Latest / Mini Scroll / Touching Grass with body positivity advocate Ruchi Page

Transcript

Touching Grass with body positivity advocate Ruchi Page · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Welcome to Touchgrass, a miniseries where I chat with
• 0:03
  creatives about staying sane while being chronically online.
• 0:07
  I'm your host Lauren Meisner, and Touchgrass is a miniseries
• 0:10
  brought to you by Britta where we explore the implications of
• 0:13
  being chronically online with the creatives who can't escape
• 0:16
  it. One thing that keeps coming up
• 0:18
  in these conversations is how important small grounding
• 0:21
  routines are offline. And for me, one of those
• 0:24
  routines is drinking enough water.
• 0:26
  Whether I'm refilling a water bottle for a long walk or taking
• 0:29
  a break scrolling my For You page, Britta makes it easy for
• 0:32
  me to stay hydrated and grounded with pure, fresh tasting
• 0:35
  filtered water straight from any tap.
• 0:37
  Thank you to Britta for supporting independent media and
• 0:40
  helping us take better care of ourselves one refill at a time.
• 0:44
  Today I'm chatting with creator, advocate and my long time
• 0:47
  collaborator Rishi Page. In our conversation, Rishi takes
• 0:51
  me through her experiences as a woman of color in the Australian
• 0:54
  influencer industry, why she creates purpose like content,
• 0:58
  and how she supports her mental health through the ups and downs
• 1:01
  of online advocacy. I'm so excited that we're
• 1:04
  reuniting. I know we haven't seen each
• 1:06
  other. Honestly, might be two years.
• 1:09
  Yeah, Yep. Yep, I think 2:00.
• 1:11
  Years. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:13
  So Rushi and I, we are actually long time collaborators.
• 1:16
  I think the first time we collaborated was 2020.
• 1:20
  Yeah, Yep, 2020, you were the first person to ever write an
• 1:24
  article on the work that I was doing, so I have always have a
• 1:27
  special place in my heart for you.
• 1:29
  Oh my God, that's so. So no.
• 1:32
  Well, OK, so this is how Rushi and I know each other.
• 1:35
  So back when centennialwasmoreofa.com, like
• 1:38
  we were more of a publication as opposed to a podcast network.
• 1:41
  I came across Rushi on Instagram.
• 1:44
  I think at the time you maybe had like 2000 something
• 1:46
  followers. You were pretty early on into
• 1:49
  your journey and I was just obsessed with the content that
• 1:52
  you were making. You were really focused on
• 1:54
  beauty content at the time, and I really noticed the series that
• 1:58
  you were doing called Faces of Australia, where you were
• 2:01
  collaborating with other women of color in the beauty space and
• 2:04
  you were creating these collaborative looks together and
• 2:07
  you were almost doing like mini interviews in the captions.
• 2:10
  Yeah, yeah. It was, wasn't it?
• 2:11
  It was like little mini interviews in the caption with a
• 2:14
  makeup look that we collaborated on.
• 2:16
  Yeah. Yeah, and I just loved that
• 2:18
  idea. And so, you know, I reached out,
• 2:21
  we wrote an article about the work you were doing and your
• 2:24
  content, and then after that we actually worked on Faces of
• 2:26
  Australia as a full blown column on our website twice with Rushi.
• 2:31
  So we essentially work together to build that out into like a
• 2:34
  full-fledged editorial series. And it was honestly amazing.
• 2:38
  It was crazy. It was one of the best times of
• 2:41
  my life. No it honestly.
• 2:42
  Wasn't it? Got so much organic press for it
• 2:44
  and we went on panels talking about this.
• 2:47
  It was. Really, it was crazy.
• 2:49
  Yeah, so season 3, who wants to do a podcast with us?
• 2:52
  Let us know. Shameless plug.
• 2:54
  Yeah, literally. OK, anyways, so let's get into
• 2:58
  it. I like to start all of these
• 3:00
  interviews by asking everyone, do you consider yourself
• 3:03
  chronically online? I thought I was chronically
• 3:08
  online until I spoke with a lot of my friends and they are
• 3:11
  chronically online. I'm not.
• 3:13
  I think I am. I am online a lot.
• 3:15
  Like I do know what's going on. Obviously it's my responsibility
• 3:19
  to know a little bit what's going on in the online world.
• 3:22
  But I do think that TikTok especially, it's got so many
• 3:27
  worlds in there that I just can't keep up with.
• 3:29
  So there are times where people are doing, have you seen this?
• 3:33
  Have you seen this TikTok? And I'm just like, no, no,
• 3:36
  that's not my algorithm. Yeah, But I think I'm critically
• 3:40
  online in terms of it's my go to the guy.
• 3:43
  When I wake up it's the first thing I do, which is scrolling
• 3:46
  and keeping up to date with the current events and everything.
• 3:50
  Yeah, and trends and stuff. For your job and everything,
• 3:52
  yeah, for sure. That makes sense.
• 3:54
  I mean, I think that's the thing with TikTok or just the Internet
• 3:56
  in general right now is that it's so fragmented anyways that
• 4:00
  you could consider yourself chronically online and you could
• 4:03
  be very online. But you know, Annabelle might be
• 4:06
  on a completely different algorithm than you.
• 4:08
  And everything on that algorithm is going so viral and you're
• 4:11
  like, I don't even know what you're talking about.
• 4:13
  So I feel like everyone is chronically online these days,
• 4:15
  like in their own way and you have to be for your job.
• 4:18
  Yeah, exactly. Yeah, being a content creator.
• 4:22
  So even though you are a content creator now, I know that you
• 4:25
  initially started your career in teaching.
• 4:28
  Yes, it feels like a lifetime ago.
• 4:31
  It feels even wild to even say that because it is so far from
• 4:34
  who I am today. Like my world is not nothing
• 4:37
  like what I was doing and teaching and at uni.
• 4:40
  Obviously, it was still such an important time of my life
• 4:43
  because it was teaching me so much about what I'm capable of.
• 4:47
  First of all, the fact that maybe some of my preconceived
• 4:52
  ideas of myself, esteem and my capabilities and who I actually
• 4:56
  am as a person in high school is completely different to when you
• 4:59
  actually apply yourself to something you really enjoy.
• 5:02
  And I did enjoy teaching and I have a lot of respect for
• 5:05
  teachers. It just wasn't for me.
• 5:07
  And I could see that it required passion that I lost.
• 5:13
  And then This is why I say it was really important because
• 5:16
  then I applied that learning of you need passion in order to
• 5:19
  keep going to my career now. So tell me how you got into your
• 5:23
  career now as a content creator, because I actually think one of
• 5:25
  the most unique things about your career is you were able to
• 5:30
  essentially go all in on content creation before you even had
• 5:33
  like 10,000 followers. Yeah, you know what?
• 5:36
  It's during 2020 when the pandemic was happening.
• 5:40
  It was obviously a really devastating time, but it was
• 5:44
  something that allowed me time. And I think it was how I, you
• 5:50
  know, we were all sitting at home.
• 5:52
  Yeah. And we were just sort of
• 5:54
  consuming content. And that's when a lot of things
• 5:56
  were blowing up. And we would just, it was a it
• 5:59
  was a free space as well to really experiment.
• 6:02
  And I think that was something that I owe to that time.
• 6:06
  Yeah. And changing the journey of my
• 6:10
  the content and everything was because I experimented and I
• 6:13
  tried something new and it worked, Yeah.
• 6:17
  And at that time, I didn't expect to kind of experiment in
• 6:22
  the way I did. I didn't actually know that I
• 6:25
  could experiment in that way until I just tried it out.
• 6:28
  And it kind of led to opportunities like yourself.
• 6:33
  You reach that, which I'll always be grateful for.
• 6:35
  And, you know, that led to the next one.
• 6:37
  And that's how it sort of snowballs.
• 6:39
  Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:40
  That's very cool. You made a bit of a silver
• 6:42
  lining during that time, I suppose, for you.
• 6:44
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. OK, so you started your beauty
• 6:48
  content creator career though as a Blogger I read.
• 6:53
  Yes. You would blog.
• 6:55
  It was called I don't want to get this wrong.
• 6:58
  Lustrous allure. Beauty.
• 7:00
  Yes. Girl, tell me about.
• 7:02
  This, this is OK. So the name as well.
• 7:07
  It was thought of on my bed with my best friend and we were
• 7:11
  thinking of this life that we want to live.
