For Mardi Gras 2021, Instagram commissioned huge, vibrant murals to be painted different LGTBQI+ creators. In Melbourne, the middle of a vibrant mural by artist Rory Lynch-Wells is dedicated to Roshan Nausad – the makeup artist and creative director otherwise known as Desi Boy.
Roshan is the perfect example of the 21st Century creative. A master of multiple skills (they direct, style, and shoot all of their content solo), Roshan’s confidence in their multiple intersecting identities pulls you in through the screen. Whether it’s a beauty product review, a passionate discussion of colourism, a traditional makeup ‘look’ post, or intimate musings about Indian culture and gender, you always feel that Roshan is 100% genuine.
If this is the future of social media influence, we’re about it. Read on for Roshan’s thoughts on Australian beauty standards, celebrating Pride in India, and how anyone can develop their confidence.
First of all, tell us what it’s like to have a huge ass mural of your face in Melbourne!
First of all when Instagram reached out I was so excited, like, it was so cool that they’d even considered me! It never even crossed my mind. Zaac [D’Almedia, Strategic Partnerships at Instagram Australia] had said, “We love your content, we love what you’re doing and we’re keeping an eye on your account.” And then he reached out later to say, “We’d love you to be part of this Mardi Gras 2021 activation, we’re going to get you painted on a wall…” It was said so casually! But when I saw it in person it was so surreal.
I’m a very small person – I’m only 5’ – so the whole wall to me was gigantic anyway. But I’m so grateful and humbled that they’re representing me. One, because I’m Indian, and two because I’m someone who is a person of colour within the LGBTQI+ community. It made me a bit emotional, honestly! The whole experience, having this once in a lifetime opportunity – I loved it.
Do you usually celebrate Mardia Gras and Pride events?
I celebrated Pride in India last year. We did the whole march thing, the Pride festival, because my friend runs one of the largest Pride organisations in India. It’s called LGTB Mumbai and she runs it solely on her own. She funded this entire org from the ground up, she’s queer herself and her parents fully support her. It’s beautiful. She goes all around India holding events and raising awareness within India. She does a phenomenal job trying to combat the ignorance and discrimination people face in India. She is a phenomenal person.
What is the reception to Pride events in India – is it well received?
To be honest, I was born in India but I grew up in Australia, so when I went to India last year I was just so blown away at how many people were involved in the organisation and in the process. I was a little bit ignorant myself. I was like, “Oh how are people going to be treated? I hope there’s no brawls, I hope there’s no hate, I hope there’s no discrimination. I hope it’s a safe space for everyone to enjoy themselves.” I was blown away – there were so many amazing people, security and everything involved, the community was really coming together to pull this off.
We ended up having the whole event outside of a cricket ground funnily enough! All these cricket men are like “What are you guys doing?”… It was a whole over-the-top parade! Just such an awesome juxtaposition, a cool sight to see.
More than anything people are just curious. I didnt ever once feel unsafe and neither did my friends. So I got educated being involved in that myself. It was such a great time, but my feet killed because I was wearing these heels and the ground wasn’t very even… it’s all part of the experience!
You’re growing a really impactful presence on Instagram – was there a breakthrough moment or post?
I would say it was about two years ago I started seeing great growth. I’ve always been so adamant about producing high quality content from day one. Because my background is in makeup artistry, photography, styling and creative direction, I do it all myself. So people ask me “Who takes your pictures?” – I do. I create the set in this small space but I make it work.
Two years ago I started posting more IGTV videos and for some reason the algorithm really picked that up and pushed my content out further. The kind of videos I was making at that time were all on different topics – sort of that conversational thing, seeing if anyone else can relate to what I’ve gone through. Because there is a colourism problem in my culture – being fair is seen as the idealistic beauty standard in India, derived from colonisation – I created this video and it got about 30,000 views. It was basically me roasting Bollywood stars who say they don’t use lightening products, but they do! I showed the actual advertisements with the celebrity, and then the interview of them denying it. People really loved that factual evidence. Some people were a bit annoyed about it, but we had conversations in the comments and it turned out we all wanted the same thing. So that video really pushed [my account] much further.
