Interview
Sakshi Sindwani smashing stereotypes & conquering heights!
If you know someone who broke barriers in the world of modeling, inspired someone to achieve anything and everything despite the hurdles broke the stereotypes and changed the mindsets of people to make the world a better place to live. IT DEFINITELY HAS TO BE SAKSHI SINDWANI and we bet over that!
She does it all! Whether be acing the ramp, featuring on the Harper’s Bazaar cover page or acing the IIFA with her charm or be it her presence at ICW 2022!
A dive into her life, goals and inspirations through this interview!
1) In order to stay relevant one needs to stay updated and rejuvenate themselves with the change in technology and trends. How has this change impacted your personal growth?
Sakshi Sindwani: I think being on social media for the last three years. I have been very much in the world of social media, and I think it’s truly taken my life over. But there are personal aspects of my life that I do not put on social media.I think it’s for my sanity. Not because I don’t want to or there is a hidden meaning behind it.
I think I need to protect a few things in my life and keep it behind and personal to me. I think it’s my time away from social media, and it helps rejuvenate and stay grounded. It puts me sort of back to reality because no matter how much we say, social media is very consuming, and that’s how it is made, and it’s going to get more and more consuming, and your attention span will go down sometimes, and sometimes it will go up . But it will all be about the next big thing and what’s happening next or what’s happening in somebody else’s life.
Just like everybody is so super connected through social media, which is a good thing, but it’s also a bad thing coz sometimes it can disconnect you from yourself and your journey. So I think the things that I try to do is, try to maintain a small circle of people who are not just the yes man in my life.
They are the true people who show me how to stay grounded. How to not lose myself in the whole world of glamour and fame and social media numbers, which are lucrative things but in the long run, they can harm your self-esteem and dim your personality. I think these people around me keep me grounded, and then sometimes I have off a day of social media where I like to do adventure things that really bring my spirit back, and travel rejuvenates me, talking to new people rejuvenates me. Even if it’s through work, it does. It’s something I get very passionate about.
2)In today’s era, a lot of teenagers and young adults look forward to being an influencer to get into the fashion and entertainment industry. They have started to value their worth based on the number of likes or followers that they have. What will be your message to them?
Sakshi Sindwani:I think for anybody who wants to come on social media, it’s a great thing. The world is moving toward digital media, and it’s only fair for people to recognize opportunities and jump on that band value. But that being said, I think anyone who wants to come on social media needs to have very strong self-esteem and very strong confidence about themselves.I think belief about themselves is important.
If you come with low self-esteem and low self-esteem in yourself, then you know social media can suck the life out of you, and the numbers can get to your head. It’s very important for someone coming on social media to, you know, realize that your craft needs to have the number 1 priority, and everything comes later. You know you need to be the most authentic and best version of yourself. Bring your craft to the audience, and the way the audience reacts to it is on the. You can’t really control everybody. You have to show up and be the best version of yourself even on social media like you do otherwise in life as well. I think when you have a good foundation, it’s almost crucial.
The more you get bigger, the more you get obsessed with numbers.
It’s a hard fact. I remember when I was at 50K, the next big thing for me was a 100K. I used to think that 100k would change my life and I will achieve everything in life and at that time, you do feel that way.
It’s an unattainable goal for you, and then 100 k becomes 200k, 500k, and a million, and then it never stops. That journey never stops, and even though when you are a small creator, you feel if you reach a higher number, your life will be all set.
That’s not how it works, that’s the human tendency in you that you keep growing out to the next big thing, and sometimes you see the high, but you also see the low, and then you reach this stagnancy. You need to have a strong belief system, and you need to surround yourself with people who believe in you as much as you believe in yourself.
I think you shouldn’t judge yourself, your craft, your skill set, or art based on numbers. Let’s be honest, social media is very fast evolving, but people are also people, and it’s not for everyone to like.
Sakshi Sindwani
3) During your college life was fashion an important part of your everyday life and personality even then?
Sakshi Sindwani: Definitely, I remember there was a time when I was really struggling with getting my personality out and expressing myself fashion-wise. I actually spoke about this in one of my recent podcasts where I said that I give myself a challenge for a week. This week I am going to pretend that I am the most confident bad bitch that you can possibly imagine and the most confident version of myself, and I will wear whatever the heck I want to for a week. No matter what people say, no matter how many people make fun of me, I am just going to do that. I am just going to do a trial test of doing this for one week, and that was the happiest fashion-wise week of my college life and then that became my normal slowly and steadily.
