Tia Bhuva - Visionary, Innovative Entrepreneur
Tia Bhuva has always wanted to start a company or a brand. While she had imagined doing so in something tech-oriented, life had other plans. Back in January 2017, Tia made a random post of herself in a saree on Instagram. While she only had 500 followers, the post garnered over 1200 likes. In February 2017, another chance post of herself in her wedding saree draped around a cancan skirt became the seed to who she is and her success today. And not only did it change her life, it also revolutionised South Asian women’s fashion.
Tia launched tiabhuva.com six months after the first post of herself in a saree, selling products that a South Asian woman would consider as wardrobe staples. Reimagining the classic saree for the modern era, Tia’s carefully curated collection on tiabhuva.com proves two things. One, she truly cares about what she’s selling. Two, she’s innovative and not afraid of questioning pre-existing notions of how something should be done. tiabhuava’s luxe saree paired with the V-neck blouse and the saree silhouette, all in the shade “vino” is my idea of the “little black dress” for South Asian women.
Today, Tia is a true inspiration for South Asian women. She has over 440 000 followers on Instagram, a well-established brand in South Asian fashion, and the hearts and loyalty of many. And she says she’s just getting started. So, how does she do it? Tia has always maintained that it is hard work and tenacity. Well, I was curious to learn a little more about her inner works and that of tiabhuva.com. Tia is one of my favourite people to follow on Instagram because she promotes positivity by acknowledging the not so positive things that have happened to her. In a world that’s pushing you to think “It’s all for the best” while almost denying the negative experiences that can happen to a human being, Tia is not afraid to share her less than positive experiences once she has healed from them, giving us all teachable moments rather than the pitfalls of pseudo positivity. So, I nervously approached her with an email, asking if she would be open to doing a tenacious woman feature on my website. Not only did Tia agree, she asked if I would be up for an Instagram Live session. And so, that’s exactly what we did. The fact that she didn’t ask for a copy of the questions beforehand and that all of her responses below are right off the cuff should only go to show you how self-aware Tia is of herself and her brand. And in my world, these are more reasons to love someone. So, without any further ado, here’s the interview I did with Tenacious Woman #10, Tia Bhuva.
(My questions and responses are in bold while Tia’s answers are in the regular font face. Any questions that were asked in the comments section of the Live are at the end of the interview, labelled “Questions from the floor”)
How do you come up with the idea for a drape?
So, when I started, I did a lot with my mum. She loves sarees. A lot of the sarees that I drape, even today, are my mum’s. When we (Tia and her husband Tony) were first married, she would come over on weekends. She would bring all her sarees over and we would just play around with the sarees and the cancan skirts and put them together. Some of the drapes were nice and some of them weren’t. And I think that’s the key, you just experiment. And now, it’s pretty much the same thing. Obviously, I do this a lot more now. Before, it was on weekends and now it’s literally whenever I have free time and when Xavi goes to bed. It’s just a bunch of trial and error. Some of my best drapes have been ones I haven’t even planned. I just turned on the camera and started draping. Sometimes, I would have to stop and go back and see what I did to replicate it! So, it’s just experimentation. I don’t really think of things beforehand.
That’s really cool! What would you say is your favourite drape then?
My favourite drape is probably the first one I did! It’s the one with the cancan skirt with the pleat at the back and it looks like a half saree in the front. I think that’s what really started my “Instagram draping journey”. That one definitely holds a special place in my heart.
If you absolutely had to, and the reason for this can be entirely up to you, would you pick the saree silhouette or the cancan skirt?
The saree silhouette! *laughs I feel like cancan skirt is beautiful, it’s a statement piece. You put it on, and you feel like a princess. But it’s not as comfortable and I feel like if I have to choose one to wear, I would definitely go for the saree silhouette. I feel like there are times where I definitely go for the cancan skirt: if you have an important place or event, or you are the bride, or you are the sister of the bride or the sister-in-law. In those cases, it makes sense. But the saree silhouette is just literally for anything.
Okay, so let’s talk about tiabhuva.com! How do you come up with product ideas and how do you decide “This is something I’m going to sell on tiabhuva.com”? And has there been instances where you came up with a product and then thought, “I don’t really like this, I’m not going to sell this anymore”?
