It is my pleasure to introduce you to Kavitra Thilak (she/her) and help share her journey from rule-follower to growing her confidence and wanting to become more visible through self-belief work.

Kavitra is an architecture student turned Content Coach and Content Strategist. She works with purpose-led entrepreneurs, helping them ditch the “should’s” and “supposed to’s” that hold them back from going all in on their marketing. Kavitra’s approach is all about creating content that’s true to who you are, tapping into your unique strengths-intuition, and using aligned strategies. 

In addition to running her business, she loves having solo dance parties, enjoying her daily tea time, watching feel-good Netflix series, and curating outfits for her upcoming events.

Kavitra—I’m so happy we get to share your story with our readers today!! I’ve known you for several years now and have seen how you went from being part of a fairly saturated industry to embracing your innate skills in order to differentiate yourself. Can you tell our readers more about your perspectives on this?

I’m all about doing your content and marketing YOUR way. Dropping the “shoulds”, the “supposed to’s”—aka the rules—and creating content that actually aligns with who you are and what you stand for.

I don’t believe in a cookie-cutter way of creating content or fitting into someone else’s formula to do marketing. My approach is a mix of tapping into your unique strengths, using your intuitive gifts, and combining that with intentional strategies.

What really sets me apart though? I bring marketing mindset into the mix. 

Marketing is not just about copy or messaging or strategies. It’s also how you view your marketing and your mindset. The beliefs you hold about yourself, your work, and your audience impact how you show up.

It’s interesting how our beliefs can have such a big impact on how we do things and the success we experience. Can you share a moment when you almost gave up, and what kept you going?

I started my business with a bang—following my intuition—and things flowed. Over time, I got caught up in the “shoulds” and marketing/business rules (from the internet and the industry), which made me second-guess myself and lose my spark.

I went from signing clients to struggling to sign clients. From being excited to add value to my community to second-guessing every word I said or wrote, wondering if I was saying things the “right way.”

I felt like I wasn’t meant for this path of entrepreneurship. I remember asking the universe, “Why did you put me on this path? Showed me all the signs to go ahead, gave me a successful start, only to take it all away from me?”.

I felt like giving up.

What kept me going was the guidance from my intuition, saying this was leading me to something, and being inspired by stories of other leaders I looked up to. Their stories of how they turned around their life and business helped me to build trust that if they could do it, I could do it too.

I’m so glad you followed your intuition and didn’t give up on yourself. Throughout that journey, what personal experiences influenced your mission and the impact you want to make?

Although I invested in mentorship and programs once I lost my spark to get better at my marketing and content, I always felt like I was forcing myself to follow their proven strategies and steps. Most of the approaches I found in these programs felt off, and it used to suck the soul out of me after I followed through. My marketing and content became so not me, and I was moving away from the way I expressed myself and my work. Everything I saw that was available was a framework or a rigid formula.

Once I let go of those rules and started doing things my way, shifting beliefs that weren’t serving me, everything changed. So, as I gained wisdom through all my highs and lows, I decided to support entrepreneurs in a way where we tap into their strengths to create powerful content, using intentional strategies that support them, not suck the soul out of them.

That’s why I do what I do: so entrepreneurs can step into their power, create content rooted in their values by tapping into their unique strengths and their intuition, and share their message without fitting into a box or watering down their voice.

I love the ripple effect when someone experiences their own breakthroughs and use that experience to help others tap into their own brilliance. Is there a moment you can think of where you felt truly seen or validated in your work?

One of my past clients sent me a voice note saying she felt a level of clarity with her offers that she had never felt before. She’s mentioned that she had worked with many business coaches who charged in the high thousands, but none of them were able to tap into things in the intuitive way I like I did while working with her. 

This was huge for me because when I work with my clients, I try to understand them—who they are, their values, their gifts—and offer coaching and feedback keeping all this in mind. 

I felt that I was able to give her suggestions that aligned with her and her approach in marketing and business. 

Plus, I use my intuition to pick up on things with clients, and this was evidence that my intuition was guiding me to lead my client in the right direction.

You’re clearly very aligned in what you’re doing right now. If you had to share your wisdom on a larger scale, what topics are you most passionate about speaking on?

Marketing Your Way

The first topic I’m passionate about it creating content and doing marketing your way.

This covers how important it is to tap into your strengths, choose strategies that align with you, and approach your content by being rooted in your values and the kind of business you want to build. 

I’m passionate about this because a lot of entrepreneurs choose ways to create content and strategies that restrict them rather than support them or the way they lead their business. This makes marketing feel like a chore, and in my experience helping my clients, picking strategies and ways of creating content that are in alignment with them, their values, and goals, can help them feel liberated and make marketing simpler.

Expressing Yourself to Dream Clients

Another topic I’m passionate about is about hitting the sweet spot of conveying your message to your dream clients and expressing yourself.

In my experience, I’ve seen a lot of entrepreneurs trying to figure out how to “speak directly to their dream clients” in their content. So, they try frameworks and templates—which can be helpful—but when they do, they feel like they are watering down their self-expression in the process of making their messaging click or speaking directly to their ideal clients. 