Being a person who had a very strong sense of fashion and style ever since I was six years old. I remember I was ahead of my game even then. I have seen pictures, but college definitely changed the way I looked at myself and style and fashion.
4) When you got into making fashion content, how was your initial approach? Did you plan everything or were you more inclined towards going with the flow? Has it changed now?
Sakshi Sindwani: I think when I started making fashion videos, I started on youtube, and at that time, I was going through discovering myself and finding my foot on social media, and social media can be really daunting. Especially at a time when I started, this was literally 4-5 years back. Not a lot of social media content creators were present and Instagram was still not a video platform.
It was still a more aesthetic-looking feed, everything super similarly color graded, and beautiful feeds and visuals and pictures and all of those things, and youtube was the video content platform and I always knew that I wanted to be a video content creator. At that time, I would look at trends; I would look at Sarojini Nagar haul, Street shopping hauls, going to Chandani chowk and making guides about it and all of that. A lot of Shein, H&M, and Zara hauls, and all of those things, but I did like it at that time I would not deny that I didn’t like it, but it’s just that it wasn’t true representation of my style.
I was still trying to figure out the content that I wanted to make. My voice and the trends and what’s getting numbers and what’s helping you grow.
With all of those things, you know you can feel a little lost, especially when you are a young content creator. When I came on Instagram, I came with the intention that I was going to start making videos even though they were going to be from my balcony.
When I started my first series, which was the first video series on Instagram, back in 2019, again, Instagram was not a video platform at the time, but in 2019 when I started creating videos, it was out of my balcony. Where I decided to make one single fashion video every day for the next 365 days, and at that point, I had a little bit of burnout, obviously because I was not being true to myself on youtube, so I had a burnout, and It went a little haywire.
When I started on Instagram, I wasn’t focusing on any best quality or anything. I was going with the flow. I was like, whatever I am wearing today, I am going to show that to the people and explain how you dress up for a bigger body type and what works for me and literally talk about my fashion sense. That’s it. Like I don’t want to have stressed over creating aesthetically looking feeds and everything so properly color graded and matched and the grids of three’s and five’s and all that. It was not my aesthetic at all.
So I started to make those things, and thankfully it worked out. I did go with the flow at that time, and to this day, a big part of my content is going with the flow, creating what is keeping me interested and what is keeping the audience interested. Of course, when you grow older, there is a lot more strategy that gets involved, and you know you will start thinking about what the audience is reacting to better. Let’s make more of that, and you know, strategizing and studying your analytics become a big part.
At the starting, I don’t think I was worried about those things because I didn’t have the numbers, and I had nothing to lose. Now there is slight fear in my mind that okay, if people don’t like this, it’s not going to get the views, and no matter how much hard work I put into it, I won’t get the views. So sometimes those things affect my confidence, but I still try to go with the flow. After every 4-5 content pieces, I make one content piece for myself that gives my creative vision justice.
I think it’s very important to my sanity because, again, I am a creative person. I started to be a storyteller about fashion on the internet, that’s how I started, and I want to maintain those things about me. So I think I started as go with the flow, but now it’s a little bit of a mix of going with the flow and what you want, what the audience wants, studying the stats, and all of that.
5) You have spoken about your obsession with youtube when you were in school and how you started your journey of content creation with it. Who was your favorite youtube content creator ?
Sakshi Sindwani: I think back in the day. It was definitely Bethany Mota. When I started my youtube channel, she was the biggest fashion Youtuber and such a bubbly girl at that time. When I was in 7th- 8th grade in school, I was a really young kid, and I used to relate to her a lot because she was also a chirpy, bubbly, colorful girl. I think she really hipped my journey and inspired me. Back in the day, like I said, she was the biggest one and the kind of opportunity that was coming to her. she was the first influencer, I think, in the world, who had launched a clothing line in collaboration with Aeropostale. That was like such an eye-opener for me. These things can happen. People can have a collection. Those things were new at the time and definitely inspired my journey.
6) Throughout your career so far what has been the most memorable moment for you?
