Rupa Jogani

Who Am I?

My name is Rupa and I’m a queer, agender writer, baker, and researcher based in Chicago. I’m a former music critic and editor for LYFSTYL, the co-founder and co-editor of AniGay, and freelance dessert caterer. You’ll usually find me at home crying over sports anime, studying fine pastry, and listening to a lot of weird, experimental music.

Desserts & Baking

I’m someone who thinks about desserts all the time: eating them, creating my own, traveling the world to to try my favorite patisseries and studying new techniques and trends. I even have an Instagram profile devoted to discussing dessert and pastry chefs. As a kid I wanted to be a pastry chef, but due to circumstances and having a chronically ill body that refuses to let me stand for long periods of time, that was simply not in the cards for me. Despite these setbacks, I’ve never given up my love for studying and creating new desserts, and now I’m focused on studying allergen and dietary friendly pastry for all. As a patron, you’ll directly help fund my dream of making desserts while also getting recipes and even baked goods in return for your support.

(For those who are curious: the banner image is me, making lemon mirrors from Jacquy Pfeiffer's phenomenal pastry book, which is a must-have for anyone who's interested in learning more about French pastry!)

Writing

You may know my work from back in my peak music writing days (until roughly 2016) at LYFSTYL, jo’s musings, and contributing for Cassette Rewind. I’ve reviewed albums and concerts, covered festivals, conducted interviews, wrote features on up-and-coming artists, and served as a tastemaker for emerging electronic music. Although I semi-retired from music writing, you can still find me talking about music extensively on Twitter and other social media platforms. These days, I co-edit AniGay, a publication where we do queer analysis of anime. Patrons will get to see snippets of drafts for AniGay as well as being able to read (the now rare) long-form music reviews and even reviews of other forms of media! And maybe even get sneak peeks at some essays and a VERY secret project I’m working on.

Research

With the amount of time and love I pour into researching esoteric topics related to any of my interests, I wanted to find a way to put those findings back into the world. Plus, I'm practicing and building a portfolio to eventually work as a researcher in the future. Your patronage will help me sharpen the skills I'll need to do research work in a professional capacity. 

Thank you so much for visiting and if you are able to contribute I would greatly appreciate it! Your support means the world to me. 

If you have questions and/or want to see more of me further afield, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram.

hearts,
- r