1. Nikita, you’re a model, TEDx speaker, fitness enthusiast, and Instagram influencer. How do you manage to excel in such diverse fields?
Being the kind of person that I am and the different aspects of my life, both professional and personal, your question was how I managed to excel in such diverse fields. I think the most important factor that I found has helped me over the years is staying authentic and very true to myself and while I say that I mean it in the truest sense of be it anything that I endorse be it anything that you know post on social media.
I try to keep it if not hundred percent at least as close as possible to the person that I am in real life because my audiences have made me who I am today. I love love love the love that I get on social media. Hence, it is only fair for me to be my truest version on social media there are aspects of me that I choose to not disclose and there are parts of my life that are very private but the parts that I do choose to share I try and make them as authentic and as true as they possibly can.
2. What’s your philosophy when it comes to health? How do you stay motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle?
Uh for your second question I think when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I don't think there is a one sure-shot way of doing that. I find that wherever you are and whatever you're doing in life, it is up to us to design, create, and articulate a way that is going to work best for us.
For me, health is not simply related to the things that I eat or the way that I work out. Health also begins when I wake up in the morning and I make my bed as soon as I get out of it. When I wake up, I avoid instantly looking at my phone. Health, for me, encompasses more than just physical well-being; it includes mental health as well. While maintaining physical health can be challenging and requires a lot of discipline, I believe the first step towards being regular with your physical health is having steady and balanced mental health.
The only way we can achieve this is by allowing ourselves to be in touch with our deepest emotions. What happens most of the time is that we keep ourselves so busy or are so caught up that our bodies are constantly chasing cortisol, the stress hormone. Without realizing it, we end up pursuing this hormone in the wrong way. Cortisol is not something that needs to be chased but rather gotten rid of. However, we have become so accustomed to living in high-stress situations that we attract them, thinking that stress is normal, functional, and beneficial. This misconception is why maintaining a healthy balance in life is crucial.
I feel that mental health comes before any other kind of health so the moment we focus on work and address our anxieties and every voice that comes to our head rather than running away from it we sit down with our thoughts no matter how hard they may be and start working on our mental health is when we can start to work on different other aspects of ourselves because the moment your brain which is the most important organ of your body is working correctly is when everything else will fall into place as well.
3. How do you build and maintain self-confidence in a demanding and competitive industry?
When it comes to building and maintaining self-confidence in a demanding and competitive industry like the one that I am in the biggest way that I can achieve this is simply by one thought which is not looking at anybody else and I'm sure that many people have that must have come across reels or videos where it shows that there are you know three balls moving on a path and they're all going on different separate paths and they all reach at their own times because the journey is different, the destination is different.
So, I think the easiest way to maintain self-confidence is knowing that you are showing up as your best version every day and you are better than the person that you were yesterday even if that means today you've done nothing and allowed yourself to rest you are a better person simply because yesterday you did not allow that to yourself today you've given yourself the grace and the permission to rest to take it easy.
So, I think all self-confidence and self-esteem come from self-love. And the biggest step of self-love is not comparing yourself to anybody else. I know this sounds very cliche and very difficult to achieve, but the moment you learn to do this and not compare yourself to anybody else is when you can have massive, massive amounts of confidence to go ahead and steer your life in just the way it's meant to be steered.
4. What responsibilities do you feel come with being an influencer, and how do you balance authenticity with engagement?
The responsibilities that I feel come with being an influencer I don't know why people nowadays consider the term influencer to be very negative and while I understand that we're all content creators the term influencer is something that we've given to all the people that are content creators I feel in my eyes that somebody who motivates you a content creator that inspires you to do something that's going to add value to your life should be called an influencer. Because an influencer should be a person who influences you to be better, do better, and overall improve the quality of your life.
So, I feel that the biggest responsibility that comes with being an influencer is the content that you're putting out there. Is it really something that is going to resonate with a larger audience be it fashion be it motivational speaking like I do be it travel be it luxury be it anything else or be it the Saturday Good Day initiative that I run I feel that all your content needs to come from a place of I am catering to a so and so number of people are they going to be able to take away anything from this it could be entertainment it could be inspiration it could be something that moves them you are after all somebody who creates art so when you're creating art make sure it influences people in the best way possible and when you do that.
I feel like engagement will be very very genuine what happens most often is we get very caught up in the world of algorithms and you know trying to stay up with the numbers of how you know with each update how Instagram is changing on the daily so I think the most important thing is to stick to what your gut says is right for your profile sticks to what you think you know best And while you can incorporate the new trends and the new ways of posting, don't lose yourself completely in the process. It's called evolution, right?
Change is the only constant. So, I would suggest that for most people who are looking to balance authenticity with engagement, meta or new guidelines by the social media norms that are also going to help you get the engagement that you want but don't lose yourself in the process.