There have been tons of memorable moments, thankfully so and hopefully, so those are just the start of memorable moments for me, but I am going to list a few of them. The first one being, I think, when I got the offer to be on the cover of Harper Bazaar’s magazine in 2019 of November. That was a big one for me because, at that time, I was a very small content creator. I had freshly done a few of my ramps. I was the first mid-size model for India fashion week, and I think that was a history that had been created in itself. So when I had gotten the Harper Bazaar opportunity, that was a big deal for me.
Then BBC world news wanted to interview me as the first inclusive model in India. That aired around the world in New York, London, and wherever BBC aired. Then when I got the opportunity to be featured by Forbes. It was a very big thing. I have won a few awards. The Femina award was a big thing, and the Cosmo award was a big thing. When I got featured in Vogue, it was a very big thing for me. When I was casted to be in the campaign of Manish Malhotra, that was also a very big thing for me. Getting invited to IIFA was also a huge thing.
7) You were recently at IIFA, how was that experience for you?
Sakshi Sindwani: Definitely overwhelming, something that I don’t think in my wildest dreams thought it could be a possibility that somebody who was so severely bullied! Just like I didn’t even think that the opportunities that I am getting and living today could even be possible. I didn’t think these opportunities were possible at all back in the days. But one thousand percent it was one of the most overwhelming and genuinely beautiful experiences. It gave me a lot of learning.
The reason why I say beautiful is because there were a lot of good things and also challenges that came with it. But overall, it was a beautiful journey. Iifa happened to me so suddenly. When I recall the instance when I got the message from my manager that I was going to IIfa, the first response was that I started crying. I don’t usually cry. I keep things to myself, lot of the times because I am so superstitious that way. Even I don’t tell my family the things that I get finalized for till it doesn’t actually happen in real. I don’t tell my closest one. But when I received the message for Iifa, I burst into tears. It was very overwhelming for me.
Like I said, I never thought it would be a possibility, and then doing the whole green carpet and having people recognize me in Abu Dhabi in Dubai was insane. You don’t dream of these things. I know there were a few people who came to me with watery eyes saying how much I have inspired them and How much they love themselves because of me. These are not the normal things that anybody gets to hear. Because I get to hear these things so often, it’s the biggest deal for me.
8) You wear and style a lot of new emerging brands. Which one will be your personal favorite?
Sakshi Sindwani: I cannot choose a personal favorite. All my homegrown brands are extremely exquisitely special to me because they are my homegrown brand. They are a more conscious brand. I think they are the new generation of how brands should approach everything when it comes to building the brand or bringing the people who work for them. Size inclusivity. The way they run campaigns. I think the new generation really knows their work. They are more aware, and they are heading in the right direction when it comes to fashion.
9) If given a choice, what would be the one change that you would make in the social media world for aspiring content creators?
Sakshi Sindwani: The biggest thing that I will say is that don’t be afraid of people saying no to you. I have had my fair share of no and struggle in the industry. It’s very difficult to crack open but keep working hard and stay consistent at what you do, whether it’s content creation on social media. Whether it’s pitching to a designer. Try to speak to as many people as possible and have faith in yourself.
I think that’s the most important. I think when it comes to working, be mindful of what kind of projects you are taking and be mindful of the direction you want to go in. Don’t be afraid to make a few mistakes because those mistakes will give you a lot of learning. Just try not to make the mistakes very personal. I think some mistakes are always due in everybody’s career. I think failing sometimes gives you the biggest learning. It has happened to me. I have failed multiple times. People wouldn’t believe it, but there are so many times I have failed as a person and in my career, but I never gave up. I think the biggest thing is that no matter how hard and cliche it sounds but never give up.
10) In one of your recent Instagram stories you said that you often fail to complete the work that you have decided for yourself on the days when it rains and is gloomy. How do you work with that? Do you get disappointed?
Sakshi Sindwani: I used to get very disappointed if I didn’t work because I have a very strong work culture in my house and a very strong work ethic that I have grown up listening to and instilled in me, but as I am growing older. I realize that you need to have some off mental health days. Like you need to have some off days for your peace and sanity, and when there are days where I don’t feel like working. I get up wanting to enjoy the day or the rain like that. I allow myself to have that moment because life is not just about the next big thing and the hustle and the entire hustle culture. There are smaller things, and by finding joy in them, peace in silence, you should still be able to feel successful. I allow myself to feel that way.
