“I always wanted to do something that I’m passionate about rather than just going with what my parents wanted me to do,” says Sonia Thiyam, a 26-year-old Bengaluru-based doctor-turned fashion blogger who has more than 132k followers on Instagram and has worked with brands like Gigi Hadid, Balmain, and has curated looks for them. She was also the only Indian blogger to be featured in the Converse India Diwali campaign in 2017, where she paired sneakers with Indian outfits.
Sonia made her way into the fashion business two years ago and she has dedicated her soul to it leaving behind a stable job, and the life of a doctor, which might have been a simpler way to security in life. ‘Fine and fierce’ is what will strike you when you look at Sonia whose style talks more monochrome and neutral rather than basic jinga-blings. Sonia hails from the north-eastern state of Manipur and completed her graduation in New Delhi after which she came to Bengaluru for her MBBS in 2009 at Rajarajeswari Medical College.
But making a career decision against the entire family’s wishes, and succeeding in her chosen fashion career did not come easy to Sonia. “As I’m the eldest in my family, and my entire family is full of doctors, even my younger siblings are studying to become dentists, there was a lot of pressure. Me chasing my dreams did not come as good news to them,” she says. Sonia then put in intense effort in her work to reach where she is, and started from the bottom in a totally new career. She had to invest in photo shoots, “I hired a photographer when I had no income as I knew good photos played an important role in what I was going to do. Eventually many brands started liking my content, and the way I curate fashion. They wanted me on board for campaigns and projects,” she says.
Now, the fashion blogger juggles between Bengaluru and Mumbai, but she loves her simple and subtle life in Bengaluru. She says, “Ever since I came to Bengaluru for my MBBS, I fell in love with the city and its people, which made me enjoy the simple things in life. I went from a party girl in Delhi to a stay-at-home, dog-loving, foodie, and one who enjoys walking.”
When asked where she gets all her fashion inspiration from, she says “I take inspirations from the tiniest details that I notice on the road, near a red light or basically anything in my surroundings. I consider my job as a work of art and do not do it for the fame but to create an impact.” The one impact she wants to make is, “I want to tell the youth to chase after their dreams and not what their parents tell them, especially for those sister states where young folk are always chasing after government jobs rather than doing what they’re good at. I always regret starting out with my dream later on in life but I love the fact that I’m living the dream now.”
