THE COOL FACES OF BASTET NOIR: Meet Pavana Reddy, the poet behind MazaDohta Instagram account

For Pavana Reddy, pouring her soul out started as a therapeutic way to heal the wounds caused by a loss of someone she loved more than anything else in the world. After losing her sister at a very young age, she found her comfort in poetry. This art form gave her an outlet to express her rage, understand the pain, embrace it, share it with the world and learn how to let go of it. It gave her a positive perspective to what seemed like a never ending nightmare. 

Today Pavana Reddy lives in LA. Her first book “Rangoli” is a collection of poetry whose honesty touched Anoushka Shankar who invited Pavana to write a song for her Grammy nominated album, Land of Gold. And the rest as they say is history. On this and so much more, read our interview with the latest cool face of Bastet Noir, Pavana Reddy.

Who is Pavana Reddy?

Your Instagram is filled with inspiring poems from your book Rangoli. What does your Insta handle MazaDohta stand for?

We’re inspired by women who have the courage to raise up their voice when faced with injustice, but more so we’re in awe of women who can turn a deep emotional pain into a piece of art. For us you’re a warrior and a fierce woman that keeps on motivating. As someone who’s overcame a great loss, could you tell us what poetry means to you and how crucial it was in paving your way to self acceptance?

Even though we love all of the poems, there’s one that we keep on reading over and over again. There’s something about it that resonates with us, mostly because we believe that as women, it’s crucial for us to start loving, accepting and embracing ourselves. There’s certain kind of power that comes with it, don’t you think?

Yes, definitely! It’s so easy to be sidetracked when we’re dealing with pain, everyone and their best friend’s cousin has advice for you, and sometimes it can get so overwhelming! This poem is about taking the time to search yourself for forgiveness — to access the hurt you’re feeling and to dig inside until you can name the root of it. Once you do that, no one else can judge you. For myself at least, this has been a key part to my healing. We are so quick to want to rid ourselves of pain because we just don’t want to deal with it, or we’re too afraid of what others may think, this piece is a reminder to be patient because no one is worth rushing your healing process for. I think women are so powerful, but we’ve been conditioned to suppress that part of ourselves in order to seem more attractive. It’s when we take the time to explore our power do we begin recognize it for what it actually is: the ability to heal, and in the desire to love. This is when we truly start to embrace ourselves.

Favorite book you keep on rereading and favorite poem you’ve ever written?

One of my favorite books to return to is Rohinton Mistry’s “A Fine Balance.” I’ve read this book once a year since the first time I read it about 10 years ago! As far as poems I have written, I have a few personal favorites, but if I had to choose it would be this poem from my book:

“light a few candles

and burn a few bridges,

not everyone deserves

to be a part of your journey.”

This particular poem basically sums up all the events that had to happen in order for me to find the strength within myself to finally publish a book.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Everything! I don’t limit myself. Wherever I am, poetry is that little voice in the back of my head whispering, “ find the story in this.”

What, would you say is your proudest moment to date?

If you had to pick 3 words to describe your style. What would they be?

Relaxed, comfortable, and stormy. I am always wearing black, and I never dress up unless the occasion demands it because I am such a lazy dresser! I admire people who seem to throw themselves together so effortlessly, because I am the exact opposite of that.

It’s an absolute honor to have you wear one of Bastet Noir’s pieces. Thanks for the support gal. So what’s your favorite Bastet Noir’s piece?

We all carry different burdens and wounds. How we choose to deal with them is what shapes our personalities and makes us stronger or weaker. It all starts with you. We do admire people who through their pain always manage to emerge victorious. Pavana is one of these amazing human beings whose poetry is always a source of inspiration for us. Through her poems we discover a bit more about ourselves, every time we read them. They empower us, teach us how to love ourselves and sympathize with the pain of others. Her poems are the magical land we go to, every time we want to learn something more about our restless souls and every time we want to quite the storms raging within our hearts.

We love strong, confident and self reliant women, so if you think you got what it takes, send us an email with your Instagram account and the story you’d like to share and you might just become Bastet Noir’s next cool face.