LawyerTurnedComedian Zarna Garg Reflects on Starting StandUp at 44, Says Being 'Inauthentic Is a Lot of Work' (Exclusive) Tereza ShkurtajNovember 1, 2025 at 10:30 PM 0 Zarna Garg is a standup comedian with 2.9 million followers across Instagram and TikTok In October 2025, the 50yearold was named one of Instagram's firstever Rings award recipients Garg tells PEOPLE that her successful career stems from her authenticity Before the awards, the bestselling memoir and the standing ovations, Zarna Garg had already rewritten her story more times than most.
- - Lawyer-Turned-Comedian Zarna Garg Reflects on Starting Stand-Up at 44, Says Being 'Inauthentic Is a Lot of Work' (Exclusive)
Tereza ShkurtajNovember 1, 2025 at 10:30 PM
0
Zarna Garg is a stand-up comedian with 2.9 million followers across Instagram and TikTok
In October 2025, the 50-year-old was named one of Instagram's first-ever Rings award recipients
Garg tells PEOPLE that her successful career stems from her authenticity
Before the awards, the best-selling memoir and the standing ovations, Zarna Garg had already rewritten her story more times than most.
From being a runaway teen to a lawyer to a stay-at-home mom, the Indian-American comedian's journey is one of fearless reinvention rooted in unwavering authenticity.
"I got lucky," the 50-year-old tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I tell everybody else, you're at a time where being you could be your ticket."
Courtesy Zarna Garg
Zarna Garg.
At the age of just 14, Garg's life in Mumbai, India, was upended by the sudden death of her mother and her father's insistence on an arranged marriage.
Instead of accepting a future chosen for her, Garg chose herself. For two years, she lived with different relatives – couch-surfing and surviving on humor and resilience.
By 17, Garg's determination carried her across the world to Ohio, where she lived with her sister's family, putting herself through college and later law school to become a personal injury lawyer.
Courtesy Zarna Garg
Zarna Garg and her family.
After meeting her now-husband, Shalabh Garg, and getting married, she spent 16 years raising their three children – Zoya, Brij and Veer – as a stay-at-home mom.
"I didn't look up, I didn't look left or right. At that time, that was my full-time obsession," she recalls. "But then I came up for air, and I started thinking, what should I do with my life, and I found myself in comedy."
When Zarna launched her stand-up comedy career at age 44, prompted by her husband's pandemic-related layoff, the idea of being "late" to the game never even crossed her mind.
"I didn't even think about it. Am I too late? There's billions of people on Earth. You need a handful of those to make your business or your career work," she says.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Zarna Garg (@zarnagarg)
With encouragement from her family, Zarna hit the New York comedy scene in 2019, performing at open mics and the Westside Comedy Club.
By 2020, she was headlining at Caroline's on Broadway, and in 2023, she had earned a spot opening for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on their Restless Leg tour.
As of 2025, Zarna has two streaming specials — One in a Billion and Practical People Win — and in April, she released her New York Times bestselling memoir, This American Woman.
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Courtesy Zarna Garg
Zarna Garg doing a stand-up comedy show at a park.
Through it all, she credits her success to staying unapologetically true to herself. "Being inauthentic is a lot of work," she tells PEOPLE.
As a mother of three, wife, friend, businesswoman and more, Zarna says she doesn't have the "bandwidth" that comes with maintaining a facade.
"Everything is going to be in my voice. There's no dilution of it anywhere. Not on social media, not on my comedy specials," she explains. "People ask me, they're like, 'Who's managing your social media? Who's your team?' This is the team. You're looking at it."
Nearly every post on Instagram is shot by Zarna herself, usually on an iPhone. The only time she hires a videographer is for major guests, like activist Malala Yousafzai – but even then, the creative vision remains entirely her own.
"People like what I'm about, authentically, so I don't want to mess with that," she says, noting that she's never performed popular dance moves or used trending music purely for the sake of views.
"It's not what people come to me for. I like to give people what they want, which is how I built my whole business," she explains. "The beauty of it is that what I do is actually much simpler than what a lot of other creators do."
That authenticity and humor she brings to social media is a large part of the reason she was named as one of the 25 Instagram Rings winners, a new creator award recognizing and honoring those who take creative chances on the platform.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Zarna Garg (@zarnagarg)
Zarna, however, notes that her husband and three children are also involved in the creative process – often showing up on camera or behind a microphone.
Together, they host the Zarna Garg Family Podcast, where "heated debates, bickering, and laughs are all in a day's work."
Having built a multigenerational audience that feels like family, Zarna says fans often reach out to thank her and her family for bringing their shared experiences to life on stage and for helping them feel seen through comedy.
Courtesy Zarna Garg
Zarna Garg and her family.
"Everywhere we go, we have the oldest daughter of an immigrant family reaching out to my daughter and saying, you know, because you said this, I was able to have this conversation with my parents," Zarna reveals.
"Or we have the son of an Indian family reaching out to my son and saying, you know, 'My mom is the same, and you help me understand my mom.' "
This outpour of positivity inspires Zarna and her family to keep sharing their light with the world while remaining completely unfiltered.
"Being authentic has never been more in vogue," Zarna tells PEOPLE.
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: November 01, 2025 at 11:45PM on Source: VOXI MAG
#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle