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Racism, Alcohol, and Judgment: Why I Left Everything Behind for Dubai · Babes, how did you get here

• 0:00
  Especially towards Indians, I'll tell you straight up that it's one of the most racist places in the world.
• 0:04
  They'll call you a 7-Eleven worker, a taxi driver, curry muncher.
• 0:10
  I thought that Indians were not attractive people.
• 0:12
  They thought I was like an exotic kind of thing.
• 0:14
  They didn't think I was Indian.
• 0:16
  But they only picked me because I'm brown and they need to have one brown person at the event.
• 0:22
  So if someone, for example, wears a colourful tie in the office, they'll be thought of as gay.
• 0:27
  Why did you choose Dubai, not Europe?
• 0:29
  Paris, Milan, very unsafe places.
• 0:34
  So I had a bit of a drinking problem, I'll be honest.
• 0:36
  And I also became Muslim as well.
• 0:39
  Me, I don't know if a woman likes me for me or if she just wants me for my dad passed away.
• 0:44
  He cannot be gone.
• 0:48
  It feels like now more than ever, people are building lives far from where they started, chasing purpose, identity and alignment.
• 0:57
  But behind the highlights, there are often private battles that very few ever see.
• 1:02
  I am April Jackson, travelling the world, speaking with people who have chosen growth over comfort, even when that means starting all over again.
• 1:12
  Today I'm speaking with Bhavninda Sanghera, a fashion stylist and content creator who uses style as language for confidence, identity and personal growth.
• 1:24
  He was born in Sydney, Australia, but has deep roots in Punjab, India, and recently made the bold move to Dubai just two months ago.
• 1:34
  I'm super excited to get his fresh perspective.
• 1:37
  But first I must ask, Babes, how did you get here?
• 1:42
  Thank you so much for having me, April.
• 1:43
  That was an amazing intro.
• 1:45
  Let's just start with where I come from.
• 1:46
  I come from Sydney, Sydney, Australia, which is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
• 1:50
  But the lifestyle is also what holds it back, funnily enough.
• 1:54
  And there's something that has always...
• 1:57
  kind of interested me about Sydney and Australia in general, which is, I think you guys call it crabs in a bucket in the UK.
• 2:05
  Crabs in a barrel.
• 2:06
  Yes, crabs in a barrel.
• 2:07
  And we call it tall poppy syndrome in Australia.
• 2:10
  So this is interesting, right?
• 2:12
  Because when someone tries to do something different, other people kind of like bring them down or hate on them or try anything to kind of sabotage them.
• 2:20
  And I was in law school as well, and I thought that this was the part for me.
• 2:23
  And then I kind of got sick of it.
• 2:25
  I was like, everyone else is doing this.
• 2:27
  So why should I finish my degree and then battle for my life basically?
• 2:31
  And I was, I didn't really have any role models growing up.
• 2:34
  So I thought, why don't I be the first one, the first Indian, the first one from the Western suburbs to do something for myself.
• 2:42
  And growing up, I was a very bullied kid for being Indian and Australia, it's a very racist place.
• 2:49
  A lot of people don't think this because it's very multicultural.
• 2:52
  but especially towards Indians, I'll tell you straight up that it's one of the most racist places in the world.
• 2:56
  And there'll be many stereotypes, like they'll call you a 7-Eleven worker, a taxi driver, curry muncher, like words like this.
• 3:04
  And things like this, it has a big effect on you, especially in school.
• 3:09
  And I always felt lonely and I felt like I couldn't express myself to other kids.
• 3:13
  So I started to delve into fashion.
• 3:15
  I love Australia in many ways, but as a creative person, you can't grow.
• 3:18
  If you're into art, if you're an artist, if you're a singer, if you're a rapper, if you're in fashion, it's very hard to grow because the environment's always holding you back.
• 3:28
  For example, I'd be in the central business district in Sydney.
• 3:32
  Having a photo shoot wearing a colorful outfit, people would walk past and say, who is this person?
• 3:36
  They're trying too hard.
• 3:39
  What do they look like?
• 3:40
  What are they doing?
• 3:41
  Things like this.
• 3:41
  Or make passing comments.
• 3:43
  And if I was in another country, for example, France, I'd be doing a photo shoot.
• 3:47
  People would walk past and be like, I love your style.
• 3:50
  You know, you're killing it.
• 3:51
  Love the pose, things like this.
• 3:53
  It's a very big change and the mindset is ultimately what holds Australia back in many ways, I think.
• 3:59
  And I think that's why I know it will never be creatively up there, especially our fashion week in Australia is terrible.
• 4:06
  But ultimately, I decided to move to Dubai because the people here are so forward thinking, they're innovative.
• 4:14
  But Dubai ultimately, I feel like is a place to be.
• 4:17
  It's the city of the future.
• 4:19
  So reinventing yourself does not mean erasing the past.
• 4:22
  It means reintegrating your past with who you are now.
• 4:25
  And I feel like there's no limits on me anymore.
• 4:28
  One second.
• 4:29
  You're going to have the whole podcast with your speech.
• 4:32
  I just want to, you've given so much about like history and where you're coming from.
• 4:36
  I need you to take me back and we're going to have to go a lot slower.
• 4:39
  Let's do it.
• 4:39
  So tell me a little bit about your childhood.
• 4:43
  You mentioned a bit about bullying.
• 4:46
  I have only been to Perth in Australia and could you just describe Sydney as a place?
• 4:51
  Like when we land there, what are we seeing?
• 4:54
  How does it feel?
• 4:56
  Sydney is amazing for a one week or two week holiday.
• 4:59
  Okay.
• 5:00
  But when you get there, you'll notice many things if you stay for a while.
• 5:03
  That people, you're walking past, no one is smiling.
• 5:07
  Okay.
• 5:07
  No one is happy.
• 5:08
  You could smile at someone and they just look at you and they just don't say anything.
• 5:13
  Even when I'm dressed like this, for example, in a red outfit.
• 5:16
  walk past, people would just look, they'll just stare.
• 5:18
  They'll kind of give you eyes.
• 5:19
  Like they just look at you and then like you're a foreign object or an alien.
• 5:24
  And it's like, it's a weird feeling.
• 5:27
  Like I can't even describe how it feels.
• 5:29
  And they won't compliment you.
• 5:31
  They'll just look at you.
• 5:32
  And it'll be very rare to receive a compliment.
• 5:36
  It'll be like once a day, twice a day.
• 5:38
  I think maybe if you're a girl, you get more compliments or something.
• 5:41
  But anyway.
• 5:42
  This is the kind of environment it is.
• 5:44
  Otherwise, people are generally friendly in Australia.
• 5:50
  We're dropping new episodes every single week, so make sure you subscribe.
• 5:54
  You don't want to miss this, babes.
• 5:55
  And leave a comment and tell me, what do you want to hear out of my next conversation?
• 5:59
  Your support really helps this community grow.
• 6:02
  And if you know someone who's quietly been thinking, should they take that next big leap?
• 6:06
  Babes, send them the podcast.
• 6:08
  And your childhood, are you an only child?
• 6:11
  Do you have siblings?
• 6:13
  I have two older brothers, but they're from a different dad.
• 6:15
  Okay.
• 6:15
  So, so in your home, yes.
• 6:18
  You were three of you.
• 6:19
  Yes.
• 6:19
  And I'm the youngest.
• 6:20
  And you're the baby.
• 6:21
  Yeah, the baby, the tallest baby.
• 6:24
  Really?
• 6:24
  I'm the tallest baby too?
• 6:26
  Yeah, yeah.
• 6:27
  Something.
• 6:27
  I don't know.
• 6:28
  Yeah.
• 6:29
  And then when you were going to school, did you know what you wanted to do?
• 6:33
  I always wanted to be a lawyer.
• 6:35
  I always wanted to help people.
• 6:37
  And I loved law TV shows.
• 6:39
  I loved law video games.
• 6:40
  There's a video game called Phoenix Wright on the Nintendo DS, one of my favorite games.
• 6:45
  TV show called Suits, I'm pretty sure most people know.
• 6:47
  Yeah.
• 6:49
  So many movies and things like that.
• 6:51
  But I've always wanted to help people.
• 6:52
  That's been one of my main things.
• 6:53
  I wanted to be a defense attorney.
• 6:55
  And I wanted to help people that were prosecuted and did not commit the crime, but might have been sent to jail for the wrong instance or whatever it might have been.
• 7:05
  Because I grew up in Western Sydney.
• 7:06
  I saw a lot of things growing up.
• 7:08
  Most people do not want to see.
• 7:10
  Bankstown is a place where there's a lot of crime, unfortunately.
• 7:13
  Okay.
• 7:14
  There's a lot of beautiful things about Bankstown, the restaurants, the people, diverse cultures, a lot of Vietnamese people, a lot of Lebanese people.
• 7:21
  People there are amazing, but there's a lot of crime, unfortunately, in Bankstown and in other suburbs called Mount Gerard as well, Liverpool, Parramatta.
• 7:30
  Western Sydney is one of the most misunderstood places by the Eastern suburbs.
• 7:36
  A lot of people look down on us just because we say we're from Bankstone or we say we're from Liverpool, or we say we're from Parramatta.
• 7:41
  There's so many creative people.
• 7:42
  There's so many beautiful people that are missing right now, like a lot actually.
• 7:47
  I'm missing so many people from Western Sydney.
• 7:49
  But yeah, I think.
• 7:52
  Is there a strong division?
• 7:54
  I'm saying it like it's bad, but it's not that bad.
• 7:57
  Like for creative purposes, yes, it's pretty bad.
• 8:00
  And, you know, a lot of people that are born into rich families or whatever, it's very easy for them to become an artist or whatever they want to do, start a fashion brand, for example.
• 8:09
  But for Western Sydney, it's just, it's not really seen as we can do that.
• 8:13
  We're more seen as become a tradie, to work in restaurants, to work in, to go to the traditional part of uni, yeah.
• 8:23
  So you said you started your law degree.
• 8:25
  Yeah.
• 8:25
  I completed mine after I had twins.
• 8:27
  So I'm very interested in this because I do love law as a subject.
• 8:31
  But you said that you went until your penultimate year.
• 8:35
  Yeah.
• 8:35
  So I studied four years.
• 8:36
  Yeah.
• 8:37
  four years of a five-year degree.
• 8:39
  You never just want to finish the last year.
• 8:42
  You know what?
• 8:43
  At the end of the fourth year, I was depressed.
• 8:45
  I was burnt out.
• 8:46
  I was stressed out.
• 8:48
  I was like, I cannot do this anymore.
• 8:49
  I want to do something creative and I can't see myself doing this for the rest of my life.
• 8:54
  Okay.
• 8:55
  Even the last year I was like, I can finish it.
• 8:59
  Or I can spend that one year doing, starting my styling, starting a styling course and studying styling and beginning my styling business.
• 9:08
  And I wanted to see how it would go to begin this styling, doing this, taking this risk that no one seems to do.
• 9:14
  Even in my, even in my classroom, it was all females.
• 9:18
  Yeah.
• 9:18
  So when you decide to stop the law degree and you tell your parents,
• 9:22
  What are they thinking?
• 9:23
  Because I'd be like, babe, it's one more year.
• 9:26
  Just finish the, even if you don't want to do it, just finish the one more year.
• 9:30
  You know what, they told me, my parents are actually very understanding for Indian parents.
• 9:37
  Most Indian parents would probably disown the child after telling them, but they were like, why don't you just finish the degree and then you can do your dream, you can pursue your dream.
• 9:47
  And I was like, mom and dad, this is not me anymore.
• 9:50
  I can't do it.
• 9:51
  I wanna pursue this.
• 9:52
  I think I have a passion for it.
• 9:54
  And at the time my posts were going viral on Instagram, people were reaching out to me for styling.
• 9:59
  And I really wanted to get into this.
• 10:00
  I wanted to learn how can I do it to the best of my ability.
• 10:04
  I didn't want to just take people and, you know, try to style them in my way.
• 10:08
  I wanted to really understand the whole styling process from an expert.
• 10:11
  I wanted to put myself into their shoes and style them.
• 10:16
  My parents, you know, my parents, I'm the first generation.
• 10:20
  So the sacrifice that my parents went through to get me to here, I will never, ever take for granted, you know, leaving India to start a whole new life on the other side of the world in Australia, literally in the corner of the world.
• 10:34
  And, you know, starting from zero and having, you know, working as an Indian person in jobs like Audi, which is like a grocery store.
• 10:46
  And my dad worked in manual labor.
• 10:48
  He would wake up 3 a.m. every day to work in a company called One Steel, which is like a factory job, basically.
• 10:56
  So my parents would work these incredibly hard jobs.
• 10:59
  And, you know, for me to take anything for granted, to not shout them out for everything they've done for me...
• 11:06
  And to just be appreciative because I would not be here even talking to you right now without their sacrifice.
• 11:12
  And to realize that, you know, through hard work, anything is possible.