• 7:14
  And we were thinking, you know, you love beauty, you love
• 7:16
  creating. Let's make this about make this
• 7:21
  feel, you know, like a like an experience, even though the blog
• 7:25
  didn't really give 100% that, but we wanted it to really
• 7:30
  capture how I felt. Yeah.
• 7:32
  And it started honestly just us talking on our bed.
• 7:37
  And then we were like, let's do it.
• 7:39
  Let's try and make it. And thank you to WordPress.
• 7:41
  Yeah, no, literally. That was the time.
• 7:43
  And yeah, I just created it and just love taking photos of new
• 7:50
  looks. I was creating, you know,
• 7:52
  putting outfits together. It was predominantly beauty
• 7:55
  focus. Like it was, it's like a version
• 7:57
  of what I did now. It's like the baby of what I did
• 8:00
  now. And it was about confidence.
• 8:02
  It was about restoring confidence and finding love for
• 8:06
  who you are. And then it was also about
• 8:07
  styling yourself. And then my favorite beauty
• 8:10
  products at the time and creating makeup looks glowy skin
• 8:13
  like it's all who. It's kind of the core of who I
• 8:16
  am, but it's a very beginner. Yeah, yeah.
• 8:21
  Of it. Yeah, it was your.
• 8:22
  It was your roots. Yeah, it was your.
• 8:24
  Roots that makes. Sense.
• 8:25
  I love that. OK, so then tell me about your
• 8:28
  decision to pivot into Instagram and what you're doing now.
• 8:31
  So pivoting to Instagram, it was because it was that instant
• 8:36
  gratification of you create something, you post it, and then
• 8:39
  there's an audience, yeah, that you're building at the time as
• 8:41
  well. So I feel like a lot of that
• 8:46
  shift to Instagram was because it was really enjoyable and it
• 8:49
  was like that instant hit of excitement.
• 8:52
  And even if you know, it didn't get engagement, it was fun.
• 8:55
  You know, it was something that was going live and social media
• 8:59
  at the time as well. Like, you know, 20/16/2015.
• 9:03
  It was just different. It just hit different.
• 9:06
  And I, I just loved doing it for Instagram more than I did the
• 9:10
  blog. Yeah.
• 9:11
  And then again, the same thing. It's a different version of what
• 9:15
  I was doing in 2020 and beyond. It was more maybe a little
• 9:20
  confusing. I didn't really know where my
• 9:23
  place was and what I was doing. Like, I knew I loved beauty.
• 9:26
  I knew I loved all these things. But I also denied a lot of my
• 9:28
  passion for beauty, which sounds weird because high school likely
• 9:32
  teach you. I know I found sound like I'm
• 9:34
  really rooted in high school, but it's where a lot of your
• 9:36
  beliefs about who you can become a birth.
• 9:39
  So I feel like it was, you know, no one thought that there could
• 9:43
  be a career in beauty. No, what like it was laughed
• 9:46
  about. It was like there's no there's
• 9:49
  nothing there, you know, something that doesn't have
• 9:51
  Korea roots or legs. Yeah, or potential.
• 9:54
  So it was something that I always loved and I couldn't help
• 9:57
  but love. But then this little voice in
• 9:59
  the back of my head was always thinking, yeah, but you know,
• 10:02
  what else can you like? I don't know.
• 10:04
  It really interfered, I feel So. Yeah.
• 10:07
  And then I just kind of started to ignore it.
• 10:09
  And you can't help sometimes, but do what you love.
• 10:12
  And what brings me to 2020, which was intertwining, like my
• 10:16
  love for beauty and creativity, creating videos that were maybe
• 10:23
  a little bit more high quality as well, not just like using the
• 10:26
  selfie camera, like, you know, experimenting with being playful
• 10:30
  And then, you know, waving a message for advocacy as well in
• 10:33
  there. So on that note, so much of your
• 10:36
  content now is driven by advocacy.
• 10:39
  Can you tell me about the emotional cost or the mental
• 10:43
  health cost to putting yourself online out there like that for
• 10:49
  everyone to see and to absorb your message?
• 10:52
  And how do you kind of manage, I suppose, when something like
• 10:55
  that gets picked up by the algorithm?
