Women Who Empower – Ridhi Arora | HerHappyFace
Women should be celebrated every day so we thought why restrict the celebrations to just a day! So, here we are presenting incredible women who decided to chart their own paths fighting every obstacle and shatter the glass ceilings. Their work is influencing hundreds and thousands of women out there. Their confidence is helping women to realize their innate talents, potential and dreams. Today’s woman of the day is Ms Ridhi Arora.
Ridhi Arora works full time and manages a YouTube channel that focuses on fashion, makeup and lifestyle. With more than 25k followers on Instagram, Ridhi keeps her followers glued to her content not only through videos on makeup and fashion but with her happy everyday moments. Her food vlogs and stories are the most well-received ones (our personal favourites, too!).
So, let’s dig in to learn more about this burst of happiness 😀
A Fun QnA with Ridhi
- We will start this with you, obviously, say if someone is watching or reading about you for the very first time how will you introduce yourself in the most fun yet honest way that they can’t help but be smitten by you?
- “I am quite an extroverted person. I like to talk to people and know their stories. Connecting with new people is something I enjoy the most and I consider myself as a positive and happy-go-lucky person when it comes to life, altogether. Yes, there are days when I am not all that happy but, you know, overall I try to stay positive and happy around the people I love.”
- If you have to sum up your traits in three words, what would they be?
- “I think my social media platform speaks for itself. Many people know me by the name ‘Her Happy Face’ and I think these three words describe me the best.”
- Let’s move on to some inspirational stuff without which no interview will be complete. But seriously, I personally have been following you for years and to see you where you are today gives me immense pride and motivation, like nothing is ever unachievable and impossible. It is a source of inspiration. So, why don’t you tell the world about your journey so far and how you started? When exactly did you start?
- “So it all started four and a half years back when there were not many content creators like today, where we can see a lot of people who are interested to pursue in this field. For me personally, I was not a makeup enthusiast really, but I used to like makeup mainly because it helped me boost my confidence on days when I wasn’t feeling myself a lot. I used to ask the people who visited the US to buy lots of different products and I tried them on. After a while, I thought why not post pictures because I do have a variety of products to show. At first, I was quite reluctant as I did not know how people would judge me but eventually, I posted a few pictures and people started to like them. I still remember, once The Bodyshop reposted one of my photos on their story and I got to know when I was in my office. I got so excited because these are the small milestones in your life that means so much to you.Later on, I got married and my husband was the one who pushed me to make videos on makeup or fashion rather than just posting the pictures. He convinced me to start trying that and finally I put up my first 1 min video on Instagram, but I was not happy with just 1 min video so he told me why not try a platform where you can post a longer video and that’s how my YouTube journey started. However, it gets tiring at times as I have a regular job and to manage both is not easy, but still, at the end of the day, it is something which I love to do. I know numbers matter like 100k or 200k because you have your certain expectations and you feel disappointed when you don’t meet them but still it is something that brings happiness to me and I believe in sharing snippets from my life with my audience. I strongly believe that the connection between you and your audience and how you maintain it is important.”We think nothing can be better than having your partner’s support in your adventure and we are so happy that Ridhi’s husband stood by her and helped in reaching where she is today.
- Weren’t you conscious of putting yourself out there in the world? How did you overcome this fear? And how old were you when you put your first video/post as a creator?
- “Ohh, I was very conscious to put up a full glam makeup look on my Instagram because I was worried about how people will judge when I’ll go to the office the next day and I never wanted to mix my office and content creating field. I wanted my office people to know me by my work, not by my YouTube content and I’m proud of the balance I have maintained so far. So, in the beginning, I was very skeptical about people’s opinions and their thoughts, but after a point of time, I was like whatever, if I want to post I will, and that’s when I became comfortable in front of the camera. Now, I can just pick up a camera and start shooting anywhere.”
