the day, quality content finds its way to the top. Like it really does. And like obviously like learning about packaging, learning about titles and naming and like, there's.
There's like master's degrees worth of information that people could learn from people like Paddy Galloway, and MrBeast and all these like YouTube celebrities that have like spent decades literally, you know, like a decade. Mm-hmm. Creating on YouTube. And I think people just think that it's like, oh yeah, I'm getting this new shoes from Brooks and posting about my run.
And it's like, if only it was that easy.
You have to be obsessed with the content. Like if, if your YouTube feed is not all about how to get more views and how to do a better thumbnail and how to understand the audience, then you're just not doing it right.
A healthy obsession. Yes. And a he a healthy obsession with your, your content,
right?
Like. I mean, this is a true story. Someone posted it, someone like said that, like, you have to have this almost like a hyper fixation on the thing. Like Indiana, they're like, like people say some mean stuff in the comments, but one, like there's like, this guy has like autism for Indiana. Like that's what they said to me.
And I'm like, bro, like that's like kind of mean, but also like I just am so hyper obsessed with it. Yeah.
I think that you have to, yeah. Like I remember, I think the first time I ever saw your stuff was I, we were working in, in corporate. Somebody had mentioned you and I was like, this guy gets it because he's obsessed with it
and it's not, uh, it's not like it can't be a sham.
'cause if someone comes up to you in public and asks you what their high school mascot is and you don't get it right, like. They can, like your house is built on sand. Mm-hmm. Like if they come up and they like, ask you about chai or like talking about like, if they come up to you with a problem and they're like, Hey, this is what I'm going through, and you're like, oh, uh, I don't have time for that.
Or I don't, like, if you're not obsessed with the thing you're talking about, the internet and the world can see right through it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And they know the people. Like, this is the, the typical thing I feel like I see successful business person says, you know what? I want to get a bunch of followers.
They hire a production company to like start making high production videos for them and posting 'em on social of like, here's how you make $1 million in the blank, blank, blank in like investment banking space. And it's like, but you're not authentic to that. Mm-hmm. Like your first videos should look like.
Yeah. A shaky camera and like trying to figure it out. And then you just slowly get better and then you start to buy back some time.
Exactly.
That is my biggest piece of whatever the niche is. It could be, I mean, again, the niche is Indiana. Mm-hmm. And at service level, most people would be like, oh, like how can you build a business and content around Indiana?
And then you start to look at like local news and you start to see all these other like people who've been doing it in different verticals in corporate for like. A hundred years or whatever it is, and you're like, oh no, there's a thing here. You just have to become hyper obsessed with your content anchor.
You do. And I think my, if I had to give any piece of advice, one thing that we talked about earlier is our North Star, but at the end of the day, I think about our individual brands and then our half pasture relationship brand, go back to your North Star, whatever that is. And really a big pillar of that for us is our community.
How can we be helpful for our community? And same to you. Like you cater so much to Indiana. Like, okay, what can people learn from me if I go here and do this? Like what's something that somebody would ask that maybe I could answer that question? So I think that's the biggest thing, is know the audience that you're wanting to gain and that you're catering towards.
And then also figure out a way to incorporate what you love into that and put your own twist on it. Because there's, there's no two Nate spans, right? Like you bring so much to the table. There's no two of us.
Yeah.
We're both so unique and I think you have to use that as a superpower
dude. And it's a great.
A great balance, uh, with that you guys have, and the dynamic is awesome and it's authentic, which is so cool to see. Uh, and yeah, if I had another piece of advice for aspiring content creators, it's like, find your thing that you're gonna be hyper fixated on and then go out, learn as much as you can, and then share that in your style.
Absolutely.
Like I think that the other piece of the best content creators are constantly, whether listening to other podcasts, watching videos, reading books, like I just have gotten obsessed with like learning. And I'll read whether it's even about life or Indiana or whatever it is. It's like I'll go out and it's like become obsessed with learning about something and then incorporate it into like, I just finished the.
Biography of Benjamin Franklin. It's like, I don't, I didn't think I would ever read. It was a great book, like phenomenal book. I am like obsessed with like all the lessons that I learned from the six hour audio book and it's like, oh, go out there. I've talked about it like three times on the podcast. Now go out, pick your thing.
Learn a ton about that thing. Share with your audience.
Mm-hmm.
The right people will follow along.
Exactly.
If you guys were doing it all over again and building back from square one, what would you do?
I, I would not change anything about how we started besides maybe coming up with an outline or something that can hook the audience from the beginning of the video.
