6 mins

Celebrating the essence of the beauty industry

In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, team PBHJ connects with some of the Indian beauty industry’s most prominent women. Priyanka Parshurami speaks to a selection of experts from and shares a quick round of trivia about their lives and achievements.

Seema Jerajani, Owner, SVJ Academy

• One word that describes you: Atmanirbhar

• Biggest breakthrough moment in your career: Starting SVJ (Seema V Jerajani) Academy

• One change in the beauty industry for women: Creating a conducive work environment for women both physically and mentally

• Your inspiration: Vidal Sassoon and Georgiy Kot

• Biggest strength that keeps you going: Continued education of the field I am working in

• One thing you would have done differently at the start of your career: Nothing, as I had the best beginning since 1993

• Advice for aspirants of the beauty industry: Invest in yourself and in a good education, as money and success will follow suit

Important support structure that helped you grow in your career: I believe in 3P’s – Practise, Patience and Perseverance – as they are the most important in shaping one’s career growth and graph

Avleen Bansal, Head of Training, Make-up Studio

• One word that describes you: Workable

• Biggest breakthrough moment in your career: Yet to come

• One change in the beauty industry for women: We will have more modern women in decision-making positions to steer and better brand performance

• Your inspiration: I am my own role model as it is my work that inspires me.

• Biggest strength that keeps you going: Being a makeup educator

• One thing you would have done differently at the start of your career: I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities I have got, making my career journey fantastic

• Advice for aspirants of the beauty industry: Be humble and stay focused on the area of the industry you want to succeed in industry: Dive deep and do not jeopardise your career by going for shallow education as there is a lot to learn in this creative field

Elisha Chauhan, President Hair & Beauty Tour LLC

• One word that describes you: Resilient

• Biggest breakthrough moment in your career: Switching from a computer science graduate to this creative world through the opportunity of being a translator for OMC world championship

• One change in the beauty industry for women: Confidence and empowerment that a woman feels in this industry

• Your inspiration: My mother, Sangeet Chauhan as she is a self-made woman

• Biggest strength that keeps you going: The industry’s potential, as it is a fertile soil for people in this industry to grow not only in India but around the world

• One thing you would have done differently at the start of your career: It has been a phenomenal journey for me and every aspect of it is of utmost importance in my life and in shaping my career

• Advice for aspirants of the beauty

Vaishali Shah, Director, LTA School of Beauty

• One word that describes you: Go getter

• Biggest breakthrough moment in your career: When I was felicitated by our vice president Venkaiah Naidu for my contribution at the World Skills to bring laurels to our country.

• One change in the beauty industry for women: Easy access to funds to start and grow the business

• Your inspiration: Seema Gopujkar and Maya Paranjapye

• Biggest strength that keeps you going: My family

• One thing you would have done differently at the start of your career: Mission of spreading quality education of international standards in beauty industry at least a decade ago

• Advice for aspirants of the beauty industry: Beauty industry is a wish fulfilling industry, where one can be super creative and achieve fame and respect

• Important support structure that helped you grow in your career: Right guidance along with support and encouragement from friends and family

Nikisha Bhatia, Head Educator, MUD India:

• One word that describes you: Educator

• Biggest breakthrough moment in your career: World skill that happened in India where I was representing my country, India on the international platform.

• One change in the beauty industry for women: Mandate and protocol for every aspirant to have six months of professional training and qualification before they start working.

• Your inspiration: Natasha Naegamvala

• Biggest strength that keeps you going: I can create and give to my industry, and country, really good, dedicated and sincere professionals through my education

• What would you have done differently: Dedicating 12 years to hair, I wish I started off my Makeup career also sooner than I did.

• Advice for aspirants of the beauty industry: This field requires a lot of energy and is hectic, so women who aspire to enter should emphasise on their fitness to go miles ahead in their career

• Important support structure that helped you grow in your career: I never ever stopped educating and upgrading myself, as this is a dynamic industry, which needs one to always grow, and the best way to do so is through competition and championships

Monica Bahl, CEO, B&WSSC:

• One word that describes you: “Carpe Diem”

• Biggest breakthrough moment in your career: Opportunity to meet Vandana Luthra, Founder, VLCC, as a fresh postgraduate with starry dreams

• One change in the beauty industry for women: Bring about the respect they deserve so they can be at par with women professionals from any other industry

• Your inspiration: Padma Shri Vandana Luthra, Founder, VLCC

• Biggest strength that keeps you going: It is my undying faith in God that brings around abundance of positivity for me

• One thing you would have done differently at the start of your career: It has been a ceaseless learning journey, which has made me evolve every day in life

• Advice for aspirants of the beauty industry: Follow 3P’s of Passion, Perseverance and Progress if you aspire to be part of this industry

• Important support structure that helped you grow in your career: The biggest support structure is your immediate family and the team with whom you spend more than 12-14 hours every day.

Priscilla Corner, Managing Partner, June Tomkyns

• One word that describes you: Committed

• Biggest breakthrough moment in your career: Bharat Nirman Awards winner for contribution in the field of beauty and wellness

• One change in the beauty industry for women: Government aid for relief programmes and in education centric endeavours

• Your inspiration: My mother, June Tomkyns – no hesitation

• Biggest strength that keeps you going: I love and live what I do!

• One thing you would have done differently at the start of your career: Start cutting and colouring hair at the age of 10.

• Advice for aspirants of the beauty industry: Education is key! Invest your “all” in it.

• Important support structure that helped you grow in your career: I come from a family that has given their 100 per cent to the industry for 37 years, there was a lot of education and business awareness that just happened organically – the flip side was that there were higher expectations of me and I had to work twice as hard!

Blossom Kochhar, Chairperson, Blossom Kochhar Group of companies

• One word that describes you: Passion

• Biggest breakthrough moment in your career: When I started my cosmetic business

• One change in the beauty industry for women: Learn all aspects of the business and excel in multitasking.

• Your inspiration: Leo Passage

• Biggest strength that keeps you going: My passion and my love for making people beautiful and educating youngsters

• One thing you would have done differently at the start of your career: I introduced aroma therapy in India and will do it again and again.

• Advice for aspirants of the beauty industry: Education is most important, and you must love people and serve people

• Important support structure that helped you grow in your career: Continuous education, family support, mentor

This article appears in the PBHJ Feb-Mar 2021 Issue of Professional Beauty/ Hairdressers Journal India

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COPIED
This article appears in the PBHJ Feb-Mar 2021 Issue of Professional Beauty/ Hairdressers Journal India