Mehak Dhawan was a part of Spoon DU (shoutout to my super campus which currently ranks 12th on Secret Sauce!) from 2015 to 2016. I have personally seen her grow in my time at Spoon DU and she was always an inspiration when it came to photography. In about two years, her social media following has grown to 88.9k followers—which is a whole other level of social media influencing.
While on Spoon, her pictures frequently got selected for use by HQ and once even became a featured image on Spoon HQ's Facebook, which is quite an achievement in itself.
She was, therefore, always a talented photographer and she took it to the next level and used much of her Spoon training to create a personal brand!
@foodiesince96 is the food blog on the Indian foodstagrammer's scene. I decided to catch up with her and ask her for her experience as a super blogger and a Spoon Alumna.
Q1. What have you been up to since you left Spoon?
Since the time I left Spoon, I have been extensively working on my micro blog @foodiesince96. I crossed little milestones on Instagram, got featured by two magazines—one being international 29:11 craft which was a personal interview—and Magzone where I was among fifteen best Delhi instagrammers, and I also graduated.
Q2. How did Spoon help you up your Instagram and photography game?
Spoon has been very kind to me, I would say it played an important role in letting me know that I could do better each day with my pictures and I could experiment with them.
It really helped me become a better photographer be it with the small modules on Secret Sauce or our founder's guidelines or our seniors. HQ always pushed us to photograph better with their constant motivation and competitions.
Q3. What was the best part of being a part of Spoon?
Honestly, learning. I have learned a lot at Spoon. The best part was the guidance of some great Spoon leaders like Kritika Narula, Sabhyata Badhwar, Sonal Chanana and Shiv. I still remember how I was guided well in the aspects of photography or social media by everyone. And the events.
The guidance of the experience that I gained was very helpful and I feel thankful to have been part of something which helped me get an experience of social media even before I stepped in myself.
Q4. What was the most important lesson you learned in Spoon?
How to manage multiple things in a super easy way and without much error. Our Spoon DU founder was an inspiration, I have seen her do that like a pro so I also learned a little along the way.
Q5. Any advice to Spoon chapters looking to grow their Instagram reach and social media influence?
Be consistent, manage yourself well and plan before you post on your account. Be ready with your content and good hashtags (don’t spam). Spoon Delhi really helped me in understanding these things well when I was a part of the social media team.
Q6. What are the perks of being a high-end blogger?
There are a lot of perks but one should not forget that there are a lot of cons too. Of course, many people in Delhi primarily think that being a high-end blogger is just about free food, I would say "No!" It’s not just free food.
The free food is a desirable part of it but apart from that, when a number of people follow you, they also look up to you, they look out for your posts, pictures and your opinions. Therefore with perks like free food, paid collaborations, invites from high-end events, and invites from amazing fine dining places, a lot of responsibility also comes in.
I feel I’m not a blogger or a foodie who made her microblog just for the love of food & photography. My love for these two things is beyond free food and paid collaborations and I personally feel that it’s one's passion that keeps you going or else one day you will fail to pull it off. Also, as they say, nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. Consistency in passion is just as key as it is on your Instagram profile.
