When and how did you realise that this is what you want to do?
I think my earliest memory of love for fashion was when I was seven years old. In school somebody had asked me what do you want to become and I replied; Fashion businessman. From that time there’s no looking back and this love for fashion I have eventually nurtured out by me studying deeply about this industry, as I chose NIFT over IIM. I have worked with Billion-dollar companies like Tommy Hilfiger and Versace. It started as my first love, but now it’s a marriage, a very steady marriage with fashion.

What are the hurdles you had to face to reach where you are today or was it fairly easier for you compared to some others?
Out of all the things I have done in my life, fashion is definitely the easiest as there’s a huge amount of passion involved and it is the best painkiller you can have especially when you want to build your career or you want to become an entrepreneur. So, I would say I have a lot of painkillers i.e. passion and hence it is relatively easy for me to walk on this path.

Please share some of the highpoints of your journey?
I’m a huge believer of celebrating small wins. At Monrow office we celebrate like every single small milestone we achieve. To be very honest for me these highpoints are not just building the brand but also building a culture where all of us believe in celebrating small wins.

What in your view do women have that makes them what they are?
From an evolutionary perspective, women are the producers, God has gifted us the ability to produce. Now having said that, I’m indicating this to a broader spectrum, it’s not about just producing kids, but the ability to create and nurture something itself is a huge superpower. We are expanding the horizons beyond children, we are creating businesses, we are creating companies, and we are creating culture.

It’s not easy the way we women juggle around so many things- our work, homes, families, social life, fitness etc. Some tips on how you balance it all so beautifully?
Firstly, I’m extremely inspired by Kris Jenner, I think she makes a lot of lists and I make a lot of lists too and at any point of time I’ll have like 12 lists – I’ll have a company list, a love life list, a fitness list and what not. So, I think list is my anchor to do everything. Secondly, I evaluate my time like how people evaluate money value. People calculate ROI whereas I calculate ROTI which is Return on time invested. Every time I invest time somewhere I actually think what am I going to get in return and it could be in the form of love, money or network. So, I believe you need to be aware of your time and treat it like a very valuable asset like we treat money.

What is your fitness mantra?
My Fitness mantra is a beautiful mix of Monk like discipline and rowdy approach (there’s a word in hindi called ‘ayyash’) so I somehow mix both of these very well. I’m extremely disciplined about my fitness but I also don’t hide from having highly dirty cheap meals at times. I balance and sense that how much of it I can manage and that’s how I have kept my fitness intact. My love of keeping myself uptight with the list is true and I maintain and follow it diligently.

What is your fashion quotient?
My fashion quotient can be defined as “POSH HIPPY” when I say Posh and adding it with hippy it becomes quiet contrasting statement and depicts the Chameleon charisma in me when it comes to fashion. I can adapt to lot of different kinds of fashion and create my own version of it.

What does family mean to you?
Family in its most conventional definition signifies the early set of closed ones we were surrounded by but over a period of time I have realised that this definition especially in the times we live in is very different. For me, my friends are family; I spend most of my time with them. With evolution, they still remained relevant so I would say family is close set of people who make you feel belonged.

What is your take on women standing up for each other, especially in the glamour and entertainment industry, do women really do that?
I have experienced a lot of nurturing women by my side. So I would say YES, women do stand for each other. It’s very natural for us to stand for our own kind. So if you ever find somebody who is not standing for us, they need a little bit more empathy to understand why they are not, instead of pointing out or say judging out. We should focus on binding us all together strongly as ultimately unity and support can only make us shine out bright.

What is in the pipeline in terms of your work currently for Monrow Shoes?
We recently got funded and I think it’s almost like having a fuel in your jet. From here onwards we will start investing a lot in innovation, I still feel that footwear as a category has a pool of opportunity to try out and we will invest a huge share in content creation because as a brand we just don’t just sell products, we engage people and would like to inform and entertain them in return. So I would say innovating products and content would be two key focus points for Monrow 2021 plan.

— By Namita Gupta.