From Dentist To Fashion Influencer: The Journey Ft. By Rooj

In this conversation I sit down with Syeda Urooj Fatima, the woman behind By Rooj. We talk about her journey from a book-loving girl in Lahore to a dentist, a content creator, and now a business owner. It is a story about fighting for what you want, even when the people you love do not understand it yet.

A librarian who changed everything

Urooj was born in Multan but spent most of her early life in Karachi and then Lahore. She tells me Lahore is the place that shaped her mindset the most. Not because of the city itself, but because of one person. Her school librarian. “I have to thank my librarian,” she says. “She was the one who actually pushed me into reading more than I was already reading.” That push lit a fire. Reading became her escape, her passion, and eventually the very thing that pulled her onto social media.

She started with a book account on Instagram, back when the platform was still new and the interface was, in her words, “so bad I didn’t enjoy it.” But then she stumbled on a bookstagram community that was warm and welcoming. She remembers a girl from Jeddah named Haya whose pink, book-filled feed made her fall in love with the idea. She began reviewing books, joining book clubs, and discussing reads on Cake. It was a small, tight-knit world. And it was all about the words.

The scary leap from books to lifestyle

For a long time, Urooj kept her face out of it. She knew the consequences. “I knew that the family that I came from, they wouldn’t be that appreciative of that,” she says. Her bookstagram felt safe because her face was not showing. But as her account grew, so did the attention. Pages like Mango Baaz and Parhlo started reposting her stories about life as a dental student. The follower count jumped. And it terrified her. “I remember sitting and listening to it and I made my spine go cold,” she tells me, recalling the moment she realized she was becoming visible.

She was ready to have the conversation with her father, but she was waiting for the right time. She wanted to reach a point where she could proudly show him what she had built. That moment came with a lot of tears. She sent him voice notes, crying, explaining why this mattered. Gradually, he saw how it was working out. When his course mates’ daughters would recognize her and say they looked up to her, something shifted. “He saw my first podcast and he was like, I’m very proud of the things that you said,” she shares. It was a journey, not a single conversation.

Learning to let go of people pleasing

Years of creating content have taught Urooj one big lesson: how to take a difference of opinion. “I’ve learned to appreciate that what is now won’t be tomorrow,” she says. She has seen the highs of phenomenal reach and the lows where nothing seemed to work. That rollercoaster grounded her. She stopped relying on numbers for validation. She also stopped trying to make everyone happy. “I’ve stopped people pleasing,” she says plainly. “Not everybody can like you. Even if they try, even if you try, you cannot make everybody happy.”

That clarity is hard-won. She remembers the early days on Facebook, getting into arguments in the comments. Now, she can say, “I understand where you’re coming from, but this is where I’m coming from. I don’t need to convince you.” It is a quiet kind of strength. The kind that lets you coexist peacefully with people who do not agree with you.

Authenticity in a trend-chasing world

We talk about how Instagram has changed. When Urooj started, it was a blogging platform. Captions mattered. Connection mattered. Now, it is all reels and 15-second hooks. “Fast-paced content doesn’t actually result in value,” I say, and she agrees. The pressure to jump on trends is real. But she has learned that if something does not feel true to her, it shows. “I can’t lip-sync for the love of God,” she laughs. “When I do it, it’s just not me.”

She made a series of videos talking to her younger self, and they blew up. But when people started demanding more, she stopped. “I don’t feel authentic while making something for the sake of it,” she explains. That is the trap: a video does well, you gain followers, and suddenly you feel you have to keep making that same thing. It drains your motivation. She would rather have a smaller, loyal community that knows her than a huge following that only cares about the next trend.

The dentist’s chair and the slow death of passion

Dentistry was not always a passion for Urooj. She went into it because, like many Desi kids, the options felt limited. But in her third year of BDS, she fell in love with it. “I love the beauty of how intricate this field is,” she says. The quick sense of achievement, the relief on a patient’s face, the way physics and chemistry come together in orthodontics. She was like a kid in a candy store.

Then she graduated. And the reality hit. The opportunities for dentists in Pakistan are scarce, the pay is below minimum wage, and the growth is painfully slow. She worked in a hospital and got incredible hands-on experience, doing hundreds of root canals and surgical cases. But when she moved to private clinics, it was demotivating. “The passion and the energy and the love that I had in me to actually be a dentist is slowly dying because of how less opportunities I’ve been presented with,” she admits. She does not say it lightly. She calls the BDS degree “the biggest scam” when it comes to credibility abroad, where you have to redo everything just to practice. It is a heartbreaking thing to hear from someone who genuinely loved the field.

Building a business when you are the main asset

Urooj never planned to start a business. Someone approached her with an offer: use her name, no investment needed, and she would get a percentage. The first launch sold out in hours. That success made her realize she wanted more control. She became an active partner, invested her own money, and took over. The journey was not smooth. The initial partnership fell apart, and there were even hacking attempts and fake orders meant to sabotage her. “It was very difficult,” she says, but she pushed through.

One thing she learned: your name and your knowledge are the real assets. “Money is not something that makes or breaks a brand,” she tells me. “You can have all the money, but if you don’t know how to sell the product, your business will not work.” That is a truth many influencers miss when they are approached for collaborations. She also had to deal with the backlash over pricing. People expect personal brands to be cheap, as if it is a charity. But a business is a business. You put in time, effort, and money, and you deserve to earn from it.

Why this conversation matters

Urooj’s story is not just about becoming an influencer or leaving dentistry. It is about giving yourself permission to evolve. She fought for her creative space when her family did not understand. She walked away from a profession she loved because the system failed her. She built a business from scratch while navigating the messy, personal relationship she has with her audience. If you have ever felt stuck between what you are supposed to do and what you actually want to do, this one is for you. You do not have to have it all figured out. You just have to keep showing up for the thing that feels true.