Shaurya Sanadhya is one of the top fashion and lifestyle bloggers in India. She won several hearts for her graceful personality. Her robust fanbase of are proof of her expertise. She is a big time beauty and fashion enthusiast. Apart from fashion, Shaurya is a genius when it comes to makeup & skincare. This multi-faceted blogger - entrepreneur - influencer is clearly on her way to conquer the world with her business acumen and acute sense of what the client needs!.
Shaurya Sandhya shares her journey with team Impact & gives more insights about her as an entrepreneur and influencer.
"Life has been one amazing roller coaster ride but what’s best is that I’ve enjoyed every bit of it".
With my father being in the India Air Force I got to travel a lot within India. Changing schools and all that travel made me very talkative, interactive & confident. My major part of schooling was done in Lucknow (Loreto convent) after which I moved to Pune to pursue B.com from Symbiosis. I have always been a balanced kid, I was good in academics but I also needed my entertainment which I found in dance (classical & freestyle) as well as choreography. I also developed a keen interest in modelling & acting during my school days, so much, that I ended up participating in a lot of beauty contests (defence may queen ball - 1st runner up, Miss Pune- 1st runner up, Femina Miss India to name a few).
Because our curriculum in B.Comm was pretty light I started to take up modelling projects in Pune & walked for designers like Rohit Bal, Swapnil Shinde, Nivedita Saboo, Shivani Kullar etc. I also acted in a TV Soap aired on Star One called “Dhoond Legi Manzil Humein”. I completed all of the above during my graduation days along with my academics which I paid equal importance to.
"Life got a little tricky when I actually had to make a decision of “what to do? “after graduation. I had to choose between Post Graduation, Acting Career, Modelling, My Clothing brand, Indian Air Force.”
So I decided to take up the challenge and give Indian Air Force a try while giving a few other entrance exams. I not only cleared my AFCAT but also cleared my SSB (Mysore) and medical (Bangalore) making it to the merit list as an officer in the IAF. But I happily opted out of the offer because I wanted something else for myself & my life and I did not see it in this sector.
Keeping in mind that I wanted to pursue a career in the media sector I completed my MSc in Economics to open doors in the field of economic journalism. Little did I know that after completing the course and serving in an MNC for a year I wouldn’t be happy.
At that point of time, the thought of starting my own label came to mind but because of lack of resources, I had to drop the idea. Throughout this time of trying to find me, social media & youtube started to grow on me because I used to follow a lot of international YouTubers & influencers. The idea of connecting with like-minded people & creating a community of your own to talk about things you love (which in my case was fashion, styling and beauty) gave birth to my first Youtube Channel ‘Pretty Little Things’ followed by my own channel ‘Shaurya Sanadhya’.
Gradually life changed & more than liking I started loving what I was doing. My job required me to be creative, talkative & interact with an audience about fashion, beauty and style which in a nutshell were all the things that I was doing before but this time it was under a different & personalised light.
I still had my priorities set which was to start my clothing line & I started to save up for the same. The moment I knew we saved enough to do the needful we started working on my dream ‘Label Shaurya Sanadhya’. Most of my savings went into the backend work & I ran around to different markets in Pune/Mumbai to source material for our first few designs. I still remember our first product shoot where we rented out a studio but didn’t have the budget for a photographer. At that point of time, Amit (my fiancé) helped to click the pictures & my parents helped me with the lights, blowers, outfits etc. I don’t think that picture can ever be erased from my memory because I know how badly I wanted that to happen. After months of trials, mistakes and learnings we finally came on track and built a workspace which now is a capable team who helps me create what ‘Label Shaurya sandhya ’ is today.
During this entire time of being an influencer, I came across & personally interacted with a lot of teenage girls who would discuss their skincare problems with me. The entire findings made me realise that there are a lot of common issues that young girls and boys face and need the right product for the same. I then discussed this with Amit ( my husband ) who initiated the idea of herbal skincare products & how we can make and deliver the same to people out there. We then took the help and guidance of my father in law who has great knowledge of ayurvedic and medicinal plants.
I still remember how we personally sat & curated our first line of products which was natural, herbal and hand made. After months and months of trials to make just the product we finally were ready with three products under the brand name ARYAM ( which is actually the amalgamations of its name and my name). ARYAM was a very small scale unit initially because we worked at ground level to manufacture products that would benefit the end-user.
We can never forget the launch date where all of us were super anxious but to our surprise, we were sold out in the first 2 days. The positive reviews from all our users made the efforts worth it. ARYAM is a self-growing baby which has been working successfully just on the basis of word of mouth, positive reviews and the trust of our users. We still have a long way to go and both Amit and I are working towards achieving the same.
When I look back at these babies I feel that all of the hard work has paid off, there were hardships but all of it was worth everything that we see today. Let me tell you that none of this would have been possible without my husband (Amit) who has always been there beside me like a rock and has helped me to beautifully carve the paths of these two brands. In the end, I would like to say that nothing is impossible, all you have to do is – Dare to dream and put in you r heart & soul to make that dream come to life. If I can do it anybody can.
I’ve been actively associated with UNICEF to talk about menstruation and preach about its normalcy among young girls (Post For Change). Together we spoke about the myths, hygiene and the taboos in Bhopal.
During this time of the pandemic, my Instagram family & I together raised an amount 40k for daily wage workers to provide & meet their basic food requirement.
I’m actively associated with “Save The Children” on a personal level since the past 3 years.
My aim is to use this platform for a meaningful purpose and with the help of my Instagram family, I wish to be able to make a small but significant change in the social space.