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Niharika NM is one of Instagram’s fastest growing digital content creators. This week, she crossed 1 million followers on Instagram, exactly 2 months after starting her account with 100k followers. We had a chat with the rising YouTuber about her life as an MBA student and social media star.
1. What first pushed you to start your own YouTube channel?
My best friends always said I had too much energy for one person and if only there was a way to monetize that and my dad jokes, I’d be sorted. I was in my second year of engineering when I realized that I wanted to do anything but engineering for the rest of my life and that’s when the concept of YouTube and becoming a YouTuber started becoming popular in India so it was only fair for me to shoot my shot and jump on the YouTube bandwagon.
2. What’s the shift from India to the US been like and what drove it? What are some things you love in the US and some things you miss from India?
I moved to the US to pursue my MBA and it’s been very interesting to say the least. I have the incredible privilege to learn about the different cultures here while also representing my own culture. Having lived with my family all my life it definitely is a very fresh experience to be able to live and do everything by myself and be completely independent. I love how most people that I come across here in the US are extremely ambitious but also carefree at the same time. However, I do miss everything about being in India. My family, friends, my dogs, THE FOOD (Biriyani most importantly) and the amazing people!
Niharika NM has been producing viral videos on Instagram recently.
3. What are your goals for next year?
Graduating and finally being done with academics is my biggest goal for next year. As far as my goals in the content space are concerned, I want to be able to make more long format and hopefully more vlog-style content, which means more YouTube videos along with what I’m already doing on Instagram. I also want to experiment with different formats of content creation on every platform that I’m on and see where that takes me.
4. What’s been your favorite collaboration so far? Who would you love to work with in the future?
Every collaboration that I’ve ever done with Jordindian has always been my favorite because they’re my friends and I absolutely adore them and I’m always looking forward to collaborating with them. I would definitely love to collaborate with other creators in the comedy space and see what we can come up with.
This collaboration between Niharika NM and Jordindian is the latest in a series of popular videos.
5. Who are some other fellow YouTubers you enjoy watching?
I absolutely love watching Liza Koshy, David Dobrik and James Charles. They’re incredible and I’m the biggest fan.
6. How do you generally come up with new content? How much time do you dedicate to content creation on a daily basis?
I don’t necessarily allocate time on a daily basis to create content, instead whenever an idea comes to me I immediately make sure to put it down on my notes app so whenever it’s time to make a video I can just go back and look at it and see what I can do with it. Most of my content however, is super observational and is usually based on experiences I’ve had with my friends and family, so I just try talking to them when I need to find inspiration.
7. Is YouTube a full-time job, or do you have any other pursuits?
I WISH YouTube was my full-time job, but I’ve never had the chance to ever do content creation full time. I was an engineering student when I first started making YouTube videos and now I’m an MBA student.
8. What are some ups and downs of being a YouTuber?
The overwhelming amount of love you get for doing what you love and just being yourself is incredible. I love bumping into people who watch my content, and hearing the nicest things that they have to say about it. It never fails to make my day. Being in the public eye comes with having to always deal with the opinions that other people may have of you which may not always be the best, but that’s just a small con amidst all the pros.
9. What’s a video of yours that you’re personally super proud of?
I honestly am super proud of all the videos based on my mom character because I personally enjoy making them the most. “Other Moms VS My Mom” is a video that is one of my mom’s personal favorites though.
10. What advice do you have for people trying to start their own channels?
I don’t think I’m at a point where I’m qualified enough to give other people advice but from what I’ve learnt and experienced, all I can say is, If you want to do it, just do it. Don’t over think it, don’t try to follow what’s trending, don’t do it because everybody else is doing it. Do it because you enjoy doing it and as cliche as it sounds, just be the most authentic version of yourself that you can be.