• 11:15
  It doesn't matter where you come from.
• 11:16
  It doesn't matter the color of your skin.
• 11:17
  It doesn't matter your nationality or, you know, what people think of you.
• 11:22
  You really can do anything you want.
• 11:25
  So you tell them that you're leaving law school and you said that you're going to strain as a stylist.
• 11:31
  I didn't know that was a thing.
• 11:32
  So for those of us that don't appreciate the intricacies to get to becoming a stylist, can you explain to me what that looks like?
• 11:40
  Did you already know like a particular fashion school?
• 11:43
  What was the process?
• 11:44
  You know what's funny?
• 11:45
  I was literally just scrolling through my Instagram one day and I saw an ad for a styling school.
• 11:51
  I was in law school at the time, so I was in my class.
• 11:54
  I saw this and I was like, maybe this is God or the universe telling me a sign.
• 11:59
  So I signed up for the course and the same day, like I was, this is it.
• 12:04
  I'm quitting law school.
• 12:05
  I just want to, I want to complete, I want to pursue my, my, my passion and take the risk and really delve into what I want.
• 12:15
  think I'm capable of.
• 12:17
  What planted the seed for fashion?
• 12:20
  I know you said that you realised that it was a way for people to express themselves, but did you see something, especially because the environment that you describe, it's not that you were telling me you were walking down the streets of, you know, New York City and you were constantly seeing fashion shoots happen in front of your very eyes, or it was like the Vogue magazines that inspired.
• 12:39
  What was it and when, like in terms of how old were you, do you think that that seed was planted?
• 12:45
  So 2017, I was at Bondi Beach and I got casted for a modeling agency.
• 12:50
  Okay.
• 12:51
  And at that time, I wore hand-me-downs from my brothers.
• 12:54
  A hand-me-down is basically clothes that you get passed down from your brothers for those that don't know.
• 12:59
  So I didn't really know anything about fashion.
• 13:02
  I was getting dressed by my mom and I wasn't stylish at all.
• 13:07
  And...
• 13:08
  when this person casted me, I was a very tall person and people would always say, you should be modeling or you should be playing basketball.
• 13:16
  And I liked basketball, I liked watching it, but I wasn't very good at playing it.
• 13:19
  So then I thought maybe this is a sign from the universe again to get into modeling.
• 13:24
  So I started modeling and I started to, this is when I started to research self-improvement.
• 13:30
  And people would, the YouTubers I researched would say to make sure your grooming is on point, your beard, your hair,
• 13:37
  And a thing they would always say is your fashion.
• 13:40
  So I started to get into fashion.
• 13:42
  I started to get into how can I dress to the best of my ability.
• 13:45
  I started to get into self-expression.
• 13:48
  And fashion to me ultimately now is self-expression.
• 13:52
  It's to express yourself to the world.
• 13:55
  And people should dress how their personality is.
• 13:59
  But, you know, this is not an ideal world.
• 14:02
  And people dress for trends.
• 14:03
  People dress like a celebrity.
• 14:06
  People dress to impress others.
• 14:08
  And this is what I realized throughout the years.
• 14:11
  And with my styling, I really want to help people express themselves.
• 14:15
  I really want to help people with their confidence, with their self-esteem, because that's how I improve my self-esteem through fashion.
• 14:22
  It's how I took myself outside of the box.
• 14:25
  Every single day that I dress myself, I'm getting outside of the comfort zone.
• 14:30
  People look at me and they might say something, but this is what art should be, right?
• 14:34
  People should have an opinion, whether it's good or bad.
• 14:36
  Fashion is subjective.
• 14:38
  Someone could see my outfit and they could hate it.
• 14:40
  And the next person could love it, but they're both right in a sense.
• 14:44
  So this is why I got so attached to fashion.
• 14:48
  This is why I love fashion so much because it can speak before you do.
• 14:52
  And I think most people, when they dress nowadays, they just want to dress for logos.
• 14:59
  They just want to dress for the trends.
• 15:00
  They just want to dress for social media.
• 15:02
  And they kind of lose that personal style in the process.
• 15:06
  And people always wanna dress like someone else or they wanna dress to impress people.
• 15:10
  And when you start to dress for yourself, you start to improve your opportunities in life, in my opinion.
• 15:16
  You start to become more confident.
• 15:19
  You start to stop trying to impress everyone and focus on yourself.
• 15:25
  And that's the main thing behind my mantra.
• 15:28
  It's what I've realized that, every time I walk into a room, I'm myself.
• 15:33
  And I feel like a lot of other people
• 15:35
  So they try too much to be like someone else, which kind of becomes more of a performance in itself.
• 15:42
  So when you get casted for modeling, how old are you?
• 15:46
  17, 18, 19.
• 15:48
  And you mentioned that you were previously teased for being Indian.
• 15:52
  Yeah.
• 15:53
  So was that a badge of honor?
• 15:55
  Did that kind of heal some of your inner demons?
• 15:58
  Because if you were being teased for your looks when you're young, and you're now getting to this coming of age, you're slowly moving into adulthood, and then you get casted, or selected rather, for modeling.
• 16:10
  I'm just wondering, what is your mind spacing?
• 16:13
  Very good question.
• 16:14
  You know, what's funny is that when I got casted, they thought I was Arabic and they thought I wasn't, they thought I was like an exotic kind of thing.
• 16:21
  They didn't think I was Indian.
• 16:23
  I told them I'm Indian, but they said, you know what?
• 16:26
  You can be casted for things that are not just Indian.
• 16:29
  So they kind of said it in a condescending way almost.
• 16:32
  Right.
• 16:33
  So they said, because my look is very... People don't think I'm Indian.
• 16:38
  Most people think that I'm from Dubai, funnily enough.
• 16:41
  Or they think I'm Persian.
• 16:42
  I get these two a lot.
• 16:43
  Some people think I'm from England.
• 16:44
  I think they confuse the Australian accent and the English accent.
• 16:51
  But I wouldn't get... Because when I started to improve myself and things like that, I started to get a lot of these Persian kind of things.
• 17:00
  But at that very instance, I was looking very Indian when I was casted.
• 17:04
  So I was very shocked.
• 17:05
  I was very surprised.
• 17:07
  And the casting agent, I don't know how they did it.
• 17:10
  They have the eye of the future or whatever it is.
• 17:15
  They could see someone and see where they could be in the future, I think.
• 17:18
  Because that person probably changed my life, you know.
• 17:21
  I wouldn't have taken myself so seriously.
• 17:23
  I wouldn't have...
• 17:25
  understood what I was capable of if that person didn't come up to me and say, you know, you could be someone great.
• 17:31
  And yeah, you know, as an Indian person, unfortunately I get people in my DMs all the time saying, you know, I get bullied for being Indian and I would post things on my story saying, it's okay to be yourself.
• 17:43
  It's okay to be wherever you're from.
• 17:45
  You know, I was bullied as an Indian kid.
• 17:48
  I would say things like this in my story to kind of foster this,
• 17:52
  feeling of, you know, it's okay to be different.
• 17:56
  It's not, being different is your superpower, I feel.
• 17:59
  I didn't understand this back then, but now I understand.
• 18:03
  So people would DM me and they would say things like, you know, I was being bullied for being Indian.
• 18:10
  I was being bullied for this nationality.
• 18:11
  I was being bullied for this.
• 18:12
  And now I actually, I embrace who I am.
• 18:16
  And when I get things like this, I get a sense of,
• 18:21
  warmth in my heart.
• 18:23
  Like I'm able to inspire people through my content that I've never met people on the other side of the world or wherever they are.
• 18:31
  And, you know, nowadays I don't take anything for granted.
• 18:35
  You know, my parents are Punjabi, which is in North India.
• 18:39
  And a lot of Punjabi people are racially stereotyped.
• 18:44
  A lot of people.
• 18:45
  In what way?
• 18:46
  Because a lot of Punjabi people are Sikh.
• 18:49
  Okay.
• 18:50
  The Sikh, as a Sikh person, most people wear turbans or they're different to Hindus, basically.
• 18:58
  A lot of Hindus treat Sikhs really badly.
• 19:01
  Okay.
• 19:02
  And I don't want to get political on this, but there's been a lot of instances in history where there's been riots against Sikh people.
• 19:12
  There's been violent things against Sikh people.
• 19:15
  So there's always been this violent tension between the Sikhs and the Hindus.
• 19:20
  So my parents have seen that front on.
• 19:25
  In Australia, I'm very lucky to be born in Australia because nothing violent would happen like that in Australia.
• 19:30
  And Australia is generally a very safe place.
• 19:34
  But yeah...
• 19:36
  I'm very proud to be Punjabi.
• 19:37
  I'm very proud to be where I'm from.
• 19:38
  I'm very proud to say that my father and my mom are the reason I have these values.
• 19:44
  And when I was growing up in high school, I'd kind of try to hide I was Indian.
• 19:48
  I would shorten my name to Bhav and people wouldn't really know if it was Indian or not.
• 19:54
  And nowadays I tell people do not hide where you're from, embrace it full on.
• 19:58
  And you know, your roots are very important to whatever you do.
• 20:02
  Your roots, you know, we're all different because of where we come from.
• 20:06
  That's not a bad thing.
• 20:07
  Your roots are what make you, you.
• 20:09
  Do you think that you were hiding it in high school because of the treatment that you had received years prior?
• 20:15
  Yeah.
• 20:15
  So in primary school, I think they call that elementary and I'm not sure.
• 20:20
  Same thing.
• 20:20
  Primary, elementary.
• 20:21
  We know what you mean.
• 20:22
  Yeah.
• 20:22
  So primary school, I was bullied and I didn't have any friends.
• 20:26
  And in high school I was also bullied.
• 20:28
  And yeah, I would hide it because I don't know, I think it's just a feeling of when you're bullied all the time, you kind of want to, you, what's the word?
• 20:40
  Like,
• 20:43
  In school, you always want to be like the popular kid.
• 20:46
  And the popular kid would be the funny one, would be the one that's good with the girls, would be the one that's good looking.
• 20:53
  I didn't feel any of that.
• 20:55
  And I thought mistakenly now that Indians were not attractive people.
• 21:02
  And I thought maybe I can never be like that person.
• 21:05
  Why don't I try to hide myself or try to do like...
• 21:08
  try to people please or do other ways to kind of make people like me.
• 21:13
  And this would kind of start the people pleaser cycle.
• 21:15
  And it took me many years to get out of that.
• 21:18
  I'll probably say until I was 20 years old or 19 years old, that's when I finally let go of the people pleasing.
• 21:24
  But I'm 25 now, by the way.
• 21:26
  But yeah, so I would make it up in different ways to kind of say that I am personal value to society, which is interesting, right?
• 21:35
  And in terms of growing up in your household, would you describe your household as very heavily influenced by your Indian culture or was it very much I'm trying to assimilate my family into Australian culture?
• 21:47
  So I would say my family is very, very Indian culture.
• 21:50
  My whole family, like my house is just full on.
• 21:53
  And I love that.
• 21:54
  That's all we like to see, right?
• 21:56
  What does Indian culture mean for you?
• 21:58
  I think it's food.
• 22:00
  A lot of food every day for lunch and for dinner, for breakfast sometimes even.
• 22:05
  You know, tea, we call it chai or cha.
• 22:09
  There would be like recitations of the Sikh tradition
• 22:17
  holy book, for example, playing.
• 22:20
  There'll be my grandma reading the holy book.
• 22:24
  There'll be people coming over.
• 22:26
  And with Indian culture, it's a very hospitable culture.
• 22:29
  So we'll give them a lot of sweets, we'll give them a lot of Indian food, we'll give them things like that.
• 22:34
  So I would feel it every day.
• 22:37
  I would feel it that I'm in a Punjabi household every single day.
• 22:41
  And as a person born in Australia, it's kind of like a...
• 22:47
  not a barrier, but like a...
• 22:52
  there's a difference between the household and the school or wherever you're going.
• 22:58
  And I think it was interesting, like you have to kind of mix the two, you know.
• 23:04
  I didn't want to remove the household and the Indian culture.
• 23:09
  I wanted to kind of mix it.
• 23:10
  In school, I kind of lost it.
• 23:11
  And then in university, I kind of found it again.
• 23:14
  And then now, luckily, I found it again as well.
• 23:17
  But back then, yeah, I would kind of try to hide it and I would...
• 23:21
  I tried to avoid going to weddings of my mom's friends and things like that because I was like, I don't want to be part of this Indian culture anymore.
• 23:29
  And that was a big mistake.
• 23:31
  I think I should have tried to learn more about it.
• 23:33
  I should have tried to learn more about the Sikhism as a culture.
• 23:38
  as a religion, sorry.
• 23:39
  I should have tried to learn more about my Punjabi culture.
• 23:41
  I should have asked my grandpa more questions about his life because he had a very interesting life being in the Indian army, working many jobs in India.
• 23:51
  And my grandpa is the one that brought my mom with him to Australia.
