GUWAHATI: A social media influencer and vlogger, Anangsha, 24, works full time making content for YouTube, Instagram and her blog. Currently, she boasts of having a following of almost 20,000 on her Instagram page. She had always been on social media, but she started taking this passion of hers seriously and turned it into a real job in 2017. She is mainly a travel vlogger, but also likes to make lifestyle content. In her words, 90% travel and 10% lifestyle.
She was a tennis player when she was in school and had loved travelling since a young age. She did her schooling from Army Public School, Narengi and then went on to pursue her Bachelors in Sociology from Miranda House, Delhi University. She also has a Masters in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University.
“Travel blogging and becoming an influencer was never my plan. I never imagined this to happen. I tried it and it just clicked. I think it's was an accident, but a happy one,” said Anangsha.
In 2016, Anangsha took a trip to the mountains on a trekking expedition and everything changed. She had this sudden urge to travel. She told her father that she wanted to go to Uttarakhand. She went there with her friends and she felt so happy. She never thought that she would like it so much. She was doing street photography at the time and had gotten quite good at it by then.
By October of that year, she had already done 4 treks. She says that it was a little bit difficult to manage with her studies, and her post-graduate course was kicking her a**. So after completing her degree, she did 7 treks continuously as she wanted to explore herself.
At that time, she did not have a following that strong, but she was happy as she was building content.
“I utilized that time to my full advantage. I was confused and scared, but I did a lot of research and also learnt video editing which is an absolute must for every vlogger. You have to know how to edit videos, otherwise you can’t survive in this profession,” she mentioned.
Last December, Anangsha’s follower count hit 10K and she is hoping that by March of 2019, she can achieve another milestone, 20k followers on Instagram.
In terms of her present work, she has worked with Kesariachaiwala, a tea company, Urban Junction, a restaurant, Breadbox, a bakery, Green Pure (tea tales) and a travel company for which she vlogs, creates video content and even photos.
Since this is not a conventional profession, she also had to face some challenges. Her parents wanted her to get a stable job. Many people criticized her, told her that she is just one among hundreds of vloggers and social influencers, that she was way in over her head. Some of her friends even criticized her and told her that she was trying to make people jealous and was showing off unnecessarily.
“Whenever you are doing something unconventional, people will try and break you down and make you give up. However, that is the moment when you have to show everyone what you are made of. I believed in myself and I always knew I had what it took to make it,” said Anangsha.
Anangsha says that she knows it’s not easy, but she is trying to break the stigma against social influencers and anyone who is not doing a conventional job. She said that she had to do everything on her own and take a stand for herself, and she’s glad she did.
Another thing that is challenging is vlogging in Guwahati because people always stare at her when she is filming or vlogging. And even though she is a hard-core professional, the unwanted stares do get to her but she says that it is a small price to pay to live her passion.
Anangsha once almost gave up on her passion as the comments from everyone around her was getting to her. She couldn’t make up her mind, but with the help, guidance and counsel of a few close friends, she decided to stay her course and pursue her passion.
“I knew there were going to be a lot of challenges and since I had made it this far, I decided not to give up. It’s when you want to give up most that you have to stick with it.”
In the future, Anangsha wants to do collaborations with big brands in travel, fashion and lifestyle and hopes to become one of the most influential people in this space of content creation and vlogging.