Sushma Chitta was born on 18th January 1988 to Mr. C Naga Sundara Dev and C Lakshmi Sujata in Eluru village of Andhra Pradesh. She was born into a Telugu Brahmin family and was brought up in Ramagundam, Visakhapatnam, and Hyderabad. Most of her childhood was spent in NTPC townships. Her father, Mr. C Naga Sundara Dev, is an engineer, and her mother, Mrs. Lakshmi, is a teacher. She has an older sister who is settled in the US with her husband and has kids. Her sister is also a software engineer. Sushma comes from a well-to-do family, as her family has retired army, Navy, Air Force, IAS officers, teachers, bankers, professors, and engineers.
Sushma Chitta married her childhood love. They have known each other since the age of 5, studied together in the same school, and lived in the same colony. After dating for 10 years, they got married. The couple now resides in Hyderabad and has a 4-year-old daughter and one sister-in-law living with them.
Sushma Chitta is a Sr. Staff Technical Writer at ServiceNow, Hyderabad with 14 years of working experience. She often speaks at various technical communication conferences and also leads a women’s forum in her organization.
She also creates digital comic strips for fun and work, and her company, ServiceNow, has encouraged her a lot for her comic strips. Her approach is very homegrown and old-school.
Education
She completed her schooling at various schools, but mostly in Kendriya Vidyalaya in Vizag. Then she pursued her graduation in B.Tech. from GNITS, Hyderabad, in 2009.
Childhood Story & Memories
As a child, she has always been an enthusiastic and curious person. She participated in various events, such as dancing and singing. Additionally, she was good at extempore.
Sushma Chitta and her sister both liked to perform on stage. Her parents enrolled her in many activities since childhood, such as Bharatanatyam, arts, and Carnatic music. Over the years, she has learned many things, like coffee painting, mandala art from scratch, oil canvas painting, glass painting, and lots more. She has always been interested in arts and crafts.
School or College Memories
In 8th and 9th grade, she took part in various inter-school competitions such as elocution, extempore, and slogan writing. She was honored with the “Best student in inter-school programs” award in the 9th grade. Additionally, she has written many articles and stories in English for the Deccan Chronicle during her school days. During college, her passion for the stage continued. Apart from dance, she also participated in numerous inter-college technical paper presentation events & fests and earned accolades. In the 3rd year, 2nd semester, she secured a job with TCS through campus placements.
My Parenting Journey….
Let’s talk about her journey as a comedian. She started her stand-up comedy journey in 2023. For an internal event at the office, she performed a 45-minute set about her parenting journey. Since it was mostly a comedic rant, she named the set “My Paranting Journey.” It was very well received. Later, she performed three more internal events and a corporate show.
Before this, she never knew about the open mic events. When she learned about them, she wasn’t sure whether she could participate due to her work schedule and caring for her daughter. One day, she came across an advertisement for an open mic on the Book My Show app and decided to register as a performer. Since then, she has been actively doing open mics, solo shows, and corporate shows.
Her journey has been very challenging since she started her stand-up comedy. She used to travel a lot to perform a 5-minute set in open mics. There were days when she would perform for 2 open mics, back-to-back.
She shared a memory about the day she found a Telugu open mic on Tamada Media’s Mic Ki KirKiri channel. She performed the stand-up comedy on NRI’s sister’s visit to Hyderabad, and her performance went viral on social media. Since then, she has performed at many live stand-up comedy shows.
Hobbies
She is a stand-up comedian with a keen interest in creating digital comic strips. Recently, an online magazine SheSight published her comic strip work, and she won their Mother’s Day delight competition.
She also enjoys singing and loves to dance. Last year, she performed a semi-classical dance at two events in her gated community. Additionally, she loves to host events.
Links of her comicstrips: Napflix and Midnight Tea Party: The Real Parenting Show and Sleepless in Shopping land.
A Lifetime Struggle……
When she first started, there were times when she was easily accepted, and people were pleasantly surprised to see a mother of a 4-year-old trying stand-up comedy. It was very encouraging. However, there were also times when people refused to laugh at her jokes and took time to accept her. Even for her stand-up comedy videos posted on YouTube and Instagram, she receives disrespectful comments. She said, “This situation needs to change significantly. The trolling requires some form of social policing. It is a mix.”
