Donning many hats, Richa Maheshwari took her passion to reach beyond the expected and became an inspiration for many.
Richa Maheshwari, a passionate fighter.
An Entrepreneur has a tough job; the act of starting a company and making it a successful venture requires hard work, determination and a lot of dedication. Something that Richa Maheshwari has in plenty. An Entrepreneur, award- winning fashion photographer, a TEDx speaker, an avid traveler, and a fitness enthusiast with a record in Limca Book of Records, yes, Richa Maheshwari does it all.
A self-taught photographer, Richa’s journey started from college. While pursuing a fashion communication degree from National Institute of Fashion & Technology, one of her professors saw her talent in photography and encouraged her to make a career in it; the rest is history.
A photographer always needs to be on their best feet and the drive to pursue her passion made Richa start her journey to become fitter. Her trainer saw her dedication and encouraged her to attempt a record for maximum number of burpees in Limca Book of Records. And as expected she made a record of 46 burpees in a mere minute.
As if these achievements were not enough, Richa has been to 49 countries till now and has also done the daunting work of imparting her photography knowledge to her students at National Association for the Blind and is in no mood to stop.
We had a conversation with her, take a look:
1.You don many hats- fashion photographer, entrepreneur, fitness enthusiast, traveler, and a TEDx speaker, how do you manage so many things?
Sometimes I feel that I am not doing enough, especially during this lockdown. There are so many people who are doing so many things and so wonderfully well, that I think maybe I am not doing enough. I want to attempt everything that is possible for me in this life, that is what gets me going. I try to learn new things to keep myself busy, active as well as informed. In fact, I am trying to engage myself into more things possible.
2.How was the whole experience of registering your name in the Limca Book of Records for completing maximum number of burpees? What was your inspiration?
I have been working out for more than seven years now. In 2012, I weighed around 72-74kgs; considering the kind of field that I am in, I needed to be fit and energetic. So, I joined the gym and was gently encouraged by my trainer. He used to really push me and helped me reach 54-52kgs which was 19 percent body fat only. I had more muscle mass than body fat, all thanks to him. I was good with high intensity workout, and he only encouraged me to attempt for this record, the world record was of 38 in a minute and he thought that if not the world record then I can at least make a record, pan India. So he started training me, it was a one-month hardcore training session. On the day of the recording I thought that I should do, 36 or 39; 36 would have gotten me a record pan India and 39 would have made me break the world record but I actually did 46. When I was attempting that record, that entire one minute I was just thinking that let me put in the maximum of my energy in this one minute and live this one minute. So that’s how it came into being, I would majorly give the credit to my trainer, it was all because of him.
3.What tips will you give for fitness, especially during a time when the country is in lockdown?
People should not take lockdown as an excuse to not work out or not pay attention to their fitness and be lousy and lazy, it’s good to of course innovate in the kitchen, but it’s also good to take care of your body, especially when we are talking about a lockdown which is due to a virus. It is the right time when you should work on your immunity and body.
My friends and I go on zoom and we all work out together for an hour. Every person gets to design a work out and get engaged in the process which retains their interest in it. We gather together at 6.30 sharp in the evening. We have designed every single day and we don’t take a break; Sundays is the day when we do not exercise but we do our dance session together, which makes it fun.
Fitness is important, not just to boost your immunity but also to feel happy during these depressing times.
4.You are a self-starter, what were the road bumps that you faced while starting your journey?
Any journey comes with a lot of hurdles and you will grow only if you cross those hurdles. Of course there were a lot of hurdles and considering that I don’t have any godfather in the industry I had to figure everything on my own. I didn’t take any financial support from my family, everything I earned was invested and reinvested. I scratched all the meetings by myself and created my own unique style. there were times when people used to not even look at my work and would say that I am too young to be given the project. But that did not de-motivate me. Yes, you feel bad temporarily but then you have to think that if I give up right now then I will never be able to achieve my goals. That kept me going. I am a self-taught photographer so I had to learn things on my own and there were times I would not even be paid for the work. There were a lot of roadblocks but no success story or no growth is possible without failure and roadblocks.
5.You even teach photography to visually impaired children, tell us about that experience.
Temporarily I am not teaching and it’s been some time now as all my students have passed out now. I came in touch with the National Association for the Blind in 2014 because I was doing a blindness awareness project and came in touch with the kids. I was enamored by the fact that these kids are really smart in the way they deal with things and I always wanted to give something back to them. The kids have their social media profile, they click selfies and work on laptops. I realised that they have a good sense of distance, and a very strong sixth sense. So, I thought why not impart photography knowledge to them. So I taught them photography with point and shoot cameras and to my surprise they picked it up so well that it took me only one month to make them learn the basics. My students are so talented that they have had their own exhibitions and have covered events as well.
6.What are your future goals?
My future goals were a little profound till the time lockdown happened and then I had to restructure my goals. I was actually galloping and working like anything. But now there is a sudden and abrupt fall to my speed, considering that I am in the media and luxury line, so I have to restructure everything. I am thinking of alternatives on how I can reach the people, keeping all the safety measures and the government rules in practice.
7.You have traveled to 49 countries till now. Will you say traveling gives you a new perspective on life and inspiration for your work? Do tell us some of your travel stories.
I was supposed to do my 50th and 51st country on 6th of March and be back on 18th of March but I had to cancel. One of my bigger goals in life is to see the entire world before I die.
I think I can write an entire book of my travel stories. The best part about travelling is that it opened and widened my horizons. Every time I travel to a different country, you absorb different local cultures, how they live, their approach towards life and get inspired. I learnt so many languages during my travels. It not only makes me even more self-dependent but has also enabled me to understand how people think, how people live in different conditions, how people could be happy with what they have, different cultures, different religion, and of course it also enables me to appreciate how big the world is and how minuscule our existence is. I think I have friends in every country now; I meet a lot of people from different countries when I travel. It’s such a mind opening and refreshing experience to travel and make friends while on the go. When you are travelling solo, it empowers you so much that it’s beyond words to explain, there are times when you start cribbing and crying about little things when we are in our comfort zone but travelling solo actually pushes you out of your comfort zone and makes you encapsulate and adopt to the new surroundings and different survival techniques in a difficult situation. You learn a lot.
8.Any advice for our readers?
It is just one life, live it to the fullest and always be open to learning new things, don’t be scared of failures and you will be amazed. Trust me life is beautiful and be grateful for every single breath you take.
