We were lucky to catch up with Meenal Raghava recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Meenal thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I am not a trained artist; I am instead, a trained economist with a business degree, and years of high strung corporate career behind me. As a middle class Indian, impatient to stand on her feet, pursuing my first love, art, was not a career option. because in Mumbai of the ‘90s, you were successful only if you were a doctor, an engineer or an MBA. So MBA it was for me.
But the thing about passions is that they never quit on you, not even if you do. From the time I was a baby, I remember doodling, sketching, winning prizes in art. I remember my father encouraging me with a beautiful large easel, canvases, and paints for my eighth birthday. I remember a short film that ran often on the solo government TV channel showing a young girl pursuing her passion to become an artist. Ten year old me dreamt of being her.
So decades later, as a young mother in New York, when I found myself at a fork in my life where one path lead me farther down the corporate trail, and another towards realizing my childhood dream of turning to art as a career, I chose the latter.

Meenal, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve painted abstract and figurative art for friends and family for as long as I can remember; but my professional journey started in the fall of 2019 with an interesting medium that was all over Instagram then – epoxy resin. I started sharing abstract sea scapes with epoxy as the primary medium, and my Instagram blew up. It was fluid art since I was not painting with brushes but creating art by pouring, and manipulating colors, micas, sand, stones mixed with resin.
Over the next 3 years, and importantly through the tough times of COVID, art saved me. Every piece of my seascape series sold out leaving even me stunned. A series of artworks inspired by geodes and crystals followed and I also released limited editions of coasters which gained their own fan base. Just via Instagram, In the first three years alone, I managed to have my work collected by collectors in every continent barring Antarctica. That’s the power of social media.
For the last two years, I’ve turned inward to focus on expressing my spiritual journey, and unpacking my heritage through my work. Working currently with acrylics, and experimental mixed media techniques, I consider my art a form of storytelling, with textures, composition and colors as crucial narratives. Deeply influenced by South Asian folk art forms and abstract expressionism, my newer work seeks to evoke emotion by operating in saturated chromatic fields juxtaposed against structured surfaces and contemporary compositions, all working simultaneously in a deeply personal space – my eastern roots and western sensibilities.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m not an influencer – in fact I don’t quite get that term. But I will say that social media can be a great ally to creatives. The reach it gives is unparalleled and the cherry on top is no sharing of revenues with agents or galleries!.
I build my presence socials by just being – present – and this means many things. But before I get into that, I’ve to warn that social media can also very easily turn into a slippery slope. You can get fixated on “views” and “likes” and very much be led into believing you’re doing great or horribly just on the whims of a random algorithm. It’s all good, until it starts playing on your mental health. So my number one advice would be to find a happy balance that works for you. Use socials but don’t let them consume you – that’s easier said than done, but something that should always be kept in mind.
Now to what I meant when I said you have to be – present – to grow. Basically, you have to engage, engage and engage with your audience. This translates to sharing content frequently including videos because currently the algorithm laps those up. Also share stories, use hashtags, and trending audios. Commenting on other pages related to your genre, interacting with your own community, replying to comments on your posts, hosting lives, sharing a bit of your personal life will all help you build your own community.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Perhaps because I grew on Instagram, and Instagram is nothing but a bunch of algorithms, I found myself getting caught in an unhealthy cycle. Let me explain – what I created and shared got lots of views and likes. These affirmations brought an acceptance and validation that was crucial to me as an outsider to the world of art. The exposure also led to sales and therefore financial security. However the way socials work can be restrictive. Anytime I tried to do something different or experiment with newer techniques or styles, the result was not the same. That’s because I was pushing the algorithm into uncharted territory.
Over time I found myself getting tired of doing more of the same only to keep up with the likes, growth, and presence on social media until one day I realized I didn’t care as much for those. What mattered most was my personal growth.
The lesson I’ve had to unlearn is to “please everyone”. It’s tricky because pleasing everyone can feel good to you too, and is often the easier thing to do. But it leads to a heavier soul.
Instead it’s best to create for the joy of creating. It’s great to always remember why you started creating in the first place- that is the North Star to always bring your creative compass to.

Contact Info:

• Website: HTTPS://Meenalraghava.com
• Instagram: Https://Instagram.com/Meenals.Corner
• Linkedin: Meenal Raghava