WORK. HOME. LIFE. THE PERFECT BALANCE.

The perfect balance between work and home, prioritizing one over the other at appropriate times in life – is not easy to achieve.

But our Laja woman achiever Mrs. Hema Mehta is a shining example of achieving the perfect balance between personal and professional life.

On the personal front, Hema is the perfect daughter, wife, mother and daughter in law.

Having lost her father at a very young age, she was the sole anchor of her mother – both emotionally and financially. She worked hard to juggle both home and education. She got a scholarship for further studies at Columbia University, but had to give up that dream because of her mother’s frail health. She completed B.A with majors in Psychology and B.Ed. in Special Education from the renowned S.N.D.T University.

Post marriage too, to keep the balance, she avoided extra work load and kept her professional commitments to a minimum when her children were young and needed her the most.

Luckily for Hema, her career got tremendous backing from both her own family as well as her husband’s family. Her mother and mother in law, both teachers, persuaded her to go for further studies.

Married to a man from a jewellery background, her husband saw her keen interest in jewellery designing and taught her the tricks of the trade. Along her journey, she came across her now business partner – Ami Patel – a wonderful artist, and together they came up with a new venture where art was given a new form in jewellery and named it “KATHHAA – a story of colours”

Today, Hema feels that though experience is the best educator, a basic formal education is essential as it gives critical insights and reaffirms certain concepts when we apply them practically. Apart from having a formal education, Hema has her piece of advice to her fellow women entrepreneurs. She says “Be rightful and learn to give credit for your work to others as well. Have faith in your work and in God. Lastly, NEVER say NO.”

Fate took an unfortunate turn when, 15 years ago, Hema was on a trip to Mussorie and while paragliding, she met with a terrible accident which left her bedridden for the next 8-10 months. She was 34 years old then, and her kids were just 9 and 5. But, being the fighter she always has been, Hema bounced back slowly, albeit with great difficulties. She was back to her routine within a year! Even today, her greatest fear remains that of the health of her family – be it her kids, her husband or the seniors of her home.

Hema spoke to Team Laja and we asked her how she defines success. She says. “Success is not something that can be measured; it is something one has to grow with and keep learning along with people who are not just at work but also who support you in your endeavors! No one can be successful without each other’s support.” Hema feels a woman works 24×7 and one cannot define a woman as a homemaker or businesswoman alone as every homemaker is a businesswoman in her own right, always supporting, managing and executing most of the finances in running the home.

Hema is a deeply spiritual person – spirituality and nature keep her positive about her personal as well as professional life. And perhaps it is this spirituality which helps her in maintaining a perfect balance between work, home and in life itself!