When was the last time you heard of a Russian national starting a blog for Jaipur women? Anastassiya Savchenko did just that when she started the well-known Jaipur Women Blog, which is today considered to be one the more popular blog networks that discusses and showcases success stories of women in areas such as social issues, relationships, business, career and much more.
She tells us why (and more importantly how) she identified this niche need that led to this mighty platform. Let us read on.
Tell us a little about yourself
From the moment I could make sense out of things in life, I have believed that the best way to bring change in society is through creativity. I view advertisement as a medium to shape values and build society. It goes beyond selling a certain product. Therefore, I started my career in the creative field as a copywriter for ‘O&M Central Asia’, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. But, fate had different plans for me. Chance made me bump into my husband there, and I subsequently moved to Jaipur, India after getting married. Initially, living in India proved to be terribly out of my comfort zone, but I was determined to build a life here. My husband, a doctor, has always provided me with his unconditional support, and together we have faced innumerable financial and social constraints. But, it was worth it.
How did the idea of Jaipur Women Blog come about?
When my life in Jaipur started, I would watch the women of Jaipur intently. The women had a narrow circle, with no boosters. A desire for change, and a struggle to find self-identity was brewing underneath those colourful bandhej sarees. But, there was hardly any awareness about what was going on next door! Hence, I made it my mission to construct a platform, which shall help uplift the middle class women of Jaipur. This is how “Jaipur Women Blog” came into being.
All I needed was a little support from the women as well. In my dictionary, “empowerment” is not about earning big bucks, but about self-fulfillment and happiness. If a woman is happy, she is empowered.
In the future, what are your long term plans for the blog?
The blog’s long term plans broadly include expansion. We already have a readership of 100,000 readers, but there is still a long way to go. We wish to conduct more massive campaigns, with more women. There will be many more personal campaigns, which have the power to influence human beings at an individual level. More rubrics inside JWB along with more workshops will help us impact the society better.
Do you run any other ventures? Can you tell us a little about them if yes?
Yes, we run “Nutcrackers Creative Agency”, along with JWB. It is a 360 degree creative advertising agency, which specializes in 360 branding and communication. The main focus of the agency is ‘Guerilla marketing’ and ‘Interactive marketing’, which is somewhat new for Rajasthan.
What are the top 3 things that fascinate you most about Jaipur / other places in India?
Jaipur is a fascinating city in itself, and the following three things have managed to change my internal perceptions:
(a) The fact that the people of Jaipur are so accepting and broad-minded has been heart-warming. Their free-spirited attitude helped me adjust to my new life here.
(b) Jaipur is a land un-touched. There is a lot of scope for business and commercial ventures. One just needs to find his/her passion and work towards it.
(c) Jaipur women have a multitude of hidden talent, which fascinated me to my absolute core. They are just waiting to be discovered and shine bright.
Any thoughts you would like to leave our readers with?
Follow the love. Love is empowerment.
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This article was originally published here