Because I think what we did was just literally just talk.
Yeah.
And there was no structure behind it, but. That's what made it so authentic at the beginning. Yeah. So I don't know. I, I don't think I'd change anything.
Yeah, I wouldn't either, because that's how we learned the most from it. And yeah, we didn't have an outline, much of a structure, but I think what we built in that time was connection with people.
And that to us is the most important thing because we wanted to build a strong foundation with our audience and like, you know, have some trust there. And these are intimate, deep, hard topics that we're talking about. Like, we want people to feel connected to us in like a, not in a weird way, but like in a, you know, like parasocial relationship.
Like that's very real nowadays on social media.
Is it hard to be vulnerable yet authentic?
It was in the beginning because we knew that our friends and family were gonna be watching, and that was the hardest thing in the world. Yeah. Yeah. That was tough.
Like if you're talking about how you felt when your parents did and you're like, they like, they're like, wait, I had to hear about this on your podcast.
You didn't just come and talk to me. Do you give 'em like a courtesy text heads up.
Sometimes I'll give them, be like, Hey, I'm gonna be talking about this, and that's about it. And I'm like, okay, well hopefully it works out.
Yeah. Like we just did a podcast episode recently or semi-recently where we did lessons that we learned from our parents' relationships.
And so we talked about that. And I remember telling my mom and she was like, is it all good things? And I'm like, mom, it's like, it's valuable things. Okay. Like, yeah. Obviously we're, we'd never get on there and like talk bad about
anybody. Yeah. Have you, have you like stressed any of those relationships or have you hurt anyone's feelings?
By talking about those vulnerable moments.
Yes. Mm-hmm.
Yeah,
it's happened. I think it, we, we've learned from 'em for sure in, in how to express our thoughts without doing that. Yeah. But initially, like when we first started, yeah, we had a conversation about how I think I, I made a video call, how might they see parents mess me up?
And that caused a lot of issues in my family, right? Like, oh, like what do you mean? Like, your parents did so much, right? Like of course they did much, but you didn't, well, you didn't freaking watch the episode.
And like the, you have to like package that in the title. Like if you said how the, the couple mistakes that my, you know, supportive parents made, like no one's gonna want.
You have to really go in and like kind of click bait it a little bit. And like, if you're not in, if you're not in the industry, you wouldn't understand that. And that could come off as offensive,
right?
It could be hard to get people to understand like, what. Like packaging or posting that and talking about these topics and it's like, oh no, like this is helping people.
But again, it's like, especially I think like the Indian culture's probably pretty private and like sharing those type of things, exterior is like, uh, kind of a non-starter.
Yeah. It's very important to be careful about those situations. Yeah. But like it's helped too many people for me to stop, you know?
Yeah. Wow. I love it. I think that just like you guys' dynamic in the whole, the S Patel Productions, the content, the brand deals, Honda, YouTube, let's go. I love it. But we do have to round it out talking about you are making really interesting content that spans the globe of audience, yet you continue. To May to stay rooted in Indiana.
And so this question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homeisjchart.com. My question for you, you could be in la, New York, India, London, Miami, Austin, all these different places you could go.
Why do you call Indiana home?
I asked my parents like, why did we like come to Indiana? My, my, my parents moved here in their late thirties. I was four years old when we moved to America and we landed in Indiana Out of all the places that we could have landed, I had a aunt that lived here. That was the main reason.
But you know, they, they, it was, it was one of those things where we, when we landed here, it felt like there was, it was really easy to get along with people. Even like the people that we were, like when I first started school, like everybody was really friendly. I think we call it home because like, I've been here since the beginning and there's so much in my life.
That has shaped around Indiana, like the people, the first wedding that I got for example in Indiana was this couple. They're like, Hey, I know you've never created a wedding video, but we trust you and we'll still pay you $250. And I was like, oh, that's cra Like no normal person would just do that for their wedding video.
You know?
Yeah. Except for they're saving like a total bag. Yeah. I guess. Do video and I bet it was beautiful. I bet it was this fire video.
It was fantastic. Yeah. But there, there's just this like community here that I think, uh, some people for forget that, that it doesn't exist everywhere.
And I think that the locals like take it for granted sometimes.
Mm-hmm. Where it's like, this is just like hooser hospitality. It's just like how people act here. And it's like, that's not how it is everywhere.
No, it's not.
And it's something, it's so hard to quantify and explain that to the world. Mm-hmm. Like it's hard to go to LA and be like, oh, why, why do you choose Indiana?
