Digital Media Strategist · Content Creator

RichaArora

Stories · People · Places

Exploring cultures, creating stories, becoming more.

I'm a digital media strategist with a Master's from Leeds, a lifestyle platform that's reached over 5 million people, and a genuine inability to stay in one lane, which turns out to be my greatest strength. I've worked across healthcare, hospitality, consulting, retail, and content creation. I pick things up quickly, work across disciplines without losing focus, and I find most things genuinely interesting. That curiosity is probably the most useful thing I bring to any room.

See My WorkSay Hello
Richa Arora
@richasdiaries
5.9M+Content reach
555K+Interactions
100+Leads generated
60+New patients/month

About

A story built through
curiosity and people.

I didn't follow a straight path into digital media. I found my way through it — through different cities, different roles, and a lot of time spent just watching how people connect with things.

I grew up in India, studied Computer Science, and moved to the UK for my Master's at the University of Leeds. What I didn't expect was how much that move would change me — not just academically, but in how I see people and places and the way stories travel between them.

My Instagram started as something small. Just a place to share what life in the UK felt like as an international student. But somewhere along the way, it became something I was genuinely learning from — understanding trends, noticing what made people stop and stay, figuring out why some content just lands and some doesn't. It grew to 9K+ followers with 5.9 million views in 60 days, and 93.4% of that reach came from people who had never heard of me before.

My MSc dissertation took that curiosity further — into a proper research study on TikTok, consumer behaviour, and what people actually think about trend-driven content. Authenticity always wins. That's the short version. The long version took 100+ videos and 20+ interviews to prove.

I don't just create content. I understand the people it's made for.
Richa in Canterbury

2020 – 2024

BTech CSE, MIT Pune — first steps into social media leading campaigns for the CS student association. Teaching assistant at a government school. Smart India Hackathon.

September 2024

Moved to Leeds for my MSc. Started @richasdiaries — genuinely just for fun, just to share what this life looked like.

Early 2025

International Study Tour to Antwerp — Social Media Ambassador for Leeds University Business School. Went back later to speak to the new cohort.

Jan – Mar 2025

Global consulting project — led a five-person cross-cultural team advising an international startup.

Feb – Sept 2025

Dissertation: "From Scroll to Sale" — qualitative research on TikTok, trends, and what consumers actually think.

Sept 2025

Graduated — the childhood dream, finally real.

Jan 2026

Brook Lane Dental Surgery — building their brand and digital presence from the beginning.

✍️
Storyteller
Every brand has a story. My job is to find it and make people feel it.
🌍
Culturally curious
Lived and worked across India, UK, Belgium, Greece, France. Always learning from wherever I am.
📊
Research-led
I think about why things work, not just what works. The data always tells a story too.
🤝
People-first
From 10K followers to a preschool classroom — I show up the same everywhere.

Selected Work

Things I've made and
what I learned from them.

Four projects that shaped how I think about digital media, storytelling, and what it actually means to connect with an audience.

01Personal brand · Instagram

Growing @richasdiaries to 9K+ and 5.9 million views

This started as a creative outlet when I moved to the UK, somewhere to document a new chapter honestly. What I didn't plan for was how much I'd learn. I watched my analytics obsessively, tested different formats, studied why some content travelled and some didn't. My top reel hit 4 million views. Another reached 3.3 million. And 93.4% of my reach came from people who had never seen my content before — which tells you something about how the platform rewards genuine storytelling over performance.

5.9M views in 60 days93.4% non-follower reach4.0M top reel555K+ interactions

Honesty travels further than strategy. Though strategy helps.

02Brand strategy · Healthcare

Building Brook Lane Dental Surgery's digital presence

When I joined, the clinic had no meaningful digital footprint. I started from scratch — competitor research, brand identity, photography direction, brochure design, social media, and community outreach including preschool visits to teach children about oral health. The challenge was making something clinical feel genuinely warm. The clinic had already won the NASDAL DCby1 Practice of the Year 2025 and my job was to make sure the outside world knew that.

60+ new patients/month10K+ digital reachFull brand kitNASDAL Award Winner

Traditional industries have the most interesting stories. They just need someone to tell them.

03Content creation · Brand collaborations

Working with brands across beauty, food, education, and lifestyle

Over time, brands started reaching out — from Nuskin, Haute Dolci in Leeds, TrainPal, Edugo Abroad to Anfield Education and some others too. Some were paid, some were barter. All of them taught me something about the balance between what a brand needs and what my audience actually trusts. My approach has always been to integrate rather than advertise. For Edugo Abroad, a campaign about studying in the UK led to over 100 direct student enquiries because it felt like a recommendation, not a promotion.

