Diipa Buller Khosla: The Global Indian Diipa Buller Khosla is a renowned influencer with a strong digital presence that runs parallel to her entrepreneurship work. We recently had an opportunity to chat with her and asked how important a virtual connection is for entrepreneurs in today's day and age.
By Kavya Pillai
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Diipa Buller Khosla is a renowned influencer with a strong digital presence that runs parallel to her entrepreneurship work. We recently had an opportunity to chat with her and asked how important a virtual connection is for entrepreneurs in today's day and age. She said, "Obviously in today's day and age, you know having an online presence is almost a form of like a marketing channel or like a social currency. So it's really ultimately the people (and connections with them) that you've built over the last few years, they trust you so much. So when you create something (a product or service) for them, they know you would have created it with the best intentions. So (social media) for me is the best way to have created a brand to be honest, because you take them on the journey of creating the brand for them (audience) and then the brand is out there and they're the first ones who actually trust you to buy it."
When you're introducing a new launch, you talk about the packaging too, it's the fact that it's recyclable, all these details that you share. It's very personal to take someone behind the scenes and be real. Do you feel that that's something that your consumers value more? "Absolutely. I think in today's date age again like the consumer is not like they used to be back in the day. Like they really want to know honesty, they want transparency, they want to see how a product is being built. What was the thought behind it, You know what kind of sustainability initiatives that you're thinking about like is your carton FSC certified. So I think as the creator, I saw my day in, day out. I know how to storytell. I know how to take them on this journey together with me. And I absolutely think it makes a big difference," she explained.
We were curious to know some key moments that have really been a turning point for Khosla in her career. "I think, you know with every influencer who's I guess above like a million mark, there have to have been a few viral moments. Like there's no way otherwise that a lot of eyeballs would come to you. So for me, I think the viral moments would have to be the first time I shared my real skin online. Right at the beginning at least I would like to edit my skin a lot and people would always say, Oh my God, she has the most beautiful skin. Like, how do you do it? While in real life I had full acne. And after a while, I just felt like I was, you know, not doing the best I could by putting out this filtered version of me the whole time. And so I decided to like, come clean about my acne and do this entire thing like showcasing how bad it really was. And that was the first time I remember. In my journey in like, oh now this is like 2015 or 16 that I was one of the first people who put out that real skin candidness. And back then I had a blog site like a website and the whole website crashed and a lot of people followed me from there about just the honesty of it," she reflected.
Not long after this Diipa had a major breakthrough when she walked the Cannes Film Festival red carpet. Talking about that moment she said, "To be honest I was extremely nervous. Like I'd never seen so many photographers in my life. And I remember at that moment how important it was to remind yourself that you deserve to be here. That you know the world is changing, the media landscape is changing, that digital is going to be such a big force to be reckoned with." To conclude she said, "Even though those stars have been amazing to become where they are. You're also the new generation of like stars like it's a digital stardom that's going to happen."
