Aneri
Shah
An LA-based, NY-bred writer, director, comedian, and serial startup founder who loves stories about love, sex, and connection. My focus? Bringing more juicy South Asian women's stories to the big screen through my signature unhinged voice & ingenuity. In the world of entertainment, I’m not just participating, I’m rewriting the script.
Writer, Director, Comedian, Founder
RANDOM MUSINGS“Why have I never seen a lacrosse-playing, french- speaking South Asian woman like me on screen? I did a deep dive and found out that South Asian women’s on screen representation time is .3%. Given that nearly 25% of the world is South Asian, I thought that was crazy. ” -A
Directorial Debut
This 50min documentary follows 6 South Asian and Black female emergency medical physicians throughout the early days of the pandemic in New York. It’s her love letter to women of color. You can screen it here.
Comedy Sitcom
Wrote, co-directed, and acted in a comedy pilot following 4 South Asian women coming of age in their early 30s in NYC. The show is loosely based off my “almost 10 years” dating, working, and devouring dumplings below 14th street.
Serial Entrepreneur
Having spent a decade building technology companies, I specialized in building platforms connecting brands to video creators. My latest venture received funding through R/GA & Snapchat and was an official TikTok Marketing Partner.
NOT BRAGGINGAneri has spoken at 50+ events, including places like Cannes Lions, Vimeo, and AdWeek, and performed at NYC's top comedy clubs like Gotham City and Eastville Comedy Club. Her work has been featured by major media outlets, like Times of India and Shoutout LA. Additional shit. She’s fluent in four languages and training for her ninth half marathon.
Actual Inclusivity in Media
“F*ck representation. It just ends up being two dimensional characters with “on the nose” stories about cultural duality. I want more real, funny, kick-ass South Asian and other women of color on screen. Period.”
Aneri Won’t Shut Up About…
Comedy & Impactful Storytelling
I did standup in NYC for a few years. Comedy inspires this deep, guttural response and can sneakily bring people together in that way. I love it. I want to talk about how it’s helped me, even in the most serious of contexts, get stories off the ground.
Building Your Own Table
“In a sea of tall white men, everything I’ve ever been able to accomplish - helping brands make more diverse social video ads, getting my documentary made, casting top talent for my first comedy show, it’s all been by rewriting the process, building new systems, and leveraging my uniqueness to cut the line. I’m doing that now with my entertainment brand LONELY GIRL. Stay tuned.
Personal Reinvention
I moved across the country, broke up with a long term partner, froze my eggs, came out as queer, and changed my entire career and life during the pandemic. Change is so quiet and gradual and revolutionary and needed and inevitable. Through this reinvention, I learned that change is life.
