Purpose Casts: Isha van Dijk
The Dutch instagram model discusses anime, cyberbullying, underground spots in Amsterdam and beyond
The interview and photo series of Dutch instagram model Isha van Dijk took place between one of the highest mountain top villas in the boujee European party hub of Mykonos, Greece and the acclaimed beach restaurant Principote.
We arrived in Mykonos to a villa with scoring panoramic views of the island and a house half filled with friendly strangers. That's the Mykonos way so it seems. Strangers and familiar faces crammed together with excitement for a long and blurry couple of days. One of those strangers that became a fast friend happened to be a Dutch model and influencer by the name of Isha van Dijk. As the trip unraveled and we experienced the beautiful deadly sins of the Island, we got to chat about a variety of different topics, spanning from her love of music and anime, to her passionate thoughts about cyberbullying that has taken a new form in the digitally addicted youth culture, her new anime inspired fashion brand that launched this summer called illicit gear, and beyond.
In between we enjoyed an unspeakable amount of rosé at some of the finest restaurants and clubs on the island, house music that would blow the ears off you're average elephant, and late night escapades to sunrise after parties that we mischievously snuck into.
The photos and the interview can be found below.
Enjoy.
First things first... how did you get to this point?
Well.. honestly it took years to get to that 100k (follower) mark through posting things I like, cause honestly I only post content I like. I don’t want to copy anyone. I get inspired by certain things, but I always try to make it my own. I really just post my own style. I think when you hit that 100k mark you either grow really fast or just stay there. And that’s what happened. I grew. I’m almost at 300,000 now.
Is there anyone who mentored you along the way?
There's not really one person specifically that mentored me. To be honest, I did everything myself. I have friends around me who really support me but they do different things- my best friends are not influencers.
How was your life different before? What has changed you the most?
I was in school. I wasn’t doing this. I didn’t have a plan for the rest of my life. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Traveling is a thing that changed my life. It changed me as a person. It taught me a lot about myself. And its really important to get to know yourself.
How often do you travel?
The question is really how often do I not travel. I love to travel and not stay in one place for too long because you see so many different people- they all act differently and think differently and its so interesting to get to know (these) places and people.
And what's your favorite place you've been?
My favorite place I’ve been to is definitely Tokyo because of the culture. Because everything is so different. The way they speak. The way they dress. They just dress a certain way and don’t seem to care what other people think. I really like that. Everybody has their own style. And they’re just hardworking and honest people. And that’s really cool.
What weren't you prepared for?
What I wasn’t prepared for was the hate. There’s a lot of hate. People envy you. And they’re jealous. And people want you to do well but they don’t want you to do better than they do. And that’s one thing I wasn’t prepared for. Because people can backstab you- they will be nice to your face, but behind you’re back they will say so much shit.
Is this an issue you want to address or try to change?
Definitely. One issue in my community is definitely social media and how young people, ages 10-15, say so much shit to people, to classmates, to influencers, etc. that they would never say in real life. Cyberbullying. It's really a thing. Because in real life they know they can’t go up to someone and just bully them. That’s not okay. But what parents don’t teach them (their kids) is that you can’t say that through the internet. They just think there is no filter. They just think they’re not real people over the internet. But they are. And its so big. And it effects so many people.
How can you make a difference in this topic (cyberbullying)?
I want to try to change this is by using my platform to talk and advocate about this topic. Actually this Friday I will be doing a talk show where I will be talking about this. It's a dutch talkshow called Rumag (click here for Rumag Instagram). I hope people will understand it more and will understand that it effects people. People on Instagram will say that you chose this. No! I don’t choose to be hated. I mean, why would you hate on people through the internet. You don’t even know them. You only see pictures and you think something about them. So yeah, I definitely want to help educate people to think about it. To have more empathy. Empathy is a rare feature these days.