SAHIL HANDA



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My name is Sahil Handa. I was born in North London to Indian parents — one was born in Mombasa, and the other in Gujurat. I spent three years living in India (2006 - 2009) before returning to London for high school at this grammar school. I spent time as a visual artist with the Royal Academy of Arts and as an actor with the National Youth Theatre, and became a solo finalist in a televised dance competition in the UK.

I worked at a few startups in Dubai and London during my gap year, before running around Southeast Asia backpacking, skydiving, and dancing with strangers. I then went to Harvard for undergrad, majoring in Social Studies & Philosophy. I spent two terms at Jesus College, Cambridge in the Spring of 2020, travelled to Eastern Europe for three months, and then moved to New York.

I am currently working on a company called Typo* (a messaging platform designed for creative work.) Before that, I wrote for publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Foreign Policy, and  was on the founding team at Persuasion, an early politics and culture newsletter with over 50,000 subscribers. I was recently a visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins University, and I am a regular columnist at the Mercatus Center. I spend my time reading, writing, drawing, designing, DJing and dancing (literally and metaphorically.) In a past life, I had extremely long hair and played the guitar in a series of bad rock bands.

Here’s a list of things that I like: wandering walks, writing in warm light, sipping at jazz bars, painting on canvas, DJing techno, hosting wine nights, dance battles at clubs, calisthenics in the gym,conjuring up cocktails, copious note-taking, intentional interior design, elegant oufits, Italian espresso, thinking with friends, laughing with family, touring second hand bookshops, and eating oats. I live for the people in my life, and find meaning in unlocking unrealized potential in individuals and groups.

Here’s a selection of some recent writing:
- A Collage of Everything Imaginable (October 19, 2023)
- Rebel Rebel (February 11, 2022)
- Is America Really a Meritocracy? (September 30, 2021)
- Personal Essay about James Baldwin and Race in America (August 11, 2021)
- Why I’m an Optimist; Commentary on the Zoomers (July 13, 2021)
- What the Old Don’t Get About the Woke (January 25, 2021)
- How to Tame Tiktok (July 27, 2020)
- Boris Johnson’s Victory and the Political Realignment Shaking Western Democracies (January 2, 2020)
- Dominic Cummings and the Populist Surge (August 10, 2019)

Say hello on Twitter, Goodreads, or at sahil@sahilhanda.com