At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Shoneeka for an exclusive interview with us. Shoneeka is an Entrepreneur, Filmmaker, Leader, Writer, Storyteller, Influencer and Change Enabler. She is the Founder of Zikr Productions and the Creator of Love Vipassana. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, her background, and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Shoneeka:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
My professional journey began with gruelling years in advertising as a copywriter. My first job was to write the pack copy for ‘Kurkure’.
It was fun so I dropped my idea of going to Mumbai and finding my feet as a storyteller.
I spent 16 years building brands. In these years, I was lucky to be trained under industry Veterans. R. Balki, Senthil Kumar, Mohammad Khan, Piyush Pandey are some of my super bosses whom I had the chance to learn from.
Although I equally enjoy all the roles I play, filmmaking has always been at the centre of my heart.
As they say, it is the learning that matters. The journey has been exciting, challenging yet full of learning. Today I am grateful of where I have reached in life.
How did you discover your passion? What motivated you to get into film-making?
I was always clear that I only wanted to do films. Ad films or long formats didn’t matter to me. Print never excited me. I found it very boring. I have always preferred audio visual as a format.
Advertising gave me enough experience to hone my skills and my life experiences gave me an understanding of what kind of stories would I like to share with the world.
With Zikr, I started sharing stories from my own life. I felt my life had enough contrast to be spoken about. With subjects exploring different emotions like – Homecoming, Death, Corporate Slavery, Saying No etc. where there is a universal appeal, it was easy for brands to find resonance. We have been creating content for brands like Unilever, TVS, BBC Media Action, Botox, Mamagoto, Animal Nepal, Government of India etc.
Despite the challenges, what keeps you going when things get tough?
If life taught me anything, it was resilience. It made me a toughie.
Whenever there is a challenge, I know there’s a breakthrough hidden in it.”
What are the three most important lessons you have learned in your life?
1) Plan but keep some room for magic.
2) Having money is not abundance. It’s many other things, and money is just a part of it. Health, joy, peace, happy people around us, employees who can see our vision, love & companionship- all are manifestations of abundance.
3) Manifestation happens when you do your bit with all you have without caring about the results.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
1) Accepting & Loving Yourself
2) Self-discipline and Self Responsibility
3) Standing up for yourself
4) Self respect
5) Positive Attitude
6) Taking massive action (execution) with consistency and belief
What is Love Vipassana? Tell us more about it please;
‘Love Vipassana’ is my blog and my research on masculine and feminine energies within us. It’s a crux of years of inner work, meditation and observation.
Love Vipassana is born out of my intense quest for my authentic self. It is a route map that helped me integrate the oneness within.
There was a time I would search for love and validation externally, love vipassana ended my search. It completed me. I have finally found me. My true love which will be forever till death and after death too. And I am sharing this journey of integration and union with those on the path like me.
I see men and women struggling around and living with a war within. Men and women need to know their own inner masculine and feminine energies to find peace and harmony again. I deeply feel Love Vipassana will end this war. www.lovevipassana.com
How are Zikr production and Love Vipassana similar and different?
Both are similar in the sense that they have the same motto – ‘Bringing awareness to our true Self’. Through Zikr Productions, I make short films that tell stories of ‘choosing authentic self over the conditioning or patterns of the society.’
And through Love Vipassana, I talk about our inner and outer masculine and feminine balance. My workshops, blogs and articles- all aim at knowing the two polarities within.
So, both of my platforms have the same message- When we know ourselves and accept us unconditionally, magic happens. We attract everything that accepts us unconditionally too and we manifest our abundance.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
