Moms Mean Business: Shweta and Jaya customize fashion at 'Why So Blue'

Mothers. They are our source of encouragement, strength and support. They teach us valuable life lessons, help us negotiate our paths, and many a time are a major driving force in our lives, pushing us to achieve our goals and ambitions, helping us in any way that they can. Here is one such story, where the mother became the wind beneath the wings of her daughter, that of Shweta Shivkumar and her mother Jaya Shivkumar.

Moms mean business: Shweta & her mother Jaya

Shweta was in a place in her life where she wasn’t enjoying her job as a media planner and looking for her true calling. After years of working in the media field, she realized that she really wanted to explore the arena of fashion. But to take the entrepreneurial plunge she needed help, support and encouragement. And that came from...you guessed it...her 'super woman' mom as she likes to call her mother. Her mother Jaya Shivkumar encouraged her to quit the job that was making her miserable. And that led to the idea of a brand that customizes fashion clothing, called ‘WhySoBlue’.

My mom told me that the worst that could happen is that it will not work out. But let’s give it a shot. She wanted me to go for it, so I did

Jaya herself had stitching experience of over twenty years, and that proved very useful when Shweta got down to the drawing board to chalk out her business venture, Together the mother-daughter duo worked out the nitty gritties, with Jaya not only encouraging her daughter, but also being the critic when required. With both of them putting their minds together, it didn't take long for Shweta's entrepreneuerial dream to become reality. 'Why So Blue' was up and running in a span of just two months.
Their work relationship continues till today wherein Shweta does designs and sources fabric, and her mother takes care of the execution.

Shweta Shivkumar is utterly grateful to her mom for inspiring her at a point in time when she needed it the most. She recalls some valuable advice her mother gave her “My mother always tells me that if I’m not happy, I shouldn’t be doing it. She is one believer of that.” Also, JAya is someone who believes that while money is important and a major motivating factor in life, happiness should always come first. As Shweta puts it, “I was genuinely interested in fashionable things. So I thought, why not turn my interest into a business. My mom told me that the worst that could happen is that it will not work out. But let’s give it a shot. She wanted me to go for it, so I did.”

Moms Mean Business

Moms mean business: More in this series

Shweta also admires her mom’s multi-tasking skills. “I have seen my mother doing a lot of things at once. She was a home-maker, attending to every little household detail when my father used to work. But when my dad passed away, my mother took over everything overnight. It was just my mother, my younger sister and me“, Shweta recalls. Today Ms. Jaya Shivkumar manages all the things that she was doing before, plus the business. “I think only women and mothers are blessed with multi-tasking power. My mom is a super-woman”.

More power to such super women! And may they raise super women just like them!