Some people seek out chances to start their own businesses. Others, like Smriti Lamech, come across a brilliant entrepreneurial idea by chance, and turn it into an inspiring, marketable business—all while empowering others in the process. In 2020, when the world got hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the first lockdown was imposed in India, Lamech and her family got stuck in a small hill station in Tamil Nadu. Once things started opening up, she approached a local self-help group—which she first thought was a tailoring unit—and a collaboration was born.
The women weren’t able to sell their traditional toys in the global market, so Lamech came up with the idea of creating feminist rag dolls inspired by some of the most iconic women we know. Two years down the line, Lamech and her team of women artisans now create rag dolls representing icons like Savitribai Phule, Maya Angelou, Kalpana Chawla, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Phoolan Devi, Frida Kahlo—and one original icon, Natasha Ghosh, an award-winning ballerina with a prosthetic leg. In a conversation with Her Circle, Lamech shared her journey thus far and the impact she hopes these feminist rag dolls have on children (and adults) growing up today.