Karishma Mehta

Karishma Mehta
Mehta at 2019 launch of her book, Humans of Bombay: Ordinary People Extraordinary Stories
Born (1992-03-05) 5 March 1992 (age 32)
Mumbai, India
NationalityIndian
Occupations
  • Writer
  • Photographer
Years active2014–present
Known forHumans of Bombay

Karishma Mehta (born 5 March 1992) is the founder of the photo blog page Humans of Bombay which launched in January 2014, and author of the related book Humans of Bombay.[1]

Biography

Mehta was born and raised in Mumbai and attended the Bombay Scottish School, Mahim.[2][3] She attended a boarding school in Bangalore for two years and then college in the UK for three years.[2] In 2013, Mehta was an economics and business student in Nottingham, UK,[3] and holds a degree in business and economics[4] from the University of Nottingham.[5][6] She is a freelance writer for various publications, including National Geographic.[3] She is a TEDx speaker[7][8]. Mehta is fluent in Hindi, English and Marathi.[8] She is the niece of Zarna Garg.

Works

In January 2014, Mehta began the Humans of Bombay Facebook page, copied from American Photographer Brandon Stanton's - the Humans of New York (HoNY) Facebook page.[3][9][4] After discovering the HoNY page in 2013, she tried to find a similar page for Mumbai, and after not finding one, she created a logo and made a Facebook page herself.[3] To find subjects for the website, Mehta approached people on the street[3][4][8] and interviewed them.[6] By 2018, her team had expanded to six members based in Mumbai, with freelance members in other parts of India.[8]

In 2016, Mehta compiled posts, into a self-published book, Humans of Bombay,[4] in her attempt to directly raise money to fund the website.[3]

As of 2021, the site has over a million followers on Facebook and over two million on Instagram.[10] In 2022, she launched an interview-based YouTube web series called "How The Hell Did I Do It?" which features businesspeople, celebrities, and other accomplished people answering interview questions to provide insight on how they accomplished certain things in their lives.[11]

Plagiarism and Controversy

In October 2023, Mehta faced widespread cyber trolling after a failed attempt at suing another page 'People of India' for copyright infringement and Mehta's work called out for plagiarism.[12] Mehta and Humans of Bombay also received criticism from their inspiration Brandon Stanton, the founder of the Humans of New York[13][14][15]

References

  1. ^ "Meet The Founder: Karishma Mehta {Humans of Bombay}". The Post. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b Singh, Tanaya (26 November 2015). "Meet the Human Behind the Popular 'Humans of Bombay' Page". The Better India. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Joshi, Poorva (6 May 2016). "Meet Karishma Mehta, the woman behind Humans of Bombay". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Shaikh, Sadaf (11 January 2018). "Karishma Mehta On How Humans Of Bombay Captures The Invincible Spirit Of The City". Verve. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  5. ^ Vaz, Wyanet (29 April 2016). "Karishma Mehta On The Power Of A Facebook Page". Verve. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b Lakhe, Amruta (22 April 2014). "Being the humans of Bombay". The Indian Express. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  7. ^ Borges, Andre (17 October 2017). "People Are Inspired By The Woman Behind Humans Of Bombay Honestly Speaking About Her Failures". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d Rodrigues, Janice (3 August 2018). "Meet the Humans of Bombay founder". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  9. ^ Lakhe, Amruta (14 April 2016). "From the heart, through a lens". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  10. ^ Jain, Sanya (25 November 2021). "She Was Just 21 When She Started 'Humans Of Bombay'. Here's Her Story". NDTV.com. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  11. ^ "How the hell did she do it?". Hindustan Times. 10 September 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  12. ^ ""Received Death, Rape Threats": Humans Of Bombay CEO Amid Plagiarism Row". NDTV.com. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  13. ^ "'Haven't received a penny for a single story': Humans of New York founder hits back at Humans of Bombay for reducing art to a 'product'". The Economic Times. 27 September 2023. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  14. ^ "How Humans of Bombay Lost at Its Own Game". The Juggernaut. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  15. ^ "Humans of Bombay vs. Humans of New York: All you need to know about the controversy". The Times of India. 25 September 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 18 December 2024.