Influencer Reiss Akhtar: ‘I don’t think anything would have prepared me for the last year’
Sophie Evans for City News
'People are committed to misunderstanding you, which I can understand. But what I don't understand is how you can leave someone with the questions I've had to have over the past year.'
In his local north London park, influencer Reiss Akhtar explained the problems that come with social media stardom.
Describing the trolling which he has dealt with over the past year, Reiss said, “in terms of what I was feeling, a lot of it eroded my ability to trust.”
Akhtar recalled how this has affected his personal life.
“There were things I stopped sharing with people close to me. I pulled away from pretty much everybody in my life.”
“Because it’s online, people often knock it off as ‘you’re bound to get hate, you’re bound to have trolls’. This doesn’t really take seriously the impact that it has. I think that it’s just eroded by ability to trust and be open with really anyone.”
“Last week, my account got suspended. And I’ve never been more grateful for something online to have happened. I still have the same issues with identity, with friendship – stuff that my friends are going through. But the only difference is that when it’s put on social media, there is a level of invincibility attributed to you, even though it hasn’t changed anything for my life.”
“So all the time I think about quitting. The only thing keeping me going is that I’m trying to remodel what I share. I want to make it about charity work and about issues that are going on.”
Reiss Akhtar’s platform
Reiss Akhtar uses his platform to showcase his interest in fashion and issues facing the LGBTQ+ community.
Currently, Reiss has 13.3k followers on Instagram.
Next steps
Describing where he wants to take his social media platform next, Reiss says he “still has no clue” and “will just see what happens”.
“My ultimate goal would be to work with small brands, to do charity work, and to keep doing work on panels or things that involve discussion about issues because that’s not something that being an influencer is really associated with”, he added.
“The times that influencers do speak up about can feel very tokenistic. So I would like to be a part of that change. I just don’t know how I would”.
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Standfirst
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HeadlineInfluencer Reiss Akhtar: ‘I don’t think anything would have prepared me for the last year’
Short HeadlineInfluencer Reiss Akhtar on problems with social media stardom
Standfirst'People are committed to misunderstanding you, which I can understand. But what I don't understand is how you can leave someone with the questions I've had to have over the past year.'
In his local north London park, influencer Reiss Akhtar explained the problems that come with social media stardom.
Describing the trolling which he has dealt with over the past year, Reiss said, “in terms of what I was feeling, a lot of it eroded my ability to trust.”
Akhtar recalled how this has affected his personal life.
“There were things I stopped sharing with people close to me. I pulled away from pretty much everybody in my life.”
“Because it’s online, people often knock it off as ‘you’re bound to get hate, you’re bound to have trolls’. This doesn’t really take seriously the impact that it has. I think that it’s just eroded by ability to trust and be open with really anyone.”
“Last week, my account got suspended. And I’ve never been more grateful for something online to have happened. I still have the same issues with identity, with friendship – stuff that my friends are going through. But the only difference is that when it’s put on social media, there is a level of invincibility attributed to you, even though it hasn’t changed anything for my life.”
“So all the time I think about quitting. The only thing keeping me going is that I’m trying to remodel what I share. I want to make it about charity work and about issues that are going on.”
Reiss Akhtar’s platform
Reiss Akhtar uses his platform to showcase his interest in fashion and issues facing the LGBTQ+ community.
Currently, Reiss has 13.3k followers on Instagram.
Next steps
Describing where he wants to take his social media platform next, Reiss says he “still has no clue” and “will just see what happens”.
“My ultimate goal would be to work with small brands, to do charity work, and to keep doing work on panels or things that involve discussion about issues because that’s not something that being an influencer is really associated with”, he added.
“The times that influencers do speak up about can feel very tokenistic. So I would like to be a part of that change. I just don’t know how I would”.
This fantasy period, which it has been dubbed online, often encompasses themes from all three eras, and is a mythical period which exists with the beautiful clothes but no disease or death.
