Welcome to Touchgrass, a miniseries where I chat with
creatives about staying sane while being chronically online.
I'm your host Lauren Meisner, and Touchgrass is a miniseries
brought to you by Britta where we explore the implications of
being chronically online with the creatives who can't escape
it. One thing that keeps coming up
in these conversations is how important small grounding
routines are offline. And for me, one of those
routines is drinking enough water.
Whether I'm refilling a water bottle for a long walk or taking
a break scrolling my For You page, Britta makes it easy for
me to stay hydrated and grounded with pure, fresh tasting
filtered water straight from any tap.
Thank you to Britta for supporting independent media and
helping us take better care of ourselves one refill at a time.
Today I'm chatting with creator, advocate and my long time
collaborator Rishi Page. In our conversation, Rishi takes
me through her experiences as a woman of color in the Australian
influencer industry, why she creates purpose like content,
and how she supports her mental health through the ups and downs
of online advocacy. I'm so excited that we're
reuniting. I know we haven't seen each
other. Honestly, might be two years.
Yeah, Yep. Yep, I think 2:00.
Years. Yeah, absolutely.
So Rushi and I, we are actually long time collaborators.
I think the first time we collaborated was 2020.
Yeah, Yep, 2020, you were the first person to ever write an
article on the work that I was doing, so I have always have a
special place in my heart for you.
Oh my God, that's so. So no.
Well, OK, so this is how Rushi and I know each other.
So back when centennialwasmoreofa.com, like
we were more of a publication as opposed to a podcast network.
I came across Rushi on Instagram.
I think at the time you maybe had like 2000 something
followers. You were pretty early on into
your journey and I was just obsessed with the content that
you were making. You were really focused on
beauty content at the time, and I really noticed the series that
you were doing called Faces of Australia, where you were
collaborating with other women of color in the beauty space and
you were creating these collaborative looks together and
you were almost doing like mini interviews in the captions.
Yeah, yeah. It was, wasn't it?
It was like little mini interviews in the caption with a
makeup look that we collaborated on.
Yeah. Yeah, and I just loved that
idea. And so, you know, I reached out,
we wrote an article about the work you were doing and your
content, and then after that we actually worked on Faces of
Australia as a full blown column on our website twice with Rushi.
So we essentially work together to build that out into like a
full-fledged editorial series. And it was honestly amazing.
It was crazy. It was one of the best times of
my life. No it honestly.
Wasn't it? Got so much organic press for it
and we went on panels talking about this.
It was. Really, it was crazy.
Yeah, so season 3, who wants to do a podcast with us?
Let us know. Shameless plug.
Yeah, literally. OK, anyways, so let's get into
it. I like to start all of these
interviews by asking everyone, do you consider yourself
chronically online? I thought I was chronically
online until I spoke with a lot of my friends and they are
chronically online. I'm not.
I think I am. I am online a lot.
Like I do know what's going on. Obviously it's my responsibility
to know a little bit what's going on in the online world.
But I do think that TikTok especially, it's got so many
worlds in there that I just can't keep up with.
So there are times where people are doing, have you seen this?
Have you seen this TikTok? And I'm just like, no, no,
that's not my algorithm. Yeah, But I think I'm critically
online in terms of it's my go to the guy.
When I wake up it's the first thing I do, which is scrolling
and keeping up to date with the current events and everything.
Yeah, and trends and stuff. For your job and everything,
yeah, for sure. That makes sense.
I mean, I think that's the thing with TikTok or just the Internet
in general right now is that it's so fragmented anyways that
you could consider yourself chronically online and you could
be very online. But you know, Annabelle might be
on a completely different algorithm than you.
And everything on that algorithm is going so viral and you're
like, I don't even know what you're talking about.
So I feel like everyone is chronically online these days,
like in their own way and you have to be for your job.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, being a content creator.
So even though you are a content creator now, I know that you
initially started your career in teaching.
Yes, it feels like a lifetime ago.
It feels even wild to even say that because it is so far from
who I am today. Like my world is not nothing
like what I was doing and teaching and at uni.
