Meet The SHEROES - Asmita Javdekar Of Aatman

Because the best success story is about a soul connect – Aatman.

Her sparkling eyes emanate a calm, an assurance, a peace that reaches right to your soul. Like her exquisite jewellery pieces instantly reach out to your heart as if saying ‘I am made just for you’, irresistible as they are. Just as food tastes the best when a lot of love has gone into its making, Aatman jewellery exudes love. They evoke a longing, a kind of nostalgia that you can’t resist. For the beautiful lady behind, Aatman is an evergreen story about love, soul-connect and lasting bonds. Meet Asmita Javdekar, the soul behind Aatman jewellery.

Tell us a little about yourself...

Born and brought up in Pune (Sadashiv Peth) I have grown up in our heritage Wada (old stone home), right above our family owned hospital - Gore Hospital. I completed my schooling from St. Mary’s and went on to pursue Science in Fergusson College and finished my B.E. (E&TC) from Cummins College of Engineering (Pune). I got married in 2003 to Aditya Javdekar (MD, Vilas Javdekar Developers) and joined our family business of construction as Director Sales & Marketing (2005-2008). We have two daughters, Mahika (12) and Mihira (7).

After engineering, how and why did you decide to start as an entrepreneur and launch a jewellery brand? 
During my engineering years, I interned with a lot of start-ups and was always inspired by the passion of the entrepreneurs rather than their tech know-how. My father is a CA turned third generation businessman managing our family business of wholesale grains and sugar (P.V.Gore & Co) founded by my great grandfather. We are the only firm with a Koknastha Brahmin and Marwadi partnership in business over 3 generations. With such resolute business genes, starting off as an entrepreneur was just a natural extension.

My mother hails from a royal family and is passionate about jewellery. The seed of a jewellery line was sown with the intention of combining my mother's sense of aesthetics, grace and my passion for marketing and story telling.

Tell us about Aatman. The name is intriguing. What is the philosophy behind it?
Since the soul of the idea of presenting the story of beauty, simplicity, grace, traditions was inspired by my mother, I wanted the jewellery line to have her essence. After deliberating on a few names symbolizing inner energy, aura, and the like, it dawned on me that I am nothing but her reflection and she is the essence of my soul.

Our Aatman was thus born.

Aatman is an ancient Sanskrit word that means ‘inner-self’ or ‘soul’. For us, it is a reflection of classicism - a term that, when applied generally, means clarity, elegance, symmetry, and repose produced by attention to traditional forms.

How has the Aatman journey been so far?

It’s been an absolute joy ride.

In November 2013, I set off on my entrepreneurial journey and launched a Facebook business page for Aatman. By March 2014, we launched our brand on an e-commerce platform by the name www.aatmanindia.com In July 2014, we began work with local NGOs which trained women from lower income groups to create handmade wire jewellery. This was the birth of our “Nirmitee” collection; an affordable handmade jewellery segment on our website, to support local women groups by training and honing their skill sets and generating employment in their community.

 In early 2015, we ventured into retail by opening our first aesthetic jewellery studio in Pune. From June 2015, we are shipping to more than 80 countries, world-wide.

With the birth of Aatman, I also reignited my passion for writing. I have written over 50 short stories based on personal experiences at work, human emotion and the extraordinary spark which shines through any ordinary situation. Each story of mine ends with our tagline “Happiness is contagious, let it spread”. In January 2016, I began work on my “Inspiration Catalogue” which features writeups on women change catalysts in the society.

Aatman has a strong social media presence with over 1,50,000 Facebook fans and more than 6000 Instagram followers.

A new business means terrific multi-tasking. How did you manage everything? From designing to sourcing to operations to marketing to selling? Did you do it single-handedly?
After launching Aatman, I requested my college friend Shiwanee to help me with operations. While I took care of the creativity, designs, photographs, writing, marketing and sales, Shiwanee took care of packaging, shipping, customer queries. We also hosted a few exhibitions with the help of family and friends. Very soon as order volumes started building up, we hired a team of 3 young interns to help us out.

What about the home - work balance? How do you manage it? 
I have a rock solid backbone at home in the form of Aai (my mother-in-law) and her powerful network of nerves of steel, our house help staff or our "mulinno" (‘girls’ in Marathi). Aai is the woman of the house and spoils me silly. I am a blessed child; my family takes care of this balance for me. My two girls are so understanding, that they seldom let me feel guilty about this act of balancing.

Has Aatman travelled to other countries? What is your dream for Aatman? Your vision?
Well, other countries travel to Aatman regularly. Our daily order volume of international orders is raising steadily over years. We ship to the US, Middle East, UK and Australia on a daily basis.

My dream is to create an aesthetic community through Aatman where people share art, dreams, stories and we create jewellery inspired by human emotion. I see "Aatman" as an Indian designer jewellery brand which touches the sensibility and sensitivity of the working women across the globe. We want to be the affordable designer jewellery brand with a rich soul of traditions, heritage, stories, creating conversation pieces at workplaces.

We have hosted one showcase in Macon, Georgia and have planned a pop up in London in August 2016.

Is the Aatman team full of women? How strong is the team today?
We are a 10-member team with 4 women and 6 men. We also work with a team of women artisans who create handmade jewellery for us. They are a team of 4 and work on a weekly assignment basis. Also, besides our COO and Marketing Manager the entire team comprises of young girls and boys who are school or college drop outs due to socio economic conditions. I feel immensely proud to say that most of them now speak English fluently and manage customer service confidently.

Do you have a support system? Who is that?
My family outside home - "Team Aatman"

• My family
• My snug friend circle.
• My faith

What is your take on women being successful entrepreneurs?
Women have the ability to create and the transformational ability to make a difference; they do it at home all the time. A successful woman entrepreneur uses her multifaceted talents to increase her circle of influence. Now, imagine the world full of such successful women?

What all does a woman need to do to lead a happy life?
She needs to get in touch with her purpose.

Who is your idol? In life and in business?
I meet way too many people who inspire me in one way or another. Social media opens up so many opportunities to read about and understand the journey of breakthrough human endeavours.

What according to you makes a SHERO?
The ability to keep going, keep doing, keep pursuing, day after day with passion, determination and belief.

Asmita’s message to SHEROES - Take an appointment with yourself daily; you will get in touch with the humongous human spirit you possess.