Story & Lesson Highlights with Divija Mohan Natarajan of Los Angeles

We recently had the chance to connect with Divija Mohan Natarajan and have shared our conversation below.

Divija, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity. Intelligence and energy are great to have, but integrity is a rare quality. In my work, I have met many people who are intelligent and enthusiastic, but their lack of integrity keeps others from working with them. You only need to get burned a couple of times to realise that sincerity, authenticity, and honesty are way more important than being clever or charming.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a screenwriter, creative consultant, producer, and BAFTA Connect member with a passion for storytelling that transcends cultural boundaries. My writing explores themes of identity, belonging, and transformation, resonating with international audiences while staying rooted in the South Asian diasporic experience. I love a good romcom, collect handbags and perfumes with a vengeance, and consider myself to be a history nerd. In my free time, I enjoy designing houses in The Sims, volunteering at my local animal shelter, and traveling.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
Resilience can sometimes be an overrated quality. It can keep you stuck in situations you don’t deserve, normalize survival mode, and make you forget that there is more to life than merely surviving. While my resilience through life’s hard knocks served me well in my 20s—failed moves, exploitative jobs, family loss, and environments I should have walked away from—it also made me risk-averse, overly analytical, and fearful of action.

By letting go of this “survival of the fittest” mentality, I discovered a different kind of perseverance: one that feels authentic, honors where I come from, and allows me to stay open to new experiences. Releasing resilience in its rigid form has given me the freedom not just to endure life, but to enjoy it again, truly.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
I used to think that it was failure, but over time, I realized I welcomed failure because it gave me the chance to grow and try again. The real fear that has held me back the most is the fear of stagnation. I’ve often worried about getting stuck—whether in a city, a job, or a version of myself that no longer feels true. That fear sometimes pushed me to make choices from a place of urgency and desperation rather than trust, as if standing still for too long would erase my potential. Over time, I’ve realized that growth doesn’t always come from constant movement—it can also come from stillness, reflection, and depth. Letting go of the anxiety around stagnation has helped me embrace change with patience and clarity, rather than restlessness.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I think many smart people today get it wrong by believing that intelligence alone is enough. Intelligence without integrity can be manipulative, self-serving, or even destructive. True wisdom isn’t measured only by how clever or capable someone is, but by how they use that intelligence. Are you honest, humble, and carry a sense of responsibility? Do you stay true to your values and look out for the people around you? In short, do you use your powers for evil?

The world has seen enough intelligent people who think they act in good faith but actually just downright vile. We could use kind humanitarians again to counter cynicism and the overly logical people who lack faith in humanity.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Doom Scrolling. I definitely feel like I’ve been captured by the internet sometimes. Yet whenever I find myself somewhere truly beautiful, I momentarily forget that the online world even exists. In those moments, I have a total Andy Sachs-from-The Devil Wears Prada moment—wanting to fling my phone straight into the nearest body of water. It turns out our mothers were right all along: it really is the phones.

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