Obviously, it was still such an important time of my life
because it was teaching me so much about what I'm capable of.
First of all, the fact that maybe some of my preconceived
ideas of myself, esteem and my capabilities and who I actually
am as a person in high school is completely different to when you
actually apply yourself to something you really enjoy.
And I did enjoy teaching and I have a lot of respect for
teachers. It just wasn't for me.
And I could see that it required passion that I lost.
And then This is why I say it was really important because
then I applied that learning of you need passion in order to
keep going to my career now. So tell me how you got into your
career now as a content creator, because I actually think one of
the most unique things about your career is you were able to
essentially go all in on content creation before you even had
like 10,000 followers. Yeah, you know what?
It's during 2020 when the pandemic was happening.
It was obviously a really devastating time, but it was
something that allowed me time. And I think it was how I, you
know, we were all sitting at home.
Yeah. And we were just sort of
consuming content. And that's when a lot of things
were blowing up. And we would just, it was a it
was a free space as well to really experiment.
And I think that was something that I owe to that time.
Yeah. And changing the journey of my
the content and everything was because I experimented and I
tried something new and it worked, Yeah.
And at that time, I didn't expect to kind of experiment in
the way I did. I didn't actually know that I
could experiment in that way until I just tried it out.
And it kind of led to opportunities like yourself.
You reach that, which I'll always be grateful for.
And, you know, that led to the next one.
And that's how it sort of snowballs.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
That's very cool. You made a bit of a silver
lining during that time, I suppose, for you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. OK, so you started your beauty
content creator career though as a Blogger I read.
Yes. You would blog.
It was called I don't want to get this wrong.
Lustrous allure. Beauty.
Yes. Girl, tell me about.
This, this is OK. So the name as well.
It was thought of on my bed with my best friend and we were
thinking of this life that we want to live.
And we were thinking, you know, you love beauty, you love
creating. Let's make this about make this
feel, you know, like a like an experience, even though the blog
didn't really give 100% that, but we wanted it to really
capture how I felt. Yeah.
And it started honestly just us talking on our bed.
And then we were like, let's do it.
Let's try and make it. And thank you to WordPress.
Yeah, no, literally. That was the time.
And yeah, I just created it and just love taking photos of new
looks. I was creating, you know,
putting outfits together. It was predominantly beauty
focus. Like it was, it's like a version
of what I did now. It's like the baby of what I did
now. And it was about confidence.
It was about restoring confidence and finding love for
who you are. And then it was also about
styling yourself. And then my favorite beauty
products at the time and creating makeup looks glowy skin
like it's all who. It's kind of the core of who I
am, but it's a very beginner. Yeah, yeah.
Of it. Yeah, it was your.
It was your roots. Yeah, it was your.
Roots that makes. Sense.
I love that. OK, so then tell me about your
decision to pivot into Instagram and what you're doing now.
So pivoting to Instagram, it was because it was that instant
gratification of you create something, you post it, and then
there's an audience, yeah, that you're building at the time as
well. So I feel like a lot of that
shift to Instagram was because it was really enjoyable and it
was like that instant hit of excitement.
And even if you know, it didn't get engagement, it was fun.
You know, it was something that was going live and social media
at the time as well. Like, you know, 20/16/2015.
It was just different. It just hit different.
And I, I just loved doing it for Instagram more than I did the
blog. Yeah.
And then again, the same thing. It's a different version of what
I was doing in 2020 and beyond. It was more maybe a little
confusing. I didn't really know where my
place was and what I was doing. Like, I knew I loved beauty.
I knew I loved all these things. But I also denied a lot of my
passion for beauty, which sounds weird because high school likely
teach you. I know I found sound like I'm
really rooted in high school, but it's where a lot of your
beliefs about who you can become a birth.
So I feel like it was, you know, no one thought that there could
be a career in beauty. No, what like it was laughed
about. It was like there's no there's
nothing there, you know, something that doesn't have
Korea roots or legs. Yeah, or potential.