• 23:57
  So my mom's dad, that's what I'm talking about.
• 24:01
  And unfortunately, in school, I kind of pushed it away, which is a big mistake.
• 24:07
  Like, honestly, I think roots are really important.
• 24:10
  When were you able to fall in love with your Indian culture in the way that we can feel so deeply?
• 24:16
  Because I feel like leaving Jamaica was when I really started to appreciate Jamaican culture in ways that just seeing how...
• 24:26
  other people are being influenced by my tiny little island filled me with so much pride.
• 24:31
  And I'm just wondering for you, you mentioned a little bit about delving more into self-development.
• 24:35
  And I'm wondering if that journey led you back to the love of Indian culture?
• 24:41
  So fashion to me is discovery.
• 24:44
  And a lot of people don't picture it that way or think of it that way.
• 24:48
  But when you start to look into your style and how can I express myself, you discover about yourself so many things, so many things you discover.
• 24:57
  One thing I realized, I love color.
• 25:00
  Why do I love color?
• 25:01
  I tried to think of it and then I was like,
• 25:04
  Oh my God, I've never thought of it like this.
• 25:07
  But it's because in India, colour is a big thing.
• 25:11
  All the saris, all the traditional dresses.
• 25:14
  My dad wearing his colourful turbans all the time.
• 25:17
  I was realising this is what I was...
• 25:19
  I was growing up and I was seeing all of this.
• 25:22
  And there's even an Indian holiday called holly.
• 25:25
  And holly, it's like throwing...
• 25:29
  To describe it, it's called like a colour.
• 25:32
  You would throw colour around and people would be like all colourful.
• 25:36
  So it would be like a really big holiday.
• 25:38
  And this is a very colourful thing.
• 25:40
  And I would realise like this is why I love colour so much because it's such an Indian thing.
• 25:46
  And then I started to look more into my culture, I started to research more into my culture, I started to look more into the history.
• 25:53
  And then I started to love India even more, even more, even more.
• 25:56
  India is a country with so much history.
• 25:59
  It's one of the oldest in the world.
• 26:01
  And when I would visit India with my family, I would really be interested in learning the history and seeing it.
• 26:09
  And there's so many different states in India and all of them are different to each other.
• 26:13
  And one thing that you notice when you go to India, the people are so welcoming.
• 26:19
  Even me with my accent.
• 26:21
  They would be so welcoming and they would give you food, they would give you sweets.
• 26:26
  And some of these people, unfortunately, do not have much in their life.
• 26:29
  It's really sad.
• 26:30
  Really, really sad.
• 26:32
  But some of these people do not have much, but they give so much.
• 26:36
  And this opens you up in so many ways.
• 26:38
  Like...
• 26:39
  to be more charitable to other people, to be more kind to other people.
• 26:44
  And there's so many beautiful things about India that I love.
• 26:47
  And I would start putting more of this into my personality, into my character.
• 26:53
  And today I believe that I really embrace it fully.
• 26:57
  Indian culture, I really embrace my mum and my dad's values fully.
• 27:02
  And unfortunately, about two and a half years ago now, my dad passed away.
• 27:07
  So this was another point where I really started to delve more into my Indian culture.
• 27:13
  And there's so many things I wanted to ask my dad that I unfortunately can never ask him now.
• 27:18
  Really?
• 27:18
  Yeah, because he passed away.
• 27:20
  But, um...
• 27:22
  I really think of life as something that you have to embrace fully because you never know when you're gonna, you're gonna go.
• 27:29
  You know, when he was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2023, a week after my birthday, the doctor said to us that he would have six months to two years life expectancy.
• 27:43
  And he passed away at six months in October of 2023.
• 27:46
  So he literally passed at the lowest life expectancy.
• 27:50
  And he had pancreatic cancer, which is the same cancer that Steve Jobs had.
• 27:55
  One of the worst cancers you can have.
• 27:58
  I don't know why I thought my dad was like, gonna survive this, he's gonna get through this.
• 28:03
  My dad has been through so much.
• 28:05
  My dad is, you know, he's been through so much in his life and he's rebuilt again and again.
• 28:11
  He's been through the hardest of times and he's been through it and, you know, he's always stood up.
• 28:18
  Fortunately passed away and then I was like, this cannot be it, you know, this cannot be, he cannot be gone.
• 28:24
  So when I was in the hospital room and he's like, he's passed away.
• 28:28
  I was so shocked.
• 28:29
  Like this whole scenario shocked me so much because there were situations before in the hospital where the doctor was like, this could be it.
• 28:39
  And then he got through it.
• 28:40
  Against all odds, he got through it.
• 28:42
  And I was like, this will happen again.
• 28:44
  So when he passed away, I...
• 28:48
  I'm already a very grateful person for life, for everything.
• 28:50
  I'm very grateful every single day, every time I pray, every time I get up in the morning, I'm grateful.
• 28:55
  At night, I'm grateful.
• 28:57
  But at that time, I was very,
• 29:02
  I kind of lost.
• 29:03
  I wasn't as grateful as I should have been.
• 29:05
  I was doing great things, but I was kind of lost.
• 29:10
  And when that happened, it kind of forced me to get back into the present moment, to stop worrying about the future, stop worrying about the past, be stuck in the present moment.
• 29:20
  And nowadays, literally, I live every single day.
• 29:23
  It's my last day.
• 29:24
  I don't take anything for granted.
• 29:26
  If I think that tomorrow could be my last day, I'll be happy of my 25 years on this earth.
• 29:32
  I'll be happy of the clients I've started, the people I've helped with their confidence, the people I've helped that I don't even know through my content.
• 29:41
  through the outfits I've started, through the photo shoots I've done, through the magazines I've been in, the TV interviews I've been in.
• 29:48
  And after that happened, it's just crazy thing.
• 29:51
  So, yeah.
• 29:52
  When you say that there are things that you wish you would have spoken to Mabal, is that cultural things?
• 29:58
  Is that life wisdom?
• 29:59
  I mean, I can't, I,
• 30:01
  I think about my dad passing because it's inevitable.
• 30:05
  And I like to think that the more I think about it, the more I'm prepared.
• 30:08
  When I feel like I've had these conversations with many people and the fact is we can never be prepared.
• 30:14
  And I'm just wondering what, what were some of the things that you, you wish you had the opportunity to, to ask?
• 30:22
  I wanted to learn more about him.
• 30:23
  But the thing about my dad is he's very quiet.
• 30:26
  And it's why I'm very quiet.
• 30:28
  And the funny thing is my mum is super, super expressive.
• 30:31
  She's super talkative.
• 30:33
  She'll never be quiet.
• 30:34
  But I got the quiet gene.
• 30:36
  My dad is a very introspective person.
• 30:38
  He will listen a lot, but he won't talk.
• 30:41
  And I think that's why I have such a good listening capability because of him.
• 30:45
  But for me to talk to my dad, it was very difficult because of us both being quiet.
• 30:51
  And he's the very traditional Indian dad.
• 30:55
  The Indian dad will never explain his problems to anyone.
• 30:58
  He would just go through it himself and never tell anyone.
• 31:02
  Because being vulnerable or showing signs of weakness in Indian culture is a sign of weakness.
• 31:10
  Unfortunately, that's how it's seen.
• 31:12
  I wish it wasn't.
• 31:13
  That's how it's seen.
• 31:14
  I want to be the change.
• 31:16
  I want to be the change of that.
• 31:17
  So when I have my kids one day, inshallah, I will be the change of that.
• 31:21
  But for now...
• 31:25
  My dad, yeah, it was very hard to speak to him.
• 31:27
  I did speak to him here and there, but it would be much easier to speak to my mom.
• 31:33
  And this is one thing that when he got diagnosed, I should have, like in those six months, I should have really started to understand more about him, where he comes from, his life, you know.
• 31:46
  There's so many things I didn't ask him.
• 31:48
  I should have asked him more wisdom and I didn't.
• 31:53
  And it's my biggest regret, honestly.
• 31:55
  When you decided to leave Australia, was it harder because your mom didn't have your dad?
• 32:02
  Yes.
• 32:03
  So actually the thing is I was planning to move in 2023 until we got diagnosed.
• 32:08
  So strange thing is that put that on pause as well.
• 32:12
  And then I was like, I cannot leave Australia in 2024 because my mom, you know, she's going through so much.
• 32:19
  And my mom is a person that will marry for life.
• 32:21
  She will never marry again.
• 32:24
  And that's one thing I really admire about my mum.
• 32:26
  And she's very strong, even though she's been through so much.
• 32:29
  She also lost her dad, my grandpa, in 2017.
• 32:33
  So she kind of had two big losses, back to back almost.
• 32:39
  And it's very hard to leave my mum and my grandma, because these two women are the two women, that are the strongest women I know.
• 32:47
  The two women that have shown me that
• 32:55
  their belief in me is, it can move mountains, you know?
• 33:00
  Because there were days where I didn't want to get out of bed.
• 33:03
  And there were days that were so hard.
• 33:06
  And there were days that, that,
• 33:11
  were the darkest moments of my life.
• 33:13
  And these moments, I just thought of, if my mom can get through it, then I should be able to get through it.
• 33:21
  So I would talk to her about things.
• 33:24
  I would go on trips with her.
• 33:26
  I would also, you know, spend time with the family, with my grandma, with my cousins, with my auntie, uncle.
• 33:34
  And family became a big thing.
• 33:37
  after 2023.
• 33:38
  And it should have been a big thing prior to that.
• 33:40
  That's also a big mistake for my part.
• 33:43
  You know, I always, I'm always stuck into the hustle all the time, the hustle, the hustle, the hustle, and then you kind of lose the time of spending time with your family.
• 33:52
  And we should spend more time with them and big regret.
• 33:56
  Yeah.
• 33:57
  So when you decided around 2023, that it was time to leave, can you explain to me, was it a career move that was the main motivation?
• 34:07
  It was an environment change.
• 34:09
  It was a mindset change.
• 34:10
  It was a career move.
• 34:12
  It was a fed up move.
• 34:15
  So at that point you're styling full time.
• 34:17
  Yeah.
• 34:18
  This is your bread and butter.
• 34:19
  Yeah.
• 34:19
  Yeah.
• 34:20
  And since 2021, I've been styling.
• 34:22
  Okay.
• 34:22
  So we're like two years in, still very new into your own business.
• 34:26
  Yeah.
• 34:27
  And already you've decided that you need to take an international leap.
• 34:33
  The thing about Australia is you kind of hit the ceiling very quickly.
• 34:37
  Okay.
• 34:39
  I don't want to like inflate my ego or anything.
• 34:41
  I can toot it for you, babes.
• 34:42
  I can toot the horn.
• 34:43
  It's okay.
• 34:44
  You don't need to.
• 34:44
  But it's true.
• 34:46
  Like people would get to know me.
• 34:48
  I'll be invited to everything.
• 34:50
  I would be in the room.
• 34:51
  People would know who I am.
• 34:52
  And I'll always see the same faces, had the same conversations.
• 34:57
  And I'm grateful to everyone that invited me to places.
• 35:00
  I'll be grateful to work with the people I'll work with.
• 35:03
  But ultimately, Australia is not a fashionable place.
• 35:06
  People are very conservative, traditional.
• 35:09
  People aren't buying new things.
• 35:11
  They aren't really buying new things to invest in themselves.
• 35:16
  Here in Dubai, in Europe, people are always buying fashion.
• 35:20
  And it's an investment, right?
• 35:21
  An investment into them, into their personal brand, into whoever they are, into their business.
• 35:27
  In Australia, people see fashion as a big expense and not as an investment.
• 35:31
  But...
• 35:32
  So to try to change the mindset, I tried, I tried, I tried, and I was successful to some degree.
• 35:39
  But you can only do so much with the environment that you're in.
• 35:42
  And the thing about Dubai and Europe and why I love these two places so much is that you don't have to change the mindset.
• 35:48
  Yeah.
• 35:49
  People love fashion.
• 35:50
  People love to express themselves.
• 35:52
  You walk down the streets in Dubai, I'm looking around, everyone's dressed so differently, and it's interesting to see.
• 35:59
  In Paris, I'm walking around, people are so expressive.
• 36:02
  In Milan, I'm just loving it.
• 36:05
  And people come up to you and they start talking to you, they're interested in you.
• 36:09
  There's no jealousy, there's no like, who are you, why are you dressed like that, you know?
• 36:12
  In Australia, like every day getting dressed was a battle because...
• 36:17
  People, I'm not sure if people are going to like it or what.
• 36:21
  So your environment kind of brings you down.
• 36:23
  And that's also another thing.
• 36:24
  Tall poppy syndrome in Australia is also one reason that I think people dress so blandly.
• 36:30
  I thought it was just because they're British by blood, right?
• 36:33
  And in England, it's always grey.
• 36:36
  When I first went to school for my A-levels in the UK, I'd be like in a pink tracksuit and everybody is just grey all day.
• 36:45
  So I just thought that Australia was an extension of that.
