PUTTING THE YOU IN FUTURE
Creating opportunities in a brave new world
Wan Marwaha
hen I get asked about the future, I think about Nazneen*, a beauty salon owner I met in Hyderabad while researching and writing my book, What Millennials Want.
Nazneen was two months pregnant when she fled her abusive marriage in Qatar and returned home to Hyderabad. One day into her tough pregnancy, Nazneen saw a video on YouTube which caught her attention and changed her life. It was a make-up tutorial in Hindi. She was fascinated—here was a woman giving her tips in her own language about how to apply the right make-up and look glamorous. She watched hundreds of hours’ worth of make-up videos, practising on herself and then on girls in her neighbourhood.
Over time, her craft evolved, and people started talking about Nazneen’s make-up skills. Her family and friends told her she was good, and she could charge money for her work. So, she did. She evolved from bridal make-up to nail polish to hair styling and yebrow threading, and soon hired another woman to help her, operating out of her parents’ living room. WhatsApp became her word of mouth, and Instagram and Facebook were where she conducted all her marketing—uploading ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures, finding new clients without spending a single rupee. After a few months, her parents’ home was too small for Nazneen’s growing business, and when I first met her, Nazneen was opening her own salon in Hyderabad with a staff of five other women. She had gone from taking pocket money from her parents to living on her own, and even supporting her parents with her income. Nazneen’s story may have never existed 10 or 20 years ago. She learned all her ills on the internet, technology enabled become a successful eneur. In many ways, sents the future—she ugh past but didn’t let ne her. She transformed her life ting at her parents’ home, capitalising on the internet and social media.
From my travels across India to write my book—I visited more than 50 small towns