EVERY WOMAN IS AN INSPIRATION
WHY I STARTED THE LEELA COLLECTIVE
The Leela Collective is my humble effort at gathering the authentic, relatable voices of strong Indian women into one motivational force.
A few of my friends have asked me why I make this effort. Don’t I already have enough to do in my full-time life? I guess the answer is that I’m never doing enough. I feel the urge to channel my energy into something that at once feels close to my heart yet is bigger than I am. I always draw on my inner confidence to tackle the natural feelings of fear and inferiority that come with the territory of taking on the unknown. However, I notice other talented women self-imposing limitations on themselves because they are afraid of the consequences. Herein lies the core reason why I started TLC—to chronicle the real experiences of strong, enterprising women so that we can all deepen our self-confidence reserves and realize something new about ourselves.
I also started TLC because I am a self-righteous, fiercely independent, cynical idealist. The world is full of amazing women and their enterprising journeys but we don’t hear much about these ladies and whatever does get said is grossly superficial. What we do hear in spades are stories covering the hyperbolic lives of celebrities. I want people to be inspired by stories that we can all relate to because they are about women who experience life as we do.
Another reason for TLC is because of what social media is doing to our self-confidence. There are plenty of studies on how social media “likes” are reducing our internal ability to be resilient, to self-reflect and to feel whole. (Dear introvert, you may have more self-confidence than the extrovert now!) We care more about what other people think in order to care more about ourselves. Scary. TLC is a little dose of self-validation. It may be TL;DR for most but whenever I get a handful of people to feel inspired by its truths, I feel that I have achieved a lot.
I often get asked why I named my website, The Leela Collective. Leela literally means “divine play.” In Hindu mythology, it is how the gods created the world. It’s a beautiful word for a beautiful world. Leela is also the name of my little girl. She was born three months too early and was on this earth for two days. There should be a reason why my Leela was born. TLC is her mother’s way of making her spirit live.
All of the above are reasons why I will make sure that The Leela Collective thrives. Regardless of how often I post, I want TLC to be a place where women can empathize, share and gather strength for their journeys. So that rather than focusing on the all-consuming mundanities of life, we find mind-space to focus on our ability to do well on our own terms. We cannot embark on any enterprise unless we are ready to face the inevitable challenges that come with our choices.
I hope that someday, every woman will step forward to overcome her challenges and make her own leela for others to follow.
MISSION
There is something very powerful about the creative spirit of an enterprising woman. We have witnessed its impact in both ancient times and modern. However, this deep-rooted spirit still lies largely untapped. The Leela Collective is my personal effort at gathering the authentic, relatable voices of strong Indian women into one motivational force. In doing so, I hope to inspire others to draw on their creative reserves and embark on their own enterprising journeys.
VISION
I envision The Leela Collective as a circle of trust where talented, enterprising Indian women across the world inspire with their truths, guide with their perspectives, delight with their creations, and engage in an exchange of views. I believe that women define success differently. That success for them entails doing well by being well. The Leela Collective will be successful if it motivates women to step through the looking glass and realize that who they are is what they are already made of. Every woman is our inspiration.
ABOUT ME
My name is Sunaina Mehta and I am the founder of The Leela Collective. TLC is the passion project that I have been preparing for my entire life. I have been lucky enough to meet many enterprising Indian women who constantly overcome challenges to realize their creative spirits on their own terms. Their stories can help build self-confidence in a world where social media obsession is overriding our ability to validate our own self worth.
CONTACT
sunaina.mehta@theleelacollective.com