Here’s how HerZindagi hit the bull’s eye in the last one year; check out our Editor’s letter

Dear Readers,

Today marks Her Zindagi’s first anniversary and I couldn't help but indulge in a little nostalgia before I share with you tonnes of milestones and all the good stuff we’ve witnessed in the last one year. I had a vision – to create a site that becomes a home to ideas that would enable women to grow like never before—one that was and continues to be smart, stylish, authentic, spirited and inspiring to say the least. And I’m just as passionate about my vision today as I was when I first started.

Flashback to this day, last year, my anxious self was contemplating on ways to finally present forth our creation from months of hard work put in together, as a team.

We opened our site with the stunning Deepika Padukone folding her arms (from the then-controversial film, Padmaavat) as if gesturing and welcoming you all--to come be a part of our women’s-only community.

Prompt appreciation messages flooded our inboxes and this further cemented the fact that we were on the right track.

A month later, we could relate to it slightly better and knew we hit our first six with a story we published on Mallika Dua’s account of sexual harassment as part of the #MeToo Movement—it performed superbly well, clocking in our first set of 0.1 Mn page views in less than two days. Since then, there has been no looking back. One after the other we broke our own tiny records and started getting one step closer to our goals.

Whether it was our Special Series on #Evergreen Styleor a story done via data-visualisation. as a format, or even our latest, #MondayMotivation Fitness Influencer Video Series, we tried doing all that it takes in these past few months to give you all, our readers, an immersive experience. And, no, we’re not done yet; we have a lot of exciting things coming up for you very soon too.

Over a period of the next few months, celebrities and social activists like Neha Dhupia, Shilpa Shetty, Chitrangda Singh, Tisca Chopra, Diana Penty, Amrita Raichand, Disha Patani, Ranvir Brar, Aditi Mittal, Vani Tripathi, Sanjna Kapoor, Anupama Chopra and many others too started to voice their opinions on and through HerZindagi. (You can check out the video here

I must admit that the past 12 months have been serendipitous, and at times, really, really rough too but just the thought of having catapulted an idea into an entity of its own—and a niche one at that, was enough to keep me and my team going.

On August 10 this year, we added English to HZ’s repertoire and instantly took the property up by a notch—we now reach out to many more women and serve them in a language that is the most prevalent on web. And with the launch of HZ English, we reached out to influencers from the fields of beauty, health, fashion, food, travel, education, law-making, technology and many others to collaborate with us to become a voice for the brand.

Before we knew it, people just believed in us from the word ‘go’ and we are so incredibly humbled and grateful to all our Guest Editors, Content Stars, Influencers and columnists. We wanted the stories behind the story to inspire you but also to also provide our readers with simple how-tos and fuel them with resources that could help them in their life struggles, goals and dreams - attainable in their own unique ways.

Standing proud and confident with a repository of more than five thousand articles and over a thousand videos, HZ is confident in catering to its niche audience with much aplomb. Our biggest contributor has undoubtedly been our social platforms where we reach out and interact with you all and take your feedback pretty seriously to give you the best experience possible!

To put things in perspective, today I feel, HerZindagi is all about women; women who want to be self-sufficient, women who challenge the status quo, women who like to shake things up and ask questions, women who are not afraid to wear their individuality on their sleeves, women who are willing to walk the extra mile; women who may be mothers, homemakers or those who belong to the work force or even those who succeed and may be, at times, fail at striking a balance between work and family but most importantly women who dream and want to learn and grow in life.

Covering a journey of the first 365 days, wouldn’t have been possible without a wonderfully supportive leadership team here at JNM and of course my fellow teammates, so here’s a virtual high-five to you all!

Many thanks to our Product, Marketing, Content, Sales, Design, Technology, Brand, Video, HR and Admin teams—for they have all been tirelessly working to make HerZindagi, the brand, which it is today.

But truly, it is YOU my dear lovely ladies who we have to thank the most—for the many months you’ve supported and celebrated with us, the stories you’ve liked and shared, and the impact you’ve made on our collective women community. I can’t be prouder to announce how within less than a year, we’ve managed to reach and enjoy a total and happy user-base of 1 Million + readers.

I’d love for you all to take a moment with this letter and share with me some of your favourite stories and videos from the past 12 months.

Hope you continue to revel in ‘HerZindagi’

#BeSmart until next time!