Life is a journey of either fate or destiny. Fate is the result of giving in to one's wounds and heartaches. Your destiny unfolds when u rise above the challenge of your life and use them as divine guidance!
The above words define our guest of the week Rakhi Valecha from Santacruz, Mumbai. She has had a deep interest in jewellery design since she was in school. She used to design Jewellery for herself and her relatives too. But she never thought to take Jewellery Design as an endeavour. After graduating in Science from Mithibai College, Mumbai, she commenced working in a company in the HR department.
Life, the synonym of uncertainties never allows us to peep into the future. We just have to get prepared for the next moment. Everything was going fine, then one day we all heard the knocking of Covid on our lives that brought massive amounts of upheaval with it. She lost her job to Corona.We all witnessed the cruellest flank of nature, but life has to go on, no matter what. This is what made humans rise.
We all were struggling to cope with the situation. The year 2020 was the most unpredictable year of our lives. This year proved to be the cruellest for Ms Rakhi too, when in November 2020 she lost her father, her biggest support.
As she was very close to her father and her father used to take a profound interest in her jewellery design, and always encouraged her to do something new, she decided to take up jewellery design as her new venture. She learnt Jewellery Design in December 2020. This helped her design varied types of jewellery that were earlier restricted to only two or three types.
On asking about any incident that took her too much into it, she mentioned that once she made "rakhi" with the same materials, and showed her few articles to her friends on the train, on her way to the office. One of her friends bought her four articles. When she showed those articles in her office, everyone liked them. Later she was asked to make 25 more articles. Though she made 50, all of them were sold. This made her feel confident about herself. She told us that she, even when she was working, used to make time to design jewellery.
She reminisced about how she earlier used to design jewellery and make her mother wear it and her father used to contemplate her work. They both had the same taste, she remebers, So it was easy for her to be more creative every time she created something, as there was someone who could hold a mirror to her. She holds her father in very high regard that she decided to name her brand after her father's name "ShreeChand Valecha", "Shree Collections".
We all have people in our lives who contribute to making it beautiful. Besides her parents, her sister Aarti, her cousin Puja, her friend Smita and her relatives have always been her support and she feels blessed to have these people by her side.
Ms Rakhi is adamant to make her brand a household name and make her father proud of her. We wish her luck in her venture and hope to see her reaching the sky.
Entrepreneurial Journey
After learning jewellery design, she created a design in Crystal that was liked by everyone. She made that jewellery in 20 different colours and all were sold in no time. She makes all types of customised necklaces, earrings, bracelets and anklets. She also held exhibitions with the help of her relatives and friends. Her friends and family members are her promoters.
She doesn't get many orders online. In the year 2022, she learnt Photo Styling from a professional photographer, Shraddha Gosavi introduced by the founder of Design Insiders, Ms Renu, for the people who are in their initial stage and want to grow to the next level. Ms Rakhi states that earlier her clicks were not as striking as it is after learning Photo Styling.Her customers are mostly her known as she promotes her articles through WhatsApp and Facebook only.
Online trading is still something many find difficult. As she is not aware of other methods through which she can reach more people who crave such articles. Through Design Insiders, the founder is trying to provide a platform for such people, and trying to impart knowledge through different training sessions, which could prove a milestone in one's journey.
Visit the collection at : https://www.instagram.com/shricollection_mumbai/