Journey of a Yogini from Varanasi to New York
If you love wearing all the latest trends, doing make-up and posing all day long in front of the mirror then somewhere, there lies a fashion blogger within you who wants to come out. With the same dream, Kajal Mishra started her journey as a fashion blogger. With a lot of ups and downs during her journey as a fashion blogger, she managed to become a refreshing face to the world of fashion blogging.
Being from Indian middle-class society, she always wondered whether society will allow her to fulfill her dreams or not. But soon after she completed her graduation, she took the courage and decided to do what she always aspire to do.
Not everyone has the same courage and undoubtedly she is an example to all the girls out there who wish to aspire her dreams no matter how difficult it looks at present. I was super excited to know about her, a little more and the way she started her fashion blogging journey. To make her story reach every girl who likes fashion and those who want to embrace the world of fashion blogging.
Me being a fashion student from National Institute of Fashion Technology, NIFT decided to take her interview to know more about the journey and the way she is in person. If you want to no more, she actively blogs at Indiafashionblogger.com, an Indian blog which covers Fashion, Lifestyle, Beauty, Bollywood, Travel and what not. I was ready with a lot of questions in my mind, the curiosity to know how she was as a child, about her fashion blogging journey, the ideas she had before she entered the fashion world and her experience so far.
Hey Kajal
Q It really nice to meet you. It is always a pleasure to see a middle-class girl establishing herself in the field of fashion of her own. Was it always your dream to be in a part of the fashion world?
A: No, I never thought it even in my wildest dream actually. Being very studious from childhood, I always thought I will be a doctor in future. But unfortunately or you can say, fortunately, I didn’t get enough marks and hence landed up in BHU doing B.Sc. Even doing college days, I was the topper and people use to think I will end up as a scientist. Even I had the gut feeling somewhere that I will do something in academics.
However, as a girl, I always had an inclination towards fashion. Wearing short dresses, doing makeup and watching myself in front of the mirror used to make me happy and it still does. Maybe somewhere fashion was my calling ever since I was a little girl. But being from a simple middle-class family, I never saw it as a career. Sadly because fashion had always been looked upon as an uncertain and offbeat career option. Piling it up with the luggage of being a small town girl. So like everyone, I was following the and certain part of finishing my education first and then getting a corporate job. For our society, it is considered safe. So, back then in the year 2010, I got a job in IDBI Bank. While working I saw there was a lot of opportunities in the modeling field as well. However, I wasn’t confident myself but decided to give my aspiration a chance. I collected all my courage and decided to leave my job and chase my dreams. And now here I am.
Q How did you enter in the fashion world and started your own blog?
I was tired of banking job when the opportunities to learn any new things started decreasing. With time my life turned very monotonous because somewhere I wasn’t really fitting into the kind of lifestyle I was living and the lifestyle I aspire to achieve. It was the phase I was going through depression and none really cared about my mental health issues at that point in time. It was later that I was diagnosed with 74% depression. My husband then realizes the seriousness of the matter and supported me like anything.
I gathered all my courage with the support of my husband and decided to give up my job in 2016. It was the time when I was just doing things that would make me happy from deep within. I was in Delhi back then and a lot of modeling opportunities was available there. During my free time, I started my own blog name ” Kajal Mishra.com” as a hobby to write my heart out. My modeling career also started taking heights, when I won a celebrity face contest on Facebook, where I got an opportunity to shoot with Kanchan Tomar. I also did acting in start plus show, some short movies, and theater when I was on a break. I never dreamed of becoming a supermodel nor I am looking for the money by that time. I was just living my childhood dream of watching myself as a model and I was out of depression while fulfilling my aspirations. Modeling career wasn’t something I wanted to stick too for long. Meanwhile, my blog started gaining a lot of traffic because I was consistent in writing my everyday life lessons. The appraisal boosted my confidence and my husbands supported me to establish my career as a full-time blogger. This how my blog was born.
Q Who or what has been your greatest fashion inspiration?
My writing is all about the things surrounding me. It isn’t restricted to just fashion. I am not someone who will stick to trends completely or follow brands unconsciously. It is my personal style that I wanted to show through my blog. Being a fashion and lifestyle blogger based in Goa, nature is my biggest inspiration. The fresh air I breathe here or the free waves of the sea, each of them inspires me to live my life on my own terms.
Being a fashion blogger I always keep track of the fashion shows, latest trends, the new edition of fashion magazines, etc. I use my own sensibility before posting any trend based on my body type and comfort. Talking about my personal inspiration, it is mostly inspired by the Goan culture and a mix of my latest trends liked by me. Most of my posts celebrate the beauty of being natural.
