Mumbai-based Sucheta Pal is a well-known fitness trainer working with a popular dance fitness programme, Zumba. Hailing from the small town of Ranchi, Sucheta has made a global impact with her fitness events. Sucheta advocates for alternative fitness programmes like Zumba because they are fun and come with a greater flexibility as compared to gym routines.
An Electrical and Electronics engineer by education, Sucheta worked for almost 5 years in corporate before she decided to take up her passion for dance as a full-time profession. Sucheta narrates, “I continued my dance training in Mumbai before I moved to the United States in 2009 and accidentally got introduced to this new form. Zumba is a dance based alternative fitness format and I fell in love with it at the first go. In fact, I fell in love with fitness as such and Zumba seemed to have hit the right chords.”
Sucheta at the Zumba Convention 2016, Orlando, conducting the “Bollywood Obsession” session –
Soon, Sucheta mastered the art and started teaching and training people in the US. Beto Perez, the founder of Zumba, spotted Sucheta doing really well and trained her. “They were looking at India as a major territory to grow their format and I was sent back to relaunch it in India back in 2012. Currently, I am working as the project lead for Zumba India and also as a global brand ambassador for the company”.
“Content is the key. You can surely buy reach, but that isn’t going to help much if you care about the relevant audience. People crave for value adding content and that’s exactly what I focus on”.
Sucheta’s popularity also intensified due to her active engagement on social media. Sucheta shares, “I am a person who wants to add value to people. I have things to say. I went digital with my programmes because it is the fastest growing channel where I can reach out to millions of people. I try to communicate three crucial aspects through social media – everyone needs to acknowledge the importance of being fit and taking actions towards that through some likeable way, I strongly support women empowerment and wish to talk about that, and lastly, I want to promote alternate fitness careers”. Although Sucheta is very active on Facebook and Twitter, she prefers Instagram over any other social channel as it allows her to post every little detail in a visually pleasing way.
On being asked about her opinion on the current fitness landscape of India, Sucheta shares – “I love it. We, almost all fitness professionals, are connected to each other and keep drawing inspirations from each other’s work.”
Tips for budding health influencers: “There are three things that one should keep in mind – (1) Communicate your primary product or service directly. Go all out in talking about that first. (2) Your social media pages and profiles should clearly communicate the goal. The idea is not to click great images with pretty dresses and getting thousands of likes but to reach out to thousands of people with something that will add value to your audience. (3) Define your own positioning clearly”.
Check out Sucheta talking about the basics of food and nutrition –
We asked Sucheta about what she considers to be a good influencer marketing campaign when she answered, “Influencers must be totally responsible towards their audience and this is what I try to live up to. On the other hand, I also take into account the kind of value I am adding to the brand through a particular campaign. So, I take up endorsements only when I see that there’s a balance of value addition to both parties.”
“For me, my followers matter the most. I do not endorse every brand that comes my way. If I come across products that really suit my audience and adds value to them, I usually take that up. I do a lot of food product promotions, but that too, in a very subtle way”.
In closing, Sucheta mentions the importance of influencer marketing platforms – “I want to congratulate you folks at Greenroom for the fabulous work you all are doing, making the lives of brands and influencers a lot easier”.
Sucheta, like a few other Indian women, is heralding alternative fitness in India with a mission to build a fitter nation, and we wish she goes on to scale great heights.
Cheers!
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