Karishma Mehta ( born 5 March 1992) is an Indian writer and photographer. She is the founder and manager of the website Humans of Bombay which launched in January 2014, and author of the related book Humans of Bombay.[1] She is also a freelance writer and TEDx presenter.
Karishma Mehta | |
|---|---|
 Mehta at 2019 launch of her book, Humans of Bombay: Ordinary People Extraordinary Stories | |
| Born | 5 March 1992 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Known for | Humans of Bombay |
Biography
editMehta was born and raised in Mumbai and attended the Bombay Scottish School, Mahim.[2][3] She attended a boarding school in Bangalore for two years and then college in the UK for three years.[2] In 2013, Mehta was an economics and business student in Nottingham, UK,[3] and holds a degree in business and economics[4] from the University of Nottingham.[5][6] She is a freelance writer for various publications, including National Geographic.[3] She has been a regular TEDx presenter,[7] and has spoken several times at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.[8] She is fluent in Hindi, English and Marathi.[8] She is the niece of Zarna Garg.
Works
editIn January 2014, she began the Humans of Bombay Facebook page, inspired by the Humans of New York (HoNY) Facebook page by photographer Brandon Stanton.[3][9][4] After discovering the HoNY page in 2013, she tried to find a similar page for Mumbai, and after not finding one, she created a logo and made a Facebook page herself.[3] She initially worked with two interns.[2][10] To find subjects for the website, Mehta approaches people on the street and asks to take their pictures with her camera,[3][4][8] and asks them questions.[6] By 2018, her team had expanded to six members based in Mumbai, with freelance members in other parts of India.[8]
Similar to the HONY page, Humans of Bombay has transitioned to its own website, humansofbombay.in.[9] According to Amruta Lakhe, writing for The Hindu in 2016, the website has crowd-funded resources for the subjects of posts, and the "blog made it possible to talk about taboo subjects, and has also allowed people to reach out to one another."[9] Poorvi Joshi of the Hindustan Times wrote in 2016, "Mehta's subjects have battled abusive marriages, drug habits, and social exclusion. Through her efforts, she has given them a voice."[3] In 2018, Mehta told the Khaleej Times, "We have raised about INR 50 million not only for acid attack victims but also daughters of sex workers, children who require bone marrow transplants, etc."[8]
In 2016, she compiled posts, including ones that had not been published online, into a self-published book, Humans of Bombay,[4] in her first attempt to directly raise money to fund the website.[3]
As of 2021, the site has over a million followers on Facebook and over two million on Instagram.[11] In 2022, she launched an interview-based YouTube web series called "How The Hell Did I Do It?" which features businesspeople, celebrities, and other accomplished people answering interview questions to provide insight on how they accomplished certain things in their lives.[12]
References
edit- ^ "Meet The Founder: Karishma Mehta {Humans of Bombay}". The Post. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
- ^ a b c Singh, Tanaya (26 November 2015). "Meet the Human Behind the Popular 'Humans of Bombay' Page". The Better India. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Joshi, Poorva (6 May 2016). "Meet Karishma Mehta, the woman behind Humans of Bombay". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d Shaikh, Sadaf (11 January 2018). "Karishma Mehta On How Humans Of Bombay Captures The Invincible Spirit Of The City". Verve. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ Vaz, Wyanet (29 April 2016). "Karishma Mehta On The Power Of A Facebook Page". Verve. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ a b Lakhe, Amruta (22 April 2014). "Being the humans of Bombay". The Indian Express. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
- ^ Borges, Andre (17 October 2017). "People Are Inspired By The Woman Behind Humans Of Bombay Honestly Speaking About Her Failures". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Rodrigues, Janice (3 August 2018). "Meet the Humans of Bombay founder". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ a b c Lakhe, Amruta (14 April 2016). "From the heart, through a lens". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ Kasana, Archana (10 May 2021). "Karishma Mehta: The 'First Human' At Humans Of Bombay". Her Zindagi. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ Jain, Sanya (25 November 2021). "She Was Just 21 When She Started 'Humans Of Bombay'. Here's Her Story". NDTV.com. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- ^ "How the hell did she do it?". Hindustan Times. 10 September 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
External links
edit- Almost every photo has a common undertone of Mumbai: Karishma Mehta (Hindustan Times, 2016)