Oh, so many, so many. I think the first step is to find a pain point. With the saree silhouette, it was very much, “I hate the underskirt, what can I do to make it better for me?” Even just our blouses! I remember I bought some sequin material when I was probably in my late teens. I took it to the aunty who made saree blouses for me at that time. And I don’t know what the cases in Singapore or around the world are, but most aunties who sew blouses or anyone who sews blouses, hate working with embroidered fabric. Because the needle breaks every time and you have to do it with your hand. And a lot of people don’t like doing that. So, I remember that. And I remember always loving how the sequin blouses look. But they always had the lining that was kind of itchy and it wasn’t comfortable, it didn’t really stretch. So, I feel like it’s about finding those pain points you have; that you don’t like about the products that exist and then finding ways to make them better. And that’s the idea part. But the biggest part is finding someone to manufacture it for you. There have been so many products where I thought it was going to happen but then finding a manufacturer you like and whose quality you trust, is all really hard. That’s when a lot of products get put on the back burner because you don’t find someone who you think can bring it to life. Or you could work with. So, I feel like those are the ones that are on the back burner versus the ones where I have tried and I’m like, this is not going to work out. Usually, it’s just products I want to wear. I feel like if I want to wear it, and if I’m looking for it, there are lots of women around the world who are also looking for it.
How was the demand for tiabhuva.com when you first started? Was it very different or very similar to your projections and estimations? And if so, what are some of the recalibrations you had to make to meet the demand?
So, the first product we launched was the cancan skirts. And the cancan skirts, it wasn’t a product that I necessarily said, “Okay, I’m going to start this business and I’m going to launch this product”. It was very much through Instagram. A lot of my followers were asking me “Hey where did you get that skirt? Where can I get something similar?” And so, I feel like the demand was kind of already there before I launched. I think a lot of businesses that got their start on social media have a little bit of demand before you launch and that’s always a great thing. But I can tell you that once we made the website live, it’s like you make it live, and then you announce it, and then you just hold in your breath. And it’s the same case for the first product as it is for a product I launch today. You kind of hold in your breath and think “Are people going to like this?!” It’s one thing for people to love it and it’s another thing for people to actually say “Here’s my money, here’s my information, send me this product.” And it’s more real that way. I think every launch you feel that …
Nervousness?
Yeah! You do! No matter how many times you do it, you always feel a little nervous and I still remember the first sale we got. She bought 2 cancan skirts and that was the moment where I was like “Now, I’m a legitimate businesswoman!” Because our cancan skirts are custom made, we had a little bit of issue at the beginning with keeping up with demand, whereas most of our products now are not custom made. They are not made to order. Our cancan skirts today are still made to order. We get the order, they are custom made particularly for that customer. That is definitely more involved than our other products. But at the beginning, you never really know how a product is going to do. But once you start selling your products for quite a while, you can sort of adjust your inventory and how much you buy and things like that.
You make it sound so easy, honestly! *laughs
Well, there’s all these things that happen in between too! Like I said, you could have that first sale and then crickets for days. At the beginning, it’s very much like that. Now I feel like I have a customer base who have bought our products, loved it, came back to buy more. Whereas when you’re starting out, you’re very much establishing yourself. So, you’re working that much harder. Whereas now, we are working hard to attract new customers. But our current customer base is already a huge part of our business. So that definitely helps in terms of launching and holding our breath for that first quarter.
You’ve been in the business for three years now. What would you say has been the biggest misconception about pursuing entrepreneurship and if you don’t mind, maybe you could share what your own misconception was when you launched tiabhuva.com and then you went “Oh shoot!”?
I think the biggest misconception is that you can set your own hours and you can take lots of vacation and you have all this free time because you’re your own boss. But that’s not the case. At all. I think if anything I work more now than I ever did before.
Than your 9-5!
Yeah, yeah because you’re never off! You’re always on. I’ll wake up literally in the middle of the night. Sometimes I’ll have dreams about random things and I’ll write down those ideas. So, I feel like you’re always on. But does it always feel like work? No! Because it’s definitely something I enjoy. I also think going into it I was like “Oh, if I have a product, and if I have customers, it’s going to be easy.” That’s not it! There is so much! You have to figure out logistics, you have to figure out your packaging, and you have to figure out customs information. All those processes, we had to learn on the go. We ship to over 40 countries now. But every time we ship to a new country for the first time, we learn something new. It’s a constant learning process. So, I feel like misconception #1 is that you will work less and misconception #2 is that once you figure something out, it’s going to be smooth sailing. It’s not. Business is never smooth sailing. There’s always issues. You’re always putting out fires so it’s not easy. But I think if you can learn to love the challenges it can be fun. It can be this amazing thing. Now I look back and I’m like “Wow, we’ve built this thing where thousands of people around the world love our products and wear it and they write us these beautiful messages and emails!” And I think that’s what I look forward to. And that’s what keeps me going. It’s not easy. But it’s a lot of fun and if you have a great product and great customers, it can be so rewarding.