• 36:47
  I believe and from conversations with my clients, it's because of judgment.
• 36:52
  They do not want to be judged.
• 36:53
  So if someone, for example, wears a colorful tie in the office or a colorful handkerchief as a man, they'll be thought of as gay.
• 37:02
  Okay.
• 37:03
  Or they'll be thought of as strange or they'll be thought of as different, as if it's a bad thing.
• 37:09
  Right.
• 37:10
  You know, expressing yourself, I think it's okay, especially in the office or things, to a certain degree, you can express yourself.
• 37:16
  You shouldn't go crazy if you're going into work, right?
• 37:19
  Wearing a colorful tie or nice handkerchief with a nice tailor suit, it's nothing crazy.
• 37:25
  And some of my clients would tell me, my friends would, my coworkers would say this and that.
• 37:30
  And I would say, don't worry about them.
• 37:32
  What does your boss think?
• 37:33
  And they would say, the boss actually really likes it.
• 37:34
  And I was like, okay, then you're doing the right thing.
• 37:37
  And we want the promotion.
• 37:39
  And even women, a lot of women would dress in...
• 37:44
  Okay, so Australia is one of the biggest consumers of fast fashion in the world, even though our population is so small.
• 37:50
  And there's been many studies on this.
• 37:52
  And I was like, why is this?
• 37:53
  And I thought, it's because we dress for trends.
• 37:56
  We don't dress for personal style.
• 37:59
  We see something on Instagram and we want it, even if it doesn't express us, even if it's not authentic to our personal style, who we are, we wear it.
• 38:09
  And a lot of people would buy something from Shein and they would try it on.
• 38:13
  They will be like, this does not fit who I am.
• 38:15
  It doesn't look as good as the model on Instagram or the picture on the website.
• 38:20
  And they would just throw it and it would just add to the landfill.
• 38:24
  And this is, it all stems back to the mindset of the country.
• 38:29
  It all stems back to the tall poppy syndrome, too much judgment.
• 38:33
  girls only want something if everyone else is wearing it.
• 38:35
  A man only wants a certain pair of sneakers if other people are wearing it.
• 38:39
  They don't want to express themselves in different ways.
• 38:41
  They don't want all their colour.
• 38:41
  It would be extremely rare to see colour in Sydney.
• 38:47
  It's a monochrome place.
• 38:48
  So it's black, white, navy, grey and white sometimes.
• 38:55
  How are you getting your clients?
• 38:57
  Through my Instagram, I'll get most of my clients.
• 38:59
  Okay.
• 39:00
  So I'm targeting a certain niche or people that want to express themselves and people that are scared to express themselves.
• 39:07
  And because my content is always about this, the algorithm goes to it naturally.
• 39:11
  So that's how I get my clients.
• 39:14
  And yeah, people, you know, when they would see my style, they wouldn't think I'm from Sydney.
• 39:19
  And I would say, I'm born here.
• 39:20
  I'm born in Western Sydney.
• 39:21
  This is where I am from.
• 39:22
  You know, this is my home.
• 39:24
  But they would always think I'm from Dubai.
• 39:26
  And now I can say I live in Dubai.
• 39:28
  Or they would say, you know, I'm born in Europe or like I'm Persian or something like that.
• 39:34
  And yeah.
• 39:35
  Which is interesting.
• 39:35
  I think that we can be the change we want to see in the world, right?
• 39:39
  I want people to express themselves more.
• 39:40
  So I wear color, because that's how I express myself.
• 39:43
  Other people can express themselves in monochrome colors, that's fine.
• 39:47
  As long as they're happy with that.
• 39:48
  If they want to do something more with their style and they're held back, when they look at the mirror, they're not happy with who they are or how they look.
• 39:56
  then take the step and be the change you want to see.
• 40:00
  Don't worry about what other people think.
• 40:02
  That's something as humans, we tend to do too much.
• 40:04
  We worry too much about others.
• 40:06
  And then our happiness gets left behind.
• 40:09
  Like we should be happy at the end of the day with what we do in our life.
• 40:13
  We shouldn't dress for other people.
• 40:14
  We shouldn't try to impress other people because at the end of the day, people always have an impression of you.
• 40:21
  They will always say something bad about you.
• 40:23
  There's certain people in this world that you could save 10 people from, you could save 10 children from a house fire.
• 40:29
  And then someone will come up and say, why didn't you save 12?
• 40:33
  There were two others.
• 40:34
  Why didn't you save those two as well?
• 40:36
  So you should just dress for yourself.
• 40:40
  You should do anything for yourself in this life.
• 40:43
  That's what I think.
• 40:43
  Otherwise you'll be held back.
• 40:45
  And I was held back a lot in my past.
• 40:48
  So I try to help people at the end of the day through fashion.
• 40:53
  So when you say that you discovered color and you describe how it really connected you to your culture, is it fair to say that at that time you start wearing color, but you're not necessarily feeling as happy, positive and optimistic, but that came later?
• 41:12
  Or is that incorrect?
• 41:13
  It's true.
• 41:14
  So the comfort zone, it's a funny thing because at the start, it's scary.
• 41:18
  Things are always scary before they become positive or before they enact change.
• 41:25
  And that's how it should be.
• 41:27
  You know, when you're in the gym, you're lifting weights, you're scared.
• 41:31
  Like this bar is going to...
• 41:34
  Come down, right?
• 41:35
  But anything outside your comfort zone and anything that leads to change is always hard.
• 41:42
  So comfort zone at the start is very, very scary when you're dressing different.
• 41:47
  And if you're someone that doesn't like something, you should try it anyway in style.
• 41:53
  You should try it anyway.
• 41:55
  For example, you're in a store and you see something and you're like, this will never work on me.
• 41:59
  Yeah.
• 42:00
  I always tell my clients when I'm with them shopping, and they're like, I can't try this, I can't try this, I can't try this, it's too bold for me, it's too this for me, it's too that for me.
• 42:09
  I say, just try it on, I know you'll like it.
• 42:12
  They try it on in the fitting room, they come out, and I'm like, they look amazing, and I can see the smile on their face because...
• 42:18
  They told me, I would have never tried this if you weren't there.
• 42:22
  And I said, I say to them, this is why you should get outside your comfort zone.
• 42:26
  This is why you should try different things in life.
• 42:30
  Fashion can kind of be a metaphor for things.
• 42:32
  Yeah, trying different things will always lead to change.
• 42:36
  Trying new restaurants is a new experience.
• 42:39
  This could lead to learning more about another culture.
• 42:42
  It could lead to...
• 42:45
  meeting someone new, it could lead to many opportunities.
• 42:48
  You know, if you go to the same place every day, same cafe, same thoughts, same conversations, we go to a new place, new conversations, new food, new drinks.
• 42:56
  So I think in everything I do in life, I want to do something new.
• 43:00
  I want to do something different.
• 43:01
  I want to push myself.
• 43:02
  Why did you choose Dubai, not Europe?
• 43:04
  Because when you retell your visits to Europe, there is clearly a love affair there as well.
• 43:09
  And I'm just wondering what was the tipping point?
• 43:12
  Good question.
• 43:13
  So I think Europe is great in many ways, but safety is not one of them.
• 43:18
  Paris, Milan, very unsafe places to say the very least.
• 43:24
  But Paris, I love Paris, but it's kind of,
• 43:28
  kind of a dirty city.
• 43:29
  It's kind of a, it's a lot of crime that you're scared of being pickpocketed at any time.
• 43:35
  You're scared of wearing a nice watch.
• 43:37
  You're scared of wearing anything nice.
• 43:38
  And you always have to be on alert.
• 43:40
  Like if someone's asking for directions, you have to be worried if they're a scam or if they're actually a genuine person in need of help.
• 43:47
  And luckily I've never been robbed from in my life, touch wood.
• 43:52
  You'll be messaging me next week, April.
• 43:55
  I've been robbed in my hometown of Bankstown.
• 43:57
  I've been robbed in Western Sydney many times, three or four times.
• 44:01
  But I've not been robbed in Europe.
• 44:02
  So touch wood, it doesn't happen.
• 44:04
  But Dubai is so safe.
• 44:06
  I can leave things anywhere I want.
• 44:08
  Anywhere I want.
• 44:09
  I can leave my phone, go to the toilet and come back.
• 44:11
  It's going to be there.
• 44:12
  And coming from Sydney, which is a place where you can't leave things anywhere,
• 44:18
  It's such a different world to me.
• 44:19
  And I really admire that about Dubai.
• 44:22
  And I think when people are more safe, they're allowed to be more themselves.
• 44:28
  Was that your main consideration when deciding where to live?
• 44:31
  Not the main thing.
• 44:32
  It's also the people here.
• 44:33
  Okay.
• 44:34
  Very forward thinking, innovative.
• 44:37
  Every conversation I have with someone, they're always sharing ideas with me and I share ideas back.
• 44:42
  And this is a great way to kind of build.
• 44:46
  How many times had you visited before you came?
• 44:49
  Two.
• 44:49
  Two times.
• 44:50
  The first time you came, was it just for a holiday or was it to meet a friend?
• 44:55
  Was it?
• 44:56
  It was holiday and for networking as well.
• 44:58
  Okay.
• 44:59
  Yeah.
• 44:59
  Tell me the first time you land, were there any preconceived notions that you had that were completely dispelled or anything that was particularly eye opening on that first trip?
• 45:10
  You know what, like, as soon as you land in Dubai, you have a lot of preconceived notions about it because of social media.
• 45:17
  Okay.
• 45:17
  But the funny thing is, it is everything that people say about it.
• 45:21
  And that's what I love about Dubai.
• 45:23
  And as soon as I landed, I was like, this place is amazing, but it might be too good to be true.
• 45:29
  So the next time I come back and it is, it's amazing again.
• 45:32
  So this time when I, in 2023, when I wanted to move here, it's everything that Australia is not.
• 45:40
  And that's what really drew me towards it.
• 45:44
  And now that I've lived here for a decent amount of time, I can say with certainty that for me and for other people that are similar to my circumstance, it's amazing.
• 45:55
  And those circumstances are coming from the creative world?
• 45:58
  Coming from the creative world, coming from a place where the environment is always bringing you down, the mindset's always bringing you down.
• 46:04
  You know, people in Australia are always looking forward to the weekend.
• 46:07
  Right.
• 46:07
  They're always talking about what's the next plan?
• 46:09
  What's the next event?
• 46:11
  What's the next party?
• 46:12
  Where's the next place I can drink?
• 46:14
  Where's the next place?
• 46:16
  What's the next artist coming to Australia?
• 46:18
  People in Australia, there's a big drinking culture.
• 46:20
  So, you know, here there's a big coffee culture.
• 46:24
  So cafes open till late.
• 46:26
  People go out to a meeting like 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm.
• 46:30
  In Australia, everything shuts down so early, except for the bars.
• 46:34
  A lot of pubs open till late.
• 46:36
  Some are open 24 seven.
• 46:38
  So people will go out for after work drinks.
• 46:40
  People will be drinking beer every single day, which is crazy to me.
• 46:44
  Every single day people will drink beer.
• 46:46
  And it will become very normalized to drink all the time.
• 46:49
  And I quit drinking last year.
• 46:51
  Before that, because of this culture, I would always be drinking.
• 46:54
  And I would look through my photos and I'd be drinking every single day.
• 46:57
  And I would be like, this is too much.
• 47:01
  Like, this is really unhealthy.
• 47:03
  And, you know, there's other ways that I can be social with people.
• 47:08
  And as I said before, I'm a very introverted person.
• 47:10
  I'm a very quiet person.
• 47:12
  So when I started drinking, I was a late bloomer.
• 47:15
  So in Australia, we have a drinking age of 18.
• 47:18
  Okay.
• 47:19
  I started drinking when I was 21.
• 47:21
  Because as I said before, my culture, my values, my parents don't drink.
• 47:25
  My parents don't smoke.
• 47:27
  I also don't smoke.
• 47:28
  But...
• 47:29
  As a person that got invited to so many events, as a person in the fashion industry, there's a lot of drinks backstage, a lot of drinks everywhere at every event.
• 47:38
  Butler's handing out champagne.
• 47:40
  So in 2021, one day at an event, I was like, let me try champagne.
• 47:45
  I want to see why is everyone so...
• 47:49
  Like hypnotized by this.
• 47:50
  Why does everyone love this?
• 47:52
  I tried it.
• 47:52
  I hated it.
• 47:53
  Oh no.
• 47:54
  But then you're becoming like a regular thing because people would go out for drinks and I would say at the start, it's okay, I don't want to drink.
• 48:04
  I don't want to have anything.
• 48:05
  I'd be okay with a water or sparkling water.
• 48:09
  People were like, no, just have it.
• 48:10
  Just have it.
• 48:11
  There's a lot of big peer pressure in Australia as well.
• 48:14
  And then I started to drink too much, drink too much, drink too much.
• 48:19
  That's what I'm trying to get to.
