0:05  
A study done by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters found that approximately 12% of all on camera talent in Canada are visible minorities. blog to and Family Channel host. Do you prefer shad is one of them. Deepa said that her younger self would have never believed that she would be working in the TV industry today.

0:32  
When I was growing up, I didn't see many Indian women on television, especially in entertainment, because my specialty is entertainment. I love entertainment. And I would look at TV and be like, oh, gosh, what are my chances because I don't see anybody that looks like me.

0:47  
As Deepa went through school, she didn't think much of the broadcast industry. That was until one of her high school teachers sparked her interest in it.

1:00  
When I was in high school, I had this teacher who I love to death, his name is Mr. Steele. And one day, he was like, hey, I think you should be part of our com-tech class and do like the anchoring the news anchoring for the school. And I was like, why I was like, that doesn't interest me. Little did I know that's exactly what I wanted to do. And for some reason, he always thought that I would be good at it and I just never wanted to try it. So that was like in grade 10. And then I ended up falling in love with it. And he knew that like, okay, this is like a career path that I want to follow. I want to do video, I want to be on camera. So I think if I didn't have that extra push from him, I wouldn't have known what I wanted to do.

1:41  
From there Deepa said she fell in love with the idea of being an on camera host and applied to the Ryerson Radio and Television Arts program. Deepa said that she was nervous about getting experience in finding a job in the industry. But in just her first year at Ryerson, she landed the role of the new Family Channel TV host.

2:02  
Hey there Deepa Prashad here! Your brand new family channel host. No big deal. Who am I kidding? It's a huge deal. I'll be bringing you celebrity interviews, behind the scenes footage and first look at our new shows and videos. 

2:16  
Deepa said that she was excited about getting the job. But other people weren't so happy for her.

2:25  
I do find that people try to like belittle you because you're a person of color. I got hired to be the host of the Family Channel and a lot of a lot of students from RTA had auditioned. And when they found out I got the job, they're like you only got it because you're Brown. It's like a coping mechanism for people like if they're somehow not happy that they didn't get a position. Their automatic fallback is, well, you only got it because you're Brown, and they're filling some sort of quota. And I was like, I don't believe that because they should be hiring the person that has the best ability for the job, regardless of your color, or whatever else they try to like pin on you. So I think that was the first time I felt like, oh, gosh, I have an uphill battle, but you just have to stick with it and push yourself through it too.

3:16  
As the longest running on air host for Family Channel, Deepa has reached millions of children across the country. She says that it's important for her to be able to be someone that young children of color can relate to, because that's not something that she really had growing up.

3:33  
To me is really important. And I think this also ties back into the idea that I'm Indian, like, I actually had a lot of young Indian girls, like, reach out to me on social media be like, hey, like, we're so excited to see you as the host of Family Channel like we can relate. So to me that's like really, really important because I felt like I didn't have that. So to be the face of a channel like that, that kids are watching and kids are very impressionable at that age. I think it's super important. 

4:04  
In 2018, it was Deepa's final year of the RTA undergraduate program. At the time, she had already been a host for Family Channel for three years, but this year Blog TO hired her as their first ever full time host.

4:20  
What's up guys, it's Deepa and we're about to check out Toronto's newest fried chicken sensation. Now I feel like cheese and fried chicken this may be the place for you.

4:29  
Despite Blog TO being such a large entertainment platform for a diverse city like Toronto, she still face some backlash because of her race.

4:38  
People still judge me because I'm Indian people will be like, why did you hire an Indian girl to be like the face of Blog TO and they'll be like, why is this girl here? Like it should have been a white girl and I'm like, why are you still fighting about this? Like, is it really that bad that I'm brown and that I'm like a face of a really popular platform because I think being diverse is super important. Again, this, this social media platform reaches almost the entire city and it's important to have representation from every single culture.

5:13  
Looking back at her journey and where she is now, Deepa says that it was frustrating receiving all this criticism around her achievements. But knowing that her hard work was paying off, was keeping her going.

5:26  
In this industry, everybody, everybody is so hard working and you cannot be complacent, you have to make opportunities for yourself. You have to push like, Blog TO that wasn't a position, there was no hosting position. I emailed them and I was like, hey, can I get a job as a host because you don't have one and they're like, okay. so like, you have to quit, you have to make opportunities for yourself. Because if you wait for opportunities to come to you in this industry, I think you'll be very disappointed.

5:58  
Deepa's success in the industry has inspired many young people of color, with one particular group being students of color, who are looking to go into the media industry. Tyler Griffith, co founder of the Ryerson Journalists of Colour Association, says that seeing people of color and Canadian media encourages himself and other students to continue pursuing a career in this field.

6:23  
I think it motivates me in the sense of, there's just so many of them that I look up to. And I hope this doesn't sound bad, but there's like way more racialized journalists that I look up to that I think do amazing work than I do white journalists. And yeah, another part of it is kind of just like, how much better they are sometimes at catching things in the industry that are wrong or like how much better their work is because it's informed by their own personal lived experience. Like they have a very unique voice, they have something to bring to the table and they're not afraid to call out things when they're wrong.

6:59  
Tyler says that he hopes Canadian newsrooms will be better at diversifying their staff.

7:04  
I think even just gauging by my newsroom here at the community level at Ryerson, like this is the first time in a long time, or maybe ever, I think where we've had more women on masthead. Like there's only like a handful of like white reporters. And like, I just see that slowly kind of mixing into the large industry. Obviously when you get to like bigger publications, there's it's still very white male dominated at the top. But I think as time goes on in our generation kind of gets into those positions that's going to change and I think all of it is for the better.

7:38  
As Tyler remains hopeful of having more racial diversity in Canadian media, students alike look to industry professionals, like Deepa, who proves that people of color can be successful in the media industry.