11) What will you say to the people who compare their bodies with the models on Instagram? What will be your message to them about body positivity?
Sakshi Sindwani: I think it’s a very toxic thing to compare yourself with anybody, Whether it’s comparing your body or career or anything about your life. Just always remember that social media is fake. It is a filtered reality. If people show you that they are happiest looking at their bodies might be struggling with their bodies. Even though in your eyes they might have the perfect bodies. They might not have the perfect bodies in their own eyes. So I think it’s very wrong for you to compare yourself with anybody on social media, and I think the best way to move forward. It worked for me. I unfollowed pages and muted pages that trigged me in any way.
What I think is that the List that you see and the List that you will get triggered and it was a very important step that I took for my mental health, especially in the initial few years and months of my self-love journey. I am still on that journey. Of course, I have a stronger belief system in myself. Like now, if I see things that trigger me, it won’t trigger me a lot, but back in the day, if I saw pages like that, they would trigger me a lot, so I would mute them and follow more pages that made me feel good about myself. It’s not always about body positivity. I think nobody can be positive all the time about their bodies. It’s okay to have low days.
I have this particular rule. 15 Minute rule. If I feel really bad about my body or if its a blue day or if I look a certain way and I do not like my pictures and videos, I give myself 15 minutes to crib about it, and then I have to just drop it and let it go and then I have to be my true self.
12) Lastly, what will be your message to your fans?
The biggest message that I will give my fans is that don’t compare yourself to the people who are sharing filtered reality on the internet. Self-love is a journey. People can inspire you on that journey, but you need to start it yourself. No one can. Be yourself.
Sakshi Sindwani
You are literally the most beautiful and the most amazing and the most thrilling person. Don’t try to be somebody else just because you think they are cool. Just remember that you are even cooler. Please remind yourself that you love yourself because that is the relationship that is ever so important and needs to be nurtured ever so often.
We hope you liked the interview and Sakshi Sindwani inspired you to the core as she inspired us!
To know more about her:
For more such interviews:
If you watch reels all day we are sure you have once in your scrolling journey came across Rajesh Yadav and if you binge-watch OTT content every day and Campus Diaries is your favourite show then you must be friendly with Sandy! Paradox gets candid and stocks up the inspo from none other than Rajesh Yadav!
1) When did you begin creating material professionally? Was there ever a spontaneous notion or incident that altered your perception of content creation as a profession?
Rajesh Yadav: In December 2015 I started making content, and by God’s grace, my first video drew a big audience. My second video later went viral, making the characters well-known. As my first video went viral, I was motivated to work even harder on my content creation and no longer had to worry about making this my career.
2) Were there any other role models you admired before beginning your journey?
Who motivated you to keep going?
Rajesh Yadav: I liked watching TVF and AIB’s funny and caustic videos before I started working in this field. After seeing their work, I became a fan and started making videos.
3) When did your life change for the better?
Rajesh Yadav: Creating my first video marked a turning moment in my life because I had never before considered a career in the arts or as a content developer. Although I didn’t have much experience in this sector while I was in college. I joined a theatre organization because I had some free time, and I worked there on the weekends.
4) How did you find acting as Sandy in the Campus diaries?
Rajesh Yadav: Sandy from Campus Diaries was my first role in a web series. Due to his many varied characteristics, including the fact that he begins as a friend and ends up as a villain, Sandy is an extremely distinctive character. I had never portrayed a somewhat pessimistic role before. For the first time, I had the opportunity to participate in something brand-new; perhaps the second season will have even more surprises.
5) Whoever would you like to work with if you had the chance to work with any artist in the world, and why?
Rajesh Yadav: Shahrukh Khan is the person I would choose to collaborate with if given the chance. Shahrukh Khan is someone we have all admired and been inspired by since we were young kids, no matter where he is today. I’ve wanted to meet Shahrukh Khan since I was a young child, and if I ever had the chance to work with anyone I wish, Shahrukh Khan would be my first choice.
6) What difficulties did you face at the beginning of your journey?
Rajesh Yadav: The major obstacle I had to overcome at the beginning of my adventure was learning how to produce original and creative videos for the audience. My goal was to come up with concepts that I might potentially employ in novel ways over the long term rather than to produce something that couldn’t be used in the future. Thankfully, I had only encountered these challenges in my first video.