So it was something that I always loved and I couldn't help
but love. But then this little voice in
the back of my head was always thinking, yeah, but you know,
what else can you like? I don't know.
It really interfered, I feel So. Yeah.
And then I just kind of started to ignore it.
And you can't help sometimes, but do what you love.
And what brings me to 2020, which was intertwining, like my
love for beauty and creativity, creating videos that were maybe
a little bit more high quality as well, not just like using the
selfie camera, like, you know, experimenting with being playful
And then, you know, waving a message for advocacy as well in
there. So on that note, so much of your
content now is driven by advocacy.
Can you tell me about the emotional cost or the mental
health cost to putting yourself online out there like that for
everyone to see and to absorb your message?
And how do you kind of manage, I suppose, when something like
that gets picked up by the algorithm?
Yes, So your mental health is definitely tested, especially
when the type of advocacy that you choose to do it could be
with mine is body confidence. But it's also, you know,
targeting racism and, you know, lived experiences of myself and,
you know, I haven't had any real pushback when it comes to
racism. The conversations have clustered
there. But when it comes to body
confidence or even just showcasing body acceptance and
talking about that, you, if you reach an algorithm or if it gets
sent out into the world and reaches certain people that
don't agree with your messaging very aggressively, don't agree
with that. You have to think of these
people. Their words are just
meaningless, like they don't have weight.
Otherwise it can get you. I know for my wedding I didn't
expect push back on all like negative comments on my wedding.
I just posted a TikTok randomly. It was just before I went, I was
leaving for my wedding and it I, I remember I haven't even read
the comments now because I can't, I just because it would
ruin something that was really special.
I know I could turn them off, but I'm like, whatever.
Yeah, I just, I, I it if it teaches you to really take
control of what you allow into your life and what you accept,
what you tolerate and weaving people into where they belong,
not really allowing them. It's like a real permission kind
of guided experience when you're online and having to deal with a
lot of the push. Back the trolls.
The trolls, yes. Yes.
I find it's similar, at least with TikTok comments.
It used to obviously I can't relate to you know, being a
woman of color and getting comments like that.
But with our TikTok comments, I used to get very triggered when
people would say mean things I would think about like different
hater comments forever. And of course, TikTok can be
such a vile place and it would really, really bother me.
But what I and I don't even know honestly how I got to this
place. But a couple of years ago, I
just got to the place where I realized the people who are
seeing this content on TikTok, they're seeing like 30 seconds
of whatever I'm putting out there.
They don't know me at all. And I find for some reason
something just like flipped in my brain and I'm able to have
that perspective. So I don't look at TikTok
comments ever anymore because they don't matter to me because
it's not feedback from, you know, people usually.
Obviously some people are following us, but like usually
people who know who we are, what we stand for and why we're,
we're taking that perspective or whatever it is and that has
helped a lot. Absolutely, yeah.
That's, and that's the, I feel like it's the healthiest way to
keep pushing forward because otherwise, if you do take the
time to allow these people, these voices in you're, you will
get set back. I know I've been set back and it
just takes time away from you. And they don't deserve to have
any part of that, you know? And it takes time away from what
you're trying to build. Yeah, absolutely.
So being, you know, primarily an Instagram creator and I know
you're also writing columns for different digital publications
and things like that. I imagine in the line of work
that you're in, you can easily fall into comparison syndrome.
And you have spoken about that here and there publicly,
especially when you go into body image spirals and things like
that. Can you share a little bit about
your experience with comparison syndrome and I guess the work
that you've done to get to where you're at now?
Absolutely. So I guess it's something that
can creep up to like with when you don't expect it.
I think that's a really big one. You don't really get to choose
when that happens. And I know for myself it really
happened when again, you're online a lot and you're doing
the same thing. Like I'm, I didn't do anything
different. But it's, it can just simply be
that you feel you're in a vulnerable position in your own
life and then all of a sudden you're seeing what success is
linked to. That was for me anyway.
And I was starting to kind of paint this picture of, Oh, well,
that's how, you know, I'm trying to fight for something of this
change, But sometimes it feels too big and too powerful to
shift. And so you can get in these head
spaces where you're like, I will just not be the, I will never be
this person who will reach these successes.
