My studies take centre stage in my life

Maisha Mahjabeen Priooty

For Maisha Mahjabeen, popularly known as model and influencer Priooty, education holds just as much importance as her career in modelling. 
Just having taken her second year final exams at the Department of Women and Gender Studies at Dhaka University, she recently opened 'Priooty.talks,' her other Instagram handle where she mostly focuses on gender studies lessons in Bangla and shares a few untold stories of women in our country and how they were devalued or discredited. This has to do with her studies as well.
Priooty is currently affiliated with TransEnd and works closely with their social media department, focusing on PR. TransEnd is a non-profit organisation who work toward the social and economical empowerment of marginalised and underrepresented hijra, non-binary, gender queer, transgender, and intersex communities in Bangladesh.
"People, especially women, reach out to me with very serious and personal problems, domestic violence for example. They used to ask me about these on Priooty.jpg, my modelling handle. So, for them, I opened Priooty.talks — a platform specifically designed for people to reach out to me. I always aim to share my learnings with others. Priooty.talks allows me to spread what I learn from my studies," she added.
As of now, Priooty has almost 1,00,000 Instagram followers. 
"It was in 2018 that I got a call from Samrin Hassan saying they would pay me for modelling. They're going to pay me for taking my photos? This was brand new for me! I told Mom. She agreed. But this was so new for me I took Mom with me for support," Priooty said about how her career as a model began.
But when she started, she did not pay much attention to the term 'influencer'. She did those out of her love for fashion and social activities, but nothing officially. Even as a school student, she got multiple offers for modelling.
Only a college going student back then, she had the chance to shoot only on Fridays and Saturdays. Up until that point, she was doing photoshoots pro bono. That changed when she got the call from Samrin Hassan. Besides modelling, she also hosts programmes at her university and many other interesting hobbies.
Her hobbies
Priooty loves dancing. Her favourite form is the Indian classical Bharatnatyam. Her fascination for this form of art was evident when she said, "I was admitted into recitation, dance classes, drawing and painting, singing… you name it, very early in life. But mostly the dancing stayed. I still love it." 
However, she prioritises her studies over anything else. As she has to balance between studies and her profession, she gets to choose which brands to work with. According to her, this is a great thing as it gives her total freedom of choice. 
"Following a routine as a university student is impossible! I choose who I want to work with whenever I get some time between studies," she added. 
The two Eids are peak seasons for fashion models and influencers, according to her. Brands send her dresses and again, she has total freedom about how she wants to wear them. "This is an excellent profession for young models out there," Priooty added.
'All the shades of pink!'
Her favourite colour is literally all the shades of pink and she is regarded as the connoisseur of pink among her peers. 
"I don't want to dress up like a barbie, but unconsciously, I end up dressing and looking like one, because of my favourite colour," she exclaimed. 
Priooty is also a picky eater who does not like anything sweet.
"I'm a very picky eater, but I'm especially picky about sweets. I don't eat anything sweet, even sweet coffee or tea. But I love fruits, no discrimination against fruits. Except jackfruit and cantaloupe," she said laughing. 
Most of her life, she has travelled with her family. However, after enrolling into university, she made two trips to Rangamati and Cox's Bazar. 
"But I aspire to travel more throughout Bangladesh. For that, I am joining travel groups and exploring my options," she said about her newfound love for travelling. 
"I began watching TV series with Friendsand I loved every episode of it. Then I moved on toThe Big Bang Theory. I have watched Friends for years. Whenever I got a little time, I watched TBBT," Priooty said. "I'm more of a SitCom person. My sister tells me to watch Seinfeld, I plan to watch it too."
But her most watched series is 'The Office'.