And it's like there's just something in the water here that makes people good and they want to see you succeed.
Yeah. I don't And you've been here your whole life, right?
Yeah. I've never left Indiana. I was born here. I've lived here now all my 27 years. And like you said, there is something in the water people, there is that Hoosier hospitality.
People here are kind, they wanna see you succeed. And all my family lives here and I'm such a firm believer that home is where your people are. And it's not necessarily rooted in a house or like a certain town or whatever, but like my family lives here. Your family lives here. Our whole family lives here.
Right. Our friends live here. Our colleges here, our schools were here. So I can't help but feel super connected to Indiana just because so many of my, all of my special memories really are here. Obviously I love traveling and maybe we'll move somewhere for a couple years and come back, but we'll always come back to Indiana.
Oh, is that foreshadowing?
Maybe. I don't
know. Maybe. I'm not sure.
Okay. I love that. I think that it's cool and I think that. You know, people like you guys and some of the other creators we talked about are proving that you can build really cool creative companies and brands in the state of Indiana.
Mm-hmm. And like getting a studio space isn't gonna cost you an arm and a leg, or you know, getting to coffee shops and doing collabs and like all these things, like you can do it here in Indiana. It doesn't just have to be life sciences and manufacturing. Like cool modern businesses can be built in Indiana.
I'll say this, like there's no way we could have quit our jobs anywhere else besides Indiana. There. The fact that we have our, our, we, we own a house. Our mortgage is low enough to where we can make that much money to pay our mortgage groceries. You can go to Aldi and get a whole month's worth of food for like 400 bucks.
Nowadays you don't have to.
Whoa. 400. That's a lot. That's a
lot of money. Hold on. But I, I think it's just the affordability of living here gives us the ability to put more money into the business and, and expand that way.
Yeah. I love it. Alright. Rapid fire question time. Okay. Hallie, what was the first Indian food you tried?
paneer tikka masala. So paneer is cheese. So it's kind of like a spicy tomato-based like curry almost with like cheese cubes in it.
Yeah. Okay. With rice. It's very
delicious.
Alright. That sounds pretty good.
Yeah.
Uh, favorite place you've traveled together?
Uh, New
York City, New
York City or India.
Oh, of course, yeah.
My gosh.
Favorite place to get cha in Indianapolis.
MOTW Coffee and Pastries is fantastic. Oh, of course. Yeah, they're great. There's a bunch of them in, in India now. Um,
I won't lie, I, when I made a coffee shop video, people started commenting Muslims of the world and I was like, oh, did. This is just true. Like did I get into like, like is is or like what is this?
Like I have no idea. Like are my comments getting political or something or religious or something And then I started, I was like, oh, there's a bunch of these coffee shops and it's super cool.
Yeah, very
good coffee.
They have great job, but the one of the best is Qahwah House. There's one in Fishers. They're not, there's not many in the us.
Mm-hmm. But that is fantastic.
Yeah. So you can actually get a hot pot of chai and you pour it in your little tea cups and you just like sit there. That's the, I think that one gets higher ratings because of the vibes that you can just like, we could go there right now, sit, have a hot pot and just like sit and talk and drink chai for hours.
It's awesome.
Fantastic.
Just to hang out and have some Chuck.
Yeah,
come on. Uh, funniest podcast review you've received
Funny, maybe like a hate comment. It was like, the funniest one is, oh, I guess anybody can start a podcast now. That's the number one comment. Yeah.
Yeah. Respect. I guess that's how everyone says that.
Yeah,
they're haters. You go start one buster.
Yeah.
Okay. Uh, Suketu, your favorite American tradition and Hallie, your favorite Indian tradition.
The Indie 500 favorite American tradition. Yeah. It's pretty freaking ama uh, first time going was like two years ago. And I was like, this is insane.
It blows your perspective of what you think it is.
The amount of people that are in one like structure, that is crazy.
That's why you probably like it. 'cause you guys like to be, you get congested, Hallie.
Mm, okay. Definitely garba. So what that is, is there is a time period every single year. In usually like September, October timeframe. And it's during Navratri season, which is something that is very celebrated in Hindu culture.
So like to celebrate that we, that would be a whole deep dive into Navratri. But to celebrate that there are nights of dancing, which it goes back to the dancing. Oh my gosh. It
always comes back to dancing.
It always does. Um, and so there will be huge, like think about it as parties, gatherings, like at big halls, big, uh, gymnasiums, big like soccer, indoor soccer fields, and people will be dancing.
