My identity has always been grounded in the teams I am a part of: my family, my soccer team, my church, my girls and now, The Bruin.
If I had to explain what the Daily Bruin has been for me during my time at UCLA, I would say it has been my steadfast, ever-present, perfect team.
College unmoored me from all of the teams that encompassed who I thought I was at 17. So, understandably, when I got to UCLA, I was frantic to find communities to build a new identity among.
My time at The Bruin not only gave me the community I yearned for, but also the confidence to carve out who I was outside these groups I coveted and loved.
The entire essence of investigative journalism is looking deep into our community and learning how we work together, how we help and hurt one another and how we can improve ourselves. In learning to ask my community members questions about their livelihoods, their goals, their passions and who mattered most to them, I also learned how to observe these questions introspectively.
I learned how much I loved conversing with strangers on topics that mattered so much to both of us. I learned of my love for being on a team of like-minded individuals and the amazing things we were capable of doing together. I learned of my love for beach soccer, Anomia, late-night mahjong and midnight dance circles on retreat.
The Bruin was a large factor in discovering my love for medicine. I had the privilege of listening to community members share the obstacles they faced in their health journeys. Yet I also simultaneously heard how meaningful having a compassionate physician could be in a healthcare system that often feels stacked against people.
Most importantly, I learned that my team is my motivation and my purpose – and The Bruin was my team.
To Justin Huwe and Zinnia Finn, thank you for welcoming me to the Daily Bruin, for taking in the girl with stars in her eyes and turning her into a journalist. To Conner, Sarah, Max, Bella and Liam, thank you for being the loveliest team leads by being there for me in so many ways and inspiring me in even more. To Anna, Davis, Karina and Amanda, I don’t think I’ve ever explained just quite how much our friendship has meant to me. Thank you for filling my last year here at The Bruin with such unexpected love. And finally, to Dylan Tzung and Lex Wang, thank you for being the leaders who taught me so much and supported me through it all. I am eternally grateful for you both, and I am so honored to have worked with you.
It has been an immense privilege to be a part of a team that has such a true mission.
Enterprise, I love you all and I look forward to seeing all the amazing things this section accomplishes in the future.
Thank you, Daily Bruin.
Thyagarajan was the 2025-26 Enterprise editor, the 2024-25 assistant Enterprise editor, and a 2022-24 Enterprise and News contributor.
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