What did I miss?
After sharing his own mini-pep talk with us (below) Niran told us a little about the inspiration behind his words of wisdom and how it related to his personal career journey. We then posed some of the many questions sent in by readers to Niran, including:

• Finding out what personal branding means to you (7:03)
• Advice on starting your social media journey (10:04)
• Using Instagram in a healthy way (18:22)
• How to be consistent as a multidisciplinary creative (20:41)
• Dos and dont’s for sharing on Instagram (31:35)
• Naming yourself on social media as a freelancer (34:05)
• Advice on landing your first job without any experience (38:00)

What is Pep Talk?
Pep Talk is an event to share relatable, easy-to-process tips in conversation with inspiring creatives. Each event will start with a ‘pep talk’, where a chosen creative gets to share their ultimate advice for anyone who might be feeling a bit stuck, before answering questions submitted by you, our readers.

About Niran Vinod
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get” is a sentiment that Niran Vinod lives by. As Niran told us in his Creative Lives interview, the basis of his career came about in the form of a blog he founded in his second year of uni; teaching himself to write, strategise, take photos, art direct and keep clients happy.

After graduating from LCC’s Creative Advertising Strategy course in 2011, Niran worked at a range of agencies including WeAreSocial, Independents United and AKQA before joining Instagram in 2015. Working as a creative strategist, Niran helped to launch Instagram ads, before expanding his role to working on the wider Facebook family of apps. Most recently, Niran led creative strategy on the fashion and luxury clients for Instagram.

After leaving Instagram, Niran partnered with Stormzy’s #Merky Books to launch a book around building both personal and business brands, aimed at breaking down knowledge barriers and uplifting the next generation.

Today, Niran works as a creative director, and most recently he co-founded Deft, a consultancy that helps upstarts launch digital businesses and quickly scale them into global brands.

Find Niran on Instagram See Niran’s author page