• 10:58
  Yes, So your mental health is definitely tested, especially
• 11:02
  when the type of advocacy that you choose to do it could be
• 11:07
  with mine is body confidence. But it's also, you know,
• 11:11
  targeting racism and, you know, lived experiences of myself and,
• 11:16
  you know, I haven't had any real pushback when it comes to
• 11:19
  racism. The conversations have clustered
• 11:22
  there. But when it comes to body
• 11:24
  confidence or even just showcasing body acceptance and
• 11:28
  talking about that, you, if you reach an algorithm or if it gets
• 11:32
  sent out into the world and reaches certain people that
• 11:35
  don't agree with your messaging very aggressively, don't agree
• 11:40
  with that. You have to think of these
• 11:42
  people. Their words are just
• 11:44
  meaningless, like they don't have weight.
• 11:47
  Otherwise it can get you. I know for my wedding I didn't
• 11:52
  expect push back on all like negative comments on my wedding.
• 11:56
  I just posted a TikTok randomly. It was just before I went, I was
• 12:00
  leaving for my wedding and it I, I remember I haven't even read
• 12:05
  the comments now because I can't, I just because it would
• 12:07
  ruin something that was really special.
• 12:09
  I know I could turn them off, but I'm like, whatever.
• 12:12
  Yeah, I just, I, I it if it teaches you to really take
• 12:17
  control of what you allow into your life and what you accept,
• 12:22
  what you tolerate and weaving people into where they belong,
• 12:26
  not really allowing them. It's like a real permission kind
• 12:30
  of guided experience when you're online and having to deal with a
• 12:33
  lot of the push. Back the trolls.
• 12:36
  The trolls, yes. Yes.
• 12:38
  I find it's similar, at least with TikTok comments.
• 12:43
  It used to obviously I can't relate to you know, being a
• 12:46
  woman of color and getting comments like that.
• 12:49
  But with our TikTok comments, I used to get very triggered when
• 12:52
  people would say mean things I would think about like different
• 12:55
  hater comments forever. And of course, TikTok can be
• 12:58
  such a vile place and it would really, really bother me.
• 13:02
  But what I and I don't even know honestly how I got to this
• 13:07
  place. But a couple of years ago, I
• 13:08
  just got to the place where I realized the people who are
• 13:11
  seeing this content on TikTok, they're seeing like 30 seconds
• 13:15
  of whatever I'm putting out there.
• 13:16
  They don't know me at all. And I find for some reason
• 13:21
  something just like flipped in my brain and I'm able to have
• 13:23
  that perspective. So I don't look at TikTok
• 13:25
  comments ever anymore because they don't matter to me because
• 13:28
  it's not feedback from, you know, people usually.
• 13:31
  Obviously some people are following us, but like usually
• 13:33
  people who know who we are, what we stand for and why we're,
• 13:37
  we're taking that perspective or whatever it is and that has
• 13:39
  helped a lot. Absolutely, yeah.
• 13:41
  That's, and that's the, I feel like it's the healthiest way to
• 13:45
  keep pushing forward because otherwise, if you do take the
• 13:48
  time to allow these people, these voices in you're, you will
• 13:52
  get set back. I know I've been set back and it
• 13:54
  just takes time away from you. And they don't deserve to have
• 13:57
  any part of that, you know? And it takes time away from what
• 14:00
  you're trying to build. Yeah, absolutely.
• 14:02
  So being, you know, primarily an Instagram creator and I know
• 14:06
  you're also writing columns for different digital publications
• 14:09
  and things like that. I imagine in the line of work
• 14:12
  that you're in, you can easily fall into comparison syndrome.
• 14:16
  And you have spoken about that here and there publicly,
• 14:19
  especially when you go into body image spirals and things like
• 14:22
  that. Can you share a little bit about
• 14:25
  your experience with comparison syndrome and I guess the work
• 14:28
  that you've done to get to where you're at now?
• 14:31
  Absolutely. So I guess it's something that
• 14:36
  can creep up to like with when you don't expect it.
• 14:39
  I think that's a really big one. You don't really get to choose
• 14:42
  when that happens. And I know for myself it really
• 14:46
  happened when again, you're online a lot and you're doing
• 14:49
  the same thing. Like I'm, I didn't do anything
• 14:51
  different. But it's, it can just simply be
• 14:54
  that you feel you're in a vulnerable position in your own
• 14:57
  life and then all of a sudden you're seeing what success is
• 15:00
  linked to. That was for me anyway.