One of the reasons I feel tiabhuva.com has been such a success is because it has really cultivated our trust. It’s a brand that we feel like we know what we are getting into and customers feel valued. And I feel like part of the trust comes from the fact that we trust you. Because you’re so open and candid on your Instagram. You share about your married life, you share about mum guilt, you talk about your own fantasies you had at 22. So, how do you draw the line at “Okay, this is something I’m going to talk about and share on a public platform. And this is not something I’m going to talk about.” And how do you determine the extent that you would be talking about it?
So, there’s before Xavi and there’s after Xavi. I think those are two very different stages of my life. Before Xavi, the questions I would ask myself are “Am I okay with my grandma reading this?” and “Am I okay with my 5-year old niece reading this?” And if those 2 were yes, then the number 2 question I would ask myself is “Is this valuable? Is someone going to read this and be inspired? Are they going to read this and feel valid that they feel the same way?” So, does this serve a purpose, and is that purpose good? Those are the 2 basic questions I asked before Xavi. But obviously, after Xavi, I feel like “Here’s this child who I’m making decisions for.” And I’m not the sole decision-maker for him. His father, Tony, my husband, also gets a say in his life. I always talk to Tony before I share things about him and that might affect him. And I always ask myself “The brand of diaper that I use for him. Is that going to embarrass him in the future? No.” But if I publish things about him that might embarrass him in the future, then I would hold back. So, I think it’s very much a personal thing. I see so many mums sharing more and I see so many mums sharing less. And I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way. We’ve all been brought up differently. And we all have very different life experiences. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way. It just really matters if the other decision-makers in the child’s life are okay with what you’re sharing. And those are conversations Tony and I always have. And am I always comfortable sharing things about Xavi, particularly? I feel like sometimes I hear things in the news and I go “Oh my god, these kinds of people are out there and I’m sharing Xavi!” But then I also get 2500 messages from women around the world who consider themselves to be aunties to Xavi! I think he brings joy to my followers and I enjoy sharing him. But that’s a constant decision that you make on a daily basis. I think anything about my life is fair game and anything about Xavi …
There’s more thinking involved?
Exactly. Exactly.
I heard you say on a recent Insta Live that tiabhuva.com is actually a stepping stone for your bigger dreams in life. So, did you always know that you would be leaving your 9-5 to pursue this full time? Or was it just a natural progression of life?
I have probably wanted to be an entrepreneur since before university. I always wanted to go into business, I always wanted to start a company or a brand. I just knew I didn’t want to do it right out of university. If you listen to podcasts and things, I think a lot of people and founders today who are super successful start out of university and it worked for them. But for me, I wanted to do my research and gather my tools so that once I do start a business, I’m better equipped. Now, did I think it was going to be in South Asian fashion? No! If you told me 10 years ago that I was going to start a South Asian fashion business or even a fashion business, I would have been like “What? That makes no sense!” I wanted to get into tech, or gadgets or something like that. I don’t know if you’ve heard about this, there’s this consumer electronics show. It’s called CES that happens in Vegas every year. I worked for HP probably 10 years ago as an intern in marketing, and I remember all the account managers get to go to CES and it was on my bucket list! “I’m going to go there one day! I’m going to have an invention and this exhibit!” But Instagram had different plans. I remember starting my Instagram thinking I’m going to start a business one day. But what happened was I attracted more women like me. And it naturally turned into cancan skirts and saree silhouettes and things. I think tiabhuva.com, it was not planned. Did I want to start a business and a brand that caters to people like me? Yes. And I got there with tiabhuva.com. Am I done with it? No! There’s still so much more I want to do with tiabhuva.com! But I have these bigger dreams and goals and I know that tiabhuva.com is not going to take me there. I think it will take me a bit of the way there. I do have a few other businesses that are in the works that I hope to share soon. And many more to come. For me, I wanted to grow tiabhuva.com very slowly and that’s what we did. Like we started with one product, and we added another. We did it in a way that made sense to us. So that we could grow without taking outside investment and without answering to anyone else. We wanted to grow it at a pace that worked for us. I hope I will be able to share more in probably a month but I just don’t want to talk about it until it’s …
Finalised?
Yeah. So, there’s definitely three more businesses coming. I will be launching one of them next month.
OH!?
