So, what work did I have to invest in? I was already passionate about supporting small businesses and families when travelling in India, but this was not enough. I needed ‘a product’ and I wanted it to be work that would be meaningful for talented artisans and to me too. And to be honest, I didn’t have to think for long. I love traditional Indian designed jewellery. I’m not a big shopper, but when in India, I always find time for myself to seek out some beautiful new jewellery pieces to bring home. That said, what I truly was always looking for were devotional pieces that I could wear during the day to help bring my attention back to my spiritual practice. The thing is, if I could find these precious pieces, they were not in a style that I would personally wear day to day. I mean I have days when I like to wear bigger statements (and we design these traditional pieces too) but day to day I like to wear fine jewellery. And so that was the start of Tamba Retail. I got busy designing here in Australia, and my beautiful artisans got busy bringing them to life in India. Quickly, working on the Tamba Retail collections became my favourite part of the day. Working on designs that help to bring a small blessing to my customers’ lives, whilst at the same time improving the lives of my artisans and their families. Each piece is designed with intention by me, embellished and brought to life by traditional artisans, blessed in a Pooja ceremony in Jaipur, packaged lovingly in our handmade organic pouches by women in Rajasthan, and sent to our customers with the most sincere heartfelt love and blessings.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Thankfully, my spiritual practice has helped immensely to keep me balanced. I am a huge planner and schedule every day, starting with my spiritual practices, and working back from there. I then remind myself that like all things, the business is a journey of evolution. We continue to improve and evolve, but as long as we are joyful and our clients are happy, we don’t need to rush towards achieving everything at once.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
It sounds terribly cliched, but challenges truly feel like opportunities to me. I start from a place of inquiry, and then enjoy the process of evolving myself or the business to meet the challenge. My experience is that these challenges always lead to improvements that you may not have had the opportunity to discover otherwise.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
I guess the con of running your own business is the amount of time required, especially when starting up, pivoting, growing or launching new ideas. But the thing is, when you love your offerings, it doesn’t feel like work. It doesn’t drain you. In fact it fills you up. And whilst it may be extra work, a lot of the work is flexible in regard to the specific times you work. If you want to do something for yourself during the day, you can work on the business at night. If you want to do something for yourself on a week day, you can work on the weekend. The flexibility is great, but the biggest pro is the opportunity to devote your working life to projects that make a difference and connect to others, rather than working for someone else’s passion, or simply to grow someone’s profit.
Hopes and Dreams: What next?
We’re so excited to keep growing our Tamba Retail lines. In the new year we’re excited to launch our unisex signet rings, expand our goddess lines and add in our favourite gods too. Well also be launching our organic Goddess Tees and look forward to growing our clothing lines. The more our customers connect to our Tamba Retail collections, the more we can invest in our school scholarships, so this keeps us focused and fulfilled. What I’m personally over the moon about is getting back to my second home in India in the new year. To see my Indian friends and Tamba family will be beyond exciting after the two years of being apart… and to book my first TW Travel client to India following this will be beyond joyous.
Visit the Tamba Wildflower website to find out more about their products and services. You can also join their supportive communities on Facebook and Instagram.