Q What’s so different about your fashion blog, ‘India Fashion Blogger’?
I have expanded my blog a lot in the past years based on the responses and love I have received. Earlier I used to share just my personal thoughts but now India Fashion Blogger isn’t just about fashion. We cover topics like travel because of my obsession with traveling the world. To me traveling is the best way to learn and educate ourselves. It is one of my biggest passion. Apart from that, our team covers all the events happening in the fashion world, fashion shows and events related to fashion & Lifestyle. Makeup and beauty are other categories of our blog. There we share ideal ways of using makeup kit, festive looks, and useful tips. I could never imagine this would be my full-time job someday in the future and here I am! It still feels like a dream sometimes.
Q What keeps you motivated?
It is the immense reader’s love and support that has kept me motivated for years. My blog has evolved so much because of the love I am receiving each day. Thanks to my team for being the pillars of our blog success. All the writers working for me share the same passion and love for fashion and that is how we connect. Their team spirit motivates me to look for more interesting topics and content at any cost.
Being a Goa-based, my blogging career gets restricted from attending a lot of events but thanks to my teams who are living in different parts of India. They cover all the major events happening in fashion & lifestyle sector in the best way possible. After years of blogging, I have a loyal following and regular readers, and I connect to them at a personal level. The sweet comments and appreciation from my family push me to make my blog grow. The number of collaborations, sponsored post and review posts makes me cherish the fact that hard works finally pays well.
Q Any advice or tips to aspiring fashion bloggers?
No matter how glamorous it looks, there is a lot of hard work that goes on it to make it look worth reading. The only way to sustain yourself as a fashion blogger is to be consistent. Focus on what you really like and be honest about it. In the beginning, it might look tough hence start by setting up small goals.
Also, many people might fall into the trap that blogging is just a way to make a quick profit. The main reason should not be this. There is no successful blogger or influencer who doesn’t love what they do and truly enjoy doing it. To involve yourself in what you actually adorn and don’t think about making a profit in the beginning. To become a fashion blogger, start analyzing your favorite bloggers by following them. Readers need personal connection so entering into fashion blogging means you have to expose your life more than any normal person. By exposing I mean to show your daily life, where you go and what you wear. Especially for a shy person ( like me), it might take a bit longer to develop the confidence and speaking ability to engage your viewers, at the same time maintaining your own personal space.
Another tip would be to maintain continuity no matter how your online blog is going. Develop skills and in doing so dedicate a major part of your time to one of the things you like to do best in fashion blogging field. Be it writing good quality content, good research work on the latest trends or knowledge about photography.
Remember good quality content always get a good response no matter how long it takes. That’s how I created my blog, India Fashion blogger and now with the help of my dedicated team, I focus on generates good quality content to get maximum traffic. Each of the team gets full liberty to come up with innovative ideas for the blog which is the backbone of our content creation diversity.
Q How do you feel about all the past experience of your life?
I am happy being me and achieving all my childhood dream of my own. The support of my husband gave me the courage to take though tough steps that have resulted in this beautiful present life of mine. Each of the incidents that happened in my life was a lesson and I wanted to share my experience to all those girls who are struggling to choose between the safe path and the path that takes them to their dreams. From being an absolute clueless girl to this present confident women, today I want to support each an everyone who has gone through tough times. This wouldn’t have been possible without my partner who promised me to stick to me through all this rough journey. It is always good to have a support system but in case you don’t have external support, don’t be afraid, real courage lies within you and it is just one life so make sure you make most of it and live a life without any regrets.
Q What’s the best thing about being a fashion blogger?
Being a woman fashion blogger, Instagram influencer, a wife and a daughter, I always stay occupied but I have never compromised with my hobbies. There were hard times when I struggled but the urge to travel to new cities, following fashion and sharing those experiences online is the best thing about my profession. Whether sharing articles on the latest fashion trends or talking about my personal experience gives me a new opportunity each day along with full freedom, as I am my own boss. Thus my fashion blog is a way to interact with all fashion lovers and aspiring fashion bloggers. Being someone’s inspiration is heartwarming and it is a huge responsibility at the same time. This daily dose of inspiration is what I was missing when I was in a banking job. Fashion blogging has taught me so many things from different areas and as a person, I am learning every day to be the best version of myself. I enjoy challenging myself and learning new things.
