I run the luxury home decor brand AA Living and we have our online presence across India. Our range includes linen, bath linens, and all kinds of accessories. We also have solutions for end-to-end home textiles. We have had a store in Mumbai for the last 25 years.

I started my journey at 23 when I was fresh out of university. After studying woven textile designs in the UK. I came back to Bombay. My family owned a beautiful bungalow at Nepean Sea Road in Mumbai, an upmarket neighbourhood near Malabar hill in South Mumbai, which was an export showroom at the time. Our family exported textiles all over the world, including to the UK, the US, and other major players overseas. The buyers used to come in from the local market. So, we had already started getting a clientele. Some interior decorators and architects used to come because we were offering export quality back in 1998 when there was not really much choice available.

It was just us and a couple of other players in Mumbai that dealt in good quality linen. But essentially it was a loss-making entity and there was a talk that we should either sell the property or shut it down etc because the space was quite large — 3,000 sqft — in this prime property bungalow location. So, when I came in, I bought some time from my family, telling them that I had a vision and I really wanted to do something with it. I told them that I wanted to turn it into a full-blown retail space. I had worked with Marks & Spencer in the UK in their home division and, thus, had a reference point of the international scene of home textiles and their work culture. In India, things were different back then. People really didn’t want to spend too much on their home, on things like their bedroom, for example, or bedsheets, bathmats, or towels. They would splurge on clothes, salons, and maybe their living room’s cushions and rugs because that’s where they would entertain their guests, but would not be so inclined to spend on their personal home decor largely because there was not much awareness then. 

I resolved to make it my mission to bring international-level textile to the retail market, stuff that we were exporting all over the world. We were doing 1000-thread count sheets, beautiful Spanish and French bedspreads, Egyptian and Supima cotton towels, anti-slip bathmats. All these were made in India but were sent overseas for brands like DKNY Home, Pottery Barn, Vera Wang Home, and Country Road, to put their labels on before they were sent back. We started designing for the Indian market, doing everything that an Indian household would need to make a really beautiful home. And that was my struggle. I had to really convince people and market it in such a way that people actually understood the value of what we were selling and did not think that it was just another overpriced store.

The interior decorators, the architects who were coming to us for the last 25 years were really happy, but we also slowly started wheeling our way onto social media. At that time, Facebook was huge and we started doing things way ahead of other brands in terms of doing lookbooks, commercials, and educational videos. Through social media, we started making people aware of how they could style their homes effortlessly if they chose quality over quantity; and that has been our motto. Later, when Instagram arrived, it was a huge game-changer for us. The visibility just increased manifold. I have over 3 lakh people on my personal page and close to a lakh on my brand page. So, it’s a very large community and we sell from our e-commerce platform. From being just a boutique store at Nepean Sea Road, we have spread our wings across the whole of India; it is no longer just limited to the Mumbaikars as our entire store is online. When we began, we had just 50 products on our website. Now, we have over 2500 SKUs (stock-keeping units). As our project enters another phase, we are geared up to go international, beginning with the Middle East and a few other countries. I rebranded after I saw a gap in the market. I had to educate people and they allowed me to be a voice of the community. 

Three years after I started my brand, I was married to my longtime boyfriend when I turned 26. We had met at the university. However, just when the brand had started picking up a little bit and gaining momentum, there was an unplanned setback: I ended up getting pregnant on our honeymoon. Though I was overwhelmed, it also meant a shift in strategy. But I didn’t let that stop me from what I wanted to do with the brand: I used to take my newborn, and the baby carrier, to work. I would work while the baby was napping: it was a challenge to balance motherhood with my entrepreneurial dream. Since like the brand, the baby was young, too, there was always so much to do. But if we have a great support system around us, we can do so much with ourselves. I navigated this phase with the help of my family, which has always been supportive. My parents live close by. My mother-in-law helps with my children a lot. I now have two girls: one is nine, another is four. I truly love being a mother; my children’s innocence and outlook on life endear them to me. I also feel that while a mother needs to be there with her children, the latter also need to understand that their parents work hard to make their life comfortable. Perhaps observing me as a working woman may benefit them in some ways.

My husband is in a totally different profession, but we’ve known each other for 20 years and he’s been very supportive. My overall ethos in life is operating from gratitude. Whenever you feel low, it’s important to gather yourself, allowing yourself to process the feelings for 15-20 minutes, and then just move forward. Sometimes, we take for granted the life we live and the things we once prayed for. Operating from a sense of gratitude makes life easier.