In a candid chat with Vama Kothari, Masoom Minawala Mehta revels the importance of pivoting in today’s day and age.

From a wide list of things I can call Masoom, “influencer” is the last I would want to call her. She’d break your usual perception of “being famous on the internet.” Being India’s first Luxury Fashion Influencer, Masoom Minawala Mehta has grown from strength to strength. Today, she works with some of the biggest fashion, lifestyle and luxury brands in the world.

Apart from this, she’s not just your average global Lifestyle and Fashion Influencer — her content also revolves around key aspects of life, such as fashion history, positivity, family, gender equality, books, travel, etc. With an audience of 1.2 Million on social media, Masoom is nearly challenging your idea of who deserves to be famous, or who doesn’t.

Q: Tell me a bit more about your formative years, and how you got where you are right now —tell us, who is Masoom Minawala Mehta?

Masoom: I started creating content around 10 years ago – it was a new industry at that time. Literally, the content creation industry is as young as 10 years. Before that, people were not making money out of it. For me it started off as a hobby and a persisted-upon passion. I’ve stayed consistent and true to it ever since. I think I am someone who is extremely passionate and driven. I am committed to the things that I love and I give them my heart and soul.

Who am I? All the things I love. Some of which you can pin down are – content creation, building a community online, being able to inspire others by telling stories, and dancing. I am very passionate about having a good time — at work and in my personal life. I make sure not to get too caught up in the end result and to enjoy the process while at it.

Q: Do you feel, like back in the day, celebrities used to get the entire spotlight? We’re talking pre-Influencer and Instagram era. What do you think has caused the shift from being an all-exclusive celebrity-obsessed market to an expansive and inclusive creator market?

Masoom: So the way I look at it is, celebrities have always been looked upon as people high up, and untouchable. When you see them on hoardings on the road, your eyeballs always tend to look up. There’s always been a certain hierarchy because they’ve been on hoardings, narrating a story that’s probably not theirs. They play a character on screen.

With (content) creators, you look at them eye to eye, — and this happens because they are narrating their own story. They are accessible. Our bread and Butter is content creation. We don’t have another job and we don’t come to social media to promote that other job, like celebrities for example. We don’t always have the perfect body – I am talking for most of the industry. If all of our wins are in the public eye, so are all our flaws.

For example, every region has that one big influencer everyone loves. In the Middle East, there’s Karen Wazen, in Italy, it’s Chiara Ferrani. What has made them so magnanimous? It is the fact that they talk about every aspect of life, very candidly.

At the end of the day, we stepped in as a marketing model. The human came in and disrupted every other form of marketing and has proven its success! So I guess, this is what caused the shift.

Q: Okay, now that we’ve cracked open the conversation about Influencers and the spotlight, tell me where an un-informed Influencer stand in does today’s day and age?

Masoom: It’s a brand new industry and we’re just infants, not even toddlers in this industry. It is approximately 10 years old, which is similar to the Cryptocurrency industry. There’s a lot being formed right now as we speak — in terms of guidelines, in terms of laws, regulations, responsibility and authenticity.

*Vama subs Masoom into an incidence occurred that adversely affected the creator’s reputation online*

It is up to the creator to be informed and it is up to the consumer to consume responsibly. I believe the day influencers start treating themselves as celebrities, it’s over. It is about responsibility, to be honest.

For example – With such a busy schedule, I actually committed to visiting a show, and actually made the effort to wear one of their creations, sat for the whole show to get over, only to witness 6 outfits were straight-up first copies of an international designer. It was such a waste of my time. So I have now learnt, to be able to watch collections on a runway and to connect it to an International designer, if need be – as an attempt to fact check. I am not a Journalist, and I cannot possibly know every runway collection – but I still have to know this now, as part of being a responsible Influencer.

Q: I see you as a Global-Indian Influencer who actually puts meticulous effort into planning what they are going to showcase to an audience of 1.2 Million — someone who wants to gain trust by educating her audience. I respect that. Tell me a bit more about your strategy and goal and where you plan to go with this.

Masoom: So I have two missions that I’m leading my life with currently – one of them is to be the bridge between the Indian fashion industry and the global fashion industry. I want to be that human link that connects both; this sort of intersection is going to create magic… The amount of talent and culture we have in India is unbelievable. The volume of talent is incomparable to any country in the world.

India is a booming emerging luxury industry, the purchasing power is at an all-time high. It is literally growing by leaps and bounds in terms of where it stands on a global scale; when it comes to fashion and luxury — and if I can have an impact on this… it would be great.

My second mission is to be able to lead to content creation industry – with improved art of storytelling, grace and information.

Q: Tell me a bit more about your contribution towards showcasing Indian talent regionally, how are you making a difference and why do you think it is important?

Masoom: If I am able to give my platform to an Indian fashion designer with great talent, and amplify their influence by x 10, I’d love to do that, and this is where I come in. One feedback and statistic I want to add to this is – that I am able to drive a lot of international traffic to Indian sellers as well. Not just Indian to global! One step closer to the goal.

Q: Like some people always have a vision of becoming ‘famous’ in life, did you have something similar, in your mind?

Masoom: … oh not all! For me, fame is not a part of the business that excites me. I’ve always been super ambitious with an entrepreneur mindset.

Q: Do veterans of the ‘fame’ Industry – say Celebrities, Talent Managers, PR agents, Designers, etc., look at you differently if they are being compared to Influencers and Influencers’ quick(er) wins?

Masoom: There is room and space for everyone. If it’s not going to sell – it’s not going to sell. You must learn to pivot, is all I’ll say. And no not really, I do not feel like one is taking something off of the other.

Q: Masala! UAE is now shifting focus from being an exclusively celebrity-focused magazine to a more inclusive Asian Lifestyle magazine where we speak to many coming-of-the-age creators. What does being the first cover star of this re-jig mean to you?

Masoom: It means so much to me! I am super grateful to have this platform. I have a huge audience from Dubai and this cover opportunity stands as a major act of representation. I plan on staying in Dubai for much longer, a few months down the line. This is perfect.

Q: I’d love to know 2 pinch-me-right-now moments of your life where you felt that you’ve made it. Can be personal or professional.

Masoom: I think my most recent pinch-me-moment personally and professionally was when I was selected as the UN Generation Equality Ally. lt was a boost for me to curate more responsible content that is in sync with my long-term goal of spreading awareness about financial literacy and empowering budding entrepreneurs which is a means to close the gender gap. My second pinch-me-moment was when I walked down the runway for VAISHALI S., who is the first ever Indian female designer to showcase her collection at Milan Fashion Week. I got the opportunity to be a part of a historic move while representing Indian craftsmanship on a whole different level.

Q: Who from the Middle-Eastern creator industry do you see yourself working with in the future?

Masoom: Oh, Zuhair Murad for sure!