Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarina Raman.
Hi Sarina, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Throughout my whole life, I grew up in the DMV area. I went to elementary and middle school in Catonsville, MD, and then, I went to Mount Hebron in Ellicott City, MD where I attended high school and grew up the majority of my teen life there.
For college, I didn’t move very far–I attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. After graduating, I decided to stay a few years before applying for master’s programs. I landed up at Georgetown University in Washington DC for a year. After that, I relocated to Richmond, VA as I took a few gap years before applying to medical school.
Ellicott City and Baltimore are two places where I learned a lot about my identity, and my passion for life, and where I made some lifelong friends. From discovering my strong interest in the medical field as I did scientific research at Johns Hopkins University to teaching piano to young children to unraveling my hobby of photography, Maryland itself holds a special place in my heart.
Maryland is the home where I became the person I am today. Now that I have relocated to Las Vegas, NV for medical school, I am proud to tell people I am from the land of Old Bay and the best state flag around.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely not been a smooth road for me. But you know what? I don’t regret any of the mistakes or challenges I failed to accomplish. Those hardships refined me to become the person I am today. The journey to medical school is more than simply getting into a graduate school.
You really need to dig deep to find your passion and drive. Medical school is not a sprint, but a full marathon. That is why I am grateful to have my creative outlets, such as piano and photography, to remind myself that there is more to life than school. It gives me a balance of work and play. It also gets my creative juices flowing, which allows me to retain the information I am learning at school better.
Medicine is art. Art is medicine. They go hand in hand. And that is something I like to advise pre-meds as they are on their journey to apply to medical school–to find your unique story, hold onto that passion, and incorporate the hobbies and facets that make YOU special into your journey.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I started my food photography Instagram page with my older sister, Natasha, back in 2015. It all started on my personal Instagram account actually and one day, Natasha commented that all I do is post food photos on my page. That gave me the idea to completely convert it to a food Instagram page–with the combination of our last name, we created @Ramanoodleseats
When we lived together, we baked and cooked together all the time. It was one of the many things I would do with Natasha, especially during her breaks when she was a medical student herself. When cooking, she was the head chef in the kitchen, and I was mainly the sous chef, photographer, and kitchen cleaner haha. We made a good pair that way. It was a great creative outlet–we explored different types of cuisine and experimented a lot in the kitchen.
My parents noticed that I was getting into photography more, so for graduation from undergraduate, they gifted me my first camera. Since then, I dove deep into food photography. It was a way of showcasing what Natasha and I made and what we ate when we traveled to different places. To me, it was like a scrapbook of my adventures with her. It was never to become an “Instagram Influencer”.
Natasha is my best friend–we are only 2 years apart so running this Instagram page with her is super special. From time to time, I look back on the photos I took and it takes me back to that specific memory.
Aside from food photography, I also love taking pictures of sunrises and sunsets. It’s amazing what Mother Nature can showcase for us in the sky. I love feeling that thrill when the sky changes colors within a span of 5 minutes and then either the sun completely rises, or the sky turns black.
My friends know me as the “sunset chaser” and that is one form of cardio I do not mind doing haha.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
A favorite childhood memory of mine was during the winter times in Ellicott City, MD. Personally, I loathe the snow (one of the main reasons why I picked Las Vegas as the location for the next chapter of my story haha. It’s sunny 95% of the time here!). But I do remember looking outside my bedroom window as the snow pummeled down.
The window would fog up with my breath as my face was pressed against the glass–I would be watching my father shovel the snow. I remember I would see my friendly neighbors bring their automatic snow plow and plow the rest of the driveway for us. We had the friendliest and kindest neighbors. We were all one big family and I miss them a lot.
After the big snow trucks would come to plow the rest of the streets, the other neighborhood kids, Natasha, and I would get our sleds and slide down massive slopes. After a long day of playing in the snow, our fingers and toes would be frozen, but it was so worth it.
Then the next morning, my sister and I would run down from our bedroom and scrutinize the TV to see if “Howard County” popped up for a delay and closing. Those were the days, haha.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ramanoodleseats/?hl=en | https://www.instagram.com/musictravelandmore/?hl=en
