How Krishna used Instagram to grow her business

Krishna, founder of Mistry Lighting was creating innovative lighting design for restaurants when she lost her job due to Covid-19. She turned her passion for lighting and sustainability into a business, helping people create beautiful schemes for their homes. A Digital Boost mentor from BT helped Krishna create an Instagram following and get her business off the ground.

Krishna, an architectural lighting designer, wanted to pursue a career in theatre set design when she graduated ten years ago, but due to the recession jobs were hard to come by. Her sister encouraged her to try lighting design and within three months she landed a job at a lighting manufacturer, who taught her everything she needed to know about the fundamentals of design and how lighting works.

She moved on to work on major projects like Tottenham Stadium in London, a metro station in Riyadh and she has created atmospheric schemes for over 25 Nando’s restaurants, embracing their ethos on sustainability.

But restaurants aren’t opening due to Covid-19 and Krishna was made redundant last September. So, she took a chance and created a business of her own, Mistry Lighting, with a focus on domestic projects – because people are renovating. Competing with thousands of interior design and lighting companies, she has drawn heavily on her network and ethical ethos, seeking help to grow sales and attract a social media following.  

A family friend sent her a link to Digital Boost, who provide unlimited mentorships via partners including Google, DCMS and BT. She had four mentoring calls, becoming more focused on an area of need as she went along.  

Her connection with a mentor from BT was especially helpful. She guided Krishna on how to make Instagram work, the best use of hashtags, creating quality content, and analytics. Mistry Lighting now has over a thousand followers, including influencers, and a website is in development.    

Krishna is the kind of person who can’t enter a room without looking up. She works with daylight to understand how much artificial light is needed. She is passionate about effects of light on mood, productivity, health, and well-being, especially in office and school spaces when we return. She is always learning and pushing technical and design boundaries, working with local artisans who create light out of recycled materials.

She said:

“Digital Boost has been brilliant. No-one around me has experience of building a business but now I want to help others to do it too.

I will be back to learn about branding and product development. If I become very successful, perhaps one day I can also be a mentor for Digital Boost!”

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