Content creator Apoorva, aka The Rebel Kid, recently revealed that she has moved to New York to pursue an MBA at NYU Stern, with plans to eventually return to India and build a D2C brand. The move comes over a year after she faced backlash for a controversial appearance on YouTuber Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent, where she made a vulgar joke involving a contestant’s mother, leading to multiple FIRS under the IT Act.
Looking back, the 25-year-old, who was last seen on reality show Lock Upp Season 2, tells us that she does not regret the choices she has made. “I’ve apologised and taken accountability whenever I’ve been wrong. I don’t regret any of my decisions. I genuinely think it’s all part of the plot. I get to live this absolutely crazy life where almost everything I do gets an extreme reaction.” While acknowledging that her impulsiveness has had consequences, she adds, “My impulsiveness has definitely come at a cost sometimes. But I don’t think I would go back and erase any of it, because without those mistakes, I wouldn’t be the person I am right now or be standing at this point in my life.” She adds, “Every mistake I’ve made, every bad decision, every difficult situation has somehow led me to exactly where I am today, moving to New York, trying to figure out my purpose, searching for meaning, and asking myself what more I want to do with my life.”
The move to New York is, in part, an attempt to step away from the pressure of constantly maintaining her online persona: “I’m moving to the US partly to get away from this constant pressure to stay relevant, reinvent yourself, figure out what you have to say next, and keep maintaining an online persona all the time. I think somewhere along the way, I’ve genuinely forgotten who I am when I’m not being The Rebel Kid.” She admits that the scrutiny can sometimes feel overwhelming. “It feels like a lot of responsibility, and sometimes it feels like no matter what I do, somebody is going to criticize it. But at the same time, that is also the beauty of my life.”
Asked if she would return to Bollywood, Apoorva, who made her acting debut with Nadaaniyan (2025) and has done a few web shows, says, “I see myself coming back to India, but no, I don’t see myself building a career in Bollywood.”
Apoorva also hopes to build on her business knowledge that she feels she was missing. She shares, “Over the last few years, I’ve sold products for different businesses through my content. But there was a huge part of building a business that I didn’t understand well, like operations and supply chain, which determine whether a company survives.” She adds that she wants to understand every aspect of a business rather than simply be its face, including “operations, supply chain, unit economics, margins, and all the less glamorous things that actually determine whether a company survives.”
