The woman at the helm of Melissa India

Ruchi Sally currently helms Melissa India, a company founded in 1979 in Rio de Jenario, now a fashion favourite across 90 countries, including the fashion capitals of New York, London and Sao Paolo. The brand has seen multiple design partnerships with leading names including Karl Lagerfeld, Zaha Hadid, Jason Wu, Jeremy Scott, and Vivienne Westwood. With 16 years of experience in building brands in India, in her current role Sally is tasked with growing this international favorite brand's footprint in India.

Share with us how you got into business.

I was always passionate about starting my own business. I wanted to start as soon as I got out of college but coming from a business family, I wanted to see and learn how big conglomerates do it differently. I spent my early years in two big companies like DLF and Aditya Birla. Start-ups then were not a fancy word to relate to the early challenges of doing business. Now they are seen as an opportunity for investment.

Who was your inspiration and at what age did this happen?