7) Your thoughts? Is that your greatest success to date?
Rajesh Yadav: Any success I may have feels enormous to me as a regular person who enjoys watching superstars and I always had fantasies about meeting them. Nevertheless, now that I’ve recently collaborated with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, communicating and working with them. It is an accomplishment. After following him in college and attempting to meet him, it’s an enormous accomplishment for me to be able to communicate and work with superstars.
8) What is your greatest professional goal?
Rajesh Yadav: We are all aware that every one of us has different goals. My current objective is to play the main character in a movie or web series so that I may discover my talent and exhibit it to others. This is my current objective, and after I reach it, I’ll think about pursuing some more challenging objectives.
9) How have you found performing and writing for MensXP? It is a truly new platform that requires robust connectivity in order to function.
Rajesh Yadav : Four years of working with MensXP has been a wonderful experience. You can work there with complete creative freedom whether you’re writing or acting. It’s critical that you are given the freedom to complete your task on your schedule without interruption. As a result of the drastically different environment you find yourself in, the genre is quite varied and contains humor.
10) What is the final message you would like to convey to your supporters and well-wishers?
Rajesh Yadav: I can only advise my well-wishers to take care of themselves. In this society when everyone is scrambling for something, we all neglect to take care of our physical and mental health. Sometimes we continue to put our physical health first while ignoring our mental health. I, therefore, urge every one of my well-wishers to take care of both themselves and others around them.
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Anuj Saini a pre-dominant face of advertising industry is ruling the Indian entertainment industry. Recently he was seen in Gandhi Godse Ek Yudha as character of Naren . He also featured alongside actresses like Jacqueline Fernandez in Mere Angne Mein and Dhvani Bhanushali in Vaaste. he is also seen in many advertisements which includes KFC, Sprite, Nivea, Cadbury,Tata and other known brands.
When did you start your career as an actor?
Anuj Saini: After graduating with a degree in civil engineering, I moved to Mumbai and began my acting career there in 2017.
How has your experience been in the advertising industry? You have been their favourite face for years.
Anuj Saini: Advertising is quite competitive; for a single ad, about 5000 candidates audition, but only one girl and one male are chosen. I’ve spent 6 to 8 hours working on a clothing advertisement set, and I love it. Once we start producing advertising, it’s wonderful, and I get to enjoy creating television commercials.
Just keep trying, improving, and being patient are key characteristics in this field.
What was your first show and how was your first experience working in that show?
Anuj Saini: It was a music video for the song VAASTE that I appeared in. That was my very first acting experience, and it was a great one. The great Rajkumar Santoshi sir’s Gandhi Vs. Godse, my debut movie, will be released in theatres across India next month
As acting is not a cup of tea for everyone! How did you know that you can do it as an actor?
Anuj Saini: It takes months of preparation for a three-hour test (a movie), and acting is a 24-hour career where you have to get better every day with no turning back.
There were so many superstars back in the days so who inspired you the most to become an actor?
Anuj Saini: The actors who most inspired me to pursue acting were Shah Rukh Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Sushant Singh Rajput. Due to their consistency in remaining where they are and doing their best up to this point, we are all aware that these people didn’t got support from others in the industry.
Which achievement means a lot to you and is there any other achievement you look forward to achieving?
Anuj Saini: It meant a lot to me when I was chosen for my first feature film, which will be released in January, because I had no familiarity and many talented people chose me for the role. This is a huge accomplishment for me And I have a lot of accomplishments I want to get to.
You have met many different personalities from different fields. Who was most inspiring and why?
Anuj Saini: Anuja Patil, a former player for India, influenced me greatly with her personality . She changed the outlook of way of communicating with others. She is incredibly generous.
What do you want to share that many people don’t know about you?
Anuj Saini: Although I’m a big introvert and am really shy in real life, there is a switch that allows me to be completely different in front of the camera.
What message would you like to give to upcoming actors who follow you?
Anuj Saini: Keep working and hustling. Bombay is a city where one phone call has the power to completely alter your journey, but it will take time for that call to reach you. Until then, stay positive, put in a lot of effort, and don’t give up.
Lastly, what is one message that you want to give to your followers and well-wishers?
Please continue to support me; I’ll do everything in my ability to make you all smile.
AAP HAI TO HUM HAI!!