You know, obviously this isn't true, but it's something that
can play with your head. And there's the that's a way the
comparisons can kind of spiral out of control because then you
start looking inward and torturing your own mind a little
bit. And it's not you're not being
fair to yourself at all. And you're really focused and
fixated on a lot of what may not even be true, but it feels very
real in the moment. Yeah. 100% like comparison
syndrome is like actually the thing that I think I'm battling
the most with at the current moment.
And it is so true what you said. It just creeps up and you're
like, I don't even know why I'm starting to spiral like this,
but it's a horrific feeling. Horrific, horrific.
It's and you can easily, I know and it happens for me now.
I can feel it if I'm scrolling and you know now with the way
Instagram's formulated, you don't have to be following
people. Oh my God, I see what?
It's so bad. It's crazy.
So, you know, you used to always say, you know, curate a feed
that is suited to you and empowers you and inspires you,
but sometimes that's unavoidable.
And so I put the phone down and I find that I have a lot more
peace when I just sent to myself again.
And remember, OK, what's your story?
What's your lane? Stop looking at other people.
That's their story. That is their journey.
And it doesn't take away from yours.
I feel like, you know, it's so easy to fake confidence, you
know, get on camera, you can just smile and you can just fake
what you need to to get to that next step or, or even paint a
certain picture of how you want to be branded online.
And you know, sometimes that can be a good thing.
Sometimes it can be a harmful thing because you might not be
actually addressing what needs to be addressed.
But you know, I always kind of think if you can access that
key, that opens the door for you to get to that next door by
really, you know, reaching for that tool of confidence that
helps you with your self belief. Yeah, to get that job done.
Whether that's on content, whether that's anything with big
dream that you have. And you know that you can't get
there until you just RIP the Band-Aid off and just go for it.
It's not easy. It's not always something that
can happen. The brain is so complex and you
can't just tell it. Oh, just do this.
Just reach for that confidence that you keep in your back
pocket. It doesn't work like that.
But I think what I mean is, can you just remember that self
belief that you, if you can reach for that little part of
you that says remember who you are, even if it's it's not
really 100% solidified, Yeah, you can say remember who you
are. I know that I can do this and
just almost gaslight yourself. OK, gaslight yourself that.
Might not be the. Best advice of the week.
No, I think it's actually great advice.
I completely agree. It's like you just have to take
one little step every day towards whatever goal you're
trying to achieve, even if you feel like you said it's so
insurmountable using how will I ever get there?
But there was a part of you that wanted to start, so there was a
part of you that had that self belief.
So how do you find that again? Yeah.
Absolutely. You need to find it.
And it's as someone who's speaking from the other side of
a really, you know, chaotic kind of ups and downs career,
probably the the thing you can really not help yourself with is
by stop believing in yourself. And it sounds so cliche, but you
hear every successful person say that self belief is going to be
the reason that you step forward.
And it's going to also be the reason that will it will undo
you if you stop. Yes, you could be taking only a
tiny step forward because you're moving at a pace that takes you
to where you need to be. And I know that when you're not
there, you just do nothing. You don't want to do anything.
You just simply rattled in this I can't kind of mindset and it's
never going to serve you. No.
How do you get yourself out of that I can't mentality when you
feel down in the dumps? Like that, it's easier said than
done, but you sometimes have to sit in it.
You have to understand the root of where it's all coming from
and you need to almost sometimes force yourself a little bit to
remember the positive things about you, remember why you're
here. I think that really helped me.
You know, every kind word that was ever said about you within
your career in content, like any, any of my peers that have
said well done, you know, they're not just saying it for
any reason. You know, you have to remember
why did they do that? They because they believe that I
can do what I'm set out to do. And you will slowly, it's like a
muscle that you're strengthening.
And I think once you start to really strengthen it, you fall
back on it as opposed to falling back on that negativity,
negativity. Absolutely.
I'm working on that a lot. I think something that really
helped me at the beginning of this year when I was starting to
spiral about like, Oh my God, look at how cursed 2025 felt for
me and the business and everything is.