Yeah! I will share more! But I think if entrepreneurship is something you want to do or pursue, start it in something that is familiar to you, that you’re good at. Grow it slowly, learn as much as you can. The amount I’ve learned from tiabhuva.com, the amount that I’m going to be able to apply to other start-up businesses that I want to do, it’s incredible. This is just what worked for me. A lot of people go out and they start five different businesses and they are great at all five of them. That’s just not what I could have done. It’s just not my risk tolerance. But to answer your question, yeah there’s more coming. And I’ll definitely share more.
Yeah when I heard you have three more businesses coming up, I was like “Wow, I really need to know what they are right now!”
They are completely different!
They have nothing to do with women’s fashion?
Okay, one of them does. But not South Asian fashion. But the other 2 are not fashion at all.
Is it makeup?
No, makeup is not my forte *laughs
Actually, now that we are talking about it, do you have any background in fashion design?
No.
WOW!
Not at all. It’s funny because people are like “How did you manage to communicate with your suppliers?” You just get really creative. For example, the saree silhouette, I literally went into my closet, took out all of my yoga pants, looked at the fabric composition and then told my suppliers “Send me 10% this, 80% this, and 10% this. Send me 20% this, 30% this.” So, I literally went through different fabrics because I didn’t know. I just knew what I wanted to feel when I put something on. I can give that opinion. And even then, cut and pattern, it was very much trial and error. Could someone who has studied fashion do what I did in way less time? Yes. But I think, iteration if you are determined, and you learn through trial and error, you can do what the experts do, it will just take you a lot longer. And you definitely have to have more patience and grit to get there. But it’s possible. I don’t have a background in fashion design at all. I have a background in business.
That’s so crazy to me! Because your products do not like you have no background in that (fashion design).
Aw! I mean, if you look at it from a consumer point of view, it’s very much “Would I wear this? Am I excited to wear this? Am I going to tell my friends that this is such a great product that it has changed my way of wearing a saree?” or “I love this blouse because it’s so comfortable!” That’s what the true test of your brand is; are your customers as excited for your brand as you are? Because if you’re not excited, then your customers definitely won’t be. That was my only requirement. I will not launch a product until I’m a 110% happy with the way it looks, the way it feels, the way it fits. So, I think those are all important things to consider. You don’t have to be an expert. Sara Blakely sold fax machines door to door! She was a fax machine saleswoman. She had no background in business or in fashion. She launched Spanx and today it’s a billion-dollar company. So, you don’t need a background in whatever you think you need a background in! You just need the patience, the determination, the resilience, the persistence, all of that. That will make up for any lack of expertise.
You have said that at 22, you had the dream about the good life, a job at a good bank and all that. So, in what ways would you say that the life that you’re living now is similar or different to the dreams that the 22-year-old had? And in what ways would you say you’re similar or different from the 22-year-old?
I think when I was 22, graduating university, my dreams were the same. To one day build a brand or a business. At 22, I wanted to go into investment banking or consulting because I thought I could get there faster. If you work in consulting or in a bank valuing other companies, you’re learning about other companies on the daily. I worked for HP, Walmart, Citi group. I worked for Fortune 500 companies, but it took over 10 years for me to gain that experience. Whereas if you go into consulting or banking, you kind of learn all that in two to three years. And you become an expert at building businesses and what makes businesses successful. So, I think I would have still ended up here and this was the dream. Or I would have gotten here faster. To the 22-year-old me, I would have said “Just relax, it’s going to be fine. You’re going to take a little longer, but you’re still going to get to do what you want to do in life. And continue to build businesses that you’re proud of and want to build.” I was pretty bummed. Getting into banking, consulting, it’s really competitive, it’s lucrative, it’s something everyone wants to do if you did a business degree. At that time I was so hard on myself. That wasn’t my path and that’s okay. I think I learned a lot more with the jobs I held over the past 10 years that have gotten me here. So, I think everyone’s journey is different. Sometimes when we are young, we have this idea and we want to stick to it. No, stop! There’s something better waiting for you! You just have to be patient and do whatever is given in front of you and give it your all. And you will get to where you really want to go. I think when you’re young you’re just a little impatient for that.
I am so fascinated by the drapes that you do and the consistency that you put them out in. Because a saree is something that looks so simple but you have a very “Okay, here’s 6 yards of fabric, what can I do about it?” outlook and you turn it into all these beautiful drapes. And similarly, when I read your Instagram captions and your stories and the stories that you share about yourself, one thing becomes very clear – you have a very “Okay, this is what life has handed me. What can I do about it?” outlook. Would you say this is the case and first of all, how did you achieve this outlook and, second of all how do you maintain it?
