At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the finest stories from the startup ecosystem. As part of this endeavour, we invited a passionate entrepreneur – Falguni Shrimanker for an exclusive interview with us. She is an Entrepreneur, Coach, Mentor, Strategist, Image Consultant, Change Enabler and Trainer. Falguni is the Founder of Ikonic Persona Image Consultancy. Let’s learn more about her exciting journey, her background and her advice for our growing community.
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Falguni:
Talk to us through your background and your journey.
My professional journey began at the age of 45. A homemaker for more than 25 years. Homemakers are multi-taskers. Along with my duties as a homemaker, a mother, a wife, a daughter, I was a passionate human being. A curious and eager learner. People always interested me, thus I had graduated in Sociology, (after my marriage) added Teacher’s Training and Child Psychology Diploma (before I got my first child).
Image Consultancy and Soft Skills Training (at the age of 44). Life was too busy for me to think about myself. As a mother one’s priorities change but for me, I enjoyed it, I learned and grew at every stage with my kids.
But even as I worked towards raising my family I’d keep newspaper and magazine clippings with articles related to body language, etiquette and social behaviour – it was always something I connected to.”
As we all know your inner child is always active and that made me grow in life. I was always interested in Fashion, style, shopping, etiquette & manners. Reflecting and joining the dots today, I can see that those interests had a crucial role to play in my journey to become an Image Consultant and a Soft Skills trainer.
What made you passionate about your work?
To be able to add value to someone’s life and if I could be there for them as a friend, mentor and guide are what motivates me to show up to work every day. My personal experiences became my guiding stars. I was a homemaker who wanted to build her identity and hence after discovering my purpose, it was time to help other homemakers find theirs.
Life really does come full circle – recently I had the privilege to train a homemaker to fulfil her dream of participating in the Beauty Pageant. Together we were able to work on her grooming, appearance, styling, body language, makeover, etiquette, communication and ramp walking.”
In the end, she was almost like a different version of herself – completely transformed and poised. Our hard work paid off and she even ended up winning a title. This experience was life-changing for me – it really helped me realize what my purpose is – to help women be more confident and happy.
Why do you think managing one’s image is so crucial?
First Impressions are lasting impressions! This is truly the fact. You will always remember where you met someone for the first time and the minute details like the hand-shake, body language and dressing.
It is important for one to understand how your image management makes or breaks your impact on others as well as yourself. Let me tell you that your clothes speak and send out a message. Thus making it important to send out the appropriate messages as per your role, goal and occasion.
Image Management is as important as your business management for the simple reason that if they can trust you they can trust your business.”
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
The most interesting part of my job is that each client comes with their own set of needs that must be addressed. Hence no two workdays are the same. Each individual throws in a different challenge, making my job more interesting.
The biggest driving force is my love for people and the attitude to help them. I connect with each of my clients at an emotional level and thus the whole process becomes interesting.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My biggest source of motivation firstly is my husband and my two kids followed by my brother. Everyone has supported me right from the word go. Motivated me wherever they felt I needed a push, guided me at every point where I was stuck.
My family has always been my source of energy. I personally believe when you have your family by your side no obstacle is big enough to stop you.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
A few strategies that I believe in are:
(1) Believe in yourself first. If you don’t have confidence in yourself, no one will.
(2) Have a disciplined life. That is the key to balancing your work and home life.
(3) Be Emotionally Intelligent – Understand your clients needs from his /her
perspective to feel it like them.
(4) Always be a learner: learning never stops and you can learn from anyone.
(5) Be Patient & don’t judge – you never know what the other person is passing
through
(6) Be true – Good values in life are the foundation of a successful life
What do you exactly do as a profession and who are your clients?
As an Image Consultant, I help people Appear, Behave and Communicate better, be it individuals, schools, colleges or corporates. I help people with their First Impressions, Interview Training, Confidence building, Dressing right as per their goals and occasions.
I have many other feathers to my hat as a Beauty Pageant Coach, Personal Stylist, Personal Shopper, Bridal Trousseau Consultant. I help people at every stage of life. As a Soft Skills trainer, some of the topics I train are Correct Body Language, etiquette, etc. Overall giving a total makeover to look and feel better inside out!
My clients are from all walks of life like school students, post-graduate students, professionals, doctors, Mumbai University, homemakers, NRI’s, Brides to be, Prospects for an arranged marriage and the list goes on. The simple reason that everyone needs to manage their Image.”
One of your most precious memories relating to your work?
There has been a multitude of them – but I think it was really rewarding when my client won a title at the Beauty Pageant. I was truly grateful to be able to find my purpose. Another time was when I was awarded the Dr. Sarojini Naidu International Award For Women – celebrating my humble contribution in this field.
Recently you have offered new services “Bridal Trousseau Consultant”, can you give us more details about it?
Recently, I noticed that the young brides-to-be are burdened with too many things like their work pressure, spending time with their new in-laws and shopping for their wedding outfits and trousseau. This is where I step in to help the newly engaged couple. Shopping for your trousseau can be exceptionally tiring and overwhelming.
With a complete low down of the couple’s lifestyle, their work, personality, body shape and occasions, I help to guide them to build their wardrobe for different wedding occasions and build a trousseau that is versatile yet within their comfort zone. This was built with the aim of helping out young couples taking one thing off their plate.
We hear that you help NRI’s too, how is that and what do you do?
Indian weddings are super popular within the NRI community, which often entail a huge shopping trip to India, however with travel restrictions all over, these shopping trips became close to impossible.
This is where my role steps in as a wardrobe curator and stylist – from mood boards to finalizing looks to even live video calls from shops, we ensure that each and every little detail is looked after. All the client has to do – Share their wishlist with us for their looks and once everything is finalized, all you have to do is wait for the parcel to arrive.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
