Every woman, no matter what lineage or pedigree she comes from, faces her unique set of challenges, some that she is equipped to overcome immediately and some that take a bit of honing of self and stregnth. Jeyasree Ravi comes from a well-established family of textile czars, but her rise to the top of a hugely popular chain of silk stores is nothing short of remarkable. Her father Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty runs the 85-year-old Chennai’s most prestigious, Nalli Silks; and through marriage, she is related to Kumaran Silks.
When she got into the business of sarees with Sri Palam Silks, Jeyasree wanted to design the traditional pattu sarees and silks for the youth.
Speaking of her journey, she says, “As a young girl I idolized my father and his way of working with weavers and workers inspired me. I got married into the Kumaran Silks family. However, I was not interested in their family business or my father’s. I was happy looking after my home and children. I got into the business quite when I was 36 years. I first sold pattuor silk sarees, because my father mentioned in a casual conversation with me about how after a discount sale at Nalli’s there were many sarees lying around at the store.”
My husband, P J Ravi was the driving force and helped me aspire for more. My brother- in-law lent me the family’s 250-300 sq feet store used to house computers at Pondy Bazar to start out on my own. My father, Kuppuswamy Chetty lent me two lakhs. I was able to pay him back in a year’s time. I expanded gradually by first buying this store and then the stores nearby to now become one of T. Nagar’s landmark,” says the proud mother of three daughters.
This Deepavali, her chain ranks as one of Chennai’s highest sale-grossing saree store and she says, “Women must empower other women. My children empowered me to dream and today are taking the business to places I never imagined. This Deepavali I have resolved to create more women leaders in all spheres through my own learnings. I will be embarking on a mission to make more women dream to be entrepreneurs and cultivating their minds to go for gold.”
