Nidhi joined CLIQ a year and half ago as a senior copywriter, she swiftly took on new roles and is currently leading the creative teams at the agency.
Her career began 5 years ago with a degree in English Literature and a stint as an editor of a digital magazine, a couple of agencies on the line, she founded The Artlet Poetry — a curation of art and poetry from all over the world. During the pandemic, she launched a passion project with CLIQ called — Cards For A Cause.
We have gotten Nidhi to answer 10 questions to learn more about her background, creative inspiration, and the work she most cherishes.
Nidhi, tell us..
What did you want to be when you grew up?
An astronaut. I was fascinated by outer space and spent hours reading up on galaxies and star formations.
How did you discover you were creative?
Quite early on, in school. I had the privilege of being awarded and recognised for a lot of my hand drawings during the teenage years. That’s when the first spark came, which has now evolved into different worlds. I still live with an unreasonable amount of doubt, I guess that comes with being any kind of creative. What really defines creativity anyway?
What’s a favourite project you’ve worked on and why?
Oh I’m biased here, it’s the one closest to my heart — Cards For A Cause. Why, because it made me realise the true power of a great idea. And how inspirations can come from the smallest of places but when nurtured properly they can go make real changes in the world. For me, the idea of an illustrated deck came from playing flash cards with my niece — and from there it went to collaborating with 55+ illustrators from all over the world, and donating money to an important cause. That’s magic!
How do you spend your leisure time?
Sadly, I keep having less of that during the pandemic. Lately, I’ve been illustrating a lot, obsessing over skincare on Reddit, solving 1000 piece puzzles, cycling and trying to learn a new language. A good book, a good song, and a good show comes along the way.
Which are your favourite Instagram follows?
Oh I can make a whole another blog on that. A lot of my advertising and art inspiration comes from Instagram!
Some of the recent favourites are @pleid.st, @niceshitstudio, @ronnie_and_barty, @grantdraws, @_homedreaming, @andreaanimates, and @manooni_shop.
The best book you’ve read lately?
I am reading Too Much And Not The Mood by Durga Chew Bose currently and it’s been a ride! Her writing is so articulate, raw, and honest. I think I would read her grocery list too.
Also plugging in some all time favourites — Known And Strange Things by Teju Cole, Factfulness by Hans Rosling, A Field Guide To Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit.
Your main strength as a creative person?
Hunger to learn. It never hurts to admit you don’t know enough.
Your biggest weakness?
Impatience. I always rush to tick things off from my task list, so much that I end up evaluating others’ creativity in an equation to their efficiency.
A creative project that you admired lately?
Womb Stories and The British Library Research ad. Both are magnetic examples of how creativity in advertising knows no medium!
Why advertising? What would you do instead?
The why is a cliche, it’s the finest place that allows you to be creative within a box, and pays fairly while at it. If not advertising, I think I would be some small business owner, maybe my own skincare brand or a board game company.
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Reach out to Nidhi at @nidhlet on Instagram and follow us to keep up with this series of #MeetTheClique.
