RHEA SHETTY

Social media has, weirdly enough, always been my safe place. When we moved from New York, to a rural town in Central Washington, there weren't many Indians around us Luckily, I grew up with the internet and the ability to connect with people online- it was a privilege. I built an attachment to it in a way. I would post on Instagram, share what I was going through and did it because it brought me genuine happiness and joy. I've always been that way, even before I gained a following.

When TikTok came around, it was around the time that I was applying to med school and studying for the MCAT, which was all very strenuous. That was also around when COVID hit, so I did what I always did on social media: share everything. I had a couple of videos that went viral, which was so weird, because I really just thought of it as talking to myself. There wasn't anyone there to listen, and then one day, people started listening I gained a following very quickly- maybe 100K in eight months?

Because of the unintentionality of it all, I wouldn't say there is a particular niche I am a part of. On one side I had people following me to follow me through Public Health Grad School or my med school journey and pursuit of becoming a physician On the other hand, I gained followers because I would candidly talk about things like intergenerational trauma, identity, and being South Asian A very diverse amalgamation of people made up my audience, but that's how I ended up being propelled into the South Asian creator space.

I have definitely taken a step back since then because, well, the Internet is a very un-nuanced place, and the things I was talking about were very nuanced. As I mentioned, I was very authentic on all my platforms, and that authenticity mattered a lot to me. That meant, however, that when I experienced hate or criticism, it hit me a lot harder than I expected.