“In the span of 26 years of my life, I have had some of the most fascinating experiences of my life which have greatly fuelled my drive to pave my own way in this world. Growing up in a town, with limited to no exposure to the city, I stepped into Chennai for my high school coupled with JEE coaching which would see me secure a good all India rank!
But despite the exhilarating excitement of securing that sought after seat, I figured the prospects of the course held not much excitement to me and having cleared my NIFT exams, I enrolled at NIFT, Chennai.
It’s funny how life puts you on different paths totally unrelated from what you set out to do but, would eventually reveal the whole picture to you in the long run! This move defined the course of my life and I am glad I trusted my instinct to go with it.
Over the course of my years at NIFT, I discovered my inner calling to work towards a sustainable future. I would say that this initiative was always inside me but, with the right kind of exposure, I was able to do something more along those lines. I discovered all about slow fashion and as my final year research project, I travelled to New York to intern with a fashion label that was doing instrumental work towards this.
This was also the time I discovered a fantastic NGO ‘Make A Difference’ wherein, I spent all my weekends teaching and learning along with the kids. My growth with this organisation helped me pivot myself into becoming more equipped to handle bigger teams and act in crucial leadership roles that eventually helped me when I started out on my own!
Upon my graduation, I set out to work in an Indian label for about two years at the end of which, I married the love of my life. I would say that life has been incredibly kind to me in a lot of aspects and the timing of each major event came to me at the right time!
My marriage was a zero-waste wedding gala, one that I am proud of till date! In the process, I also got to curate a TEDx event where I was one of the licensees. Having resigned from my full-time job, I set out to start my own venture in a way that would be completely zero-waste and a sustainable alternative for the existing practices. I spent close to 8-9 months in my kitchen, experimenting and market testing. Once I was satisfied, we launched an e-commerce brand named ‘Everwards India’ which offered complete sustainable solutions for existing practices.
What started in 2018, went on till 2020 March complete with a whole set of collaborations and social innovations. The experience this offered compares to nothing else in my life. And since the pandemic entered, I decided to pause operations for my business and set out to pursue my masters in Sustainable Education in Germany. Like always, the timing of this was close to perfect since I felt my learning was getting stagnated and I wanted to divulge more into this and a course to understand the key science behind sustainability became essential for me!
Most of our learned practices are what we received from our immediate caretakers or society so it takes a lot of patience and understanding to unlearn the practices. I see that sustainability is often seen as an all-exclusive elite club but it doesn’t have to be that way. Even those of us who are privileged enough to inculcate sustainable practices in our lives can be considerate of those who are not aware and be kind enough to ensure that it is accessible. Because if you have to be given a choice between being logical and being kind, I would urge each and every one of you to be kind, and kind alone.”
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