I just wrote a list of all of the huge wins that we had in
2025 and I was like, OK, this might not be the longest list.
This might not be everything I wanted to achieve, but look at
all the things that still happened even though my brain is
telling me it was a bad year. OK, so I wanted to pivot and
chat with you a little bit about your experience being an Indian
woman, posting yourself online. That was something that we spoke
about a lot when we were doing Faces of Australia together, and
that was obviously a huge part of that series is in your
advocacy work with that series. So can you tell me a bit about
your experience with that? I guess being an Indian woman
online and, you know, growing up in Australia, yeah, I'm, I just
feel like you're you're definitely part of the minority
and it doesn't have to be this awful story attached to it.
I honestly see it is an opportunity to be bigger, to be
louder, to be so loud that they have to listen.
And I think that's a really exciting thing that's been
proven by what I've been able to create online.
You know, you keep talking, you keep saying, no, I did.
I demand this space. You know, at some point
someone's going to turn around and say, hey, I'm opening this
door. And I've felt that experience
and I've been lucky to and fortunate to have some
experiences that I could only dream of the I'm from a small
town. It's not so much a small town
anymore, but, and some of the things that have happened for
me, I could never have dreamed of, not only just because being
from a small town, but because these things did not exist for
someone who looked like me. And I know we've heard that a
lot, but I don't think people understand the capacity or the
significance behind representation for people of
color being Indian as well. You know, there's a lot of
stigma around Indian culture and then there's a lot of
appropriation as well. So it's really, it's really
fulfilling. And I'm so I'm just so full of
pride that I get to be a voice. Not everybody's voice, but I can
be my own voice and get to share my experiences and also learn
from others. You know, I have people that I
learned from based on my community.
And, you know, I didn't grow up with a lot of Indian
representation, but also people around me.
And so it's really nice getting to learn from other people.
I get people messaging me and saying, you know, you, you might
look like this, this person. And I'm like, oh, I want to know
who that person is. Or, you know, they teach me
about my roots, you know, as I'm unraveling a lot about that.
And then it's really cool. Oh, that's so sweet.
I did want to go back to something you said though, where
you said people are opening different doors for you because
obviously I've known you now for six years, girl, no one's
opening doors for you are smashing those doors down.
You need to give yourself more credit.
You are honestly such a huge success story.
Like genuinely what I said earlier in the episode, I do not
know any other creator who has a niche following like yours and
could go at it, you know, full time.
Like that's a huge accomplishment.
Thanks, Lauren. It's it's it's very it's a
challenge. I don't really know what to say.
I don't know if there is this method to take to get to that
that point. But I think it really is about
honoring who you are and having the respect to the self respect
to say, no, I deserve to be in this space and to make change
from the inside out. And I think when I look back, I
think that's how I've been able to sort of weave in some of
these really exciting opportunities, but also
celebrate and champion what you actually really love about
yourself and love what you do. And you don't be ashamed of it.
And it's been a journey that I've experienced the shame and
the love and linking the two together and actually going, you
know what I actually do love? Would I?
Would I create the things that make me feel good are the things
that take me to that next step. So for anyone who is interested
in becoming a content creator, that is.
I mean, it's been definitely an aspirational career for a long
time, but even more so now. I feel like the TikTok algorithm
is filled with people teaching each other how to, you know,
make this a full time thing, how to be a UGC creator, how to
build your following, all this kind of stuff.
Can you give the audience a little bit of advice?
If you were starting out now, what would you do?
OK, so I think what I would do is really hone in on what makes
you giddy inside. I know that sounds a bit
bizarre, but it's got to feel good from within.
You know, when you get those great ideas and you're like, Oh
my gosh, I have to execute this like this is I can't take
another step until this is done. That's what you have to really
act on because as soon as you love what you do, you're going
to create something that is almost not addictive, but you're
going to just want to keep persisting in that.
And that persistence is what will keep you in the game and
keep you wanting to learn more. And it's all linked to adapt,
Adapting to how the content world changes.
