International Women's Day Interview: Riddhi Jain, Founder, NeceSera

Name: Riddhi Jain

Age: 23

City: New Delhi, India

Occupation: Founder, NeceSera

ST:
Please tell us briefly about you.

Riddhi: I graduated from Goizueta Business School of Emory
University with a BBA degree in Marketing and Information Systems &
Operations Management in 2016. I spent a month in Delhi helping with the family
garment business before I was supposed to move to Mumbai for a marketing job.
During this time, I realized that the apparel industry in India lacked
high-quality, comfortable clothing for your hard-earned downtime. I always had
a deep appreciation for art, so I put together a mood board with inspirations,
recruited experienced designer across Europe and conceptualized the first
NeceSera collection over a period of 6 months. Ever since, it’s been all about
NeceSera.

ST:
Who is a woman that inspires you the most and why?

Riddhi: The biggest inspiration are the women in our factory,
they work so meticulously to get every detail right in every garment, it’s
beautiful! Their precision and attention to detail in the fabric checking
department, where they need to ensure that no thread is broken or stretched, to
the finishing department, where they ensure that the clothing tags are attached
to the exact same place of every garment, inspires me every day.

ST:
How are you celebrating this year’s International Women’s Day?

Riddhi: For us, every day is women’s day. NeceSera is a
brand, for women, by women and we’re constantly working to empower women. We
recently launched a program in association with the Government of India, to
train women in our manufacturing facility to be Textile Committee Certified
Quality Professionals. This enables them to be qualified for job opportunities
in textile manufacturing.

ST:
What is the most important message you want to send out to all the women around
the world on this occasion?

Riddhi: Be the True You, and just keep going! This is also
the message we’re giving out with our new True You collection, do away with all
kinds of inhibitions and be the real you, no matter how quirky or complicated.

ST:
What according to you is ‘women empowerment’?

Riddhi: Women Empowerment to me is, when women enable change,
whether it’s by an entrepreneur or a working woman at work or by a homemaker at
home. When a woman is able to carry out actions, and become an agent of change,
she is empowered. While it’s true that the society needs to support this cause,
the first step is for every woman to feel ‘empowered’, go out and do what she
truly believes in. After that, it’ll be the society’s turn to accept this
change and support it.

ST:
What would you say are the main challenges facing women at present in
India?

Riddhi: There are lots of great women doing some amazing work
in India right now. An entrepreneur’s life is full of challenges, and as a
female entrepreneur myself, I feel that most challenges are the same for both
men and women. Those who really feel ‘empowered’ are actually doing what they
need to, even if it means going against all odds.

ST:
Where do you want to see yourself in next 5 years?

Riddhi: Right now I’m working on new ideas and
collaborations, which I see panning out over the next few years. After that, I
see myself working on newer plans to make NeceSera every woman’s one stop shop
for everything comfortable and necessary.