The Flavours of Success: Celebrating Women Changemakers in the Food Industry

To commemorate International Women's Day, Cookd has approached some seasoned women entrepreneurs who're making impeccable achievements in their businesses and of course, impacting society in a successful trajectory. 

This might be a small initiative, but it will definitely impact many other women out there to find their passion and pursue their dreams successfully. Who knows? This might even transform someone's life and help them stand independent! 

Deepa, Founder of Some More Foods Pvt. Ltd 

Being brought up in an entrepreneurial lifestyle, Deepa got inspired and ended up successfully running her Natural food manufacturing business where all the food products are formulated for all age groups with no artificial food processing. This is something, Deepa exclaimed, about her daring decision to start her own food manufacturing business. So, on further asking about her hardships and the ways she carried to resolve them, she came up with this beautiful explanation: "Finding like-minded people is very crucial in narrowing down thoughts to land on a solid business foundation!" 

"Shine, and you'll find your own light!" - Deepa

On further talking to Deepa, she added more insightful values about her vision and how women can become independent in their own business startups. 

She said, 'I do have a vision of reviving the traditional food ingredients an taking them globally. We know Ragi and Millet are our traditional food from our grandparents, but now, after many years, they are coming back. I want to bring traditional foods back to our culture and take them globally for everyone to consume the rich source of proteins and minerals.'

"Aspire to learn new skills!" - Deepa

When asked about her journey she dashingly noted all the struggles she faced, but what kept her keep going is her vision of touching lives with her high-quality Indian foods, where she takes delight in supporting the farmers by buying the first quality grown from them and manufacturing to the consumers. Nevertheless, Millet awareness is increasing day by day amongst consumers, and this helps her achieve her vision of producing eco-friendly, highly nutritious foods for society! She further added.

Yes, the conversation was indeed productive and invigorating. Many women these days are marching forward in achieving their passion, and of course, there's no need to sacrifice their dreams as such! 

Nithya, Founder of The Blackboard Bakery & Smart Cookie Foods 

Nithya revolving around making delicious cookies and crunchy biscuits made her dazzling entry into the pastry business in the year 2012, where her initial stages were full-fledged learning and experimenting with a lot more new stuff, which made her embark on this industry and cloud nine now! 

From having an infatuation with becoming a chartered accountant now ended up pursuing her intense love of 'baking!' 

"If you want to make it, you'll find a way to make it happen!" - Nithya

Gifting made easy and glamorous- Yes, when asked about Nithya's business concept, she said, 'We wanted to make gifting easier with really cool stuff that everyone likes and make their special one's day more memorable with exotic flowers and customized cakes.' 

On further discussion, the post-pandemic was something that made Nithya launch another retail brand called 'Healthy Bakes,' which is about healthy, guilt-free cookies and biscuits for all age groups to provide them with a nice warm snack time. This made her help people to enjoy delicious food without compromising their health! 

"Always partner with good people and be monetarily successful!" - Nithya

Nithya started her business single-handedly at a young age and faced many struggles, but all the experiments she carried on made her a strong entrepreneur now in the contemporary market! 

Furthermore, sheShe even put some light on the cloud kitchens which helped all the women out there, who want to start their own business, kick-startcould kick-start this concept and eliminate all the miscellaneous and rental expenses. This will help women to become independent and focus on their passion as well! 

Thus, the words of Nithya will definitely serve as a good trajectory for the women out there!  

Archana Stalin, Founder of My Harvest Farms

I admire Nelson Mandela, and I gained a lot of inspiration and ideas from my dad, says Archana Stalin, the founder of 'myHarvest Farms.'

On talking with the young farmer, who chose to produce and deliver toxin-free, natural, organic healthy foods! 

When asked about Archana's vision, she gave us a stunning reply, "Every desk is having Microsoft the same way, I envision a world where every table should have food that is completely chemical-free!"

"I design what I want to do!" -Archana

Technology shouldn't be an obstacle, and Archana started her first venture in Virudhunagar which was something challenging with no social media to brand and market online. While further talking about her business, she explained the hype in the markets about the term Organic and where she's educating about natural farming and its benefits to the people, and it's quite simple that not any artificial chemicals but only Natural stuff for growing the food products! 

"The fruits and veggies tasted more like how we bought many years ago when we were kids!" This explains to us the impact of natural food products, and she also takes pride in supporting our farmers. 

In addition to that, Archana blatantly said, "The fields are often filled by women and women doing much of the work out there, but the society is recognizing only the men!" 

"Get into fighter mode!" - Archana

In conclusion, Archana urges all women to voice out their choices and start pursuing them! 

