With 70K+ followers, Juvella D’Gama is easily one of Goa’s top Instagrammers and fashion bloggers. Her ‘Fashiondicted’ blog covers everything from travel, lifestyle, personal wellbeing and more.
Getting her to feature on Humans of Goa was something we had to do. We spoke to her about her journey, strengths, passion, and the road ahead.
Humans of Goa is our original and official series that shares inspirational stories from the lives of Goans.
Let’s jump right in…
Tell us about yourself…
My name is Juvella D’Gama. My loved ones call me “Juvel”. I live at Porvorim and I am an Instagram Influencer cum Fashion Blogger.
What was that one moment when you decided, “That’s it! I want to become a fashion influencer”
Well, when I was 18 I loved taking pictures of everything I wore and post them on social media. Randomly, a brand approached me for a collaboration, and that’s when I realized that there is so much more I can do on Instagram. So, from a fashion blogger I became a fashion influencer.
Why just lifestyle & fashion? Why not something else?
Well, I’m not just a fashion and a lifestyle blogger anymore, I started with that yes, but now I am also into Travel and Food blogging. I love creating content that gives people reasons and ideas to take inspiring pictures themselves when they are on their vacation.
A bit about your role models. People you look up to when creating content?
Well, my role model is Selena Gomez. I love to keep my fashion statement just like hers – chic and poised.
Any inspirational moment you remember in your life that changed everything…
It was when I won the award by B&B as the Best Fashion Blogger Goa for 2019.
That helped me get a lot of added projects/brands for collaborations and shoots.
What was the biggest challenge when pursuing this as a fulltime career? And how did you overcome it?
Well, my biggest challenge was handling my office work plus my Instagram Lifestyle Page.
I believe when you want something really bad you have to give in your 100 percent. This includes blood, sweat, and tears.
You can never stop. This is still a challenge for me even now. I’m not free for even for a day in my life but I manage because I love what I do and I’m blessed to live this life.
Any memories as a kid you’d like to share? Something that helped shape you as a person?
My mother is my biggest supporter. She is actually the reason why I am what I am. She’s my photographer as well.
So everything that you see is only possible because of her.
Who is the one person you’d like to meet from the past (personal or celebrity)? And what would you ask him/her?
Well, everyone I adore I have them with me at the present moment.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
I would tell myself to never give up, to fight for my dreams no matter what opinion others have of me.
I was bullied for having a poor Instagram feed. People said I was faking all the brands who were working with me.
But that didn’t stop my journey. It’s always important to focus on how you can get better rather then just quitting and allowing your haters to win.
What role did family and friends play? Any quick incident you remember when family or friends helped you overcome a hurdle or challenge in life?
Oh my family is amazing. They have always supported me in every way.
When I was bullied, I almost gave up but my family told me to keep going on and to never give up because years from now the people who are laughing at me would admire my life and the way I achieve things.
What is the legacy you want to leave behind? And for whom?
For those who think that being an influencer on Instagram is no big deal, I would want them to change their perspective.
In Goa, people don’t really know about the perks of being an influencer and making it an absolutely wonderful career for themselves.
Through my journey I want people to see and know how this career shaped me to become absolutely confident and the best version of me, both financially and as a person.
You can catch a snippet of this conversation with Oliver Sean on ItsGoa‘s Instagram page. Humans of Goa is our original and official series that shares stories from the lives of Goans. ‘Humans of Goa’ celebrates the spirit of every Goan.
Insert #humansofgoa to feature your story, and follow @ItsGoa_ for more inspiring stories.
