Svaha Story Part 3

Hello ,

I am so thankful for so much love from all of you and for your interest in learning more about my company.

It looks like I jumped ahead a little bit, and some of you asked me to tell you a little bit about me. So, here you go.

I was born into a South Indian military family. My father was an officer in the Indian Air Force, and my mother was an Indian classical dance teacher. My childhood was spent moving to a new state every three years. I had always been in love with clothing and fashion. I did my undergrad in Textiles and Clothing in India. After that, I started working in India in apparel manufacturing and in an apparel export house. I also worked for a couple of years as a buyer in apparel retail before moving to the US to study at the University of Georgia in Athens. I taught Textiles Physics to undergrad students to pay for my education. I also taught Indian cooking to supplement my income. :-) After this, I moved to Iowa State University for my PhD in Fashion Merchandising. My research was on consumer behavior for a fair trade clothing business.

I moved to Virginia to teach Fashion Buying at Marymount University, which I did for five years. During this time, I published a book called "Retailing in Emerging Markets," which is used at many universities to teach retailing. After I taught for five years, I decided to move to the industry and worked as an apparel buyer at "ThinkGeek". Then, I decided to take a break to spend some time with my kids. That's when my daughter decided that she wanted to grow up to be an astronaut. The rest is history!

I started this business wanting to just make some clothes for kids that they would enjoy wearing. I wanted kids to wear Svaha clothing and know that they can dream of being anything they want to be, irrespective of their gender or what they see around them in the generations before them. But, thanks to all of you, the company has grown beyond that dream. I often get asked, "What do you see as the future of this company?" My answer always is this: One day, Svaha USA will be known everywhere as the company that you can go to when you want to buy STEAM-themed clothing that inspires you. Clothing that starts a conversation and makes you feel happy when you wear it

That's all for this time! I would love to hear from you. Responses to this email come straight to my mailbox. If you want to make sure you always get these stories, please sign up here.

Have a wonderful day!

Jaya