How well do you think the Australian media represents your different intersecting identities?
My experience of expressing myself has gotten a little bit easier. In the beginning Australian brands didn’t want to work with me because, well… I look different, I’m Indian. I was seeing a lot of brands choosing white Australian people to represent their brands. And I was getting a little frustrated because brands from the US wanted to work with me, brands from India wanted to work with me, but I wasn’t getting much interest from brands in my own country, where I live. I was a bit disheartened by that for a couple of years.
I suppose I started to unravel a bit more of the conversation about diversity and the lackthereof within the beauty and Instagram space… Brands maybe saw that, and that’s when they started to reach out and say: “We’d love to work with you, we think you’re a great representative.” So it did take time but I think it’s getting a bit better. But I feel we have a lot more progress to make.
Do you feel like the beauty community is at the forefront of that progress, or does it take a while to catch up to other areas?
The beauty industry, as a whole I think it’s coming up really well. I think they’re trying to work really really hard to involve as many people of colour, different identities and genders as well. But if we’re talking about the Australian audience, I think we’re not there yet.
If we compare American beauty standards to Australian beauty standards… In Australia it’s much less, every person on like the Today Show or whatever, it’s very white. There isn’t much representation. But if you look at American TV, the average TV show or news broadcast at least has a few POC represented on-screen at one time. Australia has a long way to go in terms of them thinking there is no market for it – there definitely is. You know, when you walk outside on the street you see so many ethnicities but for some reason the media market seem to think that it’s not what’s going to sell. So I think the more we drive this… even what we’re doing right now, giving an opportunity for POC to speak on this platform, it paves the way for growth.
Have you always been so confident? You come across as incredibly self-assured, we’re jealous!
Not in every way, but as a person I would say I’m generally very confident. I’m adopted, I have white Australian parents and they know how passionate I am about all this stuff and about feeling different. But even when I was adopted… The orphanage changed my name. So of ‘Roshan Nausad’, Nausad is the name my parents gave me and Roshan is the name the orphanage gave me. So when they went to change my name at three years old, I was vocal, I said “That’s not my name.” Even then, as a baby I was very vocal about who I was as a person.
But like everyone, we have insecurities and moments when we feel like we doubt ourselves, that we’re not good enough. In high school I was bullied and that was really hard for me personally. I try to not let it get to me, but our past always seems to seep into our present – it haunts us all!
So when I have those moments of doubt or my old self of feeling insecure, I just try to think to myself: “Rosh you’re doing the best that you can and that’s really all you can do.” And that goes for everyone. As long as you’re doing the best you can do and you’re making your community feel safe and happy, I mean you can’t go wrong.
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What advice would you give readers who are struggling to find confidence in themselves and their identity?
Just remember that you are fine the way that you are. Don’t feel like you have to be constantly battling this idea of “I wish I was more of this, I wish I was more of that.” Because of the society we live in, we’re constantly micromanaging ourselves and pulling our pieces apart until we almost can’t recognise ourselves. Because that’s what we think people want, rather than what we were born with.
But if you think you make the people in your life happy and they’re proud of you, and you’re proud of the person you are, I think that’s enough. I don’t think you need to be anything more than that.
So long as you’re being a kind person and you’re willing to learn and improve, that’s the best you can do. You’re not a robot.
What are your aspirations for the future? What would you like to do with your platform?
What I would really love is to facilitate more panels or discussions to give some of my confidence to people. Because I know I’ve got a lot of it! I’ve got enough to share.
I would also love to go to schools and talk about self confidence, and tell young kids it’s not always going to be like this. To give them the advice that what you’re feeling now is not how you’re always going to feel. And help them to take little micro steps now, so that when they’re ready they have the skills to be able to stand up on their own two feet and fly on their own.
[When I was young] I didn’t have anyone guiding me through my sexuality or my cultural identity – I had to find all that out on my own. So I would love to guide other young people through that. There’s enough room for all of us.