Well, these days the landscape of the comedy profession is evolving rapidly, and she now finds that there is less discrimination between male and female stand-up comics. She feels elated when young girls and boys express their enjoyment of her clean comedy content and share that she has inspired them to pursue this profession. They lovingly call her “Akka” (sister), and she is now known as a “Universal akka”, or Universal sister.”
She believes that “there are lots of opportunities to explore, thanks to the open mics. Without these platforms, she wouldn’t be where she is today.” It’s a great time to experiment with stand-up, storytelling, and more. Stand-up comedy is a very challenging genre, making people laugh is an art that everyone cannot do.
Inspiration
In terms of stand-up comedy, she is inspired by Shraddha Jain (Aiyyo Shraddha fame), Amit Tandon, and Rajasekhar Mamidanna. She likes their comedy work.
In life, she is inspired by many women around her, especially her mother. Her mother is a teacher, hosts events, conducts quizzes, and is an admirer of fine arts. She has hustled through many things and is always active on stage, even at her age. She got everything from her.
Her First Chance
She seized her first opportunity to perform at an open mic at Enchante Café in Hyderabad. She was given a 3-minute slot to perform, and she took it as a challenge. She did a set on being a work-from-home mom. She added lots of elements to it, such as songs and tweaking the lyrics. Her set became an instant hit!
She still vividly remembers the first time she appeared on camera for the Telugu Open Mic at Tamada Media’s Mic ki Kirkiri. She was feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness. She performed on how NRIs react to the fast-progressing Hyderabad and India. It was aired on their YouTube channel and Instagram on Women’s Day, which brought her lots of recognition.
She also talked about the popular “Varalakshmi Tiffins” on DLF Street in Hyderabad and how people enjoy their food. When the marketing team at Varalakshmi Tiffins saw her video, they loved it and invited her to their restaurant, which was a heartwarming moment.
List of Open Mics and Events
She has done about 30-35 open mics and events to date. She has enjoyed every event!
Echoes of Success: Memorable Shows
She performed a stand-up comedy on Periods for the Youngistaan Foundation on World Menstrual Hygiene Day. She received so many compliments from the audience including numerous dignitaries. When she was approached to do a set on the taboo topic, she took it as a challenge and the result was gratifying. After that event, she was featured in Telangana Today and Times of India.
Another memorable show for her was at The SkyView, hosted by the Mic and Mingle community. Her comedy set focused on millennial parenting and included several songs. The audience responded with a 30-second round of applause. More recently, her college invited her to speak at one of their events, where she was also asked to light the ceremonial lamp. This felt like a proud moment, bringing her journey full circle.
Awards and Achievements
She has many publications in newspapers and won many awards related to her work
Current Projects
She is actively performing at Tamada Media’s Mic Ki Kirkiri events. They are expanding to cafes, lounges, pubs, and corporate shows. She performed at various open mics within Hyderabad in English, Telugu, and Hindi languages.
Upcoming Projects
She will continue to deliver clean comedy content in English, Telugu, and Hindi that everyone can enjoy without feeling uncomfortable or awkward. She often receives positive feedback from a wide range of age groups, including senior citizens, Generation Y, and Generation Z. She is pleased that she can make people of all ages laugh and that remains her goal going forward. Additionally, she aims to use her comedy to raise awareness of social issues in society, such as the one she did for periods and menstrual hygiene.
The Art of Comedy: The Process of Creating Comedy Content
She shared the process of how she creates clean comedy content. Most ideas come from her daily life, work, or family situations, which anyone can relate to regardless of age or gender. She adds a lot of elements to her stories, such as songs. She tweaks the lyrics of famous songs and incorporates them into her sets, which is her unique selling point. These are always a hit, and the audience enjoys them. With her work experience, she blends her professional expertise with her comedic knack.
Her daughter is her biggest inspiration, and she spends a lot of time with her. Her daughter puts her in many situations, and she talks a lot. Later, she started using those situations and dialogues in her comedy sets for content!
Her Thoughts on Pursuing Passion –
“I believe that it is never too late to kickstart your hobby and to follow your heart & passion. As women, we might be held up with so many responsibilities trying to balance it all. Breaking those barriers is very crucial. You need not balance it all alone, seek help wherever required and spend time on yourself to nurture your hobbies and passion. They give you a lot of unmatchable happiness.
I want to set an example for many women and the younger generation on aligning interests, passions, and professional endeavors.”
Videos-A few videos posted on YouTube – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRf3aHCDsNIVykdE0pdbq9nWaaqbjVoRh&si=CB_hBFUisSOd6i9R