My First Celebrity Interview, As Told by My Twentysomething Self
A thrilling story straight from my diary!
Is it odd to be charmed by your 24-year-old self? Yet I am, after coming across this story in my diary from a few months after I moved to New York City twenty years ago.
With my new novel The Other Lata coming out in a week, I’ve been reflecting on how I moved to this city with aspirations of becoming a writer, just like my main character. As I paged through my diary from that time, I spotted this:
I knew this referred to my first NYC gig: a paid internship at EW.com, the Entertainment Weekly website. But I didn’t remember what it was in reference to at all.
I unfolded the page and found an email I sent to 40 people1 about the story of how an idea I pitched about Gilmore Girls turned into my first-ever magazine clip. And the way I relayed the story was so funny and thrilling that I just had to share it here.
Here are the screenshots of the email, followed by what I wrote:
Hello! Today has been sort of a whirlwind. Here's why:
1:40 PM--Every week we pitch story ideas to the website. I come up with one on the Gilmore Girls (a favorite show of mine) and pitch it. It's well-liked, but considered better for the magazine.
2:00--My boss recommends I email the person who's in charge of the front section of the magazine my idea. I'm like sure, why not, doubt anything will happen because it's extremely hard to get a story accepted by the magazine. But I have nothing to lose, so I do.
2:01--The editor writes me back. He likes the idea. He wants me to write it. And to interview the creator of the Gilmore Girls2 for it. My jaw drops. Forget to breathe.
2:02--I start to breathe again. Scramble to find a phone number for the publicist of the show, which my boss gets for me. (He's the angel of my day.) Talk to the publicist, who says my name's pretty. For some reason, I take this as a good sign. Publicist says she'll contact Amy Sherman-Palladino and then get in touch with me. Wait giddily to hear back.
5:00--Three hours later, haven't heard back. Not a peep. If I don't hear back from her, then my little story idea is going to be killed. No Amy, no story. I check e-mail, browse online news (there was an earthquake in california!) stare at the phone. I also need to go to the bathroom, but fear leaving the phone.
5:22--Realize that I gave the publicist the wrong number to contact me. For some reason, I accidentally gave her a number for a phone in another part of the office. OH SHIT. Leave frantic message with publicist's receptionist, who doesn't find my name pretty, but rather annoying and hard to spell.
6:00--Find my boss and tell him what happened. Asks if he heard a phone keep ringing while I wasn't there. He did, actually. He checks the voicemail on that phone, and lo and behold, Amy Sherman-Palladino left a message and has been trying to reach me. He hands me her number and I go flying back to the phone. Still need to use the bathroom.
6:02--Of all the wonderful luck, Amy answers when I call. And she's awesome. So funny, so nice, doesn't mind that I took three hours to call her back when I'm the one who contacted her. Have a great interview with her. I can see why its such a good show, because she's just a fantastic person.
6:02-8:30--Write the article, eat Thai food, transcribe the interview, go to the bathroom, watch the second half of the Gilmore Girls. Not necessarily in that order.
8:31--Send in article.
9:15--See what the article looks like in layout. Incredibly happy, still can't quite believe it exists in print.
10:23--Just get the call that my work is done, no longer needed to stick around to clear up last second details and the like. I can go home and sleep!
Sorry that was so long. I had a little time to kill from sending in the article, as you can tell from my timeline. :) If you ran out of patience and just skipped to the end, here's the recap: I wrote a short article for Entertainment Weekly and you can read it in this week's issue. It will be in the Monitor section at the front of the magazine. I'm freakin happy, because I've been reading EW for years, but never thought my name would actually be in it. Yay!
I’m happy I had this magical experience with my first time pitching an article and getting it accepted in a major magazine, and that I recorded the details of how it came together in such a short time. Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat reading this!
Oh, and while I was unable to find my copy of the issue that featured the story in print, here is it online:
It honestly makes me emotional because it represents the first time my dream came true after moving to New York City. I’m so happy for my younger self, especially knowing how often I would get crushed in the years to come. There would be a lot of failure. So much failure. Other dreams came true eventually, like the fact that soon I’ll be publishing my third book in five years. But it took a long time getting here.
I always remember so clearly the times when things went wrong, or where I messed up. And finding this story from my 24-year-old self is a welcome reminder to make sure to keep a record of when things go right too.
Who is THE OTHER LATA?
With The Other Lata out on April 1, here’s a quick description of what it is about:
Somewhere in New York City, Lata Murthy knows there is another person with her name living a much more interesting life. That’s because Lata often receives the other Lata’s emails, a constant parade of invites to fancy events that makes Lata’s own life feel pathetic in comparison.
An impulsive decision to attend one of the parties leads Lata to take on the other Lata’s identity, and she jumps headfirst into the glamorous New York lifestyle.
At first, it all feels like a fairy tale: Lata is embraced by an elite friend group that includes Rajeev, an up-and-coming fashion designer. But Lata doesn’t just catch the attention of Rajeev—she also incurs the wrath of the mysterious woman she is impersonating. 👀
Several amazing authors offered blurbs, and I love this one from Brown Girls author Daphne Palasi Andreades:
There is still time to pre-order! And if you pre-order from Yu & Me Bookstore in Chinatown, you’ll get a signed, personalized copy plus a beautiful custom bookmark. I’m also having my launch event at Yu & Me on Thursday, April 3 in conversation with Kirstin Chen, the New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit.
Recommended reading
If you’re a Severance fan, you need to check out
’s story, “A Dispatch from the Real-Life Creepy Town in Severance” (Ministry of Pop Culture)If you’re in need of some inspiration, especially if you’re a creative, please check out
’s beautiful essay, “Sincere is a superpower—on the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh” (The Pamphlet)And finally,
’ piece, “For the authors who just found out their books were trained by AI,” is necessary reading even if you’re not at author, just to understand how enraging all this is, what is at stake, and what we can do about it. (Jodi Spins Stories)Thanks for reading this far, and wishing you a wonderful week.
Ah, youth! I can’t believe I sent this to so many people 😂
My jaw dropped when I read this in the year 2025. I totally forgot that she was the first famous person I ever interviewed—thank goodness I didn’t know enough to be thoroughly intimidated!
Oh my gosh, I loved this! I kind of teared up, what an incredible way to get a first article.
I adore your twentysomething self! What a beautiful story Kirthana, speaks to your spirit. And honored to be mentioned!