The culture page that grew to 30,000 followers in three weeks

"I know what it feels like to have someone misunderstand your entire identity," Sahana Venkataraman says. "I've seen people grow up ashamed of their culture because that's how social media told them to feel."

The Lotus Project is her answer. She realised that the main source of misinformation about her culture was social media, so she decided that if she could not beat social media she would join it. She started her own Instagram page, which has grown to more than 30,000 followers in three short weeks. Through it, she says, she has been able to raise awareness about history and culture and educate thousands of people around the world about topics more people should know about.

“The first thing you should know about me is that my north star is impact. The desire to make the world a better place will always drive everything I do and every decision I make.”

Sahana Venkataraman

She describes the cost of cross cultural illiteracy in ordinary terms. It is the reason a business launching in a foreign market loses trust before it gains traction, she says, and "the reason why a traditional lunch gets sidelong glances, reducing identity to something to hide."

She is an International History Olympian. Having studied many histories, she believes every culture is "incredibly deep, rich and deserving of respect."

In the summer of 2025 she spent two months in India, her country of origin. Her family is from southern India and her grandparents live in Kerala and Bangalore. "None of those facts had any weight nor painted a picture in my mind, before I visited for two months in the summer of 2025," she says. When someone asked where she was from, she had memorised the name. "What was the culture? Why was it so beloved by my parents? What was I missing? I didn't know any of it."

What she found there was in the people. A street vendor who had been paid a couple of extra rupees by mistake chased her dad down to hand over the extra fruit, insisting he would take only what he had earned. A neighbour who had known the family for a few days asked after them every day and brought gifts. A priest spent hours explaining an ancient story so that they could understand it.

"No one should have to be discriminated against for a superficial version of their identity that they never signed up for," she says. "That is why I started the Lotus Project."