• 15:02
  And I was starting to kind of paint this picture of, Oh, well,
• 15:06
  that's how, you know, I'm trying to fight for something of this
• 15:09
  change, But sometimes it feels too big and too powerful to
• 15:13
  shift. And so you can get in these head
• 15:17
  spaces where you're like, I will just not be the, I will never be
• 15:20
  this person who will reach these successes.
• 15:24
  You know, obviously this isn't true, but it's something that
• 15:27
  can play with your head. And there's the that's a way the
• 15:31
  comparisons can kind of spiral out of control because then you
• 15:34
  start looking inward and torturing your own mind a little
• 15:38
  bit. And it's not you're not being
• 15:40
  fair to yourself at all. And you're really focused and
• 15:43
  fixated on a lot of what may not even be true, but it feels very
• 15:48
  real in the moment. Yeah. 100% like comparison
• 15:52
  syndrome is like actually the thing that I think I'm battling
• 15:54
  the most with at the current moment.
• 15:57
  And it is so true what you said. It just creeps up and you're
• 16:00
  like, I don't even know why I'm starting to spiral like this,
• 16:03
  but it's a horrific feeling. Horrific, horrific.
• 16:05
  It's and you can easily, I know and it happens for me now.
• 16:08
  I can feel it if I'm scrolling and you know now with the way
• 16:12
  Instagram's formulated, you don't have to be following
• 16:14
  people. Oh my God, I see what?
• 16:17
  It's so bad. It's crazy.
• 16:18
  So, you know, you used to always say, you know, curate a feed
• 16:21
  that is suited to you and empowers you and inspires you,
• 16:24
  but sometimes that's unavoidable.
• 16:27
  And so I put the phone down and I find that I have a lot more
• 16:29
  peace when I just sent to myself again.
• 16:34
  And remember, OK, what's your story?
• 16:37
  What's your lane? Stop looking at other people.
• 16:39
  That's their story. That is their journey.
• 16:42
  And it doesn't take away from yours.
• 16:44
  I feel like, you know, it's so easy to fake confidence, you
• 16:48
  know, get on camera, you can just smile and you can just fake
• 16:53
  what you need to to get to that next step or, or even paint a
• 16:57
  certain picture of how you want to be branded online.
• 17:00
  And you know, sometimes that can be a good thing.
• 17:03
  Sometimes it can be a harmful thing because you might not be
• 17:06
  actually addressing what needs to be addressed.
• 17:08
  But you know, I always kind of think if you can access that
• 17:11
  key, that opens the door for you to get to that next door by
• 17:16
  really, you know, reaching for that tool of confidence that
• 17:21
  helps you with your self belief. Yeah, to get that job done.
• 17:25
  Whether that's on content, whether that's anything with big
• 17:27
  dream that you have. And you know that you can't get
• 17:29
  there until you just RIP the Band-Aid off and just go for it.
• 17:33
  It's not easy. It's not always something that
• 17:37
  can happen. The brain is so complex and you
• 17:40
  can't just tell it. Oh, just do this.
• 17:41
  Just reach for that confidence that you keep in your back
• 17:44
  pocket. It doesn't work like that.
• 17:46
  But I think what I mean is, can you just remember that self
• 17:50
  belief that you, if you can reach for that little part of
• 17:53
  you that says remember who you are, even if it's it's not
• 17:58
  really 100% solidified, Yeah, you can say remember who you
• 18:01
  are. I know that I can do this and
• 18:03
  just almost gaslight yourself. OK, gaslight yourself that.
• 18:07
  Might not be the. Best advice of the week.
• 18:09
  No, I think it's actually great advice.
• 18:11
  I completely agree. It's like you just have to take
• 18:14
  one little step every day towards whatever goal you're
• 18:18
  trying to achieve, even if you feel like you said it's so
• 18:21
  insurmountable using how will I ever get there?
• 18:23
  But there was a part of you that wanted to start, so there was a
• 18:26
  part of you that had that self belief.
• 18:27
  So how do you find that again? Yeah.
• 18:30
  Absolutely. You need to find it.
• 18:32
  And it's as someone who's speaking from the other side of
• 18:36
  a really, you know, chaotic kind of ups and downs career,
• 18:42
  probably the the thing you can really not help yourself with is
• 18:46
  by stop believing in yourself. And it sounds so cliche, but you
• 18:49
  hear every successful person say that self belief is going to be
• 18:53
  the reason that you step forward.