Wow! That’s a really good question! I think it’s definitely a journey. It’s not something you wake up one day, and you’re like “Okay, this is what’s happening, I’m just going to take care of it.” I think it’s definitely something you get better at as you grow older. Like I said, when I was 22 and I didn’t get that job and I had to move back home, that was really the first time that I didn’t get what I had planned. And growing up, I was a good student, I went to university, I did great in university. I had these plans “Okay, I’m going to graduate at 22 and I’m going to have a job lined up, I’m going to get married at 24, I’m going to have my first kid at 26, second kid at 28.” I had all these crazy plans. I didn’t get married till I was 30. So there you go, all these plans out the window, right? And I think when you first experience that setback, whatever that is, that big setback, your dream or your goal on something, and you’re like “Okay that’s not happening. What am I going to do about it?” And it’s not that you wake up and you’re like “This is what it is, I’m going to go ahead and do what I have to do.” It’s definitely a process of grieving the loss, of crying, and being sad and feeling sorry for yourself. But while that phase is very important, I try to experience it really quickly and get over it. Because there’s nothing productive happening there, right? As you experience it more and more, you get better. But it’s not to say that going through that phase of moping around and being sad and crying is bad. You have to do that. You’re a human, you’re not a robot. I don’t share when I’m down, because I personally feel like it’s not a productive thing to share. Whereas, if I share afterwards, where I have figured out how to navigate it, that helps everyone who is reading my caption. Or listening to my story. And then it also helps me because it’s not like you get over a hurdle, and it never happens again. No. Tomorrow something else happens and you deal with that too. So, I don’t think it’s something you just get good at, and it’s done. There are different things that happen in your life at varying degrees of seriousness and significance. But I’m a private person in the way I deal with grief and sad emotions. I will call up my mum or my friends or I’ll talk to Tony or I’ll write or meditate. And then once I’m over that, I’ll be like “What can I do?” It’s not productive for me to mope around. So, what am I going to do to turn this around? Because there’s always something you can do. You just have to find it, you just have to keep trying. And I think you get confident over time. And even if you don’t feel that way, think back to everything that went wrong in your life and how you overcame it. And in those moments you realise, “Yeah, I can overcome this too.”
That’s a beautiful answer. At the end of the day, what would you like to be known for?
Oh my gosh. Like as a person?
Yeah, yeah, as a person.
You know, it’s funny. I’ve thought about this question and for me, I think the way I decide things is very much not what I’m going to be remembered for but what do people feel. There’s this quote by Maya Angelou. People will forget what you said, what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. And I think that’s so important. And I think it’s not just my Instagram fam, but also my, family and friends, people I work with. I think that’s more important. Once you’re dead, you’re dead, who cares? If you’re not going to hear what people are going to say about you once you’re dead, it doesn’t matter. But I think if you live your life in a way where you are known to be a person who makes others feel better, leave people better than you found them, there’s another quote, “If you help enough people get what they want, you will get whatever you want.”
That’s something my grandmother used to say!
Really?! It’s a quote by Jim Rohn. Jim Rohn was Toby Robbins’ mentor. He’s a really old guy so I can totally understand – maybe that’s where your grandma heard it too!
Maybe? I don’t know! She was from a village in India so I have no idea how she would know about this!
Well, she sounds like a very wise woman.
Yeah, she says if you help someone there would be another person waiting to help you.
My dad actually used to say that too! But my dad always says don’t expect the person you helped to help you, but someone else will be there in your time of need. Which I think is so true.
Yeah, exactly. What would you like to share with the woman who is struggling to find her niche or her passion?