Sometimes there will be live music. People will be singing and they sing for hours and you're just dancing. There are multiple different circles and each one has a different level of dancing. It's like the outermost ring. The biggest one is like the simplest, like three clap and all the songs you can like do the same steps to.
And it gets harder and harder as you go further in
and in the center there's someone like doing the worm and like, the breakdown.
It's like really fast.
That's
crazy. We, we'll take you next time.
I, I feel like I could go check this. We could make some funny, like we could make it was Indian and then like the last like, you know, you put in parentheses, the anna part.
Yeah.
Like, you know, like that then Anna. Yes. Like that kind of cop. That'd be so funny. Um, I do have to ask Hallie, you're super knowledgeable on all things Indian.
I try to be,
yeah. Like do you find that the like die hard Indian cons, like the, the die hard community is receptive and likes that you know so much?
Or are they kind of like, hey, like you're not one of us,
honestly. Yeah. So I call myself an honorary Patel. And so many people. I get so much love and I'm so fortunate to have that from people in my community. Like anytime I post a video talking about India or Indian culture or Gujarati culture specifically, or food or like me trying things, the love I get is, it's amazing.
It's probably like at first they're like, wait, what? And then you they are, you start talking and you're like, oh wait, she actually is knowledgeable. Yeah, she knows ball. That's pretty cool. She knows ball. Absolute Indian ball. Knowledge. Yeah. Let's go. Um, all right. These are the same three questions that we ask everyone who comes on the show.
We're gonna go Tu Hallie, Hallie, ctu, back and forth. There we go. First having such global influence and reach, there was something you could scream at the rooftops about the state of Indiana. What is something the world needs to know about Indiana?
Indiana is so is not a flyover state. You should definitely come here and experience the people.
That's the big thing. Yeah. The people, the food, the culture. Peoples think that we don't have culture, but I think we, we do have culture.
I would agree. But again, I'm like, when I say that, they're like, yeah, that's, you're the Indiana guy. Of course. Okay. Hallie.
Yeah. I think what much to what you said, Indiana is not just a flyover state.
I think there's some, so many special things here. Indiana obviously is a huge sports state, and what does everybody in the US watch? They all watch sports. Everybody's watching it on the weekends, on weeknights, and much to the point of the Indy 500 IU obviously just won national title. Like there are so many special things happening here and me being a runner, obviously the fitness communities here are amazing.
We've got the Monon, who else has a trail like that in their state? It's incredible.
It's super, super cool. And then there's other one, like other rail trails are, yeah. Popping up, which is so cool. Yeah. All right, Hallie, we're back to you. This is your opportunity to share a part of the state that more people need to be talking about.
What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
I gotta say the place where we really hung out and fell in love is Washington Township Park in Avon, Indiana.
Washington Township Park.
Yes, it's goaded. It's great. It's, that sounds so strange. What
do you, what do you love about it?
I think it's so cool because it's not like a park now that we live more in like central North side Indiana, that we don't have parks like that.
There's good hiking trails. We used to run there a lot in cross country. If anything, it probably has the most sentimental value to us. And we like to go hammock there, go on a picnic, sit outside.
Yeah.
Like it's just really nice trails. And then there's also, uh, have you heard of the haunted bridge in Avon?
No, you've
never heard of the haunted, my gosh, bridge. Nate, you gotta cover this. What is
the haunted
bridge?
Oh
my God. So they're like a million different stories of like, it's haunted, it's spooky. Yeah. You gotta look it up. Yeah, dude. Um, and like people used to climb it and graffiti, it's like, it's just fun.
It's in the Avon, Washington Township Park.
Yeah.
Oh, you should definitely check it out.
Wow.
So growing up we'd hear all these stories, all these spooky stories of like, oh, this construction worker fell off and died and that's why it's haunted.
Okay. This is the one on Visit Hendricks County. It says the story, which he still claimed is true today, was that a mother had been walking with her baby on the tracks.
Yep. Oh, and both fell off too. Yeah. Their demise, the mother's wailing for her infant could be heard when you drive under the bridge. So in an effort to muffle her, screams, you honk every time you go under the bridge.
Yes. There's a lot of lore around it.
Go check it out. That's crazy. I don't know, I don't really do scary, but Will would love like a such a heyday with this.
He like, wants to do like paranormal stuff and I'm like, no. Please. Could you
do like a ghost hunting?
Will just like spend the night at the Yes. At the Haunted Bridge in Avon.
Mm-hmm.
We might have to do that. Okay. Suketu. What's a hidden gem in Indiana?