• 18:55
  And it's going to also be the reason that will it will undo
• 18:59
  you if you stop. Yes, you could be taking only a
• 19:02
  tiny step forward because you're moving at a pace that takes you
• 19:06
  to where you need to be. And I know that when you're not
• 19:09
  there, you just do nothing. You don't want to do anything.
• 19:11
  You just simply rattled in this I can't kind of mindset and it's
• 19:17
  never going to serve you. No.
• 19:19
  How do you get yourself out of that I can't mentality when you
• 19:22
  feel down in the dumps? Like that, it's easier said than
• 19:26
  done, but you sometimes have to sit in it.
• 19:29
  You have to understand the root of where it's all coming from
• 19:34
  and you need to almost sometimes force yourself a little bit to
• 19:39
  remember the positive things about you, remember why you're
• 19:43
  here. I think that really helped me.
• 19:46
  You know, every kind word that was ever said about you within
• 19:48
  your career in content, like any, any of my peers that have
• 19:51
  said well done, you know, they're not just saying it for
• 19:53
  any reason. You know, you have to remember
• 19:55
  why did they do that? They because they believe that I
• 19:57
  can do what I'm set out to do. And you will slowly, it's like a
• 20:02
  muscle that you're strengthening.
• 20:04
  And I think once you start to really strengthen it, you fall
• 20:07
  back on it as opposed to falling back on that negativity,
• 20:10
  negativity. Absolutely.
• 20:12
  I'm working on that a lot. I think something that really
• 20:14
  helped me at the beginning of this year when I was starting to
• 20:17
  spiral about like, Oh my God, look at how cursed 2025 felt for
• 20:22
  me and the business and everything is.
• 20:23
  I just wrote a list of all of the huge wins that we had in
• 20:26
  2025 and I was like, OK, this might not be the longest list.
• 20:30
  This might not be everything I wanted to achieve, but look at
• 20:33
  all the things that still happened even though my brain is
• 20:35
  telling me it was a bad year. OK, so I wanted to pivot and
• 20:38
  chat with you a little bit about your experience being an Indian
• 20:42
  woman, posting yourself online. That was something that we spoke
• 20:45
  about a lot when we were doing Faces of Australia together, and
• 20:48
  that was obviously a huge part of that series is in your
• 20:51
  advocacy work with that series. So can you tell me a bit about
• 20:54
  your experience with that? I guess being an Indian woman
• 20:59
  online and, you know, growing up in Australia, yeah, I'm, I just
• 21:04
  feel like you're you're definitely part of the minority
• 21:08
  and it doesn't have to be this awful story attached to it.
• 21:14
  I honestly see it is an opportunity to be bigger, to be
• 21:18
  louder, to be so loud that they have to listen.
• 21:21
  And I think that's a really exciting thing that's been
• 21:25
  proven by what I've been able to create online.
• 21:28
  You know, you keep talking, you keep saying, no, I did.
• 21:31
  I demand this space. You know, at some point
• 21:33
  someone's going to turn around and say, hey, I'm opening this
• 21:36
  door. And I've felt that experience
• 21:38
  and I've been lucky to and fortunate to have some
• 21:41
  experiences that I could only dream of the I'm from a small
• 21:45
  town. It's not so much a small town
• 21:46
  anymore, but, and some of the things that have happened for
• 21:49
  me, I could never have dreamed of, not only just because being
• 21:53
  from a small town, but because these things did not exist for
• 21:56
  someone who looked like me. And I know we've heard that a
• 21:59
  lot, but I don't think people understand the capacity or the
• 22:03
  significance behind representation for people of
• 22:07
  color being Indian as well. You know, there's a lot of
• 22:10
  stigma around Indian culture and then there's a lot of
• 22:14
  appropriation as well. So it's really, it's really
• 22:19
  fulfilling. And I'm so I'm just so full of
• 22:22
  pride that I get to be a voice. Not everybody's voice, but I can
• 22:27
  be my own voice and get to share my experiences and also learn
• 22:32
  from others. You know, I have people that I
• 22:34
  learned from based on my community.
• 22:36
  And, you know, I didn't grow up with a lot of Indian
• 22:40
  representation, but also people around me.
• 22:42
  And so it's really nice getting to learn from other people.
• 22:47
  I get people messaging me and saying, you know, you, you might
• 22:50
  look like this, this person. And I'm like, oh, I want to know
• 22:53
  who that person is. Or, you know, they teach me
• 22:55
  about my roots, you know, as I'm unraveling a lot about that.
