I started making facemasks for seniors and surgical caps for a local hospital when the pandemic hit. I had basic sewing skills from my school summer vacations. When the pandemic situation started worsening, many and many people were looking for masks. This did not keep me stay calm but use my sewing skills to serve the community around me. I am a big fan of volunteerism and that gives me immense happiness to give back to the community wherever and whenever possible.
I got a new sewing machine and started making the basic PPEs. Till date I have made about 500 masks and caps. I still make the caps on as-needed basis.
Now that I had the sewing machine, I started thinking what if I make the practical fabric items that people need on day-to-day basis. Some of the products in my portfolio are microwavable bowl cozy, stay-put kitchen towel, refrigerator handle covers, table runners, placemats, various types of pot holders just to name a few.
Main focus is giving practical solution for every household which is also affordable making them reusable. I formed a company by the name FabArtG LLC. FabArtG stands for Fabric Art by Gautami. The company website is www.FabArtG.com
Few months in this and I thought of collaborating with local women entrepreneurs who have their own product line and make unique gift bundles for holidays. We did few of these collaborations so far and response is really good. The main concept was using each other's network to empower and grow together. People like to buy unique hand-crafted products for themselves or as a gift. The gift bundle has gifts for all in the family. While doing this I insisted having a social responsibility cause associated with it and we donated 10% of our net earnings to local charities.
Now after few collaborations, I started thinking what if I expand this collaboration concept to other women entrepreneurs in the area and eventually across US who have very niche products to offer but sometimes don't know how to and where to start. So I am in the process of launching a new multi-vendor digital platform to help women entrepreneurs to promote their product in targeted markets. The website is www.HerBizNet.com. It stands for Her Business Network.