- The world of content and Youtube/Instagram, especially, has changed a lot in this time with new algorithms kicking in every day and a lot of people starting in the same niche. How difficult is it to sustain or grow an audience at this time? How did you grow your audience? Were there any strategies that you followed?
- “As you know I don’t have an exponential number of followers or subscribers on my channel or Instagram page as I have a lot more way to go. I believe that my growth of followers is a very gradual process and it will take time. And in today’s era, there is a lot of competition in this industry and if you need to survive, you need to be sure about what you are doing and be 100% involved in it. I really respect the people who are full-time content creators, who are taking the risk but I think I am more on the practical side, as I know the fact that I am not earning much from Youtube, that’s why I have another job, but if I reach a point where I feel the earnings I am getting from youtube is enough, then might think to switch jobs.”
- As a content creator, when was it that you started making some money or started getting some brand deals?
- “Okay, I started getting the brand deals in the first year itself. Many barter collaborations came on the way, but I took them because I was just starting out in the industry. Let me tell you a funny incident. For nearly one and a half years I did not realize that Google Adsense exists and I was receiving some money. Then one day, my Myntra haul went viral, and I was thinking that usually people do get paid so why am I not getting anything. Then one of my friends asked me to check for Google Adsense and that’s how I got to know about the money I was making.”
- On that note, what advice do you have in store for anyone who is starting out on this journey as a content creator?
- “This industry is very competitive; so, if you decide to start a YouTube channel, do it only if you love it. Don’t just do it to earn some money because if that is your only priority then soon you will be disappointed and will have no energy to continue. So be sure about it, be consistent and give your 100% towards your content. This industry may feel quite easy and a comfortable job on the outset, but trust me there goes a lot of hard work and investment into it.”
- Talking about content creation, I have always noticed the word influencer notoriously being used for creators. Now a lot of creators despise this word defining their work and niche. What are your thoughts on this? Do you mind addressing yourself as an influencer?
- “For me personally, I prefer to be called as a content creator rather than an influencer as content creator sounds much more respectful whereas influencer, in my opinion, has a negative connotation to it. So, I just don’t like it. Our content may influence somebody but we always try to influence in a positive way.”
- Now we will brazenly circle this back to Beatnik. Clearly, we have seen your love for jewellery and how gracefully you style them all but if you have to choose only one piece of jewellery for the rest of your life, what would that be and why?
- “Thin golden hoops because I think that it will go perfect with any outfit.”
- So, I will now take another scenario for you. You have to get ready for a wedding function as a guest with just three jewellery pieces, what would you pick and how would you style them?
- “I would go for simple black Anarkali with a V-neck and accessorize it with a heavy piece of necklace and a Kada (bangle) on each hand. For makeup, I will either go for smokey eyes and nude lips or smokey eyes and bold lips.”
- Okay, so let’s have a quick rapid-fire round to end this insightful and very interesting QnA with you. Are you ready? Pick one:
- Saree any day or dress?
- Dress
- Silver jewellery or gold?
- Gold jewellery
- Statement earrings or small dainty earrings?
- Small Dainty earrings
- Bad hair day with full glam or good hair day with no makeup?
- Good hair day with no makeup
- Lipstick on my teeth or a stained dress in an event?
- Lipstick on my teeth
- What would you choose? Month-long vacation on an island or road trip across India?
- Road trip any day
Conversing with Ridhi gave us a peek of what really goes into not just creating content but balancing two full times jobs with perfection. Kudos to you, wonder woman! Her happiest and positive persona always lights up the room, either through her videos or in person. Your hard work and dedication got you this far and all we can wish for you to grow wide and beyond, in your work and life 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your journey and life lessons with us. We truly hope people reading this take your inspirational story and spin it all around to create a life that they always dreamed for themselves.
Just like Ridhi, we have shared inspirational exchanges with more wondrous and amazing women. You can read all about them here and don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments. In our last article, we shared Geeta Hegde’s (GoGlam90) inspirational journey. Click here to read it. We will bring your favourite creator next, very soon.
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