• 22:58
  And then it's really cool. Oh, that's so sweet.
• 23:01
  I did want to go back to something you said though, where
• 23:03
  you said people are opening different doors for you because
• 23:07
  obviously I've known you now for six years, girl, no one's
• 23:10
  opening doors for you are smashing those doors down.
• 23:13
  You need to give yourself more credit.
• 23:15
  You are honestly such a huge success story.
• 23:18
  Like genuinely what I said earlier in the episode, I do not
• 23:22
  know any other creator who has a niche following like yours and
• 23:26
  could go at it, you know, full time.
• 23:29
  Like that's a huge accomplishment.
• 23:32
  Thanks, Lauren. It's it's it's very it's a
• 23:35
  challenge. I don't really know what to say.
• 23:38
  I don't know if there is this method to take to get to that
• 23:43
  that point. But I think it really is about
• 23:46
  honoring who you are and having the respect to the self respect
• 23:51
  to say, no, I deserve to be in this space and to make change
• 23:55
  from the inside out. And I think when I look back, I
• 23:59
  think that's how I've been able to sort of weave in some of
• 24:03
  these really exciting opportunities, but also
• 24:06
  celebrate and champion what you actually really love about
• 24:10
  yourself and love what you do. And you don't be ashamed of it.
• 24:14
  And it's been a journey that I've experienced the shame and
• 24:16
  the love and linking the two together and actually going, you
• 24:19
  know what I actually do love? Would I?
• 24:22
  Would I create the things that make me feel good are the things
• 24:25
  that take me to that next step. So for anyone who is interested
• 24:28
  in becoming a content creator, that is.
• 24:31
  I mean, it's been definitely an aspirational career for a long
• 24:35
  time, but even more so now. I feel like the TikTok algorithm
• 24:38
  is filled with people teaching each other how to, you know,
• 24:41
  make this a full time thing, how to be a UGC creator, how to
• 24:46
  build your following, all this kind of stuff.
• 24:48
  Can you give the audience a little bit of advice?
• 24:51
  If you were starting out now, what would you do?
• 24:55
  OK, so I think what I would do is really hone in on what makes
• 25:01
  you giddy inside. I know that sounds a bit
• 25:03
  bizarre, but it's got to feel good from within.
• 25:06
  You know, when you get those great ideas and you're like, Oh
• 25:08
  my gosh, I have to execute this like this is I can't take
• 25:12
  another step until this is done. That's what you have to really
• 25:16
  act on because as soon as you love what you do, you're going
• 25:19
  to create something that is almost not addictive, but you're
• 25:22
  going to just want to keep persisting in that.
• 25:25
  And that persistence is what will keep you in the game and
• 25:28
  keep you wanting to learn more. And it's all linked to adapt,
• 25:33
  Adapting to how the content world changes.
• 25:37
  That's very difficult sometimes, especially when you transition
• 25:40
  from Instagram to TikTok. Identify gaps within the
• 25:43
  industry. I know that's a very hard and a
• 25:44
  very over saturated industry, but if you can identify the gaps
• 25:48
  and fill them, that's a great way to stand out, yeah.
• 25:52
  I think what you've done that's so amazing with your building
• 25:56
  your audience is that you have focused on building an audience
• 26:00
  that feels like a community. And I know community is like
• 26:03
  such a buzzword, but really the way that I see it with you is
• 26:06
  you are speaking to a specific demographic, a specific group of
• 26:12
  people. And that's what you keep your
• 26:14
  content focused on. And I feel like your content is
• 26:17
  audience first as opposed to brand first or as opposed to
• 26:20
  followers first. And I see that so often with
• 26:23
  people that are trying to become full time creators or build a
• 26:27
  following or whatever is they're focused on the number they're
• 26:29
  focused on. How can I make this content look
• 26:31
  really good for the brand that just sent me this?
• 26:33
  And for you, it all ties back, it feels like at least to OK,
• 26:37
  what am I putting forward for my community?
• 26:39
  And that's not to say that you don't do sponsored content or
• 26:41
  you don't post PR and things like that, but you maintain that
• 26:45
  kind of through line of and that is literally what people mean
• 26:48
  when they say authenticity. Like it's authentically always
• 26:51
  coming back to your message and who you are and who you are
• 26:53
  specifically trying to speak to. And that's how you've built a
• 26:55
  community that's actually, it's so engaged.