I felt that way. I was 25 years old. I had a good job, I was doing my MBA and I felt so empty. And I felt so unhappy. So, I quit my job, put my MBA on hold, and moved to Korea. I’ve always wanted to teach English or teach or be a teacher because both my parents were teachers so I’ve always wanted to teach in some capacity. But going to teacher’s college in Canada and doing that was never an interest. I didn’t want to be a career teacher. I just wanted to teach for a couple of years and get it over with. So it was between China, Japan, and Korea. And I ended up in Korea. And I remember, before I went, I thought,” I’m going to be in this place where I don’t know anybody, I don’t know the language. If I don’t find out what my passion is in this place, where I have to face everything new, I’m never going to find my passion.” And it’s funny because I came back and I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I think this idea of finding your passion is overrated. Like we are all bombarded with “Find your passion, you’re going to be so happy after that.” It’s not true. I think there are so many passions we can have. Do I love what I do, now? Yes. If someone had told me that at 25 “Oh, you’re going to start this business that’s going to have sarees and saree silhouettes and cancan skirts”, I would have been like “What are you on? That’s never going to happen, that’s not my passion!” But I feel like when you’re in that space of “I don’t know what my passion is, I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life”, just start doing small things. Take a photography class, go read up on how to start a business. Start off with little things and dabble in a lot of things. I did boxing, I hated it. I took a photography class, I was like “Okay.” Not something I want to do but it definitely helped taking pictures for Instagram. I did this five years before I started posting on Instagram. I think just try as many things as you can. When your friends invite you to something, whether it’s paint night or bowling, just go. Expose yourself to as many things and people as possible. And you’re going to find something that ignites something in you. Follow that. And don’t ask yourself “Oh my god, is this my life’s work, is this my life’s purpose?” This is probably not it. I think people can have multiple passions and multiple things that they love in their life. Maybe one day that will become a purpose. Maybe they will all weave together and become a purpose. But this idea of finding your purpose at 20, 21, 25, 30, it’s really dumb and I don’t believe in it. For the lack of a better word. Because I remember, I was so hard on myself. I saw all of my peers and my friends loving their careers, loving what they do, they’re so happy, why aren’t I happy at 25?! It doesn’t happen. Stop putting yourself under that kind of pressure. I think your interest can change. And I think you change as a human being. You evolve and you grow. Your interests will change. Ride that. And I don’t necessarily think that what you do for work and what you love have to intersect. Some people find that when they take what they love, and they turn it into their career, they end up hating it. Because now it’s work. And some people marry their career and their love and they love it. I mean, do I love creating drape videos as much as I did when I started? No! There are times when I don’t love it. Because I feel like sometimes it’s work and sometimes I don’t. I used to post one every single day. Now I don’t. Because I feel like it’s become work. And I think you have to listen to yourself, if you have to turn something you love into work, it shouldn’t become too much like work that you end up hating it. And don’t beat yourself up because you haven’t found your life’s purpose. I feel like in your twenties, enjoy life. Try as many things as possible, and don’t be so hard on yourself. I feel like everyone is.
I love your response for this, this is so refreshing. “Finding your passion is overrated” needs to be on a t-shirt right now!
It is! I think it’s so much pressure to put on someone. It’s like asking a child “What do you want to be when you grow up?” They haven’t even lived life yet! Don’t get me wrong, I still ask kids that, because I think it’s very interesting. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. I think everyone thinks about Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs was the exception, not the norm. So, I think you could have a very enjoyable, fulfilling, happy life without knowing what your purpose is at 20.
I love this answer. Last question, what does the word “tenacity” mean to you? It’s something I ask all my tenacious women.
Oh wow! I think tenacity just means never giving up. Having this goal, having this idea, this vision of how you want your life, your business, your daily life to look like, and not giving up until you are living your dream. I think that’s what I would say.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Where are your products shipped from?
Canada. Everything is shipped from Canada.
Where are the products made?
It depends on the product. So, most of them are either India or China. But we are diversifying. That’s another thing you don’t really think about. My suppliers are great. When I started I had one supplier for every product. Now we have two suppliers for every product. We need to diversify into countries. Because if one country, especially in February, the current COVID situation wasn’t all over the world, it was just in China, so we thought, “Okay, we need to figure out where else we can do that part of our business.” And I think as you grow and as you experience these things, you will change things about your business. And I think they are really things you only learn on the go. And hindsight is always 20/20 so you can always look back and change things, right? So yeah, we are still growing. We by no means have everything figured out. And I think that’s the most beautiful thing about business. You don’t ever have things figured out.
Do you have more product launches this year?
Thendral: You just released one!
Tia: Yes! So, it was kind of an interesting decision we had to make as a business given what happened in March. Mid-March, Canada went into lockdown. Well, not lockdown but pretty much all non-essential businesses are shut and only grocery stores are open but carrier services have not been affected. Which is why we still have been able to operate at a 100% capacity. But that obviously changed things in terms of what we wanted to order and what we wanted to launch March onwards. But there are orders for things we had in the pipeline. We have at least three more coming. These are all decisions we made before March and we didn’t want to take back any POs that were in the system. Because you’re basically putting that strain on another business and that’s something I never want to do. And that’s something I learned from my retail days. If you give your word to a supplier, you go through with it. No matter what it means. And you kind of figure it out. And so, we do have more product launches coming. You have seen bits and pieces, for those of you watching my page, you have seen bits and pieces of it. If everything is a go with our supplier, we would be launching whatever we had planned. But there would be a period of time where we will take a break from launches, just because of everything that’s going on. And we will resume! Once everything is back to normal!
