Meet Katha Patel – a Model, a Fashion Technocrat, a Reiki Practioner and owner of Soul 16.
She just graduated in Garment Technology from the Institute of Fashion Technology, MSU, Vadodara. She started her modelling career when she was 17 years old and became a reiki practioner a few years ago.
As is every Indian parents’ dream, Katha started studying engineering, but she was never happy with that decision, and as fate would have wanted it, ended up following her passion and pursing fashion. She followed her passion even in the face of adversity. Despite being called a fool, her discipline and courage to follow what she loved, kept her going.
It is said that obstacles are strategically placed hurdles that are meant to remind us of our inner strength and courage. There are obstacles in any field you choose to pursue, hers was that when she started following her passion, she didn’t have her parents’ support. When she had shows and shoots, she had to lie and go. Although with time, she did convince them of her passion and that she loved what she did and they agreed and supported her. She also didn’t have a mentor in the fashion field, who could guide her about the way forward and who knew the ins and outs of the business, which led to her learning a lot herself at a young age. She has built her career slowly and steadily with intense hardwork.
When we asked her if she’d be willing to move out of Vadodara to boost her career, she said she had three most exciting things going on in life - her modelling, her brand and her reiki practice. Naturally, in order to pursue one, she would have to leave the other two, and she isn’t ready to do that just yet. She wants to take everyday head on and explore all three options to see where life takes her.
Soul 16 – a brand that she started with a fellow classmate and friend in her 2nd year of college. They started it as a project for a course they had, and their objective is to make fashion accessories available to young fashion oriented girls at affordable prices.
Reiki is a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient’s body and restore physical and emotional well-being. Katha, is currently at Level 3 of Reiki and is aiming to reach the Grandmaster Level. She started pursuing reiki when she was going through a difficult phase in her personal life and Reiki helped her come out of it.
People are always telling her that you have such a good life, you’re a model, you don’t have to do anything and yet get to travel so much. But Katha feels it is just the cover of the book that people see. She says, “They don’t know the hardwork and joint effort that goes into getting that perfect picture. There is this one picture I had, where I was supposed to stand and pose amidst flowers, but those bushes were so thorny that I was getting pricked from all sides and I still had to maintain that calm and relaxed expression. There was an assistant photographer who was precariously perched above my head on a branch for the lighting, and another who was also standing in those thorny bushes.”
Talking about her first ever shoot, she said, “I had no experience whatsoever in this field, I had not even thought that I would be given this opportunity, I was just 17 years old. I was like any normal girl my age, I didn’t know much about professional make-up and hairstyling and when I got my first shoot, I was a nervous wreck. So when I got there, there was no make-up artist and all the models were supposed to do their own make-up, and I had no clue where to start from. Luckily, one of the fellow models helped me a little bit, but then she was called for her shot, so I did what I knew, and when I went for my first shot, I was terrified, as I was working with professionals and what if I messed up. But my first shot was great and everyone appreciated it. This boosted my confidence. "
The part she loves most about her work is the dressing-up and the travelling. She loves the whole process of getting ready for a shoot.
The biggest piece of advice that has stayed with her and made an impact on her life is that “Nobody else has the power to make you happy, it’s your responsibility and your job to make yourself happy and content, no one else is going to do it for you. So step up and do something about it, don’t just sit and cry.”
She takes inspiration and follows the teachings of Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev. She hopes she is able to attain that kind of peace of mind.
One advice she would like to give anyone who wishes to pursue modelling as a career is, “it looks all glittery and glam from the outside, but if you really want to do something and make a difference, you have to work your ass off.”
A life advice she gives is, “ Mukta Bhava Yatrasi” – Be free where you are. Just let go of everything, all attachements and sorrow and just let your mind, body and soul flow.”
An alternative career option she would have followed was to be a Yoga Instructor.
The one thing that terrifies her is when she is out of her comfort zone, and trying something new. This is her short-term goal, to overcome this trait.
Her role model is her mother, a tuition teacher who teaches students from 1ststandard to 12thstandard at nominal fees, and despite a long day at work, she is always there for her family to fulfill all their needs and be whatever they want her to be – a daughter-in-law, a wife, a mother and a friend.
If given a choice to choose a super-power, she’d go Doctor Strange’s way. She would be a Master Sorcerer and manipulate the forces of the universe. She strongly supports the idea of going back to the roots and unlocking the powers you have within you. Also, an added bonus of attaining this super-power would be that she’d be able to go anywhere through teleportation!
As we wrap up this conversation, we asked her about the two things she cannot live without. Sipping on a hot cup of tea, she said, “Music and this tea, absolutely!”
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