We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ari. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ari below.

Ari, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My most meaningful project, and the one that started it all, would have to be the 7 Rings Parody, 7 Meats. I became Arigato Grande and that era I will never forget. Doing all of those music videos and meeting the people I did absolutely changed my life and my life’s trajectory. I thought all I could amount to in life was a menial job somewhere and just to try and scrape by. This whole era taught me to truly chase my dreams and work endlessly towards them no matter how long they may take. I’ve now reached a point where I have put the Arigato Grande crown aside to don a new one under a new name, Ari<3. I finally am able to step beyond what others expected or wanted from me and am able to do what I truly want in my life: to make music that is true to myself and the person I strive to be.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I initially began as a claims adjuster at an insurance company, just working a typical 9-5, but when I found Asian Creative Network on Facebook, I collaborated with the most amazing people to create the videos and music that I did. I had never been an Executive Producer, Singer, or Main Talent on anything before and so all of these experiences, all of these hats I had to wear, were all brand new. I was daunted of course, but I learned quickly that I could do whatever I set my mind to and it proved to be true. Even if I was inexperienced then, I forced myself to learn and take charge, which gives me the experience, work ethic, and mindset that I have now. These projects taught me I could do anything I truly believed in and I apply that to my daily life now.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

After I watched Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (a masterpiece by the way), something that truly stuck with me was the idea that if there are a billion universes out there, is this truly the way I wanted mine to go? I had to ask myself was I going to be happy being this version of myself out of all the possibilities and if there was a version of me out there living my dreams, why couldn’t I be that version right here and right now? This drove me to start doing things for me, not what others wanted, not what my family wanted, but for me because this is my life, my creative journey, and only I can live it.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Honestly, I just recently started garnering attention on TikTok and it’s not for any curated content, but rather random videos that seem to catch the public’s eye. My most viral hits are just me sharing bits of my life in a funny way or sharing my beliefs about things, food, items, people and that seems to truly resonate with others. I’ve never been good at marketing, but there’s something about when people find your content and they truly relate to you that makes such a huge impact. I was supposed to be promoting my new song, but instead I made a TikTok about tactical whips and that popped off insanely. Now I’m an affiliate creator with that company and it’s just so interesting and funny how differently my content varies but still manages to pull in an audience despite the inconsistency.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ari310/bad-girl
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/arigatograndeofficial
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/arigatogrande