• 26:58
  That's. It's true.
• 27:00
  It's nice to hear that, yeah, the the steps that you take
• 27:03
  unknowingly as well and kind of reading like that because I
• 27:07
  guess again, like you'll do that.
• 27:08
  You'll find that in your own journey.
• 27:10
  You'll find how you engage with the community.
• 27:13
  I think people getting into something that I am trying to do
• 27:18
  is letting the community know me a little bit more.
• 27:22
  And I think, you know, if you can get your personality out
• 27:27
  there a little bit, it's not something that I'm the best at.
• 27:30
  I really do try to kind of get better at that.
• 27:33
  But it's it's something that can allow your audience to get to
• 27:36
  know you and what you love and how you operate, your humor,
• 27:40
  everything. And you can really connect on a
• 27:43
  deeper level if you're doing it that way.
• 27:45
  I also think don't be disheartened like what you were
• 27:48
  saying before with numbers, don't be disheartened by numbers
• 27:51
  and let them control your way of moving forward or pivoting or
• 27:56
  trying new things. Because there's times where some
• 27:59
  of my lowest performing content, but I loved, I've put it out
• 28:02
  there, but I've loved it so much.
• 28:04
  Like I was like, yeah, I love that.
• 28:05
  I don't care what anyone else thinks.
• 28:07
  I love that. And I'm going to put that out
• 28:09
  there and I'm not going to delete it because I like it.
• 28:12
  And I really think it benefits you because there's times where
• 28:16
  I've had that content briefed to me and it might not have, I know
• 28:21
  it might not have done well online, but it's been the reason
• 28:24
  why you might get that next job. Yeah.
• 28:26
  And you know what? It's all part of your portfolio.
• 28:28
  Like not every piece of content is gonna outperform everything
• 28:31
  else you've ever done, right? Like it's all part of it.
• 28:33
  Yeah, it's. OK, so the last thing I would
• 28:35
  love to hear from you is when you are dealing with all the
• 28:39
  different things we spoke about, right?
• 28:41
  Spiraling comparison syndrome, Nasty comments, yes.
• 28:45
  How do you touch grass? Who?
• 28:50
  I think honestly, spending time with myself, you know, I need
• 28:56
  me, I need me a lot. And I think that's a really
• 29:00
  great thing in order to heal from some of what social media.
• 29:05
  I'm not saying social media is a horrible place, by the way, but
• 29:07
  it's something that you, when you need a break, you know, lean
• 29:11
  on yourself a little bit because it's also part of trusting you,
• 29:14
  you as being your healer. I also love taking myself out
• 29:18
  for lunches, coffees, dinners, just doing those kind of solo
• 29:22
  acts of affection towards myself.
• 29:24
  That's that's that's important. I love it.
• 29:28
  I love being with me. And I also, you know, I love
• 29:31
  hanging out with my husband. Sounds so weird to say so, but
• 29:34
  like, I love the word husband. Not yeah, yeah, yes, hanging
• 29:38
  out. But hanging out with my husband
• 29:40
  and spending time with friends, like actually getting that human
• 29:44
  to human connection is really important to me, as well as
• 29:48
  hanging out with my cat. That's so sweet.
• 29:50
  A little biscuit. No, really, it's just like
• 29:53
  getting out into reality, which I know is literally where the
• 29:56
  saying comes from, like go touch grass.
• 29:57
  But it's so true. Like sometimes when I'm in that
• 29:59
  headspace, it's like I just need to go to the park or the mall,
• 30:03
  like somewhere where there's tons of people and nobody knows
• 30:06
  who I am. Nobody's in my comments section
• 30:07
  from here. Nobody at this mall has seen my
• 30:10
  comments section. They have not seen my content.
• 30:12
  They're not being mean to me, you know?
• 30:13
  And it makes a huge difference. Absolutely.
• 30:15
  Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. So special.
• 30:19
  I loved it and thank you for taking the time and flying here.
• 30:23
  Of course. That's so nice.
• 30:26
  We'll always fly for you. Centennial World Podcast Network
• 30:30
  operates on Gadigal land. We would like to acknowledge the
• 30:33
  Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of this
• 30:36
  land, and pay our respects to elders both past and present.