Famous Fridays | Sonya Gill

Sony Gill - Founder, Take My Sari

From being a Social Media Consultant, former ad agency owner, author and a fitness model,  Sonya Gill claims a lot of titles under her belt. She truly defines woman entrepreneurship to its essence. Today, we are here to throw some light on her newest venture - Take My Sari

I first met the very energetic Sonya at the launch party of Take My Sari. The event was hosted by Neerja Public Relations, couple of days back in NYC.

Take My Sari - an app designed for the South Asian market that allows us to sell our "closet treasures" we no longer wish to wear, but are too good to be discarded. 

Bravo Sonya! I think you hit the bull's eye with a concept like that. Lets hear all about it from the mastermind herself.

Tell us all about the conceptualization of Take My Sari

I came up with the idea almost 2 and a half years ago alongside my first business when I went back home to Vancouver for my sisters wedding. My mother who was fed up with the amount of clothes, jewelry and shoes we already had asked if she could just give it all away to Goodwill or The Salvation Army. And that is when the idea conceptualized.


What sets this fashion app apart, from its counterparts?

The user friendliness of it and that there is an entire e-commerce platform built in for individual vendors so they can treat it like their own shop. There is also an option to make money on top of the sales you make monthly. So for example, if you sell up to $1000 a month, we will give you back a percentage of Take My Sari sales. It is called the Profit Sharing Program.


Where do you see Take My Sari in future?

I see a lot of vendors and exclusive designers using this app and I see it revolutionizing the way that South Asians shop. Renting is not something that was always done so openly, but I feel our community is finally ready for it.


Share you fitness mantra with us.

I’ve been working out since I was 15 and fitness for me now has just become a regular part of my day. I simply cannot start my day without getting a workout in first thing in the morning. I started competing in fitness shows last year as a way to challenge myself and I absolutely fell in love with it. I have learned so much about my body and what it is capable of and how much of what and HOW we feel has to do with food!

My next competition is in April of next year, but leading up to that, I typically keep a high protein diet, and start my mornings off with fasted cardio mixed with heavy weight lifting sessions.  My biggest fear is getting soft. So the minute I start to feel soft, I know that I’m enjoying myself too much or not lifting enough. It’s enough to get my a** into gear.


Your favorite Indian ethnic wear?

I love saris. They are just so beautiful. Always reminds me of a classic 50’s hindi movie.


A piece of advice you'd like to share about Startups.

Startups are not for the faint of heart. They are a LOT of hard work and if you don’t have thick skin and the drive to persevere, I wouldn’t recommend it. However, they are also a lot of fun. Knowing you can build something from scratch to execution and in some cases, IPO’s and acquisitions is exhilarating to say the least. You can look back on something and say, not only did I survive, I thrived.

Thank you Sonya for gracing my FF page today! Wishing you lots of success in your new endeavor.

With Sonya at the launch party of Take My Sari

Pumpkins and Diyas

This year was quite a coincidence. Since Diwali and Halloween were just a day apart, we landed up celebrating both over the same weekend. Between shopping for pumpkins and decorating the home with diyas, it felt like in true sense my Indian girl-American world were merging together. Though we celebrate Diwali each year, Halloween was my first!

A week back RJ forwarded me an email. It was from our building management regarding a Halloween pumpkin carving competition. My first instinct was to ignore, sitting and carving a huge pumpkin in the middle of all the Diwali preps? It didn't sound so convincing... Later, after giving it some thought, I realised that it wasn't just about carving the orange fruit. But an opportunity to be a part of an age old tradition. I decided to give it a shot!

Sharing few pictures of our Jack-o'-lantern! Instead of candles, We used Diwali diyas to light it up. Let me know what y'all think of this spooky (Indian) pumpkin:) 

Our pumpkin - 2nd from the left. Ready to be judged!

I must admit, the excitement while waiting for the results, made me feel like a child again. And guess what? We did win!:) Don't these pumpkins, trying to compete with one another, just look so cute together?

New phone, Newer ME!

This weekend was an exciting one for me. I made a trip to the mall to collect my much hyped and much awaited iPhone 7. I'll be honest with you guys. As a previous iPhone 6 user, I don't see a vast variation in its successor. However,  I have my own reasons to be happy about a new phone!:)

Two years back while vacationing in Miami, I forgot my phone at a restaurant. As soon as I realised and ran back to get it, obviously it was gone! The guilt of losing a brand new phone filled me with deep regret. Therefore I decided to use an old phone that hubby RJ had discarded. Buying a new phone just didn't seem right after my irresponsible behaviour. Using an old phone was my way to compensate for the act.

I'm happy I waited this long before treating myself to a new one. I know I value it far more today. Oh and did I mention how glad I am that I can start clicking awesome pictures again! Something I really missed doing all this while...

Buying a phone wasn't just it. Since my previous phone wasn't backed up, it meant manually adding all the stuff into my new gadget. As I sat to download all the apps one after the other, surprisingly, the process became more refreshing than cumbersome.

This brand new phone of mine was beginning to make me feel like a brand new person.

A state of relief as if I hadn't just discarded an old phone but also a lot of personal baggage along with it.

It felt like an opportunity of clean slate. A Fresh start! Therefore, with all this positivity, here I am! Posting on my blog once again, and using my (new) phone to do so.

Who knew, that in the midst of upgrading to a new version of a phone, I'd simultaneously be upgraded to a newer version of ME:) Totally worth it!

P.S. The picture at the beginning of this post is of the case I ordered. Society6 has some really cool iPhone cases. You can check them out here. I love mine and its on its way!:) #lovewins #truethat