Akanksha Singh Aggarwal: I am a Jewelry Designer, an Influencer teaching Shuffle Dance, married and mother of two kids. My son is 9 yrs old and daughter is 13.
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I'm a 39 year old mother of two kids, a boy and a girl. My paternal home is in the city of Bareilly, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. I went to a boarding school situated in the hills of the Himalayas and studied there for 12 years. After that I came to Delhi to pursue my further studies. I pursued fashion, textile and graphic design with the prominence of CAD and then curiosity led me to venture out into jewelry designing, gemology and diamond grading. I'm now a Jewelry Designer and my family is also in the Jewelry trade. I'm settled in Gurgaon.
2. When did you first decide that you wanted to create content and how did you start?
You can call me "The Accidental Influencer"! :) I've been very active on Instagram since 2016. It's been my platform for expression and creativity and this is where I created a space only for myself, away from the daily mundane life. So when the lockdown started back in April, 2020, everyone was looking for some motivation and positivity. So my Instagram fam started finding it in my posts (which they always had), which became more valuable in the pandemic situation.
They started pushing me to go on and keep motivating. Initially it was just fitness motivation and humor, but then I started learning how to shuffle dance. I started posting my progress and got a lot of appreciation. I already started getting queries to teach online. 5-6 months down the line I started getting serious queries. But this was not something I was doing as a career prospect, it was just my passion for dance. So when Instagram came out with their Reels, I used the opportunity to make small tutorials of all the steps of shuffling.
3. Who is your favorite creator and why?
I have 2 favorites:
1. Susirejano - because she is a very elegant and focused woman who is breaking all the prototypes that are age related and owning her ground firmly even at this age. Her grace and poise are unmatched.
2. Masoom Minnawala - Because she gives out a lot of positivity in her posts. She's always smiling and isn't afraid to accept her fault or apologize. She's a very brave girl.
4. How and where do you find inspiration to churn out content?
The need of the hour is to post as frequently as possible since everyone is getting tired of this pandemic situation all over the world. So some innovation comes in my own mind from my daily activities while at other times, I choose to follow the trending patterns all around. I listen to a lot of music because music is key to my content. My kids give me a lot of inspiration everyday and they are very supportive as well as sporting.
5. What is your idea of success or your mantra in life?
My mantra in life is to be good and do good. I strongly believe in Karma. Life is what you make of it. You could sit and cry over all your miseries and worries and ask God, "Why me"? Or you could learn from your situations and turn them around to your advantages. Nothing great comes from comfort zones.
Miracles happen when you get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Nothing comes easy. Hard work and persistence are the keys to success. You could just sit and watch the others climbing up the ladder, or you could make your own ladder and climb it! Hard work always pays!
6. Which is your favorite book and why?
My Dad always bought me motivational books by Dale Carnegie and Shiv Khera. I've literally grown up referring to them constantly. But now, I've become a light reader. There's a lot of serious content to read online and in papers so I love reading humorous content. The best I read last was "Mrs. FunnyBones" by Twinkle Khanna and I read it over and over again as I can actually picture myself in it!!!
7. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring creators?
Be real! No one has a perfect life, so don't run in that race to prove it! Be compassionate, hardworking and creative! Take care of yourself to avoid reaching a burnout and love yourself the way you are. Believe in yourself!!!
AKANKSHA SINGH AGGARWAL
Interviewed By
Hari Chandanaa Kistipati
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