100+ student enquiries5+ brand collaborationsNuskin · Haute Dolci · TrainPal

People trust people. The trick is staying a person while working with a brand.

04MSc Research · TikTok · Consumer behaviour

From Scroll to Sale: what TikTok buyers actually think

For my dissertation I wanted to research something I genuinely cared about. So I looked at TikTok — specifically, how sellers use trends and what consumers actually feel about it. I analysed over 100 viral videos, conducted 20+ qualitative interviews, and found four consistent themes: authenticity builds trust, emotion drives purchase, forced trends damage credibility, and the algorithm creates a cultural FOMO that's very real. The short version of everything I found: you can't fake your way to loyalty.

100+ TikToks analysed20+ interviews35–40% visibility upliftUniversity of Leeds

Authenticity isn't a content strategy. It's the only one that actually works long-term.

Experience

Every role taught me
something about people.

I've worked across industries that don't obviously connect — healthcare, hospitality, retail, tech, consulting. What they all had in common was that understanding the person on the other side of the interaction was always the most important thing.

🦷
Current · Jan 2026
Brook Lane Dental Surgery
Felixstowe, UK
Built the brand and digital presence from scratch — market research, brand identity, brochures, social media, community outreach, and data-led patient acquisition strategy.
Even the most traditional businesses have stories that deserve to be told well.
📊
Sept – Nov 2025
London Success Academy
Business Analyst Intern · London
Built Excel and Power BI dashboards that improved KPI tracking efficiency by 25%. Identified operational gaps through trend analysis and helped teams make better decisions with data they could actually read.
Good data only works when someone can act on it.
🌐
Jan – Mar 2025
Global Consulting Project · Leeds
Project Manager · International Startup
Led a five-person cross-cultural team delivering business solutions for an international startup. 15% process improvement identified. The most interesting thing I learned was how differently people from different backgrounds approach the exact same problem.
Perspective is a skill. The more you have, the better you think.
🛍️
UK · Various
Miniso & Tesco
Retail
Spent time watching real people make real decisions in real time — what draws attention, what gets picked up, what gets put back. Visual merchandising, customer interaction, the psychology of a shop floor.
What grabs attention in a physical space taught me what stops scrolling online.
🍽️
Central London
MW Eats & Masala Zone
Front of House · Hospitality
Fast, customer-facing, no room for a bad day. I learned how much communication is actually non-verbal, how to read a room quickly, and how to make someone feel genuinely looked after under pressure.
How you make people feel is always the thing they remember.
📱
2020 – 2024 · Pune, India
ACES MITSOE
Vice Head, Social Media & Promotions
My first leadership role in digital. Led campaigns, events, and the social presence for the Computer Science student association. Where I first understood that I was genuinely good at making people pay attention.
This is where it started — and I haven't wanted to stop since.

Leadership & Volunteering

Showing up for
people, not just platforms.

Some of the work I'm most proud of has nothing to do with metrics.

Social Media Ambassador · 2025
Leeds University Business School — Antwerp International Study Tour
ATOD International Study Tour group at the European Parliament, Antwerp
I created video content for the ATOD International Study Tour — I captured what the experience actually felt like, not just what it looked like. The videos were used to promote the tour to future students. Later, I was invited back to speak to the new cohort. Standing in that room where I once sat, talking about why they should say yes to experiences like this — that felt like a full circle moment.
"She was an asset to the group and an excellent ambassador." — Beccy Noble, LUBS
Course Representative · 2024–2025
MSc Programme, University of Leeds
My peers elected me to represent the student voice for our Masters programme. I sat between students and faculty, raised concerns, shared feedback, and tried to make the year better for everyone. It turns out listening carefully is the most useful thing you can do in a room.
Community Outreach · 2026
Preschool Dental Awareness · Brook Lane Dental Surgery
I visit local preschools to talk to young children about looking after their teeth. There is something genuinely wonderful about making a four-year-old excited about brushing. It reminded me that the most important kind of communication is the kind that meets people exactly where they are.
"Moments like these remind me how impactful early awareness can be."
Teaching Assistant · 2021–2022
Government Girls' School, Loni Kalbhor, India
During my BTech, a group of us started weekly tutoring sessions at a local government school. Working with students who had less access to resources taught me patience, empathy, and the simple truth that showing up consistently is its own kind of impact.
Hackathon · 2023
Smart India Hackathon
Competed as part of a team developing a concept around green initiatives and environmental awareness. First experience of pitching under time pressure, and of how energising it is to build something quickly with people who care about the same thing.

