Painting my dream: Meghna Doshi
When I was 18, I had my boutique which I ran up along with my mother, and we would do applique work on saris, lehengas and dupattas. I continued working till 22, after which I got married and got caught up in household chores.
Because I had to take care of my children and the entire house, I could not pursue it further. With time my daughters grew, and I had started getting a lot of free time.
I decided to rework on my passion of designing and did a couple of exhibitions and started selling hand painted saris.
One day, my daughter came up to me and said,” Maa, why don’t you grow your business on social media?”
I was not good with Instagram, but my daughter pushed me to make an account. We created our page @meghstudio on Instagram and started putting pictures of our work online. I had no idea that our small business would boom just by expansion on social media. We delivered in over 12 states in the span of 2 months.
We started getting more orders eventually, and I remember one client who had requested us to make a hand painted sari in 3 days. We usually take 10-12 days to get the saris painted as there is a lot of customization that takes place.
This was the first order that we had prepared in just three days and got it delivered abroad. On the bottom right border of the sari, we had carved a text specially for the client.
There have been several unforgettable client memories, but this one is the closest to me. I am planning to hire more people and expand this business of hand painted saris. We also use eco-friendly packaging that is handmade jute bags to avoid plastic.
I had never thought that I would be able to relive the interest that I had buried long back before my marriage. I am grateful to have daughters that inspired me to pursue what I loved. In no time, my business has grown, and I am fortunate to get wonderful responses from my clients.
All I want to say through my story is that you can always go after what you love at any age. So what if you are a housewife and 40+, it really doesn’t matter as long as you love what you do!