Riha is a 28-year-old teacher from Siliguri, West Bengal who currently resides in Jalandhar, Punjab. The teacher comes home and from here – with the help of her trusty phone and the power of social media – she runs her successful blogging outlet.
Riha channels her sociable personality and creative energy towards her blog. Seeing the journey of other bloggers inspired her to take off on an adventure of her own.
A defining feature of Riha’s adventure is the authentic portrayal of it. Riha Chakrabarty makes sure she shows herself in an authentic light on her blog – even at the risk of the lightning being unflattering.
Her commitment to transparency and truth as an influencer caught our attention and we were lucky enough to sit down with her for a chat.
Q- Riha, social media is an all power tool, one can paint the rosiest picture of themselves on there. Tell us about your commitment to being your true self in a sea of face tune and fake deep captions?
Riha – Well, I think we all are familiar with the saying, “It takes a hundred lies to cover up one lie.”. I just don’t see the point in making yourself out to be a perfect person when we all are rife with imperfections. Imperfections are what make us, to be a human is to be imperfect. Being yourself brings out the best in you because acceptance leads to unshakable self-confidence. And as an influencer – an occupation infamous for being disingenuous – the lies can pile up pretty quick and high up. My followers do not deserve to be tricked. If someone is taking time to follow and support your journey, the least you can do is be honest and give honest opinions and peeks.
Q- Well said Riha, well said. Honesty can give us confidence and peace, but I don’t think it smooths out any bumps in the road. Are there any problems you face as an influencer?
Riha- Blogging itself takes considerable time, energy and resources. It is also very trend-centred. You need to keep yourself aware of what’s going on socially and culturally. Being in step with trends takes research and energy on its own, but to follow these trends too is a task. If one just blindly follows trends and challenges, you are just copy-pasting. To hold on to your essence while still being trendy requires you to take in every trend and then interpret it in your way. The time and energy that goes into being trendy are rarely talked about.
Q- Amongst all the chaos, do you ever feel drained? How do you pick yourself back up?
Riha – Yeah, it can be overwhelming. But having hope and an optimist outlook does wonders. I would like to sign off with a message – To fly, you need to run and take a leap. The leap might lead to a fall, but those who can’t learn to fall will never learn how to fly.
You can follow her on insta – https://instagram.com/_katipatang_?igshid=1io2x5cxfo86h
