You must remember Shark Tank Season 1, many startups pitched their business idea and took funding. Malvika Saxena's name is also among those who got funding in Shark Tank, she got funding of Rs 35 lakh funded by Anupam Mittal and Vinita Singh at equity of 24%.
Malavika is the founder of Quirky Naari, a fashion brand. Quirky Nari is an apparel and fashion lifestyle brand that creates customized footwear and clothing for its customers.
Started with a small room. Today it is the only brand that makes customized bridal sneakers and dresses.
She has worked with many actors and a big star like Priyanka Chopra has given her a shootout. She is striving to take their venture globally. She wants to expand her portfolio from customized to standardized products.
Quirky Nari is India's first hand-painted denim brand. The brand creates hand-painted bridal shoes, denim jackets, and funky shoes keeping in mind the fashion trends.
Her designed shoes have been worn by Raveena Tandon, Sunny Leone, Adah Sharma, Anita Hassanandani, and Rubina Dilaik.
Let us know the journey of Malvika Saxena…
Early life
Malavika was born on 12 October 1990 in a prosperous family in Mathura. Her father is a businessman. And there are men with feudal behavior. They were not opposed to sending girls to school and education but were against sending a girl child away from home to study in a big city to get admission to a good college.
Malvika was interested in art since childhood, but the family members believed that meritorious children study science and commerce. This art is the thing of people who are lazy in their studies.
After schooling, she wanted to do a course in fashion design, but here too there was a problem with the family. According to the family members, this is not a cultural work.
And the other big problem was that there was no fashion design college in Mathura. So she was ordered to study business management.
When she agreed to study business management after obeying her family, there was also a condition that she should not study outside Mathura. A study from this college. Later she also did MBA from Mathura.
When her father did not let her go out of Mathura
To the extent that after completion of the MBA, when the turn came for campus placement, the family members did not allow her to sit in that too. The reason is that the office of any company coming there was not in Mathura.
This means one has to go to Delhi-Mumbai-Gurgaon to get a job.
Now all the people with him have moved ahead in life and Malavika remained in Mathura. She was battling deep depression and loneliness because of this restriction and the stubbornness of her parents without any reason.
On the one hand, all her MBA friends were doing jobs in Delhi-Mumbai with good packages, making new friends, traveling the world, and living their lives the way they wanted. And she was stuck in one place. Her life seemed to have come to a standstill and as if there was no hope left.
As stubborn as the father was determined she would not send Malvika out of Mathura, she was now determined that she would not marry her as per her wish.
Then father and daughter stopped talking to each other. Malvika would stay locked in her room alone all day and dream of flying away one day.
According to Malavika, the more restrictions and controls she was brought up with, the more intense her desire to be free.
But she was practically not a rebel. She was scared inside. But a little rebellion is necessary.
Of course, our parents have seen life more than us and understood the situations, but it does not mean that they are always right. It is wrong to get stuck in emotions all the time.
Children should have the right to choose education and career. Stubbornness without talking is wrong.
Malavika Basak remained silent for herself but fought for her sister. The silence she had kept to herself, she raised her voice for her younger sister Ambika.
When it was her sister's turn to go to Delhi to live and study, Malavika stood up as her sister's shield in front of her parents. Finally, the sister got consent to go to Delhi to study and then get a job.
Career before Quirky Woman
But it is said that no matter how high the dam of patience and endurance is, one day it breaks. Malvika's patience also broke one day. Secretly applied for a job in Delhi without informing the family members and got the job.
Now Malavika started a new life by going to Delhi. The father was now more angry than ever. Communication with him completely ended.
How did the idea of Quirky Woman come about?
One day Malvika was cleaning her old wardrobe. Some old shoes were lying in the cupboard. She was thinking of throwing them away when the sister said, why are you throwing them away? You paint so well. Paint them.
Helpless from home and life, if anything had saved Malvika for so many years, then it was painting and brush only. Locked alone in her room, she used to paint for hours.
The colors with which Malvika found patience in the days of sorrow, did not think that those colors and skills would one day become her identity in the world.
Malvika cleaned those old shoes, took out paint and brush, and in no time those discolored old shoes turned into yellow-pink beautiful shoes. Everyone would look at them longingly and ask, “Hey, those are beautiful shoes. Where to buy from?
The beginning of Quirky Nari
When Malvika was doing her MBA in Mathura, she won a business plan competition in college. That business plan was actually an idea to make sustainable fashion accessories from scrap. Professors had predicted that one day you would definitely become an entrepreneur.
Malvika didn't take that thing seriously then. But after years that prediction was now going to come true. Malvika, after repeated encouragement from her sister, created a page on Instagram and named it - 'The Quirky Naari'.
There she started posting pictures of her handpainted shoes, clothes, and purses. Slowly the word spread and orders started coming to Malvika. She did not have much money to invest.
There was no question of getting financial help from the father. So she came up with an idea. Those ordering hand-painted shoes were asked to pay half the money in advance and half after the product is delivered.
Fortunately, people also agreed. In this way, she fulfilled orders of 20-25 shoes. Gradually the demand started increasing. The product was so unique and attractive that anyone who saw it would be left stunned for a while. People liked the product.
She gave very beautiful positive feedback. Now Malavika quit her job and started doing this work full time. The father was still angry but did not interfere much.
Malavika returned to Mathura and converted her room there into a small studio. Buying shoes in bulk from Delhi would come to Mathura and hand painting would be done here.
Malvika used to do all the work herself. From receiving the order to packing and couriering it.
When celebrities wore Malvika's shoes
With the brand and the recognition Malavika got, her confidence was slowly returning. Now she started contacting celebrities. After many attempts, she got an order from Deepika Kakkar for painted sneakers, which he wore in Bigg Boss.
Once the demand for the product increased after coming in Bigg Boss.
Funding got from Shark Tank
'The Quirky Woman' got more recognition after getting 35 lakh funding in Shark Tank. Overnight the number of orders coming to her Instagram page increased 10 times.
Malvika has not spent a single penny on marketing till now. People liked this brand. Also, celebrities have collaborated because it is so beautiful and unique.
Renowned film and TV celebrities like Raveena Tandon, Sunny Leone, Adah Sharma, Rannvijay Singha, Rubina Dilaik, Asim Riaz, Paras Chhabra, and Anita Hassandani have used The Quirky Woman products.
Malavika believes that the desire for fashion, style, and looking beautiful is very innate, but that fashion should be such that it reflects your thinking and personality as well. An intelligent and sensible girl, whose aim in life is not just to look beautiful and attractive, who does not click 32 selfies a day and post them on social media. What should be the fashion that matches the personality of that girl?
The products designed by Malavika are one such, which are beautiful yet comfortable and reflect an independent personality and outlook.
Girls and women have to leave their fears behind. Life cannot be defined only by being a glamor shop. There is nothing wrong with being stylish and looking good. But your life should also have a purpose. It is most important for every woman to be financially independent. That's why move forward for the upliftment of your life with your full capacity and determination.
Hollow out the chains of all those orthodox thoughts which are hindering your success. Parents are respectable, but if they are also trapped under the ideology what should daughters do after being educated more? And only marrying them is the only aim of their life, so it is very important to rebel against their thinking.
And if the parents think that it is wrong for the daughters to go out in society and advance themselves, then it is also necessary to rebel against them. Parents cannot stay with their daughters all the time, neither they should help their daughter to make her life successful and financially strong, nor should they become an obstacle themselves.
Malvika, may you progress double day and night quadruple in the future. You are an inspiration to every young girl.
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