Malini Agarwal aka Miss Malini, whose page is the go-to site for all things Bollywood, was in the city recently to interact with the members of FLO. Referred to as ‘Bollywood Baroness’, this digital influencer, whose website gets over 12 million views per month, hasn’t had it easy. She admits to having dabbled in a variety of interests before finding the job of her dreams. “When I was growing up, there was no such thing as blogging. First, I was a backup dancer and then an RJ. But I always wanted to do more,” shares Malini.
Between her radio shows, Malini would write a gossip column called Malini’s Mumbai and from then on, blogging became a hobby. Malini, who has no regrets, feels all her previous jobs were preparing her for her current blogging business.
As Malini’s father was a diplomat, she grew up in different countries. At 17, back in New Delhi when her father retired, she started dancing. But her blogging journey began in Mumbai.
“I wasn’t happy and back then I felt Delhi was not safe. I wanted to do so much more. So I asked my mother to let me move to Mumbai and start my career,” she adds.
Malini Agarwal aka Miss Malini
For her, the biggest challenge has been managing time. “I do not get enough sleep. Other than work, I love socialising and spending time with friends. However, there’s never enough time,” she says.
She defines blogging as an intimate experience with the person you are writing for. Malini feels when a person reads her blog, he/she should feel like she’s directly talking to him. “In a world where people are lonely, I think by writing blogs I am connecting them to me so that they don’t feel alone,” she adds.
When asked her about her favourite memory, she shares that it was interviewing Amitabh Bachchan. It was a Facebook Live interview with him and she started by saying ‘hey guys’ and Amitabh quickly stopped her. “He said why ‘hey guys’ and not ‘hey girls’. I was stunned and got to learn a lot from him in that one interview,” shares Malini.
What keeps her motivated? She says the mantra of love for what you do is what kept her motivated throughout her 15-year-long career.
The Girl Tribe, her web series, has been a gratifying experience for Malini. “I think girls really need to connect with each other. They get trolled and abused online where guys are very mean. Girl Tribe will help them feel safe and connected to each other,” she says hoping women can uplift one another.
The biggest challenge in her blogging career was when she posted a picture of Rajnikanth without makeup. She describes it as her best lesson and says, “When I posted that picture of him, people really got annoyed and offended. Somewhere I felt that I was body shaming a person. So I took down the post and wrote an apology,” she concludes.
HT04
