Ghazal Alagh, co-founder and Chief Mama at Mamaearth, dons multiple hats. Starting her career at NIIT Chandigarh as a young corporate trainer, she’s recognized amongst India’s Top 10 Artists, besides being an entrepreneur who made it to the coveted BW 40 Under 40 list.
Like every woman, motherhood was life-changing for Ghazal.
In an interview with #SheTalks, Ghazal Alagh shares, “My first child, Agastya, was severely allergic as an infant, and we could only use toxin-free products for him. That’s when my husband and I realized that there were no toxin-free baby care products available easily in the Indian market.” Their quest led to launching Mamaearth in December 2015. Four years later, the company has developed an entire range of toxin-free personal care products and is the fastest Indian company to reach Rs.100 crores in sales and attract investors including Shilpa Shetty Kundra. The brand stands strong on its ethos and aims at reducing damage to the environment (being plastic positive), reducing harm to skin and body, and sourcing and manufacturing locally.
The young entrepreneur considers that there are way too many things that come together to define success, but the one that she would call the “secret sauce” would be the ability to persevere. “Whenever you want to achieve something extraordinary, the only certainty is that you will get lots of challenges on your path,” adds Ghazal.
“Things will never go the way you imagine, a hundred different things will go wrong (sometimes all at once), you will have to change tactics and rework plans. That’s why success only comes to those who can stick through these crazy times. As long as you persevere, things eventually fall in place.”
Here are three pieces of advice Ghazal Alagh wishes to give every woman who is hustling right now while paving her way to success in a corporate career or entrepreneurial journey:
1. Be kind to yourself
We hear a lot of things about self-love and self-care, but we usually don’t even realize when our inner voice gets switched on — the one that’s constantly telling us we’re not good enough, we’re failing, etc. The best thing we can do is become aware of that inner voice and work towards replacing it with a stronger voice that says you’re trying your best, you’ll get through this.
2. Be okay with a B in some things
Understand that we can’t get an A in every area of our life. If we want an A in some areas (whether that’s family, work, friendships, or social life — everyone’s priorities are different), we have to be willing to get a B or a C in other areas. Multi-tasking is an integral part of every woman’s life, and we all have to do it— but we don’t have to be amazing at every single task.
3. Take time out for your feminine side
Modern lifestyle tends to be very masculine in nature — there’s a lot of focus on doing, achieving, managing. We need to find time for the feminine within us — connect with our inner artist, just be in the moment, connect to our flow. Whether it’s crafting, painting, playing an instrument, or just dancing — take time out to connect to your inner creativity. It will have a positive effect on all other areas of your life.