I believe it’s not about choosing between either; you get to convey your message clearly without watering down your voice or expression. Even knowing that this is possible can help entrepreneurs share what they want to share without boxing themselves in, while creating powerful content that serves their community.

Marketing Mindset—Beyond The Strategy

I also enjoy talking about marketing mindset.

I’m passionate about this because working on my marketing mindset changed everything for me. I used to implement a lot of strategies, take a lot of action in terms of posting content, and engaging on Instagram, but it felt like things weren’t working no matter how much action I took or what strategy I implemented. Working on the beliefs I hold about myself, my offers, my audience, and my relationship with social media is what changed the game for me in terms of making marketing more easeful.

Also, I’m passionate about this because I’d love for more entrepreneurs to gain awareness that often, it’s not the action they take in their marketing, the strategy, or the algorithm that’s the problem. Sometimes, it’s the mindset they have around it. Making simple shifts in their mindset can make a huge difference.

Break The Rules And Lean Into Self-Trust To Be Visible

Lastly, I could talk about dropping the should’s and the supposed to’s for hours. 

Often, the reason entrepreneurs aren’t able to create the results they desire or make progress is because they’ve absorbed a lot of should’s and supposed to’s (aka rules) from the industry. Or consumed too many gurus on social media saying “only if you add this to your content, you’ll sign clients”. This holds them back from taking action, trusting themselves, and their message. 

I feel that if entrepreneurs became more aware of where they are subscribing to rules that aren’t serving them, it would help them share their message more freely and make marketing and content creation simpler.

I can’t wait to see you share more of these stories and lessons through more speaking engagements!! Can you share a memorable speaking experience that had a lasting impact on you or your audience?

I was once a guest on the Sensitive Sales Queen Podcast, hosted by Diana Grace. This was the speaking experience that made me feel like a true speaker and planted the desire to take on more speaking engagements, let myself be seen more, and share my words with the world so that more people can learn, be inspired, and gain a fresh perspective on marketing and content approaches. 

I also loved the experience of collaborating with Diana—she’s a fantastic, well-prepared host, and the conversation flowed so naturally with her.

I had been part of a few collaborations here and there and had the dream of being known as a speaker, but this speaking experience truly sparked my desire to be seen more and share my message.

There’s also a weekly series I hosted on Instagram for over 3 months—the Content Mindset Series—where I went live and talked about mindset practices, perspective shifts, and concepts to realign and build a solid mindset along with the actions you take for your content. 

On the series, I brought on guests to discuss diverse topics including astrology, energetics, and more. This helped me level up my confidence and understand that I can deliver value in these areas, which was a huge step for me at the time. Also, people from my community would tell me that what was shared in the series was helpful, which I believe made a difference in their journey.

That’s incredible that one speaking engagement could spark such a desire to become more visible! What’s a misconception people have about being a speaker that you’d love to dirprove right now?

The biggest misconception—which I once had too and still exists among many—is that you need a big following on social media to become a speaker and get collaboration opportunities. 

This isn’t always true. 

There might be podcasts or other speaking engagements where a certain following is a criteria, but I’ve come across opportunities where the host was looking for people with an interesting journey or story, or what unique topic or approach the speaker had to offer.

I couldn’t agree more. Public speaking is so much more than vanity metrics—it’s about sharing your story, your expertise, and helping folks feel seen through your unique perspectives. 

So Kavitra, you’re a marketing expert, an intuitive person, a public speaker… What’s a fun fact about you that most people don’t know?

Fun fact—I’m an architecture graduate who decided to change careers and become a fashion stylist. I spent 2-3 years while I was studying architecture, researching, exploring, and deciding which career to switch to. But then COVID hit, so I changed gears again and started my business. 

I didn’t have a big “I’m starting my business” moment. Things fell into place, I polished my skills and followed through. That’s how it happened.

That is honestly so cool and I love how many different skills and passions you have. What are some of the things you like to do to recharge your batteries when you’ve had a draining day?

I like to step out of my house. Going out refreshes my mind, especially when I can meet friends. I also enjoy hopping on a call with my biz bestie. Her energy is so magnetic, and she’s so supportive that when I talk with her, I always get some direction or a fresh perspective which helps a lot.

Thank you so much for sharing more of your journey and insights with us, Kavitra. To wrap things up, I’d love to ask you 3 rapid-fire questions.

What does success mean to you on a personal level?

For me, success means following my purpose, falling in love with who I’m becoming, and giving back to the world in both big and small ways. It’s about building wealth by doing what I love, cherishing the little moments with myself and the people who matter to me, and having freedom of choice.

What’s an exciting project you’re currently working on? 

I’m working on a set of content that focuses specifically on mindset, self-trust, and holding oneself through change. I want to bring the mindset and belief aspect of my work more into what I share, including parts of my own journey.

The intention is to give my people a fresh perspective, to make them think about how they can approach things in a way that truly aligns with them, and to give them a permission slip to do things differently.

This project, or focus as I like to call it, is about sharing my voice and pouring into my people.

Right now, it’s in the ideation and build-up phase, and it might eventually take shape as a challenge, a series, or a freebie. I’m excited to see how it all comes together!

If you could share one message with the world from a stage, what would it be?

You are on this earth to shine your light, so shine to the fullest.

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