Be Assertive Without Raising Your Voice

Saroja Yeramilli, CEO and Founder, Melorra walked away from the corporate world to become and entrepreneur. During her career span of two decades, she headed Marketing, Sales, Merchandising and Design at Tanishq, led Operations at Marico-Kaya skin clinic and headed the Retail Business at Dell, among other roles. She fulfilled and excelled every roles she was bestowed upon with, but over the years she recognised a gap in the fine jewellery market and decided to address it. In an exclusive e-interaction with The J Mag, she shares he journey of learnings and experiences.

“Being an entrepreneur means I have also had to unlearn a lot of concepts. What has stood the test of time, however, is my need to understand how a business grows, and this has held me in good stead until now. The corporate world does not encourage risk-taking and does not reward failure either. However, what I learnt in the start-up world is that if you are not failing, you are not innovating. There is a need to be more flexible and agile in a start-up, else you may miss out on growth opportunities. “

Bridging the gap

Most of the precious jewellery in the market today is either traditional or heavy, not in sync with the lifestyle and western wardrobe of the modern woman. Accessories like bags and shoes have caught up with this evolution unlike precious jewellery. Fine jewellery is still looked upon as an investment with purchases driven by special occasions like weddings. Most of the jewellery industry caters to this segment with an investment-oriented mind set. So, there aren’t any stylish options or trendy precious jewellery for the discerning modern buyer. So, women have moved away from precious jewellery to fulfil their desire for accessorizing fashionably.