8 Women Entrepreneurs Who Believed In Themselves

Coco Chanel once said, “A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.” And, the women these days take these words very seriously as they break the societal norms and hop on the journey they want to explore. The world often expects women to stay home, take care of the family, get married, and give birth to children. However, women these days differ from this thought, and they treat their careers as their first baby.

The world observes March 8 as International Women’s Day and applauds each woman’s efforts for who she is and what she does.
This year, going by the theme - Break the Bias, let us celebrate the women who chose to turn down the biasness - in families or the workplace - and carve out a path of success for them.
 
Here are 8 women entrepreneurs from different walks of life who believed in themselves and took the plunge even when everyone around them thought they could not be in charge of their lives and companies:
 
Suditi Sharma, Co-Founder, The Himalayan Organics: A Consumer Psychology graduate and an MBA in Economics, Suditi Sharma comes from a business family and always wanted to have her own company. Being a woman, her family was unsure if she could run a business. Proving them wrong, Suditi started The Himalayan Organics - a Nutraceutical Brand that she built from scratch with Vaibhav – one of her college friends – when she returned to Indore after a year’s sabbatical. In charge of the creative operations, the 27-year-old entrepreneur plans to file an IPO of her brand in the coming five years by establishing Himalayan Organics as a one-stop solution for all Dietary Supplement needs. 

With the clear vision and right direction in her mind, Suditi and her brand have served one million+ satisfied customers, with 120+ Vegan products within 2.5 years. 
 
Kratika Jain, Head of Operations of Pataa navigations Pvt. Ltd. holds a Masters in Management Technology from the prestigious New York University. She has been breaking stereotypes with her organizational and strategic skills. A fierce woman entrepreneur, highly motivated individual and a multitasker, Kratika wears multiple hats at Pataa which include Strategy building, Marketing, Sales, Product Development etc. Not one to be limited by her designation, she makes sure that she is easily and equally accessible by all employees. She possesses a keen eye for product placement and her attention to detail can be seen in the R&D of the product that is tailor made to suit consumer needs. Kratika deftly oversees several business divisions. Her efforts along with the team has resulted in 7 million+ downloads of the Pataa app which is a phenomenal feat for one so young. 

Neha Sahu, Founder, and Designer, Haelli: Coming from the small city, Neha Sahu completed her engineering from Rohtak in 2010 and then pursued her Masters. After that, she started working as an Assistant Professor for a University in Gurgaon as her family always wanted her to pursue a slightly less demanding career that paid well. So, making the family understand entrepreneurship was a far-sighted dream. However, to pursue her passion for art and design, Neha did a few experiments along with her job and finally came up with Haelli.

Haelli was started as one of the first few Indian brands that promote the nation’s culture with handicrafts. Starting with painting juttis (footwear) by herself, Neha proved to the world that she could own a brand. The brand also features unique sarees, brooches, blouses, and different clothing ranges on the website. Neha acted as a one-woman army when she managed her full-time job at the university and her new venture. She did everything herself in the first few years - designer, painter, logistic manager, customer care, technical support, and PR. After a roller coaster ride full of challenges, Neha Sahu has finally proved that being a woman does not stop you from taking any challenge in life.
 
Pooja Choudhary, Founder, Lavanya The Label: Coming from a small town and having her father’s support throughout, Pooja wanted to have her venture. So much clear that she even knew what she wanted – a fashion label. Pursuing her BBA from Modi Laxmangarh and MBA in Finance from Tokyo, Pooja started her entrepreneurial journey in 2018. No matter how much her father wanted her to prepare for civil services and the society was waiting to see another girl follow her dad’s dreams, Pooja started her women-centric fashion brand and has not looked back since. Based in Bhilwara, Rajasthan - a town where most clothing brands are for men - Pooja’s company has a 70% women workforce. Pooja aspires to expand this brand furthermore on her own and be a renowned name in the world of women's fashion.
 
Dr Nishi Singh, Director, HOD (Department of Infertility & IVF), Prime IVF: Dr Nishi Singh, a Retd. Major from the Indian Army chose to start a new chapter as an entrepreneur. An acclaimed infertility specialist and recipient of the prestigious Presidential Award, Dr Nishi Singh is heading the Department of Infertility & IVF at Prime IVF. 

With over 15 years of experience working in leading fertility centres in Delhi and Punjab, she has an incredible record of 5000 Successful IVF credited to her name. Being a doctor and entrepreneur, Dr Nishi aims at serving the medical industry with her experience and expertise.

Priya Kaul, Spiritual healer and a life coach : Priya Kaul took the first step in the world of spirituality in 2015. A hope creator, numerologist & Ph.D. in Tarot Science, Priya is an award-winning spiritual healer and coach. She aspires to make people aware of their powers and strong enough to win over any challenge in life. She has won many national & international awards in her journey like Spiritual Healer & Coach of The Year (Delhi-NCR) in National Excellence Awards 2019, Best Healer of the Year Award by Magicka 2018, Iconic Woman Diva Award by 89th All India Achievers Conference Excellence Awards 2018, Arch of Excellence Award by 88th All India Achievers Conference Excellence Awards 2018, Iconic Women Award 2020, Cairo, Egypt to name a few. Priya is a self-motivated women entrepreneur who not only excels in her field but is also set to empower other women who deal with self-doubts.

Aarti Samant, CMO & Co-founder, Masala Tokri: With experience in digital marketing, Aarti Samant started a small business Masala Tokri with her mother in 2019. This small business of artisanal spices was to support her mother’s passion for bringing handmade freshly-pounded condiments to the public. With an idea of all-women and women-only, she has given many job opportunities to women and reached the cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Surat. Her skills like social media, digital strategy, and e-commerce marketing have helped her fetch some awards. She won India’s Top Digital Planners, 2015 conferred by Digital Marketing Asia - Singapore and Business World. Also, Global Youth Marketing Forum recognized her as the Most Talented Social Media Professional In India - 2014 at their Social Media Summit & Awards.

 Aarti has worked with brands like Hotstar and purplle to build their social media presence also currently she is consulting major D2C brands to build their niche on digital. As the co-founder of the women-run company, Aarti feels that Masala Tokri is bringing its kind of change in debarring societal norms and empowering women.
 
Dishi Somani, Founding Director, DishiS Designer Jewellery: Being born in a business household in Gwalior to an MBA father, Dishi started her entrepreneur journey in 2013 to unleash her dream to ornate women of substance. The aim was precise - to design accessible and affordable jewellery for all women. Dishi pursued jewellery designing from the Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery and is an IMT Dubai in Finance alumnus. She is among the youngest self-made entrepreneurs of India to have achieved a remarkable breakthrough with her sheer diligent efforts.

Her compassion towards creativity propelled her to portray the rich cultural heritage and the innate beauty through the DishiS Designer Jewellery online mode to reach out to the masses, enabling the women to purchase the latest jewellery at an affordable price from the comfort corners.