At BrilliantRead Media, it is our constant endeavour to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this, we invited Divya Gupta Kotawala for an exclusive interview with us. She is an Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Podcaster, Wonderful Daughter, Housemaker, Mother and now an Award-Winning Author. Divya is the Founder of the House of Kotawala. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, background, and advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Divya;
Talk us through your work and your background, please?
I am Divya Gupta Kotawala, a true Delhite, born and brought up in this city where I did all my initial education which totally shaped up a major part of the personality that I have today. I went to the prestigious Modern School, Barakhamba Road and then did my Honours in History from St. Stephen’s College.
Post that I joined NIFT Delhi to do a Diploma in Fashion Designing and joined Ashima-Leena Singh for my internship…it was during that time when I was married into a jeweller family and life took a new turn!
Soon I had my daughter Manya and got busy with the responsibility of being a new mom that changed my lifestyle for the next few years …only to join my husband in his family-owned business of Jewellery in 2015.
As my husband had a background in manufacturing diamond jewellery, I thought of launching my own brand with him after a few years to show the world what we were actually making in-house for the past 6 generations and hence HOUSE OF KOTAWALA was born …since then my husband Manish and I are busy growing this brand everyday and my dream is to dress up every beautiful bride in town as the HOK BRIDE!
How did you find your passion for writing? Where did the idea to write a book come from?
I became a writer by chance, I never thought I would become one ever but only when I lost my father Shri Suresh Gupta to COVID, I found it was possible to handle my grief and writing was the only I could think of to heal and fight my emotions and find closures to the sudden pain.
I believe in keeping an Account of the lives of others so that they can be remembered through the stories and live on forever…..the decision to write a book was an extremely emotional one!