Meet Drishti Panjwani of For The Optics in Downtown LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Drishti Panjwani.

Drishti, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Born in India, raised in Hong Kong and groomed in Los Angeles. I studied at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, graduating with three degrees in four years – BS in Business Management, AA Adv. in International Manufacturing and Product Development and an AA in Fashion Design. I spent my final year of college interning at Procter & Gamble, which showed me that there was a whole segment of the industry that required someone who was both creative and yet business-minded as well.

After graduation, I moved to Singapore and began working at a medical tourism magazine called Global Health and Travel (GHT), embracing the true meaning of being a global citizen. I joined the company as a graphic designer and quickly rose to editorial director. During my time with the firm, I saw a number of clients conduct digital marketing through GHT, however, their own digital assets were either not up to industry standards or entirely non-existent.

In today’s world, one’s digital front is the consumer storefront and creates the first impression of the brand and its quality. The clients were keen to develop these assets but we noticed that many agencies focused more on content distribution and less on content creation, which put a significant burden on the internal teams at these companies. I saw this gap as an opportunity to apply my degree in business and fashion to help clients both create their content and frame their digital strategy. Thus ‘For The Optics’ was born, a digital agency where we use our lens to capture your vision to tell a story that will not only engage, inform, surprise and inspire your audience, but also one that can deliver measurable business goals.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has definitely not been smooth but it’s been paved with good intentions. Starting a business means its success depends on you, which can be quite daunting at times. It means making a call, doing the things you don’t like to do and learning skills that don’t fall within your domain.

The most important thing I’ve learnt throughout the process of building a company is that as a founder, I needed to understand every role in my company. I didn’t have to be able to do them all but I needed the basic understanding so I could communicate with my team and find innovative ways to problem-solve across the board.

It’s definitely been an uphill battle and sometimes my worst nightmares became reality but they were my best lessons as well. Starting a company at 23 meant walking into a room with people twice my age and persuading them to trust me with their business, which was by no means an easy task. I quickly learnt to stop hiding or apologizing for my age, and instead used it to my advantage. With the social media landscape continuously evolving and new platforms sprouting each year, having someone young, dynamic and plugged into the latest trend became essential. Social media is a young tool, with Facebook founded only 16 years ago and Instagram only around for the last eight years. Even the large corporations need to turn to a far younger generation to lead the way, which I paved as my niche – I excelled in customizing and translating concepts to reach the target demographic in various creative forms.

Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
As the consumer’s attention span shortens and honest marketing is coveted above advertising noise, brands are consistently challenged to create and deliver at a higher quality. For The Optics is composed of global citizens with a digital pulse. We see boundless opportunity to merge creativity and technology to help brands grow in the age of digital transformation. Strategic, business-oriented thinking is at the core of how we architect and execute high-quality results through a focus on effective communication, seamless client-agency relationship, real-time monitoring and an ethical approach to business conduct.

Our goal is to create campaigns that answer our client’s challenges, using our lens to capture their vision, unlock new revenue streams and maximize their current channels. We are invested in excellence, dedicated to creating the most value for their product or service via consulting, creative development, digital marketing, social media campaign management and event planning to position our client’s brand on the national, regional and even global map.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
As a business heavily involved with the healthcare industry, 2020 has been an incredibly interesting year that’s kept us on our toes. We were busier than ever during the lockdown period, with all planned content taking a back seat and worked on a daily ad-hoc basis, but it also allowed us to re-evaluate where social media is heading as a whole, and we observed growth within the current platforms and emerging platforms. We spent the extra downtime during the lockdown to not only up-skill ourselves individually but also scale up our offerings and bring on individuals to facilitate the growth.

We’re excited to have begun the second half of the year with both new faces on the team and new clients who helped push our boundaries. It’s a pleasure when clients are willing to give you the freedom to create, which is where we thrive and able to do our best work. We’ve started dabbling into new realms such as AR technology and I’m intrigued to see how our new offerings are received.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fortheoptics.com
• Email: drishti@fortheoptics.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/fortheoptics/
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/fortheoptics
• Other: http://instagram.com/drishtipanjwani/

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.