Culture & Places

Everywhere I've been has
made me think differently.

I grew up in India, studied in the UK, and have spent the last two years exploring as much of Europe as I can fit around a Master's degree and a full-time job.

🇮🇳 India🇬🇧 London & the South🇬🇧 Yorkshire & the North🇬🇧 East Anglia & the Coast🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish Highlands🇧🇪 Belgium🇬🇷 Greece🇫🇷 France
01
Culture shapes content
How people trust, engage, and connect is different everywhere. Living across countries and cultures didn't just broaden my world, it changed how I think about who I'm creating for and why.
02
Small details matter
The best things I've learned from travel weren't from the landmarks. They were from conversations in small towns, cafés in Belgium, early mornings on the Yorkshire coast. Little things leave the deepest impressions.
03
People are the story
Every place I've been, I've left with a better understanding of people — from what they care about, how they communicate, to what makes them feel seen. That's the thing that feeds everything I create.

Academic

The thinking behind
the work.

University of Leeds, Nexus buildingUniversity of Leeds campus
University of Leeds · Leeds University Business School
MSc Information Systems Management & Digital Innovation
September 2024 – September 2025 · Leeds, UK
A Master's that gave me two things at once: a rigorous technical understanding of how digital systems work, and the human and strategic frameworks for knowing what to do with that. The combination is what makes me useful.
Business Analytics & Decision ScienceManaging Digital InnovationDigital Transformation ManagementHuman Centred AIManaging Digital Information ProjectsResearch Design & AnalysisDigital Technologies for Sustainable FutureInnovation in Operations & ISEvidence Based Consultancy
Maharashtra Institute of Technology · Pune, India
BTech Computer Science Engineering
August 2020 – May 2024
Where the analytical foundation came from. Alongside the degree, I led social media for the CS student association, tutored at a government school, and spent my final year researching cloud infrastructure performance. A broad foundation that I'm still drawing from.
BTech Final Year Research · Jun 2023 – Aug 2024
Cloud Infrastructure Performance & Predictive Modelling
Research Intern · BTech Dissertation
Extracted and cleansed large, heterogeneous datasets from cloud infrastructure systems; built predictive models using Python achieving 90% accuracy in forecasting outcomes. Translated analytical findings into strategic recommendations that improved system performance by 15% and reduced operational risk by 20%, presented to senior technical stakeholders.
MSc Dissertation · University of Leeds · Supervised by Dr. Peter Gittins
"Exploring How Online Sellers on TikTok Use Trends to Create Business Value: A Consumer Perspective"
100+ viral TikTok posts analysed · 20+ qualitative interviews · Four core themes — authenticity, emotional engagement, strategic trend alignment, algorithmic culture
You can't outspend your way to trust. You can only out-authenticate your way there.

Certifications

Global Mentorship Initiative
Feb 2026
Marketing Foundations
LinkedIn · Jan 2026
SEO Foundations
LinkedIn · Nov 2025
Map the System Learning Programme
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford · Jun 2025
LUBS Global Challenge: Program Completion
Practera · Feb 2025
Business Analytics Internship
London Success Academy · Sep 2025
Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere
Google
Microsoft Cloud Skills Challenge
Microsoft
Introduction to Digital Marketing
Self-led
Introduction to Python for Data Analytics
Self-led
Introduction to Java
Coding Ninjas

What people say

Words from people
I've worked with.

"

Richa created engaging video content which really highlighted the student experience. Her video successfully communicated various global perspectives, demonstrated her passion for digital innovation and digital content, and showed her contribution to the tour. She was an asset to the group and an excellent ambassador for Leeds University Business School.

Beccy Noble
Faculty International Officer · Leeds University Business School
Study Tour · November 2025
"

Richa demonstrated strong analytical thinking and structured problem solving. I was particularly impressed by her ability to clearly break down business problems and translate them into practical insights. She is proactive, receptive to feedback, and shows great potential to grow into a strong Business Analyst.

Abhishek Mohanty
Tech Business Analyst & Mentor
Mentor · March 2026
"

Richa was a dedicated student who always turned up with a positive mindset and applied herself well to the research. She demonstrated good critical thinking skills and was very independent throughout her dissertation.

Dr. Peter Gittins
Lecturer in Entrepreneurship Studies · University of Leeds
Dissertation Supervisor · March 2026
View LinkedIn →All recommendations verified and live on LinkedIn

Get in touch

I'm always open to new
stories worth telling.

Whether you're a brand, a company, or just someone who wants to say hello.

Email MeLinkedIn@richasdiariesSend a Message

Exploring cultures, creating stories, becoming more.