Instagram Influencer Spotlight On: Afra Khan @anakhemia

1) Tell us a little about yourself. What are you doing now and where do you come from?

I’d like to think i’m soulwork-in-progress. I produce electronic music for various kinds of visual media. I also DJ when I can!

I come from the vast space you call the universe 🙂 Right now I’m writing to you from Jeddah, the coolest city in the west coast of Saudi Arabia. It’s where i grew up.

At the moment, I’m working on some dance music tracks. I tend to just create a lot and then keep it to myself. Hopefully I can change that, release it and share it with the world…It’s been a long time coming.

2) What are your topics of interest? What do you post on Instagram the most?

Mysterious things interest me. Since we’re here talking about visual platforms like Instagram, I’d say I’m nuts for mind-blowing music videos! I can watch and escape and dream and analyze and re-watch for hours and be lost in that world. Music videos are what interested me into music in the first place. I also dig dreamwave / retro geek / psychedelic glitch / net art.

Most of my posts are centered around music and photographs I take on my travels that eventually get botched and edited by me digitally and become the backdrop for my music that I create specifically for Instagram. You might also find an occasional picture of my face, something people always tell me I should post more of! I think I’m a bit shy, maybe, but I’m changing that, slowly. It’s because I think I could make better use of that space you know…talk about things that interest me that I’m excited to share with you.

3) How did your Instagram name come about?

It’s actually my artist alias. It’s a wordplay on some things that I’d rather keep to myself ?

4) What are some apps you use to edit your photos? Share with us your photo-editing routine!

More than half of the apps on my iPhone are all photo and video editing apps, most I barely use, but the apps I go to almost always are Black – a beautiful B&W photo editing tool, because that’s my favourite aesthetic, and of course iMovie – it’s my magic-house where almost 80% of the video editing happens!

5) Any Instagrammers whom you really like? Which Instagrammer inspires you the most?

There’s so many, doing different but equally creative things. I especially browse a lot of net art on Instagram, and can easily lose track of time. In the music space, I enjoy @trentemoller ‘s account of his musical journey because, number 1, I’m a huge admirer of his sound and visuals, and number 2, read number 1 again. His work is like this secret illegitimate lover who can never be possessed, but only experienced in a twisted way, you know. Dark and unspeakable and cold and electric and gloomy and mysterious and otherworldly. It’s so bloody sexy! There’s ‘that’ something about things Scandinavian, don’t you think?

6) If there’s one thing your fellow Instagrammers just gotta try now, what’s it gonna be?

Hmmmm…try putting more thought into how you can use that boxed space because your voice is so powerful, make it count for something, don’t waste the binary!

7) What’s your favorite part about being an influencer?

That I get to share my music and what I’m thinking of with so many people from around the world. Isn’t such an idea so revolutionary? It really does give fodder to thought that we might just be a computer program after all living in the binary, because whether you agree with it or not, we’re not getting any less electric.
Most of my supporters on Instagram are from The Americas and Europe. Sometimes when I think about that it’s really amazing being where I am in closeted Saudi Arabia, yet, I get to share a shade of myself with all these people living in far off places. We’re really living in one big bowl of soup now, you know.

8) What are some of your top tips to brands for running campaigns? How do you maintain authenticity?

Sometimes the real influence can lie with someone who isn’t famous in the commercial sense. So, look at collaborating with people who might have a more direct influencing power among their peer groups. As far as authenticity goes, so long as you can serve someone with something valuable anything goes! But the trick is you have to know what the person in front of you wants. Or perhaps, could end up desiring.

9) What would your advice be on the importance of quality and original content?

Don’t fuss the little stuff in life, just make your time and somebody else’s time worth it doing what you’re doing. Create content that makes someone smile or hopeful or to think in a way that will make our collective experience here better than it’s ever been. If you can do that you’re bloody damn original.

10) What do you like best about partnering with brands?

I think it’s really cool that platforms like Instagram have brought the potential for such an exciting and collaborative dynamic between consumers and brands compared to traditional advertising. When brands work with everyday influencers who are already champions of a product or idea and get to share their experience with their friends and followers, there’s more power there and it becomes more exciting and valuable for everyone.

Topics:

• Art
• Fashion
• Film, Music & Books
• Photography
• Technology
• Travel

Country:

Saudi Arabia

More Information:
www.anakhemia.com