What kind of challenges did you face as a POC, female entrepreneur?
I always get asked this question. I think it’s something you can look at as something you can lack, “Okay, I’m not male, I’m not white, I’m not whatever” But I think someone who is male and who is not South Asian couldn’t have started tiabhuva.com. It had to be me. It had to be someone like me. Because we sell products for the South Asian woman and women who love sarees. And so I think, regardless of who you are, where you’re from, what your background is, there are things about you that really put you at an advantage over the rest of the world or other people. And I think that’s what we need to learn to play to. I think it’s something my mum and dad have always put in me. Not that I ever really wanted to be Prime Minister or President. But if I had told them I wanted to do that, they would have just told me “Okay, cool. You just have to work really hard.” And so to me it was never “I can’t be something because I’m not male or because I’m not white.” And I know that’s a very privileged background to have grown up in. And I think I owe a lot of that to my parents first and second, Canada has always been a super multicultural country. Growing up, I never really experienced racism or felt less than. So, I think that definitely all plays a part in me feeling that way.
Thendral: I love that! I love how you said that everyone has an advantage to themselves.
Tia: Oh yeah. You just have to figure out what that is and then to play to it.
Do you fear misuse of your photos online when you decided to go public as a woman?
Tia: At the beginning, I think probably the summer of 2017. I probably had 20 to 30 thousand followers. And I had just started doing videos. Someone took my video and cut it with this very inappropriate scene from this Tamil movie.
Thendral: Oh, gross!
Tia: Yeah. I still remember when I found out. I was driving to a shoot and my cousin called me “Hey, look at this Instagram page.” And I was mad about it. Obviously. You feel violated and you feel like someone is taking advantage of you. And I think those are all natural feelings to have. And I credit a lot of this to Tony. I thought “Maybe I should just stop, what am I doing anyway? This makes no sense.” And he said “That’s exactly what these people want you to do. They have no lives and they have nothing going for them. They are so sad that they have to take your pictures and do this.” Not to say that’s okay. I spent probably a month researching on how to have that video taken down. And I did. I haven’t really seen misuse of my videos or pictures since. But I have seen people try to use our pictures and videos to sell their products. Which are not our products! We have taken down those. But I think when you put yourself out, in the public realm, you’re going to face that. And #1, a lot of people ask me, “Could I have done this when I was younger?” And the answer is no. Some girls do. I know so many younger influencers who have way bigger audiences than I do and they are so good. But you have to be very mature, you have to have very thick skin. When I was younger, when I was in my early 20s, I think I would have shut down my Instagram and been like “I’m done. I’m not going through with this.” But I think with time, you grow older and you definitely grow thicker skin. And #2, having a great support system. I think my mum and dad might have been like “What are you doing, maybe shut down your Instagram.” But Tony was like “Go for it! This is something that you love, this is something that you enjoy. You bring so much joy to people who follow you. Why would you stop because of these 1 or 2 people who are doing this? Figure out how to deal with it but keep doing what you’re doing.” So that would be my message to anyone starting out or wanting to have a public page. Get ready for not just that. That is probably the worst. There’s a lot of daily things. People say mean things. The way I deal with it is “block, delete.” It’s not even 1 or 2 chances. It’s literally 1 chance. If you say something, not even to me, but in the comments – critical discussions, that’s totally cool – but if you’re going to be calling each other names, block, delete and forget about it. Life is so short! I have so many things I want to do with my life. I don’t have time for this stuff. Every waking moment that I have that is spare, I want to spend it with Xavi and I don’t want to think about these people. And that’s the thing. All these people online who try to troll you, they are not a big deal in the bigger picture. And you shouldn’t make it that way. That would be my message to anyone who is starting out, have a great support system. Know that this is going to happen. Not that it gets easier, you kind of get used to it, and now it doesn’t even really bother me. Also, if you hone your audience to be a certain way, those people will attract more good people. So, I’ve had to do that less now even though my page is bigger than I did 2, 3 years ago. Because I was still very much blocking and deleting a lot more people back then.
Thendral: Yeah! I like that when you said (in a previous Live) how someone gets one chance and then they are out because you wouldn’t invite someone who says nasty things into your house.
Tia: Exactly. Exactly. So why should it be any different on your page? I think people get this extra confidence in a bad way to say these things. You wouldn’t even say these things to a random person on the street. So, why is it okay for you to say those things to people online? But it comes with the territory. You’re going to put yourself out there. 99.9% of people out there are amazing and they are good. And I’ve personally experienced that from my page. And these connections would never happen if I didn’t have a public page. But you have to have that thick skin to deal with that 0.1%.
