#TheDigitalDiva: MissMalini

Taking risks and chasing dreams, even if it requires going all the way to the moon, is how Malini Agarwal has always lived life. Regarded as India’s most famous celebrity blogger who now even has a reality show on TV based on her and her team’s exciting life, Malini has transformed her hobby blog MissMalini.com into a burgeoning brand. She talks about being MissMalini and everything else that comes along with it.

MissMalini, who started her career as a content writer for an up-and-coming portal back in 1998, has conquered every medium that lets her connect with people— radio, digital and now television. But the real foundation of the now massive MM empire is based on her simple, unconditional love for the free power of writing, insists Malini. “I’ve always loved to write, even before I got my break on radio,” she says with a warm smile. “In fact, right at the time that I started becoming known as an RJ, the digital scene in India had also started taking off again, so I jumped at the opportunity. I had had some experience with it. Way back in 2001-2003, when MTV first launched a digital presence, I came on to bring a fresh young voice to their Romance and Sexuality section online. So I was already quite comfortable being a geek.” Her radio career began in 2005 and that’s also when she started writing a gossip column called Malini’s Mumbai for the tabloid Mid- Day, working her way up to programming director at Radio One 94.3, after being on-air talent for years. After that, she joined Channel V in 2009. “At Channel V, I was getting more time to spend on my writing, which was fab!” she tells us. “MissMalini.com, an entertainment and a lifestyle blog was actually born in May 2008 and so was MissMalini.” She was the head of digital content with Channel V, when she decided to give it all up to give her blog the deserving TLC. That was in 2011. Cut to today, MissMalini and her brand are both phenomena that many only aspire to create.

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Ask her if it was a tough call to give up a plum position to become a full-time blogger, and she is quick to reply, “It was definitely a little scary to leave a good job and only blog, but the early response I got from my first readers was all the encouragement I needed.” Also, the fact that blogging was already all the rage in places like the US and UK encouraged Malini to go on. But the empire was definitely not built in one day! “What really kicked MM into full gear was the hiring of my awesome team. Once I had a crew of great writers, and a business team to support us, it started to flourish,” says Malini.

The Connect-o-holic

Malini loves the spotlight and all mediums that let her connect with her followers, but digital is her favourite, even though radio is her first love. “With our networks on twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and the like, I am able to share what’s happening in my life immediately, and see the comments and questions come in real time,” she reveals. “That’s quite thrilling. Also, digital breaks a lot of barriers between celebrities and fans, and provides universal access to everyone regardless of who you are. It’s a fair playground, the kind I really enjoy.” But first love is always hard to forget. Malini agrees. Although, she does not have much time for radio these days, she still manages to call in weekly to BBC and does Pan-India broadcasting for the Shopper’s Stop in-store radio. “One day we might have our own MissMalini radio station, who knows!” she says with a mischievous grin.

MissMalini’s reality show being aired on TLC, that showcases the world of Malini and her team, beautifully extends this philosophy of connect. “For years we’ve wanted to bring the fast-paced, celebrity-studded life of MissMalini.com to television. We had been approached by multiple networks to do a show over the last few years, but the most important thing for us was to have creative control.” Miss Malini’s World is entirely self-produced by their in-house video team, headed by ace director and Malini’s BFF Tanmay Bahulekar. “Once we had a product we were proud of, we then approached TLC to air it on their network,” explains Malini. The show airs every Friday at 7:30 (with re-broadcasts Saturdays at 5pm and Wednesdays at 3pm), bringing to you all the glitz and glamour that happens in an average week at MissMalini.com!

It was her uncontrollable urge to ‘network’ in every way possible that led her to find her soulmate. She met her husband, Nowshad Rizwanullah, at a Friday Club event, a social network she started nine years ago for people to meet and make friends ‘offline’ in Mumbai. “Little did I know that I would meet my husband there,” reveals Malini, laughing. “Working with him is a lot of fun, he’s exceptionally supportive, intelligent and fun! Also, it doesn’t hurt the business that he graduated from both Yale and Harvard! I jokingly call him the CEO of my heart and my company,” says Malini. Of course, they have their occasional arguments, like all couples do, but theirs are just sometimes more comically dorky ones about website code and blog titles, reveals Malini, laughing. “I think if we worked in different fields, we would never see each other and have totally separate lives because running a business like this is a 24/7 job. So I’m glad we get to do it together and travel the world having this wonderful adventure.”

“What really kicked MM into full gear was the hiring of my awesome team. Once I had a crew of great writers, and a business team to support us, the empire started to flourish.”

Photograph by Sahil Shah. Hair: Ishan for B:Blunt. Make-up: Farzana Jussawalla. Location courtesy: Manish Malhotra, Diffusion store, Mumbai. Charcoal Grey tunic and pleated palazzos, both Manish Malhotra.

From the October 2014 issue of L’Officiel India.