Today we’d like to introduce you to Gauthami Vemula and Renae Virata.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Gauthami and Renae. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
UGauGrrl came to be as a result of the blog Wheatish Complexion, written by Gauthami, a social entrepreneur and children’s rights activist. She wrote Wheatish Complexion to catalog and comment on her experiences as a first-generation Indian American woman dealing with issues around dating, cultural biases and the pressures of being a woman. Since its inception a few years ago, it has served as a platform for women of every background and experience to express themselves in their own ways.
Gauthami then presented the idea of UGauGrrl to her friend Renae. Coming from a long line of amazing women herself, Renae immediately fell in love with the concept and joined forces with Gauthami to make UGauGrrl a reality.
With all of the negativity in the world and being women, they wanted to promote conversation around positive messages and bring women’s history to life in a unique way. They like to think that they are a vehicle to carry on the legacy of awesome women before them.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road to our success has been exciting and a great learning experience for both of us. Our main challenge is matching our passion for the business and mission with the time and resources that we have available. Gauthami, for example, runs one grassroots business during the day and a business teaching classical piano at night. Renae works full-time and then fulfills her role at home as a mom and wife.
Fortunately, we are close friends and bring out the best in each other! This goes back to the very heart of our mission: To inspire, empower and make an impact on women and girls to share THEIR inner gifts with the world so they can make their marks on the world in their own special ways. We both contribute our own brand of creativity, resourcefulness, and energy that, together, makes our business work!
So our advice to women just starting their journey is to learn from those women before you and around you, be fierce and fearless and to not live on borrowed expectations but learn to find your own purpose. Define your own being, your own destiny and let your uniqueness shine through. Don’t be a footnote, write your own story, because your story matters!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with UGauGrrl – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
UGauGrrl is a movement that we created to inspire, empower and impact women and girls. We do this in two ways. The first is through our Modern Muse campaign where we highlight women and girls around the world who embody our mission on our blog and social media platforms. The second is through our collection of stylish t-shirts featuring iconic and oft-forgotten women of the past and today along with inspirational messages.
While we are excited to see our growth as a business, we are most proud of accomplishing our mission: to inspire every woman and girl to recognize the muse within herself and empower her to find her purpose so that she can make her singular impact on the world. We see this through the partnerships we’ve built, the events we participate in, the women and girls we meet in person and on social media and just in our everyday lives.
What we feel sets us apart is that we put just as much time and energy, if not more, into our mission and message as we do into the business. What we love is that we are able to embody our mission and, as we become continually inspired and empowered, pay that forward to other women and girls.
Who have you been inspired by?
There are so many! But first, we have to start with the women around us, in particular, our family and closest friends. They each have their own stories that we are fortunate to hear firsthand, learn from and sometimes be a part of. The iconic women whom we feature on our tees such as Harriet Tubman, Malala Yousafzai, Marie Curie, Frida Kahlo, Michelle Obama, and Anne Frank are also inspirations to us. They are the epitome of resilient, strong women who used their special gifts to make a positive impact on the world and humankind.
Pricing:
- Girls’ and Toddlers’ Tees – $19.99
- Women’s Tees – $29.99
- Men’s Tees and Other Styles – Coming Soon! 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.ugaugrrl.com
- Email: info@ugaugrrl.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ugaugrrl
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ugaugrrl
Image Credit:
Anjula Gupta
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