Get ready to dive into the world of India’s most fascinating content creators! Our brand-new video podcast series, The Social Nation Show, is now streaming on Spotify and YouTube, brought to you by the experts at Pod.One. Join us as we delve into the personal and professional lives of the country’s most beloved creators, uncovering the authentic stories behind their struggles and triumphs. For our ninth episode, we’re thrilled to welcome the PCOS girlie Vanika Sangtani! Tune in for an inspiring conversation that will take you beyond the screens and into the heart of India’s creator economy.
Also Read: Khushaal Pawar Talks About His Childhood Ambitions, Love For Music & Acting On The Social Nation Show
Episode 09
So far you met Khushaal Pawar, Shehzaan Khan, Yahya Bootwala, and Dolly Singh among other fascinating content creators on The Social Nation Show. On the horizon, we have the bubbliest artist, Vanika Sangtani! Vanika is a storyteller, poet, spoken word artist, and entrepreneur. As a versatile open-mic artist, she chose not to pursue content creation, yet it ultimately chose her!
Entering The Content Creation World
Vanika was asked how and when she started making content online. She said, “When I started, I used to share about the NGO I was working on and my experiences, whether with my family or in written format, and I was doing it for fun. But then, one of my reels went viral, and suddenly from 10,000 to 70,000 in two days. So I didn’t know what to do with them. At that time, I was trying to put out similar content, but it was not working out. It didn’t work out at all.“
Discovering Content Style
After one of her reels went viral, she decided to put out related content, but it wasn’t working. She cracked the code saying, “I figured out that I wanted to tell my stories in one-minute reel format. I would put my voiceover over it and start doing that. Eventually, in those 45 days, I grew from 70,000 to 365k. After that, I discovered small things. It never remained a constant growth for me.
Life felt like a movie; there was a high point where I would discover something, and create it regularly, and then it just went with that. There are times when I’m not able to figure out that one thing that really clicks at that particular point in time in my life. So for me, it has been that journey of discovering who I am, accepting myself.“
Dealing Creative Blocks With A Smile!
When she struggles to create content for a longer period, she gives herself a short break, which isn’t possible nowadays. She also shared that while she was talking to one of the creators recently, “I don’t have any ideas, I don’t know what to do.” The creator advised her, “Vanika, you talk a lot about sad things, talk about happy things, and you’ll see growth.” Those words stuck with her, and she wondered, “Do I seem very sad to everyone?” She expressed how demotivated she felt, even though the creator was trying to teach her something.
But later, she connected with one of her followers, who told her, “I follow you because of your authenticity.” She understood that there are people who follow her for her authenticity, and she wants to keep creating for them. Vanika also stated a beautiful line that hit us hard, “Agar ye process up and down ka nai hoga na toh wholesomeness aur authenticity dono chali jaegi.”
Neon Green Sticky Notes Series
Vanika’s main Instagram feed has this series where she puts up touching quotes on neon green sticky notes. Oh my god, they are so relatable! We feel like everyone has felt that emotion at some point in their life. We asked her how she came up with this concept. She said, “There wasn’t any thought. One day, I felt like I had nothing to post, so I just wrote anything and everything that came to my mind. At that time, I was talking to one of my friends, and I told him that life was a bit problematic. Being a friend, he gave me a lot of advice, but at that point, I didn’t need advice; I just wanted him to tell me, ‘Tu kar legi yaar.‘
So I made a post with a white background, writing, ‘Sometimes all you want people to tell you is that you can do it.’ I wrote all these things I wanted him to say, and that post went viral. Initially, I used to write these on plain whiteboards or plain white text, but one day I used a sticky note, and it started working out.”
A Dig On Vanika Sangtani’s Inner Child
While talking about her content, we noticed that it majorly revolves around her inner child. One of the beautiful lines on her post was, “Mujhe voh ladki sabse zyada samjhti hai, jo main hua karti thi.” However, in today’s time, people are often mocked for being childish around their loved ones or more.
We asked Vanika about her inner child journey, “I’m not the right person to talk about it, but if I talk about my journey, I often go back to my past because I feel I was safer, more secure, and happier than I am now. My desk has a childhood photo of me with a quote that says, ‘Cutu, don’t let yourself down.’ I think we always try to become the version we wanted as a support system in our childhood.”
“Also, I feel, people today are rushing forward, often feeling lonely and struggling with commitment. We move ahead without knowing our destination, which can lead to confusion. If you lose your way, remember to revisit your starting point to gain clarity,” she added.
What Is Pink Experiences? Her Travel Creation Startup
Pink Experiences is a travel & self-improvement firm founded by Vanika, that focuses on providing unique & fulfilling travel experiences. In a crowded and exhausting environment like ‘travel’, we asked her how her startup differs. Vanika emphasized, “I think everyone wants to be on the Forbes30 list & build a great business. People always tell me, ‘Vanika, there’s so much potential in this. Why aren’t you working so hard?’ Because I don’t want to work so hard. Why don’t you understand that I don’t want to create a huge startup or be a 100-crore business owner? If I get even one crore, I would feel like I have achieved a lot.
Pink Experience stands out because I don’t want it to be a big business. I want it to be a small startup. Those cafes where people bake cupcakes with love, and their taste is always better than a big chain because it’s made with so much love. So, my travel company, the thing I want to create with Pink Experience, is that personalized experience for people.“
Go watch the full interview here to learn all about Vanika!
Where Can You Watch The Social Nation Show?
The Social Nation Show will be available on all leading audio and video platforms on Social Nation’s official channels. The video podcasts will be distributed on Social Nation’s Spotify and YouTube handles, whereas the audio podcasts will also be available on Apple Podcast, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Gaana platforms. Fun snippets of the podcast will also be available on Instagram and YouTube Shorts that will capture some of the best moments of each episode.
