Feministaa

Ridhi Arora

By Team Feministaa in

15/07/2022

Tag:- Corporate,

About Ridhi

Ridhi has been a finance student initially. After working for sometime with Grant Thornton in New York, she shifted back only to discover her passion for designing clothing for women. She now wished to take over the couture world as a premier league designer. She took a bold step by starting her very own line of couture, ”Mutiyaar”.

Three Years down the lane, and today she is a leading designer with her flagship outlet in Gallery One. Her flagship store lies next to all the ace designers of the country. Not only is she a successful designer, but a loving mother to a one year old as well! At such a young age, she has covered important milestones of her life, and we couldn’t find a better fit for our very first Feministaa.

The Interview

Journey from Finance to fashion

We hear a lot of people talk about women being into fashion, or women from the fashion industry being weak in number crunching. And we bring to you our feministaa to break this myth! After pursuing her studies in finance from Canada, she joined GT (Grand Thornton). Working with alumni from IIT & IIM was a great part of learning for her. Like many, she feels that her first job taught her a lot. Especially qualitative learning such as dealing with stress levels, and working with dynamic teams on limited timelines!

Following her Passion

Ridhi was very sure of her knack for fashion designing. She was so determined to develop her skills; she started taking weekend classes at a fashion school in Delhi along with her job. When she felt it was the right time, she took the jump, from being a flourishing consultant to an entrepreneur.
“The jump was not too difficult!”, she says confidently. Maybe because it was very sudden. That’s the advantage young entrepreneurs possess. They can take risk averse decisions easily and swiftly!
Ever since then, Ridhi has not looked back. She had started from a one-room outlet in Vasant Kunj. In spite of getting married, having a child, and shifting out of the comfort of a joint family, she has successfully risen to achieve her professional ambitions!

My kaarigars were my real teachers!

Ridhi strongly believes from her experience, that classroom learning is just a very small piece of the pie. A real designer learns and understands the work from her kaarigars, and then gets into designing. After three years, of making simple plain blouses to heavy bridal today, now Ridhi says that she is a full-fledged designer.

The Three Social Taboos

Ridhi wanted to speak on three social taboos that she has fought against throughout her life. She diligently balances her day, and stresses on the fact, that when she’s with her son, she’s a full time mother; and when she’s at work, she’s only an entrepreneur. Of course, women have to fight the “guilt” feeling continuously at the back of their heads, but one needs to keep going on. ‘Your marriage or children shouldn’t be reasons that you couldn’t pursue your dreams’, is something she strongly believes in.

Time management is very important

She talks enthusiastically about the second taboo that a woman must sacrifice her personal life to achieve. This fact is true for men as well. Initial days of setting up a business take up immense amount of time and effort. She gives out a message to all the budding entrepreneurs that it’s all about balancing out time. She had learnt and seen her father and husband working day in day out to set up and sustain a business. If you are an entrepreneur, you are indispensable to your work and one has to come to terms with that.

We have our entire lives to travel and enjoy! Might as well get your dream going NOW!

Ridhi speaks about the third taboo that she has broken in her life. Mostly people assume that fashionable women are bad with numbers. Ridhi clearly states that finance is the spine of every business, and thus no entrepreneur can escape balancing and handling finances.
The fashion industry is always seen as a glamorous one. But she talks about behind the scenes. From managing factory set ups to costing and finally selling and marketing, the process is not an easy one.
Ridhi is a very young and talented feministaa! Dedicated completely to her work and family, she has a dream of doing a show along with her inspiration Gaurav Gupta! And she is completely driven towards achieving it everyday. We find her collections, suited to many, some for the young generation, some for the brides and some for the old generation as well!
She has more to speak on the fashion industry, and it’s challenges. Watch out for the second part of her interview by subscribing to our newsletter.

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