We were lucky to catch up with Pallavi Sarup recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Pallavi, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
This may be a cliché answer, but I get my resilience from my family. South Asians as a whole are incredibly resilient. They’ve survived generations of conflict, colonialism, and oppression. My family was no different. My grandparents went through the 1947 partition and were forcefully displaced from their homeland. They migrated to New Delhi. Where they rebuildt their wealth, community, and safety net from ground-zero. A few decades later, my parent decided to leave Delhi for Chicago. This time they had the freedom to choose a new home across the world for more opportunity. Uprooting your home, whether its forced or by choice, requires an incredible amount of resilience. It can be deeply traumatic to leave the environment you know even if it’s for the best. It requires grit, determination, and optimism. Attributes I continue to see in my family members despite all they’ve been through. Inspired by them, I’ve made huge moves of my own. I moved from Illinois to California to push myself out of my comfort zone, and experience new things. I also took the leap of leaving my corporate job to pursue my entrepreneurship journey. These changes have been very trying at times, but it helps to know that resilience is in my blood.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Growing up as a queer first-gen South Asian American in the Chicagoland area, art was how I expressed myself and how I connected to my culture. During the pandemic, I started to investigate what was most important to me and really started to explore South Asian craft and all of its influences in the Western art/fashion world. This eventually led to me quitting my tech job, and from there I traveled to India and partnered with craft organizations to learn more about ancestral art forms. During this trip, I gained a true appreciation for the skill and labor required for traditional crafts. This trip inspired me to make these experiences more accessible, and led to the launch of my very first ‘cultural craft kit.’
Hamesha Project’s dream is to uplift South Asian craft and bring cultural nuance into the DIY world. Our craft kits are an accessible way to experience South Asian ancestral craft within the comfort of your own home. Each kit is a result of months of research and testing to provide an authentic experience that does justice to the craft and its origins. Ancestral craft is rooted in community, and so are we. Our craft workshops create moments of connection through cultural crafting.
Last year, I led a bunch of craft workshops throughout the Bay Area and Chicago. My two homes in the US. I will continue to do that, but also…. y’all will now have the opportunity to start leading your own craft parties! This year I’ll be redesigning and refocusing on our Bandhani Craft Party Kits! Made so that you can lead your own natural dye party entirely on your own, the party kits are a great way to connect with friends through crafting.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think my openness, adaptability, and community-centric approach were the three qualities that were most important early in my journey. My first year of business, I threw myself at every opportunity I could grab. I think this was super important to redirect and reprioritize myself for the next year. Amidst trying all these new things, I also made sure I was learning and reflecting along the way too. I had a lot of failures, and it was super important that I try and change my approach so that I was gradually moving towards success.
Finally, I can’t understate the importance of nourishing your community. I have always valued community, and being generous and kind. I think a lot of the opportunities that were passed my way were in part because of that attitude and mentality. Community is ultimately my favorite part of this whole journey, and I’m grateful that it will continue to be there even if my path changes.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I think when you’re feeling overwhelmed it’s super important to stop and reflect. It’s so easy to feel like the things happening are completely out of control and to submit to that feeling of chaos. In reality, we do have some control over how we respond to these forces. We also have the power to reshape our lives to be healthier, more nourishing, and peaceful. It doesn’t happen all at once, and it’s pretty painful to get there. It’s our responsibility alone to seek the help to work towards it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hameshaproject.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hameshaproject/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallavisarup/
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hameshaproject/
Image Credits
Pauline Chatelan