That's very difficult sometimes, especially when you transition
from Instagram to TikTok. Identify gaps within the
industry. I know that's a very hard and a
very over saturated industry, but if you can identify the gaps
and fill them, that's a great way to stand out, yeah.
I think what you've done that's so amazing with your building
your audience is that you have focused on building an audience
that feels like a community. And I know community is like
such a buzzword, but really the way that I see it with you is
you are speaking to a specific demographic, a specific group of
people. And that's what you keep your
content focused on. And I feel like your content is
audience first as opposed to brand first or as opposed to
followers first. And I see that so often with
people that are trying to become full time creators or build a
following or whatever is they're focused on the number they're
focused on. How can I make this content look
really good for the brand that just sent me this?
And for you, it all ties back, it feels like at least to OK,
what am I putting forward for my community?
And that's not to say that you don't do sponsored content or
you don't post PR and things like that, but you maintain that
kind of through line of and that is literally what people mean
when they say authenticity. Like it's authentically always
coming back to your message and who you are and who you are
specifically trying to speak to. And that's how you've built a
community that's actually, it's so engaged.
That's. It's true.
It's nice to hear that, yeah, the the steps that you take
unknowingly as well and kind of reading like that because I
guess again, like you'll do that.
You'll find that in your own journey.
You'll find how you engage with the community.
I think people getting into something that I am trying to do
is letting the community know me a little bit more.
And I think, you know, if you can get your personality out
there a little bit, it's not something that I'm the best at.
I really do try to kind of get better at that.
But it's it's something that can allow your audience to get to
know you and what you love and how you operate, your humor,
everything. And you can really connect on a
deeper level if you're doing it that way.
I also think don't be disheartened like what you were
saying before with numbers, don't be disheartened by numbers
and let them control your way of moving forward or pivoting or
trying new things. Because there's times where some
of my lowest performing content, but I loved, I've put it out
there, but I've loved it so much.
Like I was like, yeah, I love that.
I don't care what anyone else thinks.
I love that. And I'm going to put that out
there and I'm not going to delete it because I like it.
And I really think it benefits you because there's times where
I've had that content briefed to me and it might not have, I know
it might not have done well online, but it's been the reason
why you might get that next job. Yeah.
And you know what? It's all part of your portfolio.
Like not every piece of content is gonna outperform everything
else you've ever done, right? Like it's all part of it.
Yeah, it's. OK, so the last thing I would
love to hear from you is when you are dealing with all the
different things we spoke about, right?
Spiraling comparison syndrome, Nasty comments, yes.
How do you touch grass? Who?
I think honestly, spending time with myself, you know, I need
me, I need me a lot. And I think that's a really
great thing in order to heal from some of what social media.
I'm not saying social media is a horrible place, by the way, but
it's something that you, when you need a break, you know, lean
on yourself a little bit because it's also part of trusting you,
you as being your healer. I also love taking myself out
for lunches, coffees, dinners, just doing those kind of solo
acts of affection towards myself.
That's that's that's important. I love it.
I love being with me. And I also, you know, I love
hanging out with my husband. Sounds so weird to say so, but
like, I love the word husband. Not yeah, yeah, yes, hanging
out. But hanging out with my husband
and spending time with friends, like actually getting that human
to human connection is really important to me, as well as
hanging out with my cat. That's so sweet.
A little biscuit. No, really, it's just like
getting out into reality, which I know is literally where the
saying comes from, like go touch grass.
But it's so true. Like sometimes when I'm in that
headspace, it's like I just need to go to the park or the mall,
like somewhere where there's tons of people and nobody knows
who I am. Nobody's in my comments section
from here. Nobody at this mall has seen my
comments section. They have not seen my content.
They're not being mean to me, you know?
And it makes a huge difference. Absolutely.
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. So special.
I loved it and thank you for taking the time and flying here.
Of course. That's so nice.
We'll always fly for you. Centennial World Podcast Network
operates on Gadigal land. We would like to acknowledge the
Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of this
land, and pay our respects to elders both past and present.