During the last decade, the way we use social media has completely changed from staying in touch with family and friends, to following or even becoming ‘influencers’. We have known and loved countless social media influencers specializing in creating different types of content, and watched them rise to the top. Today, with so many attractive options for building a career in content creation, thousands of aspiring creators are popping up from across Pakistan, in the dream of becoming the next big face, making the next viral video, and eventually collaborating with popular brands. Brands are paying a lot of attention to new influencers, too, in order to stay on top of the latest marketing trends – influencer marketing didn’t even exist a few years ago, and it has now become a fundamental part of modern business strategies. But when you are just one of thousands of content creation aspirants, how do you stand out from the crowd?
Humna Zahid also known as Samosiiii, is a blogger and make-up influencer on Likee with 2.2 millionfollowers. Likee is the world’s leading global short video creation platform with around 150 million unique monthly users worldwide. The Singapore-based app has already crossed a million downloads mark in Pakistan and is expected to make new records with the localized version launch. Likee, the content creation application of choice for hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis is quickly taking over the online space. It allows users to create any kind of ethical content without any hindrances. The app maintains its standards of quality by occasionally challenging content creators to make new content using specific hashtags and themes.
Given the nickname “Samosi” by her friends due to her unconditional love for samosas, Humna truly believes in inspiring young women around Pakistan to learn new styles and makeup techniques. Humna was privileged enough to have had the support of her family and friends, and felt empowered to pursue such an unusual career path. Humna was randomly playing a game on her phone, back in 2017, when she first saw an advertisement of Likee, and was immediately drawn to it. So, she downloaded and started using the app, and eventually became one of the top content creators in Pakistan. She began to continuously find creative ways of expressing herself, and her account hasn’t stopped growing since.
As a naturally creative child, Humna discovered her passion for expression at a very young age. She realized that she was highly talented in wall painting, and graffiti, after exploring pencil art and more. Makeup eventually became her paint of choice, and her face turned into the canvas. That was it – the path had been made clear – The career of her dreams was becoming a reality every day thanks to Likee. She started to focus on makeup and taught herself to get better at it, by practicing on herself and her family and friends.
Humna, a.k.a. Samosi believes in encouraging her fans and followers who want to be like her, to do whatever makes them happy and comfortable. It takes a lot of experimenting to really find out what works best for you. It’s important to learn to filter other people’s feedback when it comes to what they think you should or should not do and to recognize that people can be judgmental, especially online when they are hidden behind false profiles and are able to pass negative comments without any consequences. She encourages aspiring content creators to eliminate all boundaries when it comes to creative expression.
Inspired by global makeup artist Abby Roberts, Samosi aspires to become a successful businesswoman like Nabila. She likes to take advice from her mom and friends when it comes to choosing a style. Saba Qamar is among her real-life heroines when it comes to her confidence and the ability to really light up the television screen with her charming and witty personality. Samosi, however, has little interest in modeling or acting. She aims to continue making inspiring videos for her Likee fans, because it allows her to know the amount of difference she is bringing into their lives. Nonetheless, if her career takes her in the direction of the big screen, her fans might just see her there, as well.
Humna enjoys working with Likee for its ability to make content creators feel free to create anything they want, and express themselves freely as long as it is moral and ethical. She enjoys working with the Likee team, who are always available to listen to her and her concerns and go above and beyond in promoting talent. Likee supports content creators in providing them the spotlight that they deserve.
The biggest challenge she is currently facing is not on Likee, but the global pandemic that has challenged everyone in many different ways. Humna feels the need to explore herself more by being isolated most of the time. She feels lucky to be able to create content as a full time job, during these tough times, because she can do it from anywhere.
Samosi aims to work with big brands and create a wider variety of content, possibly even collaborating with some of her role models. Her advice to aspiring content creators is to be consistent with their content creation. She urges them to not give up even for a single day, in order to keep followers engaged. She stresses the importance of building and sticking to a vision, as it can be the only guiding light in dark times.
