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Indian American turns entrepreneur with eyebrow threading
Tuesday, 25 November 2003, 20:30 IST |
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WASHINGTON: Eyebrow threading! For Indian American Deepti Kilkara that was the perfect, though iconoclastic, approach to employment after graduation.
The simple art of eyebrow threading - an ancient South Asian practice that is a less painful alternative to waxing or tweezing - proved to be a blessing in disguise for the unemployed graduate of Columbia University in New York.
Like many recent graduates, she was unable to find a job in the current economy and turned to non-traditional work. She set up shop on Columbia University campus, offering the unique service of eyebrow threading.
Kilkara decided to learn the skill when she was in India last summer, according to a report in the Columbia Daily Spectator, a Columbia University campus publication.
Eyebrow threading is a method of hair removal that involves twisting a cotton thread along the surface of the skin. The thread entwines the hairs and then is lifted to pull out the hairs from the follicle.
"A lot of people are afraid to try it because they're afraid it will be painful," Kilkara said. "However, people are surprised by how little it hurts."
Kilkara recalls that breaking from the norm set by her classmates -- the majority of whom headed to graduate school or secured jobs with companies after graduation -- was daunting.
Needless to say she had not spent her four years at Barnard, Columbia University, waiting to start threading eyebrows.
"When I was a senior I planned to get a job in finance just like everyone else," Kilkara said. But soon she became frustrated with the job market -- and began feeling that a career in finance would be "mindless" anyway.
Looking back, however, Kilkara realises that even before graduation she had known she could build a successful business based on eyebrow threading. The idea came to her when she was a student.
During her senior year she and her friends planned an Asian beauty night and Kilkara was in charge of hiring an eyebrow threader, a task that proved difficult and expensive because so few threaders were working in the New York area.
The experience ignited the entrepreneur in Kilkara. "I knew eyebrow threaders were making a lot of money and (the process) was so simple and at such a low cost...I've always wanted to own my own business and I knew it would do really well in the Barnard area," she said.
Kilkara launched her business two weeks ago after renting space at the Aris Hair Salon. She hoped to open her own salon but couldn't find any openings in the expensive Morningside Heights area.
Kilkara's target audience is Columbia students. Fliers for eyebrow threading have been showing up around campus, and Kilkara also said that word of mouth is contributing to her business' growth.
She is happy with her iconoclastic approach to employment. "I'm doing my own thing, I'm setting my own hours, and I'm running my own business, which is what I've always wanted to do."
Source: IANS
Source: IANS