• 48:21
  It's a Muslim culture.
• 48:22
  So there's much less drinking.
• 48:25
  There's much less peer pressure, almost none actually.
• 48:28
  And people here are much more into fitness, into health.
• 48:32
  People are into run clubs.
• 48:33
  People are into cycling.
• 48:35
  People are into paddle.
• 48:36
  I got into that recently as well.
• 48:38
  Everyone's playing paddle these days and it's actually so hard.
• 48:41
  Like it's a big, big cardio.
• 48:44
  Yeah.
• 48:50
  Many reasons.
• 48:50
  Actually, my dad came in my dream and he told me that when he moved to Dubai later this year, last year, I guess I'm saying it, he said that you would be so ahead of yourself.
• 49:04
  mentally, spiritually, and to where you want to build to if you quit drinking.
• 49:09
  And he also said many other things.
• 49:10
  It was a long dream.
• 49:12
  But before he passed away, he also told me to quit drinking.
• 49:14
  He never liked that I drank.
• 49:16
  My mom also never liked it as well.
• 49:19
  But I was kind of trapped in that lifestyle.
• 49:21
  And then when I had this dream, I quit the same day.
• 49:25
  And now I'm eight months sober.
• 49:28
  So it's a great feeling.
• 49:30
  I feel happier.
• 49:32
  I feel grateful.
• 49:35
  I feel more myself.
• 49:38
  And I don't feel like I'm...
• 49:41
  performing anymore you know when I was drunk I was a mess you know I wasn't I was drinking too much I would never drink at home I would never drink like out of social settings I would only drink in social settings when those social settings came
• 49:59
  people in Australia drink so much, you kind of lose sense of how many drinks you've had.
• 50:05
  And I'll be invited on VIP tables at clubs and things like that.
• 50:09
  People would treat me different because of who I am.
• 50:11
  And I would kind of use that and drink more.
• 50:16
  So I had a bit of a drinking problem, I'll be honest.
• 50:19
  And as I said, I was looking through my photos and I started to realize too much of this, too much, too much.
• 50:25
  And if I'm a role model to other people, if I'm talking about self-expression, if I'm talking about confidence, if I'm talking about mental health, I shouldn't be perpetuating, perpetuating, perpetuating, sorry.
• 50:38
  I shouldn't be perpetuating this alcoholism culture, you know, it's not good.
• 50:43
  Especially before last year, social media was banned for people under 15.
• 50:50
  But people like 13 years old could see my content and they could see the alcohol.
• 50:55
  And there are some problems of kids asking their older friend to buy alcohol.
• 51:02
  And then they're drinking at a really young age.
• 51:05
  This is a problem in Australia that not many people actually talk about.
• 51:09
  But people are always seeing things on social media.
• 51:11
  They want to be like someone.
• 51:13
  They're going to be like, maybe alcohol can kind of help me.
• 51:17
  You don't know what kids are thinking, right?
• 51:18
  It's funny about the age of alcohol because I'm torn.
• 51:21
  So I completely agree with you from the perspective of not showing it.
• 51:24
  Like when I was Miss Jamaica, I would never be photographed, even with a glass of wine in my hand for the same reason.
• 51:29
  I just didn't have the right vibe, babe.
• 51:31
  You know, it wasn't the vibe I was going for.
• 51:33
  But at the same time, I think in Jamaica, at least during my time, I'm old.
• 51:37
  So times may have changed, but you never like you were never ID to go anywhere.
• 51:43
  We were partying from probably 13, which meant we had access to alcohol very, very early.
• 51:49
  But my dad's approach was always he's not a big drinker.
• 51:52
  He might have a glass of red.
• 51:54
  He also cannot hold his liquor.
• 51:55
  I know when dad has had too much to drink because he says how much he loves you a million times.
• 52:00
  And those times have happened.
• 52:02
  I can count on one hand.
• 52:04
  He's just not into alcohol.
• 52:06
  He will have tonic, tonic water and lemon.
• 52:08
  I don't even like how it tastes.
• 52:09
  But anyway, but the point is, he was very open about making sure that I was educated on what people would be serving at parties so that you didn't overdo it.
• 52:19
  Yeah.
• 52:19
  And, you know, he really believed, I guess, in drink responsibly, that kind of ethos.
• 52:24
  That's good.
• 52:24
  That's great, actually.
• 52:25
  And I think also in Jamaica, it's looked down upon if you're like vomiting and like just gone over the top.
• 52:33
  Whereas in the UK, it's glorified.
• 52:36
  It's glorified in Australia as well.
• 52:37
  It was so bizarre.
• 52:38
  I remember going to do my A-Levels and I'd be telling people about our party weekends for Independence Week and how it was so much fun because you'd have one band and you'd get into 14 parties.
• 52:50
  And the first thing they used to ask me is, oh, did you get pissed then?
• 52:52
  I was like,
• 52:53
  First of all, at the time, I didn't know what that meant.
• 52:55
  And secondly, I was like, no, but why would the aim to go to this just to be drunk the entire time?
• 53:01
  Like that just didn't sound like much fun.
• 53:03
  But from the British perspective, that seemed like the goal of going out.
• 53:06
  And so on the one hand, I completely agree with you in the sense of glamorizing...
• 53:12
  that scene of drinking too much is not the way to go.
• 53:17
  But at the same time, because of my growing up and alcohol being available and that almost having the opposite effect, right?
• 53:24
  Because you don't need to ask someone older to buy it for you.
• 53:26
  You don't need to hide it.
• 53:28
  I feel like that also helped.
• 53:30
  So now, as I even think of my own children,
• 53:33
  I'm a little bit in between.
• 53:34
  I think that having access and open communication and, you know, honest dialogue about the effects of doing too much of these things, I think is really important.
• 53:46
  But at the same time,
• 53:48
  I also, this might be quite controversial.
• 53:50
  I think there are some things your children are supposed to hide from you, right?
• 53:52
  Like they're supposed to go to their auntie and tell their auntie certain things.
• 53:56
  Yes.
• 53:56
  Because out of respect, you know, like even my language, I can curse like a sailor, but you don't curse in front of your dad out of respect.
• 54:04
  So there's these nuances that I haven't quite figured out.
• 54:07
  Yeah.
• 54:08
  But I do think that the idea of glorifying, that the goal of socialising is to get like drunk half your head is just something I've never understood.
• 54:19
  In Australia, basically, the more bands you have on your, your, your wrists is the better your night is.
• 54:25
  So you go into one club, you get one band, you go into another club, you get another band, it's like that.
• 54:30
  And also vomiting at the end of the night means you had a good night and, um,
• 54:36
  Just things like this.
• 54:37
  And when you step back from you, look at it, like this is not life.
• 54:40
  This is kind of drinking your problems away.
• 54:44
  And alcohol is poison at the end of the day.
• 54:46
  In small amounts, it's good.
• 54:48
  Like one cocktail a week, two cocktails a week.
• 54:51
  Maybe it's good.
• 54:52
  I don't know, like it's okay.
• 54:54
  But in Australia, you can't do that because if people are always asking for after work drinks, they're always trying to go to bars or this or that.
• 55:04
  And there's a lot of peer pressure.
• 55:06
  This is a bad recipe.
• 55:08
  So I thought that the best ways to get out of this culture is just to quit it.
• 55:14
  Cold Turkey and I did it.
• 55:16
  And I can tell you that life is better on the other side, honestly.
• 55:21
  I won't say alcohol is the enemy.
• 55:24
  You can still drink once or twice a week or whatever you like to do.
• 55:28
  But just be more mindful.
• 55:30
  And especially as an entrepreneur, your life will level up so much if you don't drink.
• 55:35
  And you'll be more productive.
• 55:36
  You won't have hangovers.
• 55:38
  You won't have a mind that is always on empty.
• 55:41
  That's a big thing.
• 55:41
  Because my brain on alcohol, the next day...
• 55:45
  it would be kind of not working on its full potential.
• 55:49
  And it's not something that interests me anymore.
• 55:53
  Like I see someone partying and drinking too much, like I don't like it.
• 55:58
  And in the party culture in Sydney, it's always the same people around.
• 56:01
  And there's some people you don't want to be around as well, like a lot of dodgy people.
• 56:06
  So...
• 56:07
  I think, yeah, quitting alcohol.
• 56:10
  And I also became Muslim as well.
• 56:14
  Actually, crazy story is one day after I had that dream, there was like...
• 56:20
  An experience, a religious experience that I can't even explain in words that happened.
• 56:26
  And these two events happened one day from each other, which is interesting.
• 56:30
  So I quit alcohol and then I had that experience and then I took my Shahada, which is basically saying that Allah is the one true God and becoming Muslim.
• 56:40
  So I took my Shahada in Bankstown, of course.
• 56:44
  And from that day on, it's a very important thing to not drink alcohol as a Muslim as well.
• 56:49
  So these two things have really helped me on this journey.
• 56:54
  And now eight months, I can say that I don't regret it at all.
• 56:59
  When you are planning the move, so you know you have a date in mind, how do you prepare to leave Australia for Dubai?
• 57:08
  So I booked my flight in January, I think, of last year.
• 57:13
  And I moved on December the 3rd.
• 57:17
  So I had that date fixed in my mind.
• 57:20
  I'm like, look, I'm moving in December.
• 57:22
  It has to happen.
• 57:23
  I'm going to just lock it in right now.
• 57:26
  So I locked it in and started to...
• 57:29
  The time started to move so quickly.
• 57:32
  So, so quickly.
• 57:33
  And from January to December, it was like the blink of an eye.
• 57:37
  To get ready for that move, I started to message a lot of people in Dubai, saying I'm moving here, and I started to ask people that live here for connections, for things of where should I live, the visa process, you know, the culture of living here compared to just coming for a holiday,
• 57:57
  you know, coming for a holiday, you see the highlights of a place, right?
• 58:01
  But sometimes you don't see the other parts.
• 58:03
  And in Dubai, honestly, there's not many bad things except the traffic is a lot.
• 58:09
  But even in Sydney, the traffic is bad.
• 58:11
  So I guess I'm used to it by now.
• 58:12
  Even in India, the traffic is terrible.
• 58:14
  So it's the worst city in India, actually.
• 58:16
  But yeah.
• 58:18
  So that's how I'll get ready for it.
• 58:21
  I'll be proactive.
• 58:23
  And this is something that I've been wanting to do for about three years now.
• 58:26
  So I've always had the plan in mind and I've always known that my business here would do much better than Australia.
• 58:33
  Like point blank, I know that.
• 58:35
  And you know.
• 58:37
  Are you still getting majority of your clients through social media?
• 58:40
  Yes, social media word of mouth.
• 58:42
  Word of mouth is huge in Dubai.
• 58:43
  Like if you do a good job, everyone will recommend you.
• 58:47
  And it's personal individuals?
• 58:49
  Yes.
• 58:50
  Okay.
• 58:50
  One on one styling and mainly entrepreneurs here, business owners and people that want to express themselves as a personal brand.
• 59:00
  Because you know, when you see a certain person in their content and you resonate with them because you see them and they're dressed in such a captivating way.
• 59:10
  And there's a certain signature style that they have.
• 59:13
  And that signature style, I really help people find.
• 59:16
  That's the main thing I do in Dubai now.
• 59:19
  And these are for business people that are running their own businesses out here.
• 59:24
  Yeah.
• 59:24
  And they come to you because they want a look that is going to define them, stand out.
• 59:30
  Yeah, but that's true to them as well.
• 59:31
  Okay.
• 59:32
  So that's a big thing I really want to always do.
• 59:34
  I want to, I always want to be in the shoes of my client.
• 59:37
  I never want to style them from my point of view because that's not really helpful for them.
• 59:42
  Right.
• 59:43
  and it's a big thing about me is I'm always listening to people.
• 59:47
  I always listen more than I talk.
• 59:49
  I love to listen to people.
• 59:51
  School of my dad taught me, and I think that's why I'm a good stylist because I can listen to someone and then I can remember it.
• 59:58
  For example, they tell me something during the styling consultation.
• 1:00:01
  Now, when we're shopping, I tell them, you told me this during the styling consultation, so I think this will look good on you, and certain things like that.
• 1:00:09
  So that's what I do in my styling.
• 1:00:12
  But yeah, so getting ready for the Dubai move, I was super happy, first of all, to get out of Australia, to get out of Sydney.
• 1:00:21
  I love Sydney, but it was not serving me anymore.
• 1:00:24
  And when your environment does not serve you anymore, you should leave.
• 1:00:27
  That's something I want everyone to know.
• 1:00:31
  And, you know, moving is a scary thing.
• 1:00:34
  And...
• 1:00:36
  Honestly, the scarier something is, the more you should do it usually.
• 1:00:39
  Obviously, there's exceptions to that, right?
• 1:00:42
  There's exceptions to that.
• 1:00:43
  But generally, if you're scared of something, but you're just kind of fed up with your environment, fed up with your around, fed up with what you're doing every day, take the step to make the move.
