Kiki Kapany speaking at the Sikh Foundations 50th Anniversary Gala and Conference. Photo by A.K Sandhu
By Ashish Bhardwaj
Tell us about yourself, your background and what you do currently
My husband Michael Schwarz and I founded Kikim Media in 1996. I am the Chief Executive Officer and my husband is the Producer/Director at Kikim Media. Our work has been honored with some of the most prestigious awards in broadcasting. I combine a background in law and media. My former experience allows me to combine sound creativity with experienced legal sense, adding an important dimension to my resources. Currently I handle the business and legal issues at Kikim. In my spare time, I manage to continue my law practice at the company. I am currently licensed to practice in the United States District Court in order to help immigrants and refugees in the US.
What has been your biggest challenge in achieving your success?
The current political administration has changed the landscape of our world. We find that almost all institutions we work with are trying to find a way to adapt to the conditions created by this administration. Another big challenge we have is finding strong capital when markets are tightening.
What has been your greatest achievement personally?
My family has been my greatest achievement. I have two gorgeous kind intelligent and caring daughters. One daughter runs her own yoga business here in California. The other daughter is 24 years old and works
for the Global Department at William Morris Entertainment in Beverly Hills Calif. My brother and his beautiful children are a huge part of our family and our lives. My wonderful treasure of a husband, Michael Schwarz, and
I founded Kikim Media in 1996. Together we have produced many fabulous documentaries, many of which are about incredibly inspiring people or issues and our documentaries reach a tremendous number of people though the wide reach of PBS audiences. We believe that the content we produce will help people to make better decisions about important issues and thereby will help to make people smarter citizens and voters….and therefore we in some small way contribute some change in the world. We believe that education and continual learning contribute to an open mind….the eternal student is the key to a better world.
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you be doing?
I would put all my efforts into litigation. There are so many flagrant injustices in this country right now. I would either be helping refugees and immigrant to maneuver through the new immigration rules here and create a safe life for themselves or I would be joining forces with some constitutional attorneys that already on the mission to save this country.
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
My mother and my father have been the biggest inspiration to me. My mother Satinder Kaur Kapany, passed away last year. She and my father were married for 62 years and loved each other so dearly. When my
father said good bye to her it was the single most important moment in my life.I was lucky enough to be privy to that ever lasting moment engaged into my memories forever. They held each others hands no matter how severe the challenges. Their profound love, depth of spirit and character and patience to endure any challenges together….well, you couldn’t ask for better inspiration.
What does the future hold for you?
I hope the future holds true lasting peace, acceptance of and recognition of rights for all in this world. I am so saddened by and tired of the hatred, the racism, the xenophobia, the sexism, the anti-semitism, the bigotry…I thought we had really come farther than all of that….I thought we were more civilized. I pray that Muslims are finally fully accepted as a kind, loving, hard working, peaceful people and that terrorism is no longer associated with any religion – it is just terrorism – and is eradicated from this planet. It is unacceptable. And I hope that I can play a small part in making all of that happen by producing inspiring documentaries.
Courtesy of www.wearethecity.in