[100 Emerging Women Leaders] From corporate policy-making to grassroot action, Sonia Khatri Anand shows the way

For over a decade, during her professional stint with corporate firms as a management consultant, Sonia Khatri Anand worked closely with the rural and tribal communities of India. A significant part of her work involved strategising policies for the benefit of the people in these communities. This laid the foundation for what was to come.

In 2010, a rural development project with Ernst & Young took her to the outskirts of Nalanda in Bihar. Here she came across around twenty 13-18-year-old girls casually holding guns in their hands.

“They told me that they did not have access to two meals a day, and this haunted me a lot. I kept thinking: I am drafting policies and creating these programmes, but how do I see the impact of the operations at the grassroots?” she recalls.

The adverse conditions faced by the rural people, especially the women, was an eye opener for her.

Six years later, while engaged in a project in Odisha, Anand met around 20 tribal women, aged 18 to 35 years, who had been working as migrant labourers in the garment industry in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. They were trained machine operators who had to travel far away from their home for the sake of their livelihood.

“They shared how they had come back from Tirupur and were looking for an opportunity near their homes (in Odisha) so that they were back to their community,” she recounts.

The cumulative experiences and insights that Anand gathered during the various projects she was involved in led her to wonder if she could do something to create livelihood opportunities for rural women.

Birth of Monk & Mei

This thinking led her to give up her corporate career, and what followed was a rigorous effort to build something from scratch. That is how Monk & MEi—an apparel brand—came about in 2018.

Anand says, “It began as a small setup and eventually grew to become a factory setup in Odisha inside which 100 tribal women and rural youth were working.”

The brand sells women’s apparel such as kurtas, dresses, jackets, and bottom wear. The apparel is available on the brand’s official website as well as on e-commerce platforms such as Nykaa Fashion, Tata Cliq Luxury, Myntra, and Aza Fashions.

While the apparel industry was a new field to her, Anand was no stranger to the art of garment making. Growing up, she had learnt the basics of tailoring from her mother. This skill, coupled with her passion for art and design, steered her towards her entrepreneurial venture.

“I was always excited about art and design. My dad was an army officer, so we travelled extensively throughout the country and I got the opportunity to learn about the different cultures and crafts of India,” she reflects.

“So, somewhere, bringing Indian cultures and crafts to every corner of the country as well as internationally was always there inside me," she adds.

Clarity of vision

When Anand started Monk & Mei, her daughter was only three months old. “I spent a year in Orissa—about 320 days out of 365 days. It was extremely challenging, but somewhere in my mind, I was very passionate,” says the entrepreneur, who is now based in Mumbai.

She recollects that, although it was challenging to leave behind her daughter while she worked, she knew she was doing so in order to help “50 more daughters”.

What helped her navigate this situation was the clarity of vision she had. “I was clear from day one that if 50 women’s lives get better because of me, if their children go back to school, if they get financially independent, if they can face the world, I think I would have lived a meaningful life," she says.

Today, Anand has come a long way from the initial days of Monk & Mei. According to her, the key to maintaining work-life balance lies in recognising one’s passion and assessing if it is doable and then communicating the same to family, friends, and business partners.

She has two pieces of advice for women leaders. The first one involves following their passion. Secondly, she urges all women to come together.

She says, “Stand along with the women’s fraternity; support them, help them, and grow together. Imagine what will be India’s GDP if women come together and start supporting the economy. It will be a completely different ballgame if the world is equally run by men and women.”

“They say that women challenge and do not come together, but I think that’s passé,” signs off Anand.