Priyanka Mattoo’s Career Advice Is a Bright Light in Dark Times

Thanks to the coronavirus, comedians are now trapped at home like the rest of us, so we decided that while we’re all self-quarantining, we’d do something a little different from our usual “Follow Friday� column. And today, we’re doing something a little more different: Instead of hopping on Instagram Live to check in with how a beloved comedian is handling the pandemic, we’re sitting down with someone who works in the industry to get some advice for the future of comedy. So welcome to our new, new (just for this week) version of the column, now titled “Follow (From a Safe Distance) Friday: Advice Edition.�

This week, Priyanka Mattoo (former agent at WME, current producer, Vulture columnist, and fashion icon) joined me on Insta Live to offer up some sage advice on the industry as it stands, in the midst of a global pandemic and a civil-rights movement. She offered some strategies for successfully networking from your couch, provided some insight on what uplifting diverse perspectives in entertainment might look like after the current circumstances, and broke down what it takes to write a story based in a tumultuous time like now. She also got introspective about a personality trait she’s only recently discovered: “I didn’t know I was intense until last year, when my husband was just like ‘Yeah, you’re an intense person.’ I was like … ‘Oh.’�

You can find Priyanka on Instagram at @primattoo and on Twitter at @naanking.