I was Born in a traditional Marwadi family with four sisters & a brother ! Although My father was very loving & caring, he never allowed us to wear western clothes and go for parties, movies , mingling with friends specially of opposite sex ! Our daily routine used to be going to school/college and then back home. Since we were sisters, we were very close to each other and never felt any need for outside friendship. So we used to enjoy at home.
I was a very good student and had dreamt of becoming a doctor one day. But destiny had some other plans and I got married even before turning 19.
Marriage was a new beginning with many challenges. Initial years were very difficult as I was not able to cope up with the pressure of being a wife and daughter in law, in a traditional conservative joint family. Sometime I use to have fights over petty issues with my inlaws.
When I was 20 I delivered a baby boy (We were young & had limited knowledge about family planning at that time). I was barely coping up with various pressures of married life when the additional responsibility of motherhood without much support from my in laws,landed on my young shoulders.
At the age of 22 I tried to commit suicide by consuming a bottle of sleeping pills. I thought that was the easiest way of getting rid of all my problems. I remember the day, it was Sunday and my husband Akash was at home. He immediately took me to hospital and the doctors saved me but I was hospitalized for a week.
Akash who till now was mute spectator to all the happenings at home was shattered. He sensed that things were extremely damaged and that only drastic changes could help us.
During the week I was in hospital, Akash had detailed discussion with me and told me to not run away from the situation and not to act as a coward. He challenged me to do something creative in life, and to excel. These lines were the turning point in my life and after this discussion I never looked back. I joined our family business with the help of my husband and I grew in leaps and bounds as we complemented each other and become a terrific duo at work , our business also scaled to new heights !!
My husband understood my strengths and acumen and gave me the direction in the professional field. From the beginning, Akash was loving & protective but after my suicide attempt he became more open minded & very supportive unlike any traditional Marwari husband !!!
He gave me the exposure to the outside world and literally gave me the wings to fly high and high !!
When I joined, Akash furniture group was running in losses . Initially it took me few years to get a grasp of overall business, but with time I got passionate about the business. With my effort & passion Akash furniture group became one of the most recognized & biggest furniture brand in central India .
I was somehow content with my role in our family business but my entire perspective changed when I went to china , Malaysia , Singapore & Thailand for furniture exhibitions. I was motivated by women entrepreneurs who were working very hard & rubbing shoulders with their male counter part.
It has also inspired me to excel & become one of the top lady industrialist of India
I am very proud & very humbly would like to say that now I am one of very few lady industrialist in whole of central India who is in full time into management & execution of hardcore business of manufacturing , wholesaling & retailing of consumer durable ( A domain mostly managed by males )
Today I am CEO of Akash Furniture Group consisting of Akash Furnitech pvt ltd ( a 42000 sq feet state of art furniture industry at Hingna midc ), Akash Wholesale furniture mall ( 10000 sq feet furniture mall) & two showroom at Nagpur.
My journey was never easy as most of the times I have to deal with unskilled /non professional male subordinates which at times was very difficult for a lady as it used to bruise their male ego !!
Many of my competitors when they were not able to compete with me professionally , …… use to spread rumors in the market that I am trying get orders for furniture from various institutions using undue / unethical means of being a lady. It was hard to deal with it but my husband was a rock solid support for me. During all this Akash stood behind me like a rock !! He said this is part & parcel of being in this competitive business. It’s a Dog eat dog world where the fittest survives ! Its all because of him that a 12 pass lady is visiting faculty to various mba , bba , Engg colleges such IMT Katol & many more & professional organisations like VIA , TIE , VMA etc!!
Another highlight of my life was when Akash insisted that I participate in Mrs Nagpur 2004, which I won & then I also went ahead and won Mr & Mrs Nagpur contest along with Akash in 2005. Next I participated in Gladrags Mrs India & Mrs India world contest and made it to the semifinals.
Then in Sep 2015, Akash again motivated me to participate in Mrs India. Initially I was very scared as it had been 10 yrs since I had participated in Gladrags Mrs India. Many of the contestants were newly married women & were participants of beauty pageants like Miss India before marriage. But still I somehow participated and managed to win Mrs India Worldwide Mrs Inspirational title.
At Mrs India worldwide, and I was among the top contender for the crown as I performed so well in initial rounds. Unfortunately, I couldn’t win it. I didn’t lose hope and again tried for Mrs India globe where I won Mrs. India globe 1st runner up title ( Indian married women from all over globe were the participants ).
I participated in beauty pageants not just for winning the title, name & fame but for getting exposure to new world. It is about meeting talented, interesting people, making friend with them, learning from them !!
To all the readers – I would like to leave you with one of my favorites life lessons – Harder you fall, higher you bounce !!
— Shilpa Agrawal —
Mrs Universe 2017 finalist, winner Mrs India Globe,industrialist, pageant groomer, corporate trainer, model, lifecoach, motivational speaker, social worker.
