Today we’d like to introduce you to Myesa Arora.
Hi Myesa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have visited India several times, and the handcrafted products and exquisite fabrics in Rajasthan impressed me greatly on my most recent visit. India was engulfed in a tremendous lockdown during the early stages of Covid-19, and these artisans were unable to sell their goods. Several of my mother’s Indian friends reached out to ask if there were any avenues to sell or help these rural women who supplement their income by stitching and embroidering. When I heard this, the idea of JeeJi-hood developed. I contacted Anya (my cofounder), and together we gathered funds and embarked on this journey. I develop the designs of bags here, but the fabrics and trims were sourced in India, and the patterns were interpreted by our sisters, who have an incredible eye for color and detail. We want to keep these women employed and provide them with a platform to showcase their skills. The supplemental income provides these women with the ability to be self-sufficient. It is our humble attempt to deliver these lovely handcrafted goods to our local community in order to empower our sisters abroad. We launch several collections annually and make this an ongoing sustained business program. Our hope is to expand our JeeJi-hood family and ensure our product lines have a greater variety of bags and colors while making sure to spread our culture and our cause as much as we can. We hope to continue to sell our bags and use our profits to continue growing the business and employ even more of our Indian sisters.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been numerous obstacles in the way. The most notable is Covid-19, which prompted significantly delayed shipping. Although I sent the product designs in June 2020, and the bags were completed later that year, they did not arrive until about November 2021. Additionally, it has been challenging to launch a business during the peak of the Coronavirus as there haven’t been many opportunities to network and spread the news about this enterprise, yet now with the mitigation of the virus, JeeJi-Hood is eager to attend many events and host even more stalls.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
JeeJi-Hood’s product goes beyond bags. It is a curated assortment of hand-made, custom-designed, and embroidered bags made from textile excess. We strive to employ our sisters living in rural areas of Rajasthan, India and generate continued employment in a sustainable manner. The wonderful ladies creating our bags (known as our ‘Jeejis’ meaning sisters in the Indian language Hindi) are from the state of Rajasthan (a land known for its rich culture with temples, palaces, and beautiful handicrafts) are from low-income families and work extremely hard to use their talents in craft-making to provide for their family through generating supplemental income. Due to the pandemic, these women found it difficult to help provide for their families through artistic means. Our bags allow these women to continue doing what they love and provide for their families.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I would say that passion is key. If you are passionate and willing to put in the work, effort, and love in whatever you do, it is bound to be phenomenal. As a rising entrepreneur, I wish I had known that I would meet so many encouraging and helpful people, and I wish I hadn’t been scared to seek their help.
Pricing:
- Our bags and pouches range from $6 to $35!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jeejihood.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeeji_hood/
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/bE1e-FbtGik
