Political science scholar to Art Entrepreneur

This is motivational story of Political science scholar from JNU Delhi Mrs. Kanchan Yadav who have chosen a path that very few have courage to take.

Kanchan was one of bright and meritorious student from Allahabad University. She was rank holder throughout in the courses/classes she appeared. Art was one of hobby she had since childhood. After getting top rank in MA political science she qualified JRF and came to JNU Delhi. After completion of M. Phil in south Asian studies, she decided to take path of civil services which is obvious step for bright students. Many of her class mates qualified into these services. But Destiny had its own plan for her. Coming from traditional Yadav family where marriage of girls takes precedence over career, she also got married much against her wishes. In 2004 Family arranged for her marriage with Software professional having different opinion of life and career. Husband wanted to do business for his own aspirations to make impact on lives of people. He had deep interest in society and Indian politics but was stuck in a job which coming from a middle class was a necessity.

After completion of M. Phil. she came to Pune along with her husband and started working in MITSOG Pune as research scholar. Same time husband got project assignment in Tokyo Japan and again she had to quit her job to move to Japan as their elder one was born. Young kid and daily life made her busy and political since was left far behind. During her free time she used all her art skills to do her daughter’s room, making her birthday cards, her photo albums hence keeping herself creatively alive.

In 2007 they decided to come back to Pune, India since husband was not happy with fix life schedule very far from home country so this was the time when they were moving from one city to another with changing job and hence facing friends and identity crisis. Finally, in 2010 they landed in Bangalore, where Kanchan decided to do a holiday camp so that her daughter get to meet new kids and make friends. The response was so good that there was no looking back. She was appreciated not only for activities planned but also her involvement with kids, execution and teaching methodology which motivated her to start her own regular Art sessions for kids. Much to her surprise her husband came as biggest support.

Officially Artsy Craftsy took birth in 2011 along with the younger daughter. It was not easy to keep pace with growing profession while taking care of still very young 2 kids living far from Native place without any help. But they kept moving slowly yet steadily.

Until mid 2015 these classes and camps became very popular in Bangalore with 70-80 kids in different batches. This business had its own limitation of scale up. To scale up they decided to start DIY craft kit that any kid can use for craft activity. Unfortunately, due to capacity bandwidth issues this got shelfed very soon and before they could think of some other strategies, Husband decided to move from Bangalore to Gurgaon to be near to home town Lucknow and his family. This became turning point for Artsy Craftsy as well. Both brainstormed and decided to Launch Artsy Craftsy art classes in Franchise Model. Complete course got organized in modular lessons level wise and taken to new professional high as they handed over Bangalore Center to one of her lady student for conducting classes using Artsy Craftsy curriculum and brand name.

Gurgaon Artsy Craftsy Center started with struggle since there were many established players in market already but due to very organized content and teaching methods classes became very popular in Gurgaon very quickly. Franchise Center kept on coming slowly as more people came across. Currently 9 Artsy Craftsy Centers are running very successfully. 2 Centers took break for some time due to personal reasons and will start again soon.

Scope of art is very vast, and it had not yet touched its peak. Artsy Craftsy started conducting workshops not only in NCR but also intercity workshop getting conducted. Franchise partners are facilitators in different city workshops. 25+ different Art workshops are getting conducted. Looking into need to crafters recently Artsy Craftsy launched its shop for stencils and MDF products used for crafting. Response is very good and its growing very fast.

It is quite challenging to keep pace with market and customer needs along with family responsibilities but with hard work and perseverance she is not only takes care of family but also aspires to take Artsy Craftsy to new levels.

When she looks back, it gives her great satisfaction how she has transformed her hobby into a full time profession not only for herself but to her co-partners as well.

This is great motivational journey for anyone who just want to break the norms and follow their passion.

She can be reached at [email protected] or www.facebook.com/artsycraftsyonline