Vol. 1 Issue 4

Hey there,

Happy October to you!

The previous issue of the Supplement was a collaborative venture with Radhika V B. 

For this edition, I have yet another kindred spirit on board. This issue is in collaboration with Jayashree Sahithya, an internet friend, a fellow creator and a big source of support and inspiration. Jayashree and I found each other through another creator who we both follow and thus emerged a friendship of supporting each other's creative journeys and helping each other out through the thick and thin of content creation.

For this issue, I asked Jayashree a few questions about her content creation journey and she had some really interesting answers!

Here's a quick hello from Jayashree:

Hi, I'm Jayashree Sahithya Padayachi, an aspiring filmmaker and farmer. When I'm not making films or growing food, I freelance.

Check out her Instagram

Check out her Youtube Channel

1. What got you into content creation?
   It was 2017, I had just started working as an Assistant Art Director in films, when I was looking for resources and stories that would help me relate to my profession; I couldn't find any. At that time I only had a Private Instagram account, and using Instagram to build a brand was still a growing idea and not full-blown like it is now. I started a public account for the first time with the username @theartdepartmentgirl and a blog on WordPress to go along with it. My idea was to write blogs about my learnings as an Assistant Art Director and share images on the 'gram. It wasn't a success because work took up almost all my energy. Later when I took a break from working I started posting a lot of my art under the same name, that's how I gained half the audience I have today, which later developed into a personal brand account due to circumstances and my love for writing.
   
    
2. What drives you to create the kind of content you make?
   The thought that someone somewhere would find it helpful/relatable is what drives me. I create for my 5-10 year younger self. There are so many little things in life we learn as we step out as individuals and face the real world, sometimes I wish someone had taught me all this, it can be as small as finding a laundry guy to iron your clothes in a brand new city you just moved into. It's a struggle isn't it, living alone? I couldn't find anyone I could relate to, so I thought "Why not be that relatable person for someone?"
   
    
3. I see your creative journey online and I can see that you're a multi-passionate human being. I find that to be one of the relatable things about you. How do you bring all these facets into your personal brand?
   I actually struggle with that! haha. I find everything interesting from cooking, growing plants, reading, planning, taking photographs, writing, making videos, styling, clothes, art - it's very hard for me to talk about just one thing because my life has been all over the place even in terms of the careers I pursue, but I figured the origin is ME! It's coming from ME. MY voice, that's what unites every aspect together. I recently read - there are multiple companies selling the same product, what makes your audience buy your product? - No one is selling what you are, with your unique voice. People buy the creator, not the product. And that makes so much sense, even in the case of personal branding.
   
    
4. You've done a lot of things professionally which haven't exactly been in the same field as your education. How do you dive into all these different projects? How do you develop these different skills?
   I go where my interest takes me. My interest in photography leads my father to gift me a camera for my birthday. I was playing around with it not knowing what course to do in college, my Dad suggested Visual Communication, said it would help me develop my photography skills. So I just went with it.
   In college, I was scared to be a Director, while many of my college mates were making short films because I was under the impression that I would never be able to write stories that are engaging! ( Although I learned later that Directors don't necessarily have to write stories) So when a path for Art Direction showed up I dived in, 1 year of it taught me that although I'm "artsy", doing that for films is very exhausting - physically and mentally.
   The Director from the same film was asking me to be his assistant, and from what I had seen it was more brain work and less physically running around to secure props, paints and furniture. So I grabbed that opportunity, and guess what it got me interested in? Writing- Screenwriting to be specific. Funny how things work out. I also say no to opportunities that don't interest me, it's not always been a "yes" train. 
   In terms of developing the skills, I ventured into everything without having a clue of what I was doing and learned along the way. That's how I've done EVERYTHING in life so far and still am. I like to call it "organic learning" in my head. LOL. I don't enjoy textbook learning, I learn through practical mistake-making methods. This way it sticks more strongly in my head. For instance, once I made a spelling mistake on the actor's email ID! It was a nightmare, he hadn't got the files he was supposed to, later we had to apologize and send it to the right ID. Ever since I have double, triple checked email ID's and grew to be the one who knew the email IDs of the whole crew by-heart. See how that worked out? It helps to develop a "student for life" mentality and learning to accept mistakes.
   
    
5. What are some of the qualities you've developed over the years that have shaped the current 'you'?
   That's a difficult one to answer! Like I mentioned in my previous answer being a student for life, learning to accept mistakes has gotten me where I am. Other than that -
   - being honest with myself, you can lie to anyone but if you aren't true to yourself, your feelings, it will not take you far.
   - listening to my guts, being self aware and conscious of my actions
   - knowing when to say "Yes" and when to say "No"
   - Not being dependent on anyone for anything (Still working on that though)
   - Realizing that I don't have to prove it anyone, but myself. 
    
6. Who are some creators/ online personalities that have inspired you?
   I'm so glad you asked, there are so many that have helped shape me and from whom I've learnt a lot just by observing their lives.

• Mimi and Alex Ikkon - a power couple with amazing life and business values!!
• @brock11johnson and his fiancé @taylorarco - Brock is an Entrepreneur and Instagram Coach, and Taylor is studying to be a therapist. I learn a lot of life and relationship values from them!!
• @garyvee for motivational and business content!
• @theblissbean of course for productivity, but also for the work she puts into creating engaging, honest content. I find a lot of her qualities in terms of professionalism relatable.
• Tina Nyugen from @xxl.scrunchie, was a recent find on Youtube and she is like a powerhouse of energy, the amount of energy and time she spends on carefully curating a scrunchie business while also being active on all platforms - Youtube, Instagram and Tiktok is very inspiring and promising to look at. Also the fact that she built her scrunchie business from scratch from her bedroom, to her parents basement and now moving it to an actual Warehouse with employees. It's truly inspiring.

These are just from the top of my head and who have specifically inspired me in terms of life values, I follow so many more others just for a particular niche like art, photography and videos etc but that would be a long list! Haha.

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