I feel fashion is very flexible and there are no hards and fast rule. It gives you the freedom to express yourself through the clothes you wear. While growing as a fashion influencer, I try to keep my every blog with maximum positivity and grace.
While having all this question answer with Kajal Mishra, I was inspired by her story and the positivity she carries within herself. I sat down with her to share her journey of becoming a social media influencer and ended up being inspired by the courage she showed when everything was falling apart. To make the life of each aspiring fashion blogger easier she has started writing about how to be a fashion blogger. There she shares every minute details that will help any girls to start her own blog. The amount of search and practical knowledge put on those blogs are of great value. I am sure those blogs will help all the girls who ever wished to be a blogger but due to society, economic condition or family pressure failed to do it. It has all tips and hacks, from creating your own blog to getting Instagram followers quickly, this particular blog section is like a mini-encyclopedia for any budding fashion blogger.
Fashion blogging is a great career option for girls who have an interest in fashion. Just the way Kajal started her blog India Fashion blogger as a passion. Today, she is making money out of it, endorsing products and writing sponsored articles, etc. Hope her journey of evolving as a successful fashion blogger will inspire many more people. Don’t wait for the right time, just do it. If a middle-class girl who was full of mess can get a direction in her life, motivation to wake up every day and work on her blog then anyone can do it. Now Kajal has shifted to New York and she is still working on her blog day and night to create unique content for her readers. One more thing I love about Kajal was her nature, even after growing so much, she is so humble and down to earth. Being from Varanasi, she still holds the charm of a small town girl with eyes full of dreams.
What is your passion and what are you doing for it? Let us know, you can also ask Kajal questions in the comment box regarding your views or any guidance.
Comments ( 51 )
Gaurav pathak
hi good blog to read
Aparna
useful information about fashion
Shah
We are trying a fashion blog at our site Bponon.com but it is really hard to get going at first. Hope we can do some thing for our Dhaka fashion lovers. Bd dress collection is our moto.
Trapti
Good to know about you kajal. I also believe in unique and quality content in blogging.
Shweta Sharma
Very interesting post. This is my first time visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog. And her journey is very inspirational. Thanks for the post!
shikha sharma
Hi kajal,
Hope you are good.
i want to start, but i dont know how.please suggest me
NRIMB
This is such a great post to read. Really admirable. Keep it up.
samshek
Hi kajal
You Are good looking in this dress.
vijaya
Lot of Information for your article It’s useful of me Thanks for Sharing
jessy
A big thank you to you.. i got many points from your post and helpful content to me.
Followgram.net
Fashion bloggers have an answer to all your questions. They re making great use of the communication medium to spread their knowledge and share information with people.
Trend Eve
Really, Inspiring story
anurag
Hi Kajal
It was really a good post to read, we are a women’s wear brand based in Gurgaon.
Please check our website and let us know how can we collaborate.
Thanks
samshek
grate information about this blog
Suleha Pant
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I appreciate that.
suryaprabha
really nice to hear ur story and there is very useful information about fashion.thanks for post.
vijay zinnga
Nice Article lot of Information Its very useful Thanks for Sharing…
Dharm
This is how you inspired us.
Thank you for the post
Salwar Kameez
This is nice think
thanks for sharing
Meena
Really Amazing
Vishal
interesting Post Big Thank You And All The Best
Kala Designer
Nice… Interesting journey
Niranjana Iyyer
An excellent quick read but worth so much ! Thank you for the good writeup
Yeasin
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What a journey. Really inspiring.
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Marigold
Fashion Blogger is an excellent way to express your sense of fashion with world through your words. This blog is very motivating with some wonderful piece of information related to fashion.
jianika
Hii kajal,really impressive blog..i love it.
Viraj
Thank you for such a valuable piece of information.
Kirtika saha
Fashion blogger article is Very interesting post. This article is very helpful. Thanks for Sharing your information.
Ratan Jha
I read Your Post & I must say it’s really very amazing… Thanks for Sharing
srushti
I am really inspired by your journey, IT inspired me..
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Tredilla
This was so great to read through Ash! I am so proud of all of your hard work such an inspiring woman. Congratulations!
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sneha
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shagun soni
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Sati Roy
One of the most beautiful articles I have read!
Ana John
wow, Amazing experience thank you for sharing.
Ojasvee
Nice thought
Shubham
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nishant singh
the journey of a fashion blogger is the best blog post ever and encouraging to new blogger.
Sowmiya L
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Sajid Akhter
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VERY INSPIRATION BLOG… KEEP GOING AND KEEP SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE