Today we’d like to introduce you to Nita Mann.
Nita, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was born and raised in Dallas, TX and followed a pretty standard Indian path of going to school, graduating with a finance degree and then moving on to post-graduate degree. I went to law school after working at JPMorgan for a few years and it was during law school when I started my blog. My husband, Ajeet, was so kind to pick up a camera from Costco to get the ball rolling and he’s been my photographer ever since. I fell in love with fashion and beauty while in law school but I had no desire to quit school. I’ve always been one to finish what I started and I knew having a law degree would be beneficial no matter what. I decided to pursue blogging full-time after graduating law school in May 2017 and it’s been an incredible journey since then. Ajeet and I moved to Los Angeles in November 2017 to be in a faster-more paced environment and we recently got to a place where Ajeet could leave his job and join me full-time at Next with Nita! We’re a family business and I’m loving every single bit of it! 🙂
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I started out blogging primarily doing fashion only and it was a little over a year ago when I just felt bored and stale with my feed and my posts. I decided to diversify Next with Nita and expand my business into beauty and skincare and I absolutely love it!! I do weekly #GRWM series on my IG stories which my readers love too. I’ve learned to be on stories a lot more because a) I can be my goofy self with no makeup on and b) it’s just a way more organic way to engage with my readers. Now that Ajeet has fully joined Next with Nita, we do a lot of more couple videos & posts to help inspire others that are either in a relationship or are married. We love sharing our highs and lows because at the end of the day, that’s what’s real and that’s what people want to see. I’ve steered away from creating a perfect feed with the perfect photo and instead, post what I want people to see even if the quality is less than par. Whether it’s a #GRWM post, a relationship video, or a simple #ootd, I want my readers to feel inspired and comfortable in their own skin. I say this because there aren’t that many Indian influencers out there and I want to be that role model for ethnic girls out there. I didn’t have that growing up and if I did, I probably would have started a career in media much, much sooner!
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
For me, success is knowing I’ve made a positive difference in someone’s life. I’ve had people message me saying that they want to pursue blogging because of me or that they branched out and started wearing so and so because of me. Little things like that make me feel confident in what I’m doing in my career. As a little girl, I never once imagined myself owning my own business, starting it from scratch and watering it until it grew. Being in this position now is so surreal and it makes me happy knowing that my business is actually helping others whether it’s making girls feel confident in their own skin or simply being there for those that need me. One thing that a lot of people may know about me is that I’m a huge animal advocate so I try and educate my readers about animal-related news to help our furry little friends as well. That being said, when someone messages me saying they adopted their pet instead of buying because of my help also makes me feel like I’m doing something right.
In my opinion, to be a successful artist one has to learn to be kind and ruthless all at the same time. I’m a born and raised Texas girl with that southern charm that’ll never leave my personality. I’ve always been kind every single person that I’ve crossed paths with (even when not deserved) because I believe putting good out there brings good back. However, I also know that I’m running a small business and there’s times where you have to be business smart and sometimes saying ‘no’ in the business is the best way to succeed.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My blog www.nextwithnita.com is my baby and I try and post on there once a week with meaningful content that will help inspire others. Instagram (@nextwithnita) is an amazing platform where I post 1-2x a day on there and of course, nonstop stories that are real and in-the-moment. I recently started doing more YouTube videos personally because creating videos to me is way more fun, engaging and gives me a better opportunity to really share who I am and what I’m about.
It may sound silly, but the biggest way one can support my work is simply engaging with my posts. Whether it’s commenting on a blog post or commenting on an Instagram post, brands see that and it helps me grow more than one would think! The industry that was once about how many followers you have is now about what your engagement is and so staying true to your audience and engaging with your readers is my number one priority!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nextwithnita.com
- Email: info@nextwithnita.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextwithnita/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nextwithnita/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/nextwithnita/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/nextwithnita/
Image Credit:
Ajeet Mann (@spacemann11)
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
