Manjula Varghese

Manjula Varghese

Digital Producer/Editor

Manjula Varghese is the Digital Producer/Editor for KQED Arts & Culture. Before KQED, she produced videos for the San Francisco Chronicle, exploring issues of race, gun violence and immigration. As a D.C. native, she managed to escape the East Coast, run her own production company Mirrorlake Films based in Utah, and graduate from Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism unscathed. Believing in the power of community, she is active in the local Asian American Journalists Association, Brown Girls Doc Mafia and, on occasion, teaches at UC Berkeley's school of journalism. Her free time is filled with day trips around the Bay, live music, befriending stranger’s dogs and attempting her mom’s South Indian cooking.

By Manjula Varghese
Host of Beyond the Menu, Cecilia Philips is holding a giant paper mache pretzel pretending to eat it. The text on the image reads 'Who Invented Pretzels?'

How Pretzels Went From Human Sacrifice To Beer Gardens

A young light-skinned black woman stands in the foreground holding a bottle of chamoy. In the background, a large bottle of chamoy sauce is squeezed onto half an orange.

It’s Mexican, Asian, a Candy, a Sauce…It’s Chamoy

A plate with a piece of fried chicken sitting on top of a waffle next to the show's host, Cecilia Phillips

Chicken and Waffles: from Amish Country to Harlem

A smiling woman holding a samosa is positioned against a backdrop that is a closeup of a bowl filled with crispy triangular samosas

Samosas aren’t from India…Wait, what?

A collage with two people, and text saying: "What Could Reparations Look Like"

Mini-Documentary: What Could Reparations Look Like?

A collage image intended to be the title page for a video, showing various faces depicting Black historical figures in black and white juxtaposed with contemporary photos of some of the Black voices featured in the story, with a tagline reading 'Episode 4: how land was taken from Black Americans'

How Black Californians Had Their Land Stolen

A collage features five Black women in their 30s laughing while engaging in discussion.

Watch: ‘What’s Pimpin’?’ Tells Survivor Stories from Bay Area Pimp Culture

A collage with a yellow background features large photos of Dregs One and Ian Kelly, two Black men in their 30s. Dregs wears an SF Giants hat and holds up his hand in a "phone" gesture. Ian smiles and wears a yellow hat. A blue-tinted collage of Maddy, Ryan and Coco in the lower row shows the three hosts smiling and engaged in thoughtful conversation.

Watch: 'What's Pimpin'?' Dives Into Masculinity, Dating with Dregs One, Ian Kelly

Three Black women in colorful clothing sit in front of microphones while laughing.

Watch: ‘What’s Pimpin’?’ Takes on Misogynoir in Bay Area Hip-Hop

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