Nikita Chawla- The Entrepreneurs of India Magazine

The career of Nikita Chawla never had a straight path to take. She got into media, with a keen interest in politics, social issues, and mass discussion, having also a fascination with food, travelling, and culture as she was trained in the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi. She was a natural journalist; not as an observer but as an opinion-maker and a speaker on the stories that make the life of people. Having anchored corporate shows, award nights and panel discussions on topics such as neurodivergence, she had room to combine insight and empathy and this balance was soon to be her trademark.

Travel gradually extended into a second classroom. Travelling in the cities, villages and other and less popular sides of the world, Nikita started to perceive culture by people and plates. Food criticism to her was not about glamour only. It was all about listening to stories, following traditions and observing how identity is contained within daily meals. These interests combined over time, becoming wheresnikkigoing, a personal online space where journalism, anchoring, travel and food writing can coexist without attempting to label them to put them in a box.

It started out as a casual affair on Instagram where one could share his or her adventures and meals but it became serious when her voice started capturing attention on both sides of the screen. Addressing MUNS in the UN and TEDx talks and the India Media Congress made it clear that communication was not a skill, but a task. She observed the listening, questioning and continuation of conversations by people following events. She says she realised that it was not merely what she loved doing but it was a direction where passion, craft, and impact could collide.

She never had opportunities given to her with ease. She had no shortcuts and support and took each step, learning in front of everyone and occasionally learning hurtfully. Errors were welcome and her character was put to the test by the exposure. Yet it also built strength. Later on, recognition came in the form of awarding of honours, such as the Hindustan Times 30 Under 30 award, and the WICCI international forums. She also hosted Tata Women Premier League 2024 on behalf of the Board of Control Cricket in India, which puts her in front of a huge national audience.

It was a successful performance at one of the most difficult periods of her personal life. The announcement of the award was on top of the second COVID wave as she had her mother in the hospital. There was applause on the internet and anxiety and burnout in the background. Friends responded in various ways compared to strangers as some of them appeared to question celebrating during crisis. That was a contrast which remained with her. Life does not put a stay to one fact when the other is true, she tells us, and that success, instead of altering the individual, is frequently the revelation of him or her.

Nikita only shares a part of her life on the internet even though she enjoys a public career. Food trails and travel narratives are on display, whereas the individual rituals are confidential. She goes to satsang, feeds homeless animals, spends part of her time with communities and even studies a kundli pattern, but none of that is on her feed. This distance keeps her down to earth.

She has also been physically challenged in her career. In 2018, she was left bedridden after two surgeries and the doctors advised her not to run and put heels on again. Rehabilitation followed which was painful and humbling: months of it. The indomitable spirit that led her to the path of recovery is the very same spirit that is now showing her existence in the masculine political, media arenas, where she remains to act according to her own conditions.

This is based on the center of her work, which is movement, literal and inner. The wheresnikkigoing question is the question she is asking every day, and she is pushing herself to maintain the curiosity and avoid routine. To young artists who are watching her career, her tips remain easy. "Do not wait for permission. Live, learn, work, secure your real life, that your reel life has richness.