The Vandalia Trail that leads to Hummel Park. It, it's in plain field.
Fantastic. It's, it is, uh, the best trail in terms of the, the scenery that you experience throughout the whole trail. It, it's amazing. It's, it, if you've never been, if you like the Monon, if you like the rail trail, go to the Vandalia Trail. Yeah, you can. It's a very long trail as well. Holly, just smaller version did a 20 mile run on, on the Vandalia Trail.
So it's, it's
fantastic. And it goes out of town, right? Yeah. Right. Yeah, I think it, he says it's a 4.1 mile stretch. Oh this. Oh, this is a piece of it. You can take Get far? Yeah. To like all the way to the Putnam County border.
Yeah.
Wow. Yeah. That's pretty solid. Okay.
I actually just thought of another hidden gem that I really wanna share, because I also wanna highlight small businesses.
Frost Bite is an ice cream shop. It's near, it's in Avon. So like growing up we would go there and I love it so, so much. It is delicious.
Frost Bite and Avon. Yes. Oh yeah. That looks like a place I would enjoy.
Oh, it's incredible. Yeah. You gotta
go. Whoa. Frost Bite. Come on. I mean, the iconic, you know, stuff like that.
Yeah. That is the interesting piece about Avon is it feels like it was like the. Chain restaurant capital of the United States of America. You know, like they don't really have
mm-hmm.
Like the historic downtown. A lot of people also don't know that that avon's not the seat of Hendricks County and it's Danville.
And so like, you know, the, the, the square and stuff that, like Noblesville has, you would think you'd see that in a, in Avon and it's like that stretch of like Red Lobster and Chick-fil-A and stuff like that.
Yeah. I, I, I, that's why I love like Brownsburg and Plainfield. They have like the, the Bulldogs in, in, in, in Brownsburg.
They have like the red, uh, the Plainfield Quakers, the Quakers in, in Plainfield. And I feel like that that kind of thing doesn't exist in Avon. And I wish it did.
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Okay, this is the final question of the show. This is where you get to spread the love, helps us identify new guests and learn about people who are doing cool things.
Who's a Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar. Someone who's doing big things,
it's Amman Tucker, he's a dj. He's the D DJ Aman. He's fantastic. He's kind of, he's the first person who talked to me, was like, Hey, you should quit your job. He did a great job of, of convincing me that the way to succeed in life is to take like.
Risks that are calculated in a way. Yeah. But he's a fantastic dj. He's, uh, doing really big things in Indiana. He's DJ'd for the Pacers. He's DJ'd for iu. Um, but he's, he's definitely one of those big Indian advocates and he also convinced us that. Indiana is 100% the best place to be to start a business.
Heck yeah.
Yeah. I would second that Ahman Tucker because he's incredible. And then also we talked about him earlier, but Liam Pinero.
Yeah.
He's making, he's making amazing content. He's funny. He's Hardwork. He's a really good person.
That's hilarious. I love Liam. Actually, I'm gonna get Liam in here please. I actually, I wanna get like him and some of those other guys just like sitting here and crack a few beers and just like do an episode.
Because he, I mean, I will say it's not always like PG content. Yeah. Like some of it's adult sort of content in his videos, but they are hilarious. Yeah. And they're all like chill lines to use like when you break outta prison or chill lines to use at the coffee shop or whatever. And they are hilarious.
Mm-hmm. And he's genuinely one of the funniest people I know in person, like with my own like life. Yes. Great guy. Liam, shout out. We know your name. It's Liam. He rocks Patels. It was so spectacular to have you on the show. It's awesome to see the growth that you guys have had and the success that's come after you were willing to take a risk.
I think that it's so cool. When I first met you, I think you were like a few weeks or like a month out of we're quitting our jobs. Mm-hmm. And to see you guys take the leap and to see you just go. All in on the content on S Patel Productions. So cool. I can only just imagine the bigger things that are coming down the road.
And Indiana as a state is lucky to have creative and risk-taking entrepreneurs like yourself. So keep up the good work. If people wanna follow, if they want to listen to the podcast work and they do that,
they can go to YouTube, Spotify Apple Podcasts, Amazon, anything at Half Past Chai. Uh, we always make content on Instagram as well.
So if you have any questions, you can always go to halfpastchai.com.
If you have an. Interracial or relationship advice. You have a question. You want them to debrief it on the pod, submit that every five episodes. Mm-hmm. Is use your questions. Yeah, exactly. So you could get your, your question answered on the show.
Yeah.
I love it. Y'all, thanks for stopping by and we'll talk soon.
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