• 1:01:00
  What was the part that scared you?
• 1:01:02
  You know what?
• 1:01:04
  In Australia, I'm known, I'm established.
• 1:01:07
  I've been interviewed by companies.
• 1:01:09
  I've been interviewed by ABC News on the TV.
• 1:01:11
  I've been in GQ, in Vogue.
• 1:01:15
  I'm regularly invited to places.
• 1:01:17
  People know who I am.
• 1:01:19
  I understand Australia because I was born there.
• 1:01:21
  So I understand the market there.
• 1:01:23
  I understand people there.
• 1:01:25
  In the Middle East, I don't really know many people.
• 1:01:29
  In the Middle East, I'm still learning the demographic here.
• 1:01:32
  I'm still learning the nuances.
• 1:01:36
  I'm still learning what makes Dubai, Dubai.
• 1:01:39
  That's also something that captivates me about this place because it's always evolving and you have to evolve with it where you get left behind.
• 1:01:46
  I think something I like because I like to be fast paced.
• 1:01:48
  I like to be on my toes.
• 1:01:50
  I don't like to be reactive.
• 1:01:52
  And I think that's what Australia ultimately makes you.
• 1:01:55
  And I think Dubai makes you more proactive.
• 1:01:58
  It makes you more grateful for who you are in this certain moment.
• 1:02:01
  You have to, you have to level up.
• 1:02:04
  And when you have to level up, you're forced to grow.
• 1:02:08
  What does leveling up mean for you?
• 1:02:10
  Leveling up is being 1% better than yesterday.
• 1:02:13
  And 1% better could be in many different things.
• 1:02:16
  It could be in your mindset, it could be in your mental health, it could be in who you've met, it could be in how you've helped someone, it could be in a charity you've given to, it could be religiously,
• 1:02:29
  It could be in many different ways.
• 1:02:31
  But this is why I always begin my day with gratitude and end my day with gratitude.
• 1:02:36
  Because then I remember on this certain day, what did I do?
• 1:02:40
  And it also pushes you into the present.
• 1:02:44
  Like, how did I make an impact today?
• 1:02:47
  And how can I make another impact tomorrow?
• 1:02:50
  So also writing goals before the end of the day for tomorrow is a great thing.
• 1:02:55
  And when you decided you were coming, you had that date locked in.
• 1:02:58
  Did you already have clients that you had kind of reached out to or potential clients so that you had a little bit more security when you got here?
• 1:03:05
  I had leads, yeah.
• 1:03:07
  Otherwise I'll be like stepping into the unknown with nothing except with clothes on my back.
• 1:03:14
  Yeah, definitely.
• 1:03:15
  When you move to somewhere, have leads already, have email sent.
• 1:03:18
  I have Instagram DMs already messaged to people.
• 1:03:23
  The good thing about personal brand is that some people already know you.
• 1:03:26
  Okay.
• 1:03:27
  So some people would reach out to me.
• 1:03:29
  And that's why I tell people post the content, post the content, post the content.
• 1:03:34
  Because you never know who's reaching.
• 1:03:36
  Could reach people.
• 1:03:38
  Like celebrities, you could reach amazing people and you never know who could be in your DM tomorrow.
• 1:03:46
  Is that why you started taking social media seriously as a way of reaching people beyond your community?
• 1:03:54
  So I started posting on Instagram in 2017, 2018 time.
• 1:03:58
  So it's been about eight years now of posting content.
• 1:04:01
  I started posting content funnily enough to have an outfit diary.
• 1:04:06
  And this would also help me find my style.
• 1:04:10
  Because when you take photos, you realize what's not working with your style and what is working with your style.
• 1:04:15
  That's an expert tip I give to all my clients for free.
• 1:04:18
  You guys got that.
• 1:04:20
  So when you take photos of your outfit every single day, you should do this.
• 1:04:23
  As soon as you get ready to take a photo in the mirror and you can see, you can actually look through your photos and see on that day what you were wearing.
• 1:04:31
  I know a lot of people are very busy, but this is a good way to kind of discover more about your style and see what you don't like.
• 1:04:39
  It's also good because in that photo you can kind of realize in a week or two weeks from now or three weeks from now, maybe you really liked polka dots.
• 1:04:51
  And then now you don't like polka dots.
• 1:04:53
  That's not your style anymore.
• 1:04:54
  So that's also a good thing.
• 1:04:56
  And you can kind of reflect on this.
• 1:04:57
  You can say, I liked this back then, but now I kind of like understated pieces more instead of the big in your face kind of thing.
• 1:05:06
  It's also a good thing.
• 1:05:07
  So...
• 1:05:09
  content to me was actually just a way to kind of
• 1:05:14
  Yeah, just to have my outfits out there.
• 1:05:16
  And I really like posting on Instagram.
• 1:05:18
  I don't know.
• 1:05:18
  Because it's also a comfort zone thing.
• 1:05:20
  As someone with a lot of anxiety back then, I still have anxiety now to some degree, but much less, thank God.
• 1:05:28
  Posting on social media is one of the biggest things as someone with anxiety.
• 1:05:33
  Because when you hit that post, your heart beats going like this.
• 1:05:37
  You're like, what are people thinking of me?
• 1:05:39
  But it's a good thing.
• 1:05:39
  Because when you post more, you post more, you post more,
• 1:05:42
  you start to realize no one at the end of the day cares.
• 1:05:46
  And you should post for yourself, like it doesn't matter anyway.
• 1:05:49
  And you start to get realized when you post every day, you start to realize that.
• 1:05:54
  So that also helped me a lot, my anxiety, my mindset as well.
• 1:05:57
  So I think that social media in many, many ways, it's beneficial.
• 1:06:03
  So many ways, but building a personal brand,
• 1:06:06
  having a face out there, being invited to things.
• 1:06:09
  I would never imagine I would be invited to red carpet events.
• 1:06:12
  I would never imagine I would be invited to movie premieres.
• 1:06:15
  I would never imagine I would meet actors.
• 1:06:18
  I would meet certain people in rooms that I'm invited to.
• 1:06:22
  And some days I get emails and I'm like, what is this?
• 1:06:27
  This is crazy.
• 1:06:29
  Like I'm grateful to be in this position where I can be invited to something and just read it and be like,
• 1:06:34
  Is this a scam or is this true?
• 1:06:36
  So I recommend everyone to make content about whatever their niche is or whatever they're passionate about.
• 1:06:43
  For me, it's fashion, but some other people it's food, some people it's parenting, some people it's cooking.
• 1:06:50
  So, yeah.
• 1:06:51
  Do you think that you would have been able to craft this career that you have so far without social media?
• 1:06:58
  I don't think so.
• 1:06:59
  Really?
• 1:06:59
  I don't think so.
• 1:07:00
  I don't think so.
• 1:07:01
  Social media has helped so much.
• 1:07:04
  And in some rooms I've been in, I've given my business card.
• 1:07:07
  It's led to a crazy opportunity.
• 1:07:09
  I don't think so.
• 1:07:13
  It is, it's a really good question.
• 1:07:15
  Because it's also helped me, as I said, express myself more.
• 1:07:19
  So I think without social media...
• 1:07:21
  you wouldn't have necessarily had that confidence boost?
• 1:07:23
  No, because people in Australia are so negative thinking.
• 1:07:27
  So if I was always thinking about what other people are saying, I would think maybe my fashion sense is terrible.
• 1:07:36
  And maybe I shouldn't try.
• 1:07:39
  Because if everyone's bringing me down, they must be right.
• 1:07:41
  You know, there were certain people obviously saying good things.
• 1:07:44
  Sure.
• 1:07:45
  I'm just saying like the general.
• 1:07:46
  Yeah, as a general consensus kind of thing.
• 1:07:52
  Yeah, fashion to me, you know, I think Van Gogh, I think it was Van Gogh as an artist.
• 1:07:57
  Everyone hated his artworks when he was alive and he was depressed, unfortunately.
• 1:08:02
  Like he was in a mental hospital and everything.
• 1:08:05
  I was, I'm thinking about this and his artworks are like masterpieces.
• 1:08:11
  I've been to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
• 1:08:13
  Me too.
• 1:08:17
  It's wow.
• 1:08:17
  This guy is so talented, but he was broken inside.
• 1:08:21
  Unfortunately, he was absolutely broken inside.
• 1:08:24
  And, you know, it led to things like him cutting off his ear.
• 1:08:28
  And, you know, mental health is a big thing for me.
• 1:08:30
  I always talk about it.
• 1:08:32
  But Van Gogh was so incredible.
• 1:08:34
  And he could never know how incredible he was because of what people thought of him.
• 1:08:39
  And I'm getting goosebumps thinking about this because if people told him that he has a gift for you, like you are amazing.
• 1:08:47
  Imagine the artwork that could have came out of that as well.
• 1:08:54
  So, you know, if your environment can change so much about who you are, what career you pick, what people think of you, what you think of yourself, your mental health, it could impact you so much.
• 1:09:08
  So moving you to Dubai...
• 1:09:11
  I feel hungry, I feel inspired, and I feel like my art through my fashion just reflects that even more.
• 1:09:18
  And the people I'm meeting, people I'm meeting have similar stories to me, saying from their hometown people thought this way and that way, people are too small-minded.
• 1:09:28
  And they're from places like Romania, they're from places like Russia, they're from places like...
• 1:09:36
  you know other places as well so I was like coming to another place I realised as well like maybe it's not just Australia it's also other places yeah and if everyone's coming to Dubai and people are loving Dubai and
• 1:09:50
  I think it's because Dubai realizes that this place is the city of the future and people can come here, they can be themselves and they can produce things in other parts of the world that maybe would be mocked, but here it's...
• 1:10:05
  It's acceptable.
• 1:10:07
  It's applauded, you know.
• 1:10:08
  It's accepted and it's applauded.
• 1:10:10
  Do you think that the culture here is to celebrate even the effort
• 1:10:16
  even if it's not the result that you wanted.
• 1:10:18
  And perhaps in Australia, people felt you felt that people kind of needed to see your success first before.
• 1:10:26
  Yeah.
• 1:10:26
  So when people, when you become successful, people really want to be your friend.
• 1:10:30
  Okay.
• 1:10:30
  They will really want to be with you for the benefits.
• 1:10:33
  They will really want to be with you.
• 1:10:35
  for the clout.
• 1:10:36
  So a lot of people would say, you know, certain things that, you know, I've always been there for you.
• 1:10:42
  And then my other friend is telling me that, actually that guy was saying this behind your back.
• 1:10:48
  He was bringing you down.
• 1:10:52
  That's the mindset in Australia.
• 1:10:54
  Like people do not want to clap for someone before they become something.
• 1:10:58
  People do not want to support your art.
• 1:11:00
  People do not want to support your singing.
• 1:11:03
  People do not want to support your content until you get viral.
• 1:11:06
  Right.
• 1:11:07
  And they'll be like, oh, I knew that guy.
• 1:11:09
  He was my friend.
• 1:11:10
  You know, in high school, he loved me.
• 1:11:13
  You know, he said this about me.
• 1:11:14
  Yeah.
• 1:11:17
  So this is Australia and I feel like a lot of the people I've met from London have said the same thing.
• 1:11:21
  And there's a lot of people from London in Dubai.
• 1:11:24
  And yeah, I feel like... Do you think your mental health was taking a turn for the worst in Australia?
• 1:11:31
  You know what?
• 1:11:32
  I have trust issues.
• 1:11:33
  Okay.
• 1:11:33
  Honestly, I do have trust issues because sometimes I don't know if people like me for me or if I can give them.
• 1:11:39
  Okay.
• 1:11:39
  Or I can provide for them.
• 1:11:41
  And a lot of people in Australia have used me.
• 1:11:44
  And I'm a very giving person.
• 1:11:47
  My family is giving.
• 1:11:48
  My culture is giving.
• 1:11:50
  I am a giving person also.
• 1:11:51
  Okay.
• 1:11:52
  And I will never regret giving in my life.
• 1:11:55
  You know, if someone wants to do something, that's their thing.
• 1:11:58
  And I know karma will get them.
• 1:12:00
  God will get them, whatever it is.
• 1:12:04
  But because of this, I have trust issues.
• 1:12:06
  And I don't know if someone likes me for me.
• 1:12:08
  I don't know if a woman likes me for me or if she just wants me for clout.
• 1:12:12
  I don't know if a woman likes me for me or if she likes me because I'm a certain person.
• 1:12:19
  And I don't know if a friend likes me for me or what I can provide for them in terms of their business, posting them on the story, coming to the event and doing certain things for them.
• 1:12:31
  Is that from the young boy in you that had to deal with people?
• 1:12:36
  People pleasing.
• 1:12:37
  Yeah.
• 1:12:37
  Yeah.
• 1:12:38
  Okay.
• 1:12:38
  And I've come out of that slowly, slowly, slowly.
• 1:12:42
  So about when I was 20, 21, 22, I've come out of that.
