Restarting your life at any point in life is not an easy feat. Imagine doing it twice in a lifetime, unbearable, right? But that’s exactly what momfluencer (@littleglove_aka_shivani) and head of Little Glove Looms (@littleglovelooms) had to do to reach the peak she is at today. The journey wasn’t an easy one and it came with a lot of lessons, but there were people who never lost faith in her. And one of these people is none other than herself. Having the sheer willpower to follow through with what her heart has set its goals towards and marching forth despite the obstacles is something that made Shivani Kapila the humble phoenix that she is today. Let’s get to know this phoenix a little better.
Shivani Kapila: Early Days
Born and brought up in Ranchi, Jharkhand, Shivani Kapila had very humble beginnings. She followed the straight cut path to a secure life. Following her parents’ requests, Shivani Kapila always kept her dreams under wraps. But her creative side just couldn’t be contained in a cubicle, even though it may be at Google. Working as an HR at Google for a long time, leaving it all behind to follow her passion for making videos, it wasn’t an easy decision and neither did her near and dear ones make it any less difficult, as obviously, you’re at Google, why would you leave that, right?
Wrong, Shivani Kapila knew that the creative energy that she had kept aside for so long needed a space to just break free. So, after a long deliberation with herself and her super supportive husband, she decided to leave the cushy HR job and trek on her own lesser-travelled path (back then) of influencer marketing. But they moved back to her in-laws’ place in Surat, Gujarat, to support this new journey as they needed all hands on deck!
Shivani Kapila: Finding her Footing on Social Media
In the early days, Shivani Kapila needed a bit of help in shooting and recording. And the only person in the house she turned to was her mother-in-law. What started off as a small help to her daughter-in-law soon blossomed into a viral jodi as the mother and daughter-in-law duo hit it off really well on screen and off screen. Shivani Kapila speaks fondly of how she and her mother-in-law would always rush to get the household chores done in the morning so that they could focus on shooting videos and making the most fun out of the time they spend together. This viral jodi soon became the talk of the town on TikTok.
Starting off with fitness videos and transitioning to comedy videos, Shivani Kapila managed to make a name for herself on TikTok. But that’s where the problem started; she managed to make a name for herself only on TikTok. And with the TikTok ban in India, went out of the door her million followers and subscribers, but not her love, passion and willpower for content creation!
Shivani Kapila: Phoenix Era & Now
Taking up another challenge that was thrown her way with grace, Shivani Kapila restarted her influencer journey from scratch across various social media platforms this time. And her creativity in doing so with various types of content, like voice-over vlogs, made her a star of her calibre in no time.
As life went on, she had to recalibrate and modify her content accordingly. Going from pure comedy to meaningful content and from a regular influencer to a momfluencer, she transitioned seamlessly. All the negative reviews she got, she decided to screen out the constructive feedback in them and modify her content accordingly. Shivani Kapila is a true believer in being ethical and sharing the responsibility of what you put on social media with the viewer. She believes that as a creator, she should put things out there that carry a thought behind them and are meaningful, but it’s truly the viewers who can let her know if she is on the right track.
Shifting from the 9-5 job of corporate to being a momfluencer came with a set of its own challenges. But Shivani sailed through it all by being disciplined, such as never working beyond 7 pm, even though content creation may not necessarily require a strict time schedule and always prioritising what is important in her life at that particular moment, like currently her main priority is raising Aadya and hence she transitioned from long form content to short form ones to prevent her from facing the harmful effects of long exposure to camera.
Never Forgetting Her Roots & Giving Back
Today, with a 1.4 million following and a global social media presence, Shivani Kapila has finally made it to the top. But that doesn’t mean she will stop right there. Never forgetting where she came from, she ensured that she gave back to her community as much as she could with her Gurukul English Medium School (GEMS) and Little Glove Looms venture.
GEMS is an innovative pre-school that she has started in order to honour her mother’s memory, which prioritises EQ (emotional quotient) and Little Glove Looms is her venture to help women with special needs who are extremely talented to find a financial footing for themselves. Shivani Kapila fondly recounts how the ladies who work at Little Glove Looms are not just employees for her, but they are artists who deserve a huge platform for the array of talent they possess and Little Glove Looms is just one venture to help put their talent out in the world.
Truly imbibing the spirit of success, that, according to her, lies in finding and giving joy to others rather than mindlessly running after likes and followers and money, Shivani Kapila always tries to give threefold back to what she takes, because for her it’s being mindful and changing people’s perception, one video at a time that matters more.
A Message to Young Dreamers
From the creator of Little Glove, a small town girl with big dreams which are all encased in a little glove, Shivani Kapila ends our conversation with a inspiring message for young dreamers; “Be mindful towards your creation, see what you are creating, how is it impacting the person who is seeing it and that’s where we will start changing and becoming a better creator every moment. Your mindfulness will bring a lot of change.”
Now you know the secret to her happy life: being mindful and never holding back when she knew what she wanted!
