With Zeal, To All Women Entrepreneurs - Never Let Anyone Dampen Your Spirit

 The journey of an entrepreneur can be amazing and fruitful, more so if you are working on your passion.

After I graduated in Fashion Technology from NIFT, I enrolled at Harvard University for a marketing & finance certification to hone my entrepreneurial skills. I have always shared a strong affinity with the retail and fashion industry, which in my opinion is a beautiful fusion of figures, technology, and colours. This interest made me undertake my first fashion retail job which followed through various ventures, helping me learn about the workings of the apparel industry by indulging in planning, retail, inventory, CRM and much more.

However, whilst working I felt a growing gap in the apparel market regarding high-quality clothing at an affordable price. This zeal and passion made me undertake various positions in the sector before finally conceiving my brainchild, trueBrowns in the year 2016 - a sustainable clothing brand, seeking inspiration from traditional Indian roots, but with a contemporary style for today's women. By housing a varied size range from 2XS to 6XL, I envisioned a go-to-size brand where customisation is hassle-free and stands firm on its brand ethos of ‘trueYou’ which encourages an extension of one’s personality.

Advise To Women Entrepreneurs: Once You Make Up Your Mind, Stick To It

The journey of being an ">entrepreneur has been quite challenging. The D2C model is growing rapidly resulting in the emergence of more brands and competition. The most difficult part of being an entrepreneur is understanding your customers and building relationships with them. Along with that, making a team and delegating authority is not easy, especially when you have just started your brand. I overcame these obstacles by believing in my team and working on the feedback from our customers. We have a team of dedicated and creative minds who work to give their best to our customers.

I believe I was fortunate enough that as a woman entrepreneur, I never faced a lot of challenges, not even with investors for that matter. However, the concern was being a solo women entrepreneur because people always assumed that I had some sort of man backing me up in my venture, it could be my father, husband, or brother. Having a male entrepreneur just instils confidence in people and that is something that has been a hindrance in all the years I spent building my company.

One piece of advice that I would want to give every budding woman entrepreneur is that once you make up your mind, stick to it and do not let anything or anyone dampen your spirit or zeal for your passion.

I would not deny the fact that the industry has gender barriers and bias and that they are perceived as having lesser capabilities than their male counterparts. However, having said that, the market, industry, and country are slowly but surely changing and becoming more acceptable to women entrepreneurs, for instance, Falguni Nayar from Nykaa and other D2C brands led by women. So, the industry is definitely changing and accepting them but, there can still be issues that they face. Therefore, believe in yourself and stay at it!

According to an old proverb, if we help a woman become educated and empowered, the entire household benefits. This profound understanding of the womanly mind is a mirror of nurturing and development. A confident woman instils enough strength in herself to lift everyone around her. We frequently overlook the fact that women did not always enjoy the same privileges as men in the swirl of daily life.

On this Women's Day, I would like to sum it up by saying that climbing the ladder of success only leads to increasing levels of stress and burnout. Instead, create a new path to success by redefining it to include not only the traditional metrics of money and power, but also a third metric that includes well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving. This will enable you to thrive rather than just succeed. On both personal and professional fronts.

Views expressed are the author's own. 

Udita Bansal is the founder of trueBrowns.

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