5. How do you manage your time and maintain a healthy work-life balance?
Um I think time management would be uh something that is not so easy for most of us because I feel like I said earlier is that we've all become cortisol chasers wherein we're so used to living a very highly stress-driven life that we don't know any other way so what I would suggest for you know a healthy work-life balance is making sure that for someone like me whose entire life is on social media I urge people to take social media breaks very often right but that is for people that are not doing social media for people that are their entire world revolves around social media even for those people I urge them to spend a lot more time with the people that are important in their life what essentially happens with that is those people whether it may be your family or friends that have seen you grow or really old timers you know who've been there with you through day one who stuck with you through the years through the highs and the lows when you spend time with these people they help you stay grounded anchored and rooted to the person that you are and not the person that starts to evolve.
Change being influenced by social media because as much we try to be influencers we do get influenced too in exchange a lot of social media does change us as well so why so what we need to do to make sure that doesn't happen and change the people that we are is spending time with people that are really important in your life and those are the people that are going to remind you of the things that are truly important whether it's love whether it's laughter joy friendship kindness and those things matter a lot more than anything else in the larger scheme of things so staying in touch with your loved ones very often is i feel like the biggest reminder and then once you do that once you've spent that quality time with them probably once a day once in two days once a week if you're away from home but once you do spend that time with them it automatically fixes your life into a healthy work-life balance because having spent that time you realize that oh my god this is something that truly brings me happiness.
I am sure a post doing well is your work that's doing well but your parents or your friends being happy around you is your personal life doing well and when your personal life is nourished and fulfilled is when automatically your professional will continue to grow because you yourself are clear in the head have more space to think grow in a much faster way so staying in touch with your loved ones is very very important to maintain a healthy work-life balance if you could.
6. If you could have a workout session with any historical figure, who would it be, and what exercise routine would you do together?
If I could have a workout session with a famous figure, it would definitely have to be Dwayne Johnson, Dwayne the Rock Johnson, simply because he has been very inspiring to me in more ways than one. It's not just about his fitness or his workouts that inspire me.
His fitness and his workouts inspire me I remember back when Instagram was not the Instagram that it is today you know this was long back when there was this video of Dwayne Johnson wherein he was flying in his private jet and I think if you scroll down you can still see that video and he said that uh he was in his private jet he came out of the washroom and he sat down for his meal and he took a selfie video and he said I just want to show you guys something that I’m flying in my jet I have this meal in front of me and there's a rose kept next to my meal.
I mean it doesn't serve any purpose it's there just because they've kept it there but I have massive gratitude simply because the things that may seem so trivial to me at this stage are somebody going out of their way to do something for you and then you realize that there are people out there working so hard to make sure that you're happy you're satisfied and your day goes well and that's when you realize this small rose being kept next to my plate is my moment of gratitude.
I want to share it with all of you god bless and have a great day that video has stuck with me through the years and still sticks very sharp in my mind and I feel that is why this is something that you know to share in all my talks is that being grounded and being thankful and grateful is the biggest way to unlocking more blessings in life and this video of Dwayne Johnson back when I was in my teens in my late teens I saw this video and this video stuck with me so well and it's like a constant reminder to be grateful of the so-called trivial things but those are the things that you once dreamt of we often forget that we are living the life that we once dreamt of so constant gratitude is the biggest way to unlocking more blessings in the life of. We often forget that we are living the life that we once dreamt of. So constant gratitude is the biggest way to unlock more blessings in life. Thank you.
Bio:
Nikita Sharma is India's leading Instagram influencer (with over 8.3 Million followers and growing), Nikita has been awarded the title of “Cultural Ambassador of the Nation by the Government of India.
Functioning as the face of various brands, Nikita has not only created wide fashion and style intelligence but also advocated boundary-free beauty standards and body positivity.
She is one of the leading motivational speakers from India and has given 9 TEDx talks: "The Hidden Truth - New Age Fashion & Fitness".
"Re-Imagining Reality"
"Pegasus: why do you want to fly?"
TEDxWCE Sangli
TEDxXLRI Delhi “Blossoming in Chaos”
TEDxNIIT “Saptranga”
She was recently invited to speak at the International Reliance Jio platform (run by Mr. Mukesh Ambani) for their Jio Talks where she spoke on "Body Positivity" (jiotalks.com/watch/153)
They have given her an award.
The Young Women Achiever Award in 2017
Exceptional Woman of Excellence Award 2019, at the International Women Economic Forum held in April 2019
Travel Influencer of the Year 2022
Inspirational Icon of the Year 2023
Fashion Influencer of the Year 2024
Interviewed by: Shantanu Singh
Edited by: Mishika Goel
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