Beauty and wellness has been something that alway fascinated me. As I grew up, I was beauty advisor to my mother and all my friends.

I was advised by everyone to take it up seriously as a profession, but I realised I needed to learn and educate myself before I started anything.

I went to Germany for a course in nutrition and cosmetology.

When I came back I met Mukesh and we got married and the ambition of doing something took a back seat.

Once, while I was accompanying my father on one of his business trips to Germany, I met a husband-wife duo who ran a health centre.

The duo was a great combination with one being a nutritionist and the other a cosmetologist. They greatly influenced my ideas and fired my vision to start a business in the beauty and wellness segment.

VLCC is the culmination of my vision to make health and beauty accessible to all.
When I opened the first centre in 1989, the concept of combining fitness and beauty as an approach to holistic wellness was a completely new paradigm.

As a woman entrepreneur, the biggest challenge during my initial years was that of perception. Since the concept was new and not well known, procuring finance to further the business was a problem.

But it all worked out well in the end, and today VLCC is present in nearly 300 locations in nine countries, providing a livelihood to nearly 6,000 people, the majority of whom are women.

The writer is founder and mentor, VLCC