An Interview with MC Dolly

A stage fanatic since her childhood, MC Dolly began her incredible journey with the microphone by hosting shows in school and college. Over the years, she has hosted a wide array of formal, social and fun events, while being able to build a commendable rapport with diverse audiences. As someone who has always loved and been passionate about adding value to her clients, she has been using her talent to uplift the spirits of people by leading from the front. 

Having hosted several programs and MCed various corporate events for the last decade she is proud and excited to still be following her passion even today. Being an avid art lover, Dolly has always had a great interest in Art and apart from being a professional MC, she is also a Costume designer, trained Kathak Dancer and a Vainika.

Her Story

Dolly first took centre stage in front of the mic back in the 9th grade when her English teacher in school recognised her talent and love for art. As someone who came across as shy and introverted, Dolly just needed a slight nudge in the right direction to eventually lead her to take the stage by storm with her talent and infectious energy.

She discovered her love for art while she sat through classes in science and mathematics and came to enjoy the attention she got and soon began to volunteer to host shows in school and college. 

Today, she believes that her journey as a professional emcee did not really stem from passion for the art but was more of a transition from a shy young girl to today being one of the successful emcees of the county. Since then, she has actively participated at various events and took up her first job as an event manager at Benchmark event company where she came to learn more about the technical aspects of being an emcee and not long after decided to take up emceeing as a career and is today the self made event professional that she is. 

How Being A Drama Queen Shaped Her Emceeing Career

A natural born drama queen, Dolly found this trait of hers to be of great influence in her career as an emcee as well as a dancer. Being able to openly express herself and carry a resonating energy all the while performing in front of large audiences has helped shape her stage presence today.

Simply reproducing a script and having no connection with the audience is not the right way to be an emcee as being the face of the company where coming in first-line contact with the audience is essential and expressions very important. 

How Has The Pandemic Affected Her Personally And Professionally?

Dolly believes that the pandemic has affected everyone in different ways and that the last few months have been a great learning experience for her personally and professionally. In order to move forward, it is all about having the right mindset, being positive and a never-give-up attitude.

She took things in stride and turned it into an opportunity to learn a lot of things, including the latest technological developments and hybrid events and received a lot of support from the MCing community who helped her establish her online presence.

The Emceeing Community

Having found a family among her peers in the emceeing community, Dolly fondly shares with us her rapport with various other MC’s in the event sector today. They have always been there for each other and even after having taken a break for 4-5 years, when she got back was immediately made to feel welcome and given opportunities to re-establish herself.

During the lockdown, they shared their ideas and discussed activities, held meetings to share technological expertise and interacted with senior emcees and planned for the future. 

Her Experience Working On Virtual/Studio Events

While she has been a part of a few virtual and studio events over the past few months, the revenue being generated is no way close to what an on-ground event would normally make. While corporate events are no longer being organised, lots of social events are happening here and there. She misses the corporate events and the energy that it had and looks forward to restarting it all when things normalise.

What does the year 2021 look like for her?

All about being positive and focusing on the right mindset, Dolly wants to believe that these difficult times are not here to stay. She wants to believe that this will be the thing of the past and things will go back to how it once was. The rush of a live event cannot be replaced virtually and is hoping for the best and wants to believe it will be alright.

Parting Thoughts

“As much as we want to believe that the new normal will not stay, I urge you to equip yourselves to deal with hybrid events and the technical challenges that are associated with it. Work hard as there are no shortcuts in this industry. Enjoy and have loads of fun as well to keep your creative self hydrated.”

It was an absolute joy chatting with Dolly and getting to know her side of the business and experiences working as an established emcee. We wish her the very best of luck and success for the future.

In case you missed out on watching the live session, do check out the recording linked here or head on over to our Instagram page to watch the latest sessions.