Back in 2017, my mother (Urmil Gulati) and I collaborated and made our first ever Nish Hairpiece in the living room of our home. My mother was affluent in stitching, but when it came to hairpieces, it was her first time too. It was just the two of us initially. She knew how to stitch, I knew how to do the handwork. I would help her in attaching the clips and together, we grew Nish hair from just a handful of products to a full-blown company.
We have always got each other’s back and we understand each other so well. We knew this collaboration would work because we were always inspired by each other. But I’ve seen my mother is more of an influencer and I’ve been more of her follower. She is calm and more sensible whereas I’m the creative one. The understanding between us is so good for our business because she follows what I say and that makes a great collaboration between us both and we work very well together.
We faced challenges in the beginning, primarily because we were two women doing this and many people didn’t take us or our business seriously. They assumed we were doing it as a hobby, but no one saw the passion that went into starting this business, or how we started with only one woman on staff. We’d run into problems with a lot of vendors
Because my vendors were all men and I was talking to them, I had to overcome numerous obstacles. They never took our business or what we said seriously. To anyone, even my bank manager caused us issues in the registration of my brand. They would come over and look us in the eyes, assuming what two women are going to accomplish from their living room, but I believe I could overcome everything with my mother by my side. She is the CEO of the brand, I’m just the face of the brand. My mother is the one who’s running it all. It’s her coordination and her management. I feel every business has hurdles, it’s just one has to have the right person by their side to get through it.
My mother has always been the source of inspiration for Nish Hair. We’ve always enjoyed a life of relying on each other and knowing that if we did this together, we’d never have to rely on anybody else. I believe more than inspiration, it was simply the need of the hour at that point. Then my mother and I realized that we needed to do something for ourselves. Even as an actor, I’m constantly reliant on others for work, but in this case, it was that dire need that became our inspiration and, more importantly, our ambition, and we’re still doing what we’re doing now.