"If you have a choice, you have to be your own voice!" - Archana 

Kshama, Founder of Shmoozies

"I love desserts, and that is the key reason for Shmoozies," says Kshama, the founder of the coolest dessert destination.

Ice creams are our family thing, and we have've Ice creams as our go-to desserts, insists Kshama, the ardent lover of ice creams!!! 

Being an MBA graduate, Kshama, the self-taught baker, started baking for her friend's brand, and here is where she found her passion! This helped me build a brand for ice creams, and this made me test my idea and start building the brand from the scratch, says Kshama about Shmoozies. 

"Driven by passion and my love for ice creams!" - Kshama

Kshama opened up about her vision, stating that she doesn't want huge ten stores but would like to have a few quality ice cream parlours in the city, and anyone having a scoop of ice cream should never feel guilty! Because we put intense efforts to produce great ice cream for all age groups!

"I could enjoy another scoop without guilt," this is something Kshama needs, and made her utmost happy after receiving this wholesome feedback from an old man who has diabetes. 

No artificial ingredients, and make everything in the house. That way we try to control the quality of the ice cream by monitoring and keeping notes of everything we do! 

All we want is to offer families and their kids to bring their grandparents and have some nice ice creams, thus enjoying a cool scoop of ice creams!

"Every day is a choice, and you have to create something”- Kshama

Niranjana, Founder of The Baker Ninja

"Ms Jayalalithaa is my role model, and she's my inspiration," says Niranjana, the founder of The Baker Ninja.

I like to lead more than to manage, and that's the reason for Niranjana's business. 

While talking with her, she beautifully explained her calling to the business world and the steps she took to resolve all her obstacles. 

"I'm able to be a part of special celebrations, and this is something I feel profoundly overwhelmed by," exclaims Niranjana, the real Ninja of pastry businesses. She enjoys helping and hosting, and this is something where I found my special calling in this particular business. 

I rely heavily on my family to get great ideas and insights especially since my father and husband are offering huge support in my business. 

I want to enlighten and empower women. There are 95% of women employees in the working class. She takes the utmost joy in giving us the numbers. I encourage and want my women employees to be independent and financially self-dependent at any cost. This is a significant and ideal role for me regarding success. 

"I take women empowerment very seriously!" -Niranjana

In my business journey, I've started identifying reliable people, especially forming teams, because initially, it was difficult for me to recognize my kind of people, but now as days pass by and the great lessons I learnt made me identify spectacular talents to join my crew, concluded Niranajana, the Ninja of her business.

"Women should take bold decisions to expand and grow independently" - Niranjana.

Sanjna, Head of Culinary & New products at Cookd

Sanjna, the Head of Culinary at Cookd, is heading a team of seasoned chefs single-handedly with her strength and versatility. 

In conversation with Sanjna, she opened up about her brave behaviour of quitting her dream job but landing on Cookd, where she's incorporating all her agility in making well-informed decisions, from managing to coping with formulating new products for consumers. 

On asking about the contemporary food industry and the market growth, she explained the perceptible evolution, and she further added, "Considering the Per capita Income of our India, the growth trajectory is lucrative, and our people are eager to try innovative foods, and this is something that pushes me to try a new range of products that satiate people."

Though many innovations are taking place in the culinary kingdom, still Sanjna keeps working hard to meet the taste thirst of the multitudes. And that's where her inspiration lies from her own experimentations and formulations of the myriad of tastes she's curating in her laboratory, aka Kitchen. Her pivotal motto is to reach the masses globally to offer convincing tastes which are something unquenchable in the contemporary food industry. 

"Try, keep running and chasing your dreams until you attain victory!" - Sanjna 

All my inspiration comes from the successful women I encounter daily, especially my mom and aunt, who keeps her pumped up all day. And not only that, Sanjna equips herself with goals to mould her firmly. This attitude towards life pushes me to do my best at everything I choose to do! 

She feels elated to be an ideal part of Cookd, and further, she shared a more interesting story about her career. 'I stumbled upon this journey by accident, but it's the luckiest one!' The path I took not only gained me great learnings but allowed me to come on board and do what I do the best - Cooking!' says, Sanjna. 

"I see myself, making an impact through my work!" - Sanjna 

"The clock never stops. Hard work, dedication and multi-tasking are the names of the game!" Sanjna

“You’ll learn something new, and the best thing is - you achieve what you want to go for!” -Sanjna 

On concluding the conversation with the dynamic chef, she said "Only two things I’m conscious about- financial independence and saving for a rainy day!" 

Thus cheerful Sanjna gave her beautiful thoughts for women about life and success.