Ekta Chaudhary: The Garden Whisperer Ekta Chaudhary found her peace and profession in one thing; her YouTube channel 'Garden Up' and has expanded it into a retail shop as well and aims to accelerate its growth in 2023
By Paromita Gupta •
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Some find solace in books, while others in outdoor activities. But Ekta Chaudhary found her peace and profession in one thing; her YouTube channel 'Garden Up'. A PhD student in Ecology, Chaudhary was brought up with a mindset of clear hierarchy in the profession. You either become a doctor or an engineer, or you will resort to becoming a professor. In 2017, what started as a compassionate collection of two three plants in her hostel room soon became a jungle of 50 mini plants.
"This is the time when I discovered that there was an information gap on plants and gardening. Because of my background in ecology and research, I had plenty of short stories to share with the world that could solve the problems people were facing with their plants," she shared. But having proved her intellectual prowess, she had nothing more to prove to society.
The scaled down jungle soon took the shape of Garden Up, which now is a humble family of 1.44 million subscribers. The IISc Bangalore alumnus feels that though it was not planned, the channel and content creation was not a thoughtless decision. What appeals to her about the social media scope is that her audience does not care about what makeup or brand she's wearing, what matters to them is the content and the story which she's sharing with them.
"My first viral video, which hit a million views, was one about indoor plants in 2018," she shared. She defines her content as stories about the natural world and that gardening is not just about the process, rather one needs to understand the science and logic behind it.
How does she deal with trolling or criticism? Criticism is okay until it is coming from the right place. Chaudhary has expanded Garden Up into a retail shop as well and aims to accelerate its growth in 2023. She's also a published author with Penguin Books and has launched her book Garden Up: Your One Stop Guide to Growing Plants at Home. By creating authentic story telling around nature, she'll continue to woe gardening enthusiasts and nature lovers through her channel.
Factsheet
- YT Channel Est Year - 2017
- Number of subscribers on YT: 1.45M
- Number of followers on Instagram: 246k
- Brand and corporate partnerships: Amazon, Ikea, Paypal subsidiary, Skillshare, Amino, Meesho, Mamaearth, WOW skin care, Cuemath, Soft bank energy, HSBC, ICICI prudent, Salesforce, Byjus, Ikea and many more.
