At 21 years old, Kamryn Menezes from Panaji has already experienced life across different cultures. After high school, she spent a year in Brazil on a cultural exchange program, which exosed her to new perspectives. Upon returning to India, she completed her Higher Secondary studies and is now in her third year of a BA in Psychology and Anthropology at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai.
An unexpected start
It honestly started with just me posting a trend one day that surprisingly took off. So I thought to myself that I’ve seen so many stats on how consistency is key, why don’t I try that just for fun. So I initially started posting travel content everyday- cute trends and recommendations and then I randomly decided to post the ‘Juice’ reel. I woke up the next day to so many comments and likes, it was crazy.
Finding a niche
So recently I realised that my niche is relatable comedy. I’ve come to the conclusion that no thought is unique and we’re all basically living the same life. I just decided to put these thoughts into video form and people seem to enjoy that. Or I’m making a fool of myself. Either way, as long as people are laughing, I’m good with that. It genuinely makes me so happy when someone comes up to me and says “omg, I loved your reel, I laughed so much.”
The creative process
There is no process as such. Sometimes I just say something really random aloud and my first thought right after would be “I have to make a reel on this.” I immediately write it down on my phone and the next day in college I run my idea by my friends who are kind of like my sample group. If it lands well, then I film it right there. If not, then I just scrap it. Even when it comes to filming, it hardly takes me 1-2 takes.
Keeping it real
I think it being the internet, nothing is ever completely real in the first place and there will always be what I call a “pretty filter” over people’s life because obviously no one wants to show hardships. But being as real as possible is important- however crazy, funny, and silly you are. I think when you are being the real you, people can tell the difference.
Overcoming online hate
The ‘Juice’ reel kind of kicked it all off for me and after that it was my Lassi and Lactose Intolerance one. For some reason the first one didn’t end up with the right audience and while I got a number of positive comments about how relatable it was, I got a lot more haters commenting on my looks. It was incredibly difficult at first and really made me question whether having such a public account is a good thing and whether I should even continue. But after giving it some thought and realising that these are just random people who know nothing about me and my life, I decided that I can in fact take it.
The audience
I find that making relatable comedy is what resonates best. I mostly want to reach people around my age, people in their 20’s or students in college because I just know we’re all living the same lives and we’re all in the same boat.
Content creation and academics
Whenever it’s exam time, I always prioritise that and let content creation take a backseat. I make sure to even let brands collaborating with me know that I won’t be available to film either due to study leave or exam week and they’re usually really understanding about it. Recently my college held a fest where I was heading the social media department and during these months as well I wasn’t able to handle my own page while taking on such a big responsibility so I put my personal feed on hold.
Social media challenges
I don’t really let it affect my personal life. Yes initially when I wanted to post every single day then you’d see me in the middle of a family dinner or a party with my friends trying to figure out a caption all because I wanted to push out the content within a particular time frame and if not then I thought I would miss the chance. But of late, I’m much more relaxed in this respect. Trying to get collaborations and monetising my page was another challenge that I’m still navigating and figuring out.
Beyond social media
Outside of social media, I love spending time with my friends, be it karaoke, going out to eat or even chilling at home. I definitely love trying out new places to eat (I did try starting a food review page once but that didn’t really take off). Besides this, I also really enjoy all things music since I play the Piano and sing.
The road ahead
I did my summer internship at NV Creative Co., a social media marketing agency. While there I did talk to Nyeree Viegas (founder) who answered all my questions about how I can grow my page personally and how to overcome certain hurdles in the field.
Future aspirations
Although I’ll be graduating with a degree in Psychology and Anthropology, I’ve actually found a love for the field of Social Media and digital marketing. As for my own page, I do want to find ways to keep it running successfully and building myself as a content creator. Professionally, I want to pursue the field of social media marketing and see what it has to offer me.
Advice to aspiring creators
Go for it and take that leap. If you feel like this is something you should do, then don’t overthink it. Also, do not care about the haters.
Embracing the journey
I firmly believe in two mottos. ‘You Only Live Once’ and ‘Everything happens for a reason’. Getting here wouldn’t have been possible without all the ups and downs I’ve had to go through so there’s nothing I would change.
