Uprising: Gayatri Bhudia’s High-Octane Fandom Fuels Her Work

Gayatri Bhudia is a mid-weight creative at the social-led creative agency We Are Social where she’s been a key player on high-speed accounts like Amazon Music x BWT Alpine F1. As a lifelong F1 fan herself, the project has been somewhat of a dream come true, especially at such a formative time in her career, and the preexisting fandom gave her a huge edge – connecting her on another level with the work.

Growing up, Gayatri was the kid always creating something; “doodling, experimenting, doing arts and crafts or just getting lost in my imagination,” she says. “I remember being fascinated by mehndi (henna); it felt like my way of storytelling through patterns, and I was convinced I wanted to become a henna artist when I was older. I’d spend hours drawing; it was how I connected art with culture.”

Thinking back to her childhood, “there was never a doubt that I wanted to do something creative in the future.”

Creativity wasn’t an obvious or clear path for Gayatri, however. “I grew up in an Indian community where the ‘big four’ careers – doctor, lawyer, engineer, or accountant – were pretty much the gold standard. Choosing anything outside of that definitely turned a few heads!”

Gayatri’s parents proved to be the exception, encouraging her to create her own path. “They always told me to follow what made me happy and tune out the noise,” she says. It was the vote of confidence she was looking for. “That kind of belief in me stuck. So whenever self-doubt creeps in, I remind myself of their words: you can do whatever you set your mind to. And honestly, that’s been my superpower ever since.”

At university, Gayatri studied graphic design and felt “hooked” the moment “we started working on live briefs from real agencies. There was something addictive about cracking an idea that made people stop and talk,” she recalls.

Post graduation, she joined JOLT, a programme which helps people from underrepresented backgrounds break into the creative industry. “It was intense, inspiring, and honestly, life changing,” says Gayatri. “We learned from industry legends, got hands-on experience at various agencies, and it confirmed that this is exactly where I was meant to be at that moment in time.”

An interest in the high-octane and creativity led Gayatri to F1. She says she used to dive into “countless videos, highlights, and articles to understand the world of motorsport and F1 better.” Soon, her curiosity became a passion, “obsessing over every race, every overtaking move, every off-track moment, every team and driver’s story.” Today, it’s also part of her work and not just in subject-matter. “It became a lens I use creatively,” she says. “Whether I’m brainstorming campaigns or shaping social content, I think about what excites me as a fan – the tension, the drama, the emotion – translates into work that gets other people’s hearts racing too.”

A lifelong adrenaline junkie, Gayatri loves anything “that gets the heart racing” so F1 quickly became a passion for her and she now spends “weekends glued to every practice, qualifying session, and race, soaking in the drama and action.” She nevertheless didn’t think it could be a part of her professional life too but sometimes dreams do come true. “At We Are Social, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to merge my professional life with my personal passions. When the opportunity came to work on Amazon Music’s partnership with the BWT Alpine F1 team, I jumped at it. It was the perfect chance to turn my fandom into my work, bringing my love of racing to life through a music lens on social. It allowed me to connect with a community I’ve been part of for ages, and do it in a way that truly felt like me.”

Working on ‘real-time, social-first’ content requires precision under pressure – a balancing act of creativity and speed. “In social, you don’t have weeks to perfect a line, sometimes you’ve got hours to be smart, culturally relevant, and on brand. Miss the moment, and it’s gone.” She cautions that it’s not “just about speed; it’s about instinct, strategy, and timing. So always trust those instincts!”

Gayatri reaches for a metaphor from F1, saying “when a driver nails a pole position or climbs the podium, the conversation is happening right now. You can’t wait until tomorrow. You have to be ready to jump on the grid and drop content that feels like it was meant to exist in that exact moment, precise, fast, and spot-on, just like a pit crew.

“Every brief becomes a chance to capture real emotion and translate it into work that moves people and sparks conversation. It’s not just about sharing highlights; it’s about showing the heart of the culture and the fans who live for it. And when your own passion fuels the work, that creative energy flows naturally, making it possible to balance speed with ideas that actually land.”

She sees further parallels between delivering world-class social campaigns and the choreographed teamwork of the pit crew, like the fact that a team is needed to achieve both. “Everyone from client services and strategy to R&I/cultural insights, design and production play a critical role alongside you in keeping the race going and making ideas better than great. So it’s really important to collaborate to get the best out of each other and the idea.”

She adds that “working as a social-first creative feels a lot like an F1 race. It's fast, it's exhilarating, and the details matter. When you approach it not just as a professional but as a genuine fan, you get to tap into a different kind of energy.”

Besides the highlight of working on the Amazon Music x BWT Alpine F1 Team project, Gayatri learned a lot from the recent Lucozade Tradies campaign. “We celebrated hardworking tradies as the unsung sporting heroes they are. Finding that insight and weaving it through the campaign sparked record engagement and genuine conversations,” she says. “Both projects reminded me that the best work happens when passion, insight, and creativity collide and that’s what keeps me moving forward.”

Rather than finding career inspiration in a single person, for Gayatri “it’s the energy of creating work that I genuinely love” that drives her. “I’ve learned that if you’re not having fun making content, your audience won’t have fun watching it either. So take risks, be authentic, and lean into what excites you. When you do that, inspiration shows up naturally, in the people you collaborate with, in the stories you tell, and in the work you’re proud of.”

As a highly visual person, she’s always excited when an idea she’s been working on comes together and then goes out into the world. “When the idea/campaign/content lands and sparks a conversation with a new community or with a community I’ve been a part of for many years, it feels like the ultimate pinch me moment. It’s the feeling of a perfect lap, when everything just clicks and the work transcends the brief to become part of the sport itself.”

Outside of work Gayatri loves “keeping life flavourful – literally!” she exclaims. “You’ll often find me on a food crawl, hunting down new flavours, new foods, new restaurants or in the kitchen baking cakes, cookies, and anything sweet I can get my hands on. I also make time for self-care; a long walk or just slowing down to recharge. Giving back is important to me too, I volunteer with charities like SEWA UK, where I can make a real difference and impact the lives of others in a positive way.”