• 1:12:45
  Yeah.
• 1:12:46
  Before that, when, when you get viral on Instagram, your head.
• 1:12:50
  What made you go viral on Instagram?
• 1:12:51
  Because I'm wearing colourful outfits in Australia, in Sydney especially.
• 1:12:55
  So in Sydney, they're seeing this guy wearing colourful outfits.
• 1:12:57
  My post will get like hundreds of thousands of views.
• 1:13:00
  People comment things, videos will go viral.
• 1:13:03
  Okay.
• 1:13:04
  And I was like, maybe my style is good.
• 1:13:08
  Maybe I'm actually good at fashion.
• 1:13:10
  And as a teenager, your head gets inflated very quickly.
• 1:13:14
  Right.
• 1:13:15
  So you need to stay grounded.
• 1:13:17
  But back then I wasn't grounded and, you know, I would think too much of myself.
• 1:13:23
  So I wouldn't realize- Who brought you back down, mommy or grandma?
• 1:13:27
  No, I just, I, you know, I would see people and they would use me or my friends would give me good advice.
• 1:13:33
  Like actual real friends would give good advice.
• 1:13:36
  Like, Bab, you're really good, but just be certain- Slow your roll.
• 1:13:39
  Yeah, slow your roll.
• 1:13:40
  Like, you know, things like that.
• 1:13:41
  We all need those friends.
• 1:13:42
  We need them.
• 1:13:43
  We need them.
• 1:13:43
  We need friends that actually hold you accountable because they're not friends otherwise.
• 1:13:48
  Otherwise, they're just acquaintances or they're just people that are just passing by.
• 1:13:54
  What do people misunderstand about you?
• 1:13:57
  So many things.
• 1:13:58
  So many things.
• 1:14:00
  I'm misunderstood daily, I'll be honest.
• 1:14:03
  And the funny thing is, when people meet me, they always say... A thing that they say usually is, um... You're not as... What's the word?
• 1:14:13
  I forgot the word now.
• 1:14:16
  You're not as, um...
• 1:14:19
  I'm fasting, so I forgot the word now.
• 1:14:21
  My brain's not working on its full potential.
• 1:14:24
  I'll come back to it, I think.
• 1:14:25
  No problem.
• 1:14:26
  But people would think that I'm not as... Like, I don't smile a lot in my photos, I guess.
• 1:14:33
  Okay.
• 1:14:33
  So people would say I'm not very approachable.
• 1:14:35
  Okay, that's the word, approachable.
• 1:14:37
  Got it.
• 1:14:38
  they would say I'm not approachable.
• 1:14:39
  I'd be like, really?
• 1:14:40
  I try to be as approachable, as welcoming, as kind as possible, but I guess content, like it's just a captured moment.
• 1:14:49
  So a lot of my photos, I want the highlight to be on the clothes, not my face.
• 1:14:56
  So I don't smile in my photos.
• 1:14:58
  When you smile, your attention goes straight to your face.
• 1:15:02
  Something my modeling past has taught me.
• 1:15:07
  But yeah, people would say I'm not approachable.
• 1:15:09
  They would say that they didn't think that would be this easy to talk to.
• 1:15:16
  I don't know It's just something interesting That people have always said And I've tried to smile more in my photos I've tried to do this and that But in different parts of the world People have said this So I think maybe it's a misunderstanding Or maybe it's how I portray myself Maybe I don't know I try to portray myself as Opening as possible I talk about mental health Which is something I think Many men don't really talk about So I thought that would make me approachable But Apparently not Yeah
• 1:15:42
  Maybe it's because I'm very tall.
• 1:15:44
  I've got a beard.
• 1:15:44
  And when I don't smile, I have a resting... Can I swear on this?
• 1:15:48
  Yeah, man.
• 1:15:49
  Okay, I have a resting bitch face.
• 1:15:50
  Right.
• 1:15:52
  So I think maybe that's why.
• 1:15:53
  So when you're tall, when you model, when you have a face that's kind of like mute, people, I don't know, maybe people say that you're not approachable.
• 1:16:03
  But other things people misunderstand about me is...
• 1:16:07
  People think that I'm from the Eastern suburbs, funnily enough in Australia.
• 1:16:10
  Okay.
• 1:16:11
  Because creatives, if you're going to be a creative, you have to come from an affluent household.
• 1:16:15
  Yeah.
• 1:16:16
  Okay.
• 1:16:16
  Yeah.
• 1:16:17
  And the way I dress, people would always think that I would be dressed like from Mosman, around Mosman area, which is Eastern suburbs, North Sydney, North Sydney is also Eastern suburbs, or around this area.
• 1:16:28
  Did you feel the need to correct them or did it help?
• 1:16:31
  I would say Bankstown.
• 1:16:33
  Like Bankstown is home to me.
• 1:16:34
  Like this is where I'm from and I would not be ashamed about it.
• 1:16:38
  And there'll be certain people I would meet from Eastern suburbs that would kind of give me the look like, this guy's from there.
• 1:16:47
  And they would look down on me and I would notice it.
• 1:16:50
  And, you know, coming from where I'm from and being in the rooms I'm from, people from the Western suburbs are not usually in these rooms.
• 1:16:57
  People that are brown or black are not usually in these rooms.
• 1:17:01
  And that's something I don't really like about Sydney.
• 1:17:03
  There needs to be way more diversity, way, way, way more diversity.
• 1:17:08
  And I also felt an outcast in that way because I wouldn't see many Indians around me.
• 1:17:11
  There's not many Indian content creators.
• 1:17:13
  There's not many Indians in the fashion industry.
• 1:17:15
  There's not many brown people.
• 1:17:17
  There's not many people of color.
• 1:17:19
  There's not many Asian people.
• 1:17:21
  So I'd also feel an outcast when I go to an event.
• 1:17:24
  And I would kind of feel like sometimes I would have an imposter syndrome.
• 1:17:28
  Would they only pick me because I'm Indian?
• 1:17:30
  Would they only pick me because I'm brown and they need to have...
• 1:17:33
  Tick that box.
• 1:17:34
  One brown person at the event.
• 1:17:36
  Tick it.
• 1:17:37
  So I would have this imposter syndrome.
• 1:17:39
  And I have to calm myself down and say, you are meant to be here.
• 1:17:42
  You are good at what you do.
• 1:17:44
  You are picked because you are Bav.
• 1:17:45
  You're not picked because you need to tick a box or you need to tick some corporate checklist.
• 1:17:52
  And this, yeah, you know, when you get invited to events by like Instagram, when you get invited to events by Apple, when you get, when you make influencer content for Warner Bros, you start to realize that you are meant to be you.
• 1:18:07
  You are good at what you do.
• 1:18:08
  And, you know, Instagram, they invited me to an event last year.
• 1:18:13
  It was a Met Gala event.
• 1:18:15
  And it was at the top level of Crown.
• 1:18:17
  Sydney is one of the most prestigious hotels in Australia.
• 1:18:20
  Okay.
• 1:18:22
  It's where Drake stayed when he had his tour last year.
• 1:18:29
  And it's where the famous, he threw the slide at the drone.
• 1:18:32
  I don't know if you've seen it, the big meme where he threw the slide at the drone.
• 1:18:37
  That's where the party was.
• 1:18:38
  That's where the event was.
• 1:18:40
  It's also where Taylor Swift has stayed and many other affluent people have stayed.
• 1:18:43
  So I was in this room that I would never be in otherwise if I wasn't who I am.
• 1:18:50
  And as soon as I got there, there were people there with millions of followers.
• 1:18:53
  And I'm looking around like, should I be here?
• 1:18:56
  Should I really be here?
• 1:18:59
  And I was with my friend called Marty, Marty Thomas, one of the most best dressed people I've met, one of the most caring people, kindest people.
• 1:19:09
  And he would really give me good advice, almost like a dad.
• 1:19:12
  You know, he's a bit of an older gentleman and he would always give me really good advice and he would give me good advice on these things.
• 1:19:20
  And, you know, I think as a creative person, we're always trapped in our mind.
• 1:19:23
  We're always doubting ourself.
• 1:19:25
  Self-doubt as a creative person, it's a daily thing.
• 1:19:29
  And in small amounts, it's good to have doubt or have a little bit of pressure or have a little bit of stress or anxiety.
• 1:19:34
  In small amounts, it's good.
• 1:19:36
  But too much is not good.
• 1:19:37
  Being trapped in your mind, it's good to talk to someone about it or to journal, I think, or to pray as well.
• 1:19:43
  So, you know, I was at this event and then about after one hour, I'm talking to people and then they will be like, oh, I've seen you around.
• 1:19:51
  I've seen you.
• 1:19:52
  I love your content.
• 1:19:54
  And, you know, I think you need things like this to remind yourself, like not for validation, but just for reassurance, reassurance.
• 1:20:03
  Yes.
• 1:20:03
  Like you are meant to be where you are.
• 1:20:05
  You are going the right path.
• 1:20:07
  You are on the right path.
• 1:20:08
  You are going somewhere.
• 1:20:10
  And so what's the plan for Dubai?
• 1:20:12
  Dubai.
• 1:20:13
  Other than having more clients, like when you dream of what you want your life to be and why you had to move here for that life, what are we aspiring towards?
• 1:20:24
  I'm aspiring to, basically, I want to have some other companies that give me passive income.
• 1:20:32
  Okay.
• 1:20:33
  So I have plans for two or three companies I'm going to start.
• 1:20:37
  And, you know, in places like Australia, I couldn't start these companies.
• 1:20:40
  Why?
• 1:20:40
  Why?
• 1:20:42
  I feel that being in Dubai, I'm always around certain people and people that I meet that can help me, you know, have the launch pad for this kind of business.
• 1:20:54
  And when you meet people in Dubai, you're meeting different people every day.
• 1:20:57
  Right.
• 1:20:58
  In Australia, it's very rare to meet, um,
• 1:21:04
  people of this kind of stature.
• 1:21:06
  I mean, Australia is like 24 hour flight for most countries, which is a long way away.
• 1:21:11
  In Dubai, it's quite a short flight for most places.
• 1:21:14
  Dubai is also close to Europe.
• 1:21:16
  It's also close to India.
• 1:21:18
  It's also close to most places.
• 1:21:20
  And proximity is
• 1:21:23
  very important for success I would say when you're in a place that's so far away and not much is happening in terms of startups or company building or business building and when people are always saying you shouldn't be doing this, do that the mindset again I don't know, I feel like this is more me for me
• 1:21:45
  So other people love Australia and it's where they can thrive and more power to them.
• 1:21:51
  But I feel like this is the place for me.
• 1:21:53
  What do you miss?
• 1:21:55
  I miss the oysters.
• 1:21:57
  Miss the seafood in Australia.
• 1:21:59
  I miss certain people.
• 1:22:02
  I miss my mum.
• 1:22:03
  I miss my grandma.
• 1:22:04
  I miss my family, my cousins, my auntie, my uncle.
• 1:22:08
  Are you scared about being so far away and as your mom ages and your grandma ages, and you've obviously had a taste of what going through grief means?
• 1:22:18
  Because the first lady I spoke to about this, she lives in Thailand, but she's from the States.
• 1:22:23
  And she was saying that grieving at a distance,
• 1:22:27
  is one of the things that people just don't talk about.
• 1:22:29
  And to be honest with you, until she had brought it up, I hadn't really thought that deeply about it myself.
• 1:22:34
  And I'm just wondering, because you've had that loss so recently, are you scared at all at what being physically far away from your family is going to mean?
• 1:22:44
  Yes, and I've battled with this many times.
• 1:22:47
  Before moving for three years, I've been thinking about this.
• 1:22:52
  But ultimately, I feel like my comfort zone and for my career, as working in fashion, I feel like I can't be the best of my ability in Australia.
• 1:23:03
  And...
• 1:23:05
  Being in Dubai and close to Europe is ultimately much better for me.
• 1:23:11
  And I can take a flight to Australia whenever I want.
• 1:23:15
  That's the dream as a business owner.
• 1:23:17
  You can do whatever you want, whenever you want.
• 1:23:20
  So whenever I want to go back to Sydney, I can.
• 1:23:22
  I can visit the family or the family can come here.
• 1:23:25
  So this is a good thing.
• 1:23:27
  And Dubai isn't as far away as Europe, far away.
• 1:23:30
  How far does it... How long does it take?
• 1:23:31
  It's about 15 hours.
• 1:23:32
  Okay.
• 1:23:33
  So it's not too far.
• 1:23:34
  So that's good as well.
• 1:23:37
  And... Yeah, the grieving thing.
• 1:23:40
  It's... My grandma is almost at that age where she could pass.
• 1:23:44
  So...
• 1:23:47
  I'm always scared of the call, of having the phone call of, grandma is this and she might only have this much time to live.
• 1:23:55
  Come back, scared of things like this.
• 1:23:58
  And it's because of how I've seen my dad pass away from terminal illness and I've also seen my grandpa pass away from terminal illness as well.
• 1:24:05
  So two big terminal illnesses back to back has kind of given me a lot of trauma because terminal illness, there's no cure.
• 1:24:18
  it's so final.
• 1:24:20
  And if someone gets diagnosed with something, you can't help them at all.
• 1:24:24
  You're just seeing them like wither away every single day.
• 1:24:28
  And my grandpa had a condition called pulmonary fibrosis.
• 1:24:34
  What's that?
• 1:24:35
  Basically his lungs were giving in on him, so he couldn't use his lungs anymore.
• 1:24:39
  He had to use a machine to breathe.
• 1:24:43
  And I have asthma, so when my asthma gets really bad, I carry a puffer.
• 1:24:49
  I understand how hard it is when you can't even breathe.
• 1:24:53
  So this, he passed away in 2017.
• 1:24:55
  So that was the first year I was in uni actually, so that was a big change as well.
• 1:25:01
  So that also taught me how short life is.
• 1:25:04
  And then in 2023, I saw my dad diagnosed with cancer, which I never thought anyone in my family would get diagnosed with cancer.
• 1:25:12
  I mean, no one does, right?
• 1:25:13
  Yeah.
• 1:25:14
  Yeah, you get scared of things.
• 1:25:16
  You're like, maybe there's something in the family.
• 1:25:18
  Maybe there's something, I don't know, something wrong with us.
• 1:25:23
  Maybe you get scared.
• 1:25:24
  You get angry at God.
• 1:25:26
  You get angry at yourself like you could have done more.
• 1:25:30
  There's a lot of survivor's guilt.
• 1:25:32
  Yes, I am scared every day.
• 1:25:33
  I'll be honest.
• 1:25:34
  I am scared every day.
• 1:25:36
  But I'm also grateful to be here in another part of the world chasing my dreams and...
• 1:25:43
  You know, I'm always scared of regret.
• 1:25:45
  I don't want to be the one that's regretting something.
• 1:25:47
  So I always want to do something.
• 1:25:49
  I always want to take the risk.
• 1:25:50
  I always want to be the one that's first to do it.
• 1:25:53
  Even if there's no blueprint, I want to be the one that does it and shows people, shows the naysayers that you can do it, you can do it too, you know.
• 1:26:02
  So I'll do things in my life and I've always been about going outside the comfort zone, you know, leaving law school, going to here, you know, becoming a fashion stylist.
• 1:26:14
  You know, as an Indian person, you're taught basically you can do engineering, you can do IT, you can do law, you can become a doctor.
• 1:26:21
  You basically have four pathways.
• 1:26:23
  My parents luckily didn't disown me when I dropped out of law school.
• 1:26:29
  Yeah, it is something I think about often because life is temporary.
• 1:26:33
  Yeah.
• 1:26:34
  You mentioned that Australia is one of the largest consumers of fast fashion.
• 1:26:39
  And I just wondered your opinion as someone from within the industry, presumably your career thrives on people needing to continue to consume.
• 1:26:48
  So, and you seem like someone who is quite like of the earth, you know, you, you feel like you have thought and analyzed.
• 1:26:59
  And so I just wondered, do you have to reconcile that at all within the self?
• 1:27:04
  It's based on the client's needs and the client's budget.
• 1:27:07
  So in the styling consultation, the first thing I do with the client is I take them through what their budget is, their shopping budget.
• 1:27:14
  I also ask them many questions about who they are, what they do for work, their personality, their hobbies, their goals, etc.
• 1:27:19
  But the shopping questions need to end.
• 1:27:22
  Okay.
• 1:27:23
  And depending on the shopping budget, a lot of girls, they love Sheen.
• 1:27:26
  They love the Fashion Nova.
• 1:27:27
  Oh, really?
• 1:27:29
  they love the, there's a lot of brands actually these days that are not sustainable, but you don't think of it just because there's a high price tag.
• 1:27:37
  Right.
• 1:27:39
  But there's certain brands in Australia.
• 1:27:41
  There's a brand called Babyboo and they never say where the country of origin is from on the website.
• 1:27:47
  And they sometimes don't even say the material it's made from, but they're sending the address for $400, $500.
• 1:27:51
  And...
• 1:27:56
  I would see people wearing these clothes and they're not very good quality, but they're so high in price.
• 1:28:06
  So why is it not more of a sustainable kind of offering from them?
• 1:28:12
  They're making so much money, but they're not like the margins are so big.
• 1:28:16
  The profit margins are so big, but they're not being more sustainable in how they choose to make their clothes.
• 1:28:22
  So anyways, depending on the client's budget, it's hard to reconcile with, but...
• 1:28:31
  As a stylist, you have to do whatever the client wants at the end of the day.
• 1:28:35
  Obviously, if it's something crazy, I will not do it.
• 1:28:38
  You know, I'm not going to style a client for something crazy or be part of something that doesn't align with my values, of course.
• 1:28:46
  But in terms of budget, I think it's not the end of the world.
• 1:28:49
  And I always tell clients to go to a more sustainable option if it's necessary or if the opportunity rises.
• 1:29:02
  it's everywhere it's everywhere is there anything about living in Dubai that has surprised you so far?
• 1:29:13
  I think that
• 1:29:16
  A lot of people say Dubai is soulless all the time.
• 1:29:19
  And I was thinking maybe it could be soulless, because, you know, when you come to somewhere, you live there, you don't know.
• 1:29:25
  So, but I think this is one of the most beautiful places in terms of people, in terms of culture, in terms of how much the government cares about everything.
• 1:29:36
  The amount of investment the government puts into creative spaces like influencers, they know how powerful social media is.
• 1:29:45
  And I was at the Influencer Summit, the 1 Billion Followers Summit.
• 1:29:50
  And it's organized by the government, by the media authority, national media authority.
• 1:29:55
  And this event was huge.
• 1:29:58
  Like I met some incredible people and I just realized like this could be anywhere in the world.
• 1:30:06
  But Dubai is so forward thinking they're the first of its kind to bring it.
• 1:30:11
  So not just in terms of that, but in many other ways.
• 1:30:15
  But, you know, people say Dubai is this, Dubai is that.
• 1:30:19
  You know, Dubai is what you make of it.
• 1:30:22
  If you come in here with a preconceived notion, your mind is going to reconfirm what you believe.
• 1:30:32
  I can't remember the scientific term for this.
• 1:30:35
  Expectation effect.
• 1:30:36
  Yes, expectation bias, I think.
• 1:30:38
  Expectation bias.
• 1:30:39
  Expectation bias.
• 1:30:41
  If you go to Thailand and you think it's going to be terrible, it's a poor country, this or that, that's all you're going to think and that's what your experience is going to be.
• 1:30:52
  But if you come to Dubai, you have an open mind and you make the most of it.
• 1:30:57
  You come in for two weeks.
• 1:30:58
  You stay in your business.
• 1:30:59
  You own your business.
• 1:31:00
  You do your thing.
• 1:31:02
  it's amazing.
• 1:31:04
  But if you come in preconceived notions, if you come in with negative all the time, negativity bias, it's just going to come back to you.
• 1:31:13
  It's what you make of it.
• 1:31:14
  And a lot of people are too negative these days.
• 1:31:17
  A lot of people don't want to take the risk.
• 1:31:21
  They see other people thriving and they hate on it.
• 1:31:24
  So what's the easiest thing someone can do?
• 1:31:26
  They can talk.
• 1:31:27
  They can talk down on someone.
• 1:31:28
  But to take the risk is a very hard thing for someone to do.
• 1:31:31
  To start a business is a very hard thing for someone to do.
• 1:31:34
  It's very easy to talk down on someone.
• 1:31:36
  It's very easy to gossip about someone.
• 1:31:38
  It's very easy to start a rumor about someone.
• 1:31:40
  So people will always talk.
• 1:31:42
  And that's one thing that Dubai has even confirmed to me even more.
• 1:31:48
  Your environment is what you make of it.
• 1:31:50
  But ultimately Dubai, the environment will lift you up anyway.
• 1:31:55
  Is there anything that you would have wanted to share or discuss that we haven't touched on?
• 1:32:01
  Um...
• 1:32:04
  I think that as a man, mental health is so important.
• 1:32:08
  So talk about your feelings.
• 1:32:11
  Talk about what you're going through.
• 1:32:13
  You don't have to go through it alone.
• 1:32:15
  If someone thinks you're weak for saying what you are or what you're going through, they're not your friend.
• 1:32:21
  You know, there was recently a rapper I saw, just a headline yesterday.
• 1:32:26
  His name's Lil Popper.
• 1:32:28
  and he, I don't know what happened, he crashed his car or something, but things he would post all the time, he would be like, I don't like my life.
• 1:32:37
  Even in his Instagram bio, he would say something like live today and then tomorrow can be your last day or something like that, I don't know, something negative.
• 1:32:47
  And he, unfortunately after the car crash, he shot himself in the head
• 1:32:51
  And this just confirmed to me even more that men's mental health is really, really important, especially today in 2026.
• 1:32:59
  And I've always talked about men's mental health.
• 1:33:02
  Even when I was going through my, when my dad passed away, I made it public.
• 1:33:06
  A lot of people would...
• 1:33:10
  deal with that by themselves, and just with their family.
• 1:33:13
  But I'd made it public because I was like, you know what?
• 1:33:17
  I can use this as a way to talk to people.
• 1:33:20
  And I know many other people are going through loss, especially parental loss.
• 1:33:24
  I'm 23 years old at the time, and I lost my dad.
• 1:33:28
  I want to talk about this.
• 1:33:29
  I want to open the conversation.
• 1:33:31
  And you know what happened?
• 1:33:32
  People started to reach out to me all over the world and say, I lost my mother just recently.
• 1:33:38
  I lost my dad 10 years ago.
• 1:33:40
  I lost my brother from cancer.
• 1:33:44
  This would open the conversation with me.
• 1:33:46
  And I would talk to these people.
• 1:33:48
  Grief, I believe when you talk to other people about your grief and they tell you their experience of how they've dealt with it or what they've gone through, it helps you.
• 1:33:59
  Dealing with everything on your own is the worst thing.
• 1:34:01
  When my dad passed away, the first two nights, first two days, I stayed at home in my bed.
• 1:34:06
  I didn't want to do anything.
• 1:34:06
  I didn't want to shower.
• 1:34:08
  Then I realized my dad would not want this for myself, you know.
• 1:34:12
  And yeah, I think a lot of people are scared of saying, showing weakness or being vulnerable.
• 1:34:20
  But trust me, like when you open up the floodgates, when you start talking to yourself, when you start crying, crying is healing.
• 1:34:26
  Crying is not going backwards.
• 1:34:28
  Crying is going forwards.
• 1:34:30
  You know, as a person, when you express yourself and express what you're going through, that's one of the hardest things you can do.
• 1:34:37
  And your brain knows that.
• 1:34:39
  And it goes forward.
• 1:34:42
  If you don't cry, if you don't talk about things, your mind, at the end of the day, for an anxious person like me, you'll replay things in your head.
• 1:34:50
  But if you let things out, you won't replay things in your head anymore.
• 1:34:54
  You'll move on.
• 1:34:55
  And that's one of the easiest, not the easiest, it's one of the best ways to get through things.
• 1:35:00
  And everyone goes through things in life.
• 1:35:02
  Maybe you haven't lost a parent.
• 1:35:03
  Maybe you've gone through other things.
• 1:35:04
  Maybe you're going through financial stress.
• 1:35:07
  Maybe whatever you might be going through.
• 1:35:10
  It's always better to talk about it.
• 1:35:12
  And as a man, you should talk.
• 1:35:15
  You should talk.
• 1:35:15
  That's the last thing I want to say.
• 1:35:17
  My last question for you.
• 1:35:18
  If your life was a postcard, what would the picture look like?
• 1:35:24
  Um.
• 1:35:26
  I don't even know.
• 1:35:27
  I don't even know how to like put one thing on a postcard that would just explain me.
• 1:35:35
  I think there are so many layers to me, but I think it would be a picture of me smiling and my dad in the back.
• 1:35:41
  Maybe something like this with a photo of my dad and me smiling or maybe a photo of me and my dad.
• 1:35:48
  I think that'll be the final thing.
• 1:35:51
  I have my dad with everything I do.
• 1:35:53
  He's in this room right now with me.
• 1:35:55
  He'll continue to be with me.
• 1:35:56
  He'll continue to see my achievements.
• 1:35:58
  I hope he's proud of me.
• 1:36:00
  And I aspire to be even 5% of the man he was.
• 1:36:05
  If I do that, then I'm successful.
• 1:36:08
  I don't think success is about money or anything else.
• 1:36:11
  or material things.
• 1:36:12
  I think it's about making your loved ones proud, especially your parents, especially the ones who sacrifice so much.
• 1:36:18
  So if he woke up at 3am every day to sacrifice everything for me, I hope he's at least proud of me for what I've done with what he's done for me.
• 1:36:28
  Thank you so much for sharing.