Have you considered a B2B angle for tiabhuva.com – so supplying to saree retailers or the like?
The reason we haven’t done that, and I’ll be completely honest, is because, in the past when we have collaborated with businesses, there have been breaches of trust. They would say “Oh yeah, we sell tiabhuva.com products too.” What I didn’t want with those partnerships was for those partnerships to go sour and we send all of the marketing and the traffic to these businesses. Where they sell these knockoffs. Because that will not only hurt my business, it will hurt my brand. Let’s say you go to Store A because I say Store A is selling my saree silhouettes or cancan skirts. And let’s say 5 months down the line, we decide not to partner with Store A. But you could go there in 7 months, 8 months from now. And you might get an inferior product because Store A continues to sell a product that is not ours but a different product. And that’s not an issue, in a business sense as much as it is from a brand perspective. Because now you’re going to say “The tiabhuva product I bought from Store A 5 months ago was great but the one I bought yesterday was not. Their brand must be going down.” But the thing is, you’re buying a completely different product. So I haven’t really wanted to partner with any businesses because of that. I think it’s easier, for example, Sephora wouldn’t do that to a makeup brand. Whereas smaller businesses you can’t really control it. We don’t want to confuse the customer. We don’t want to say, today you can buy from Store A and 2 months from now, we are no longer working with Store A. We just say we are not working with anybody, we don’t have any resellers, if you want the original product, buy it from tiabhuva.com.
Would you one day have a pop-up shop with your products? For example, in Toronto, Montreal, or another region where there’s popular demand for tiabhuva products?
I have talked about it in my previous Live. I think I posted about it too. We were going to open a tiabhuva storefront. Okay, so I say tiabhuva storefront, but storefront was going to be 10% of the space. The rest of it was really to consolidate our warehouse, our office, our studio, and have it all in one place. I’ve seen so many of my entrepreneur friends organise pop-ups. They are a lot of work for a few hours. You don’t understand the amount of work that goes into it. And I knew that wasn’t something I want to invest in. If you’re putting your time into doing something, you’re taking away time from doing something else. And while popups are amazing to connect with your customers and get your products in front of them, especially if you’re an online shop, it’s a lot of work. And so, I thought if I’m ever going to do that, it’s going to be our own storefront. We still have plans to do that, we still want to do that. It’s going to be after all of this craziness is done and over with. It will be in Toronto because we are based in Toronto. Soon! And when we do, we will announce it here.
What about finance for when you started your business? Did you find it difficult or easy investing at first?
For us – I don’t know about other people’s stories, and everyone has a different way in which they started. Some people do finances, some people pitch it and get investors from the get-go. For us, we had $5000. Tony and I looked at each other and we decided if we lose this money and nothing comes from this money, we are okay with that. It was money that we had saved. And once the business started growing, even today I get so many requests on Instagram, in comments, messages, emails, going “Why don’t you launch this colour and that style and this style?” What people don’t understand is that behind the business, there is a whole lot of money put into inventory. And the more products you have, the more money is tied in inventory. So we have been very conscious, and deliberate about how we have grown. So we went from 1 product to 2 products. We took the money we made there and invested it into additional products. And that’s just what felt comfortable for us. A lot of people after 2 products, would go and get a business loan. They will go get investors. Those are things that we didn’t want to do. We wanted to have as much control as possible because if you get investors, I read somewhere that getting investors is kind of like picking up a hitchhiker on the road. A hitchhiker will be fine and will listen to you as long as you’re doing or going where they want you to go. But as soon as you’re going somewhere they don’t want you to go, they will kick you out, and take over the car. That’s exactly what happens to a lot of businesses that they take on investors. A lot of investors want to see return on money and they make decisions that don’t make sense for the business. And that’s something we didn’t want to do. We wanted to have control and grow it at a pace that made sense for us. And we have done that since day 1. I think that would be my advice. You kind of have to ask yourself what you are comfortable with, how much money you are comfortable losing. If it’s $500, great, take that $500 buy a few products, sell it, take the profits, buy some more. That way you’re never taking a huge amount of money from your savings that make you uncomfortable. Because business is not always going to work out. You might lose the money. And you have to be okay with that. I think that’s the most important thing because if you’re not okay with it, you start making decisions that are not good, and then it becomes like gambling and not really business. This is just what worked for us. There are many different ways to start and grow a business, but you have to find what works for you.
You can learn more about Tia through her Instagram and her South Asian fashion brand, tiabhuva.com through their Instagram and website.
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