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Last edited February 7, 2026


Karishma Mehta
Karishma Mehta
Mehta at 2019 launch of her book, Humans of Bombay: Ordinary People Extraordinary Stories
Born
1992-03-05 (age 34)
Mumbai, India


Years active
2014–present


Karishma Mehta (born 5 March 1992) is the founder of the photo blog page Humans of Bombay which launched in January 2014, and author of the related book Humans of Bombay.[1]

Biography

Mehta was born and raised in Mumbai and attended the Bombay Scottish School, Mahim.[2][3] She attended a boarding school in Bangalore for two years and then college in the UK for three years.[2] In 2013, Mehta was an economics and business student in Nottingham, UK,[3] and holds a degree in business and economics[4] from the University of Nottingham.[5][6] She is a freelance writer for various publications, including National Geographic.[3] She is a TEDx speaker.[7][8] Mehta is fluent in Hindi, English and Marathi.[8] She is the niece of Zarna Garg.

Works

In January 2014, Mehta began the Humans of Bombay Facebook page, copied from American Photographer Brandon Stanton's - the Humans of New York (HoNY) Facebook page.[3][9][4] After discovering the HoNY page in 2013, she tried to find a similar page for Mumbai, and after not finding one, she created a logo and made a Facebook page herself.[3] To find subjects for the website, Mehta approached people on the street[3][4][8] and interviewed them.[6] By 2018, her team had expanded to six members based in Mumbai, with freelance members in other parts of India.[8]

In 2016, Mehta compiled posts, into a self-published book, Humans of Bombay,[4] in her attempt to directly raise money to fund the website.[3]

As of 2021, the site has over a million followers on Facebook and over two million on Instagram.[10] In 2022, she launched an interview-based YouTube web series called "How The Hell Did I Do It?" which features businesspeople, celebrities, and other accomplished people answering interview questions to provide insight on how they accomplished certain things in their lives.[11]

Plagiarism and Controversy

In October 2023, Mehta faced widespread cyber trolling after a failed attempt at suing another page 'People of India' for copyright infringement and Mehta's work called out for plagiarism.[12] Mehta and Humans of Bombay also received criticism from their inspiration Brandon Stanton, the founder of the Humans of New York[13][14][15]

References

  1. Meet The Founder: Karishma Mehta {Humans of Bombay}. The Post(7 July 2020). Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Meet the Human Behind the Popular 'Humans of Bombay' Page. The Better India(26 November 2015). Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Meet Karishma Mehta, the woman behind Humans of Bombay. Hindustan Times(6 May 2016). Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Karishma Mehta On How Humans Of Bombay Captures The Invincible Spirit Of The City. Verve(11 January 2018). Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  5. Karishma Mehta On The Power Of A Facebook Page. Verve(29 April 2016). Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Being the humans of Bombay. The Indian Express(22 April 2014). Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  7. People Are Inspired By The Woman Behind Humans Of Bombay Honestly Speaking About Her Failures. BuzzFeed(17 October 2017). Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Meet the Humans of Bombay founder. Khaleej Times(3 August 2018). Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  9. From the heart, through a lens. The Hindu(14 April 2016). Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  10. She Was Just 21 When She Started 'Humans Of Bombay'. Here's Her Story. NDTV.com(25 November 2021). Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  11. How the hell did she do it?. Hindustan Times(2022-09-10). Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  12. "Received Death, Rape Threats": Humans Of Bombay CEO Amid Plagiarism Row. NDTV.com. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  13. 'Haven't received a penny for a single story': Humans of New York founder hits back at Humans of Bombay for reducing art to a 'product'. The Economic Times(2023-09-27). Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  14. How Humans of Bombay Lost at Its Own Game. The Juggernaut. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  15. Humans of Bombay vs. Humans of New York: All you need to know about the controversy. The Times of India(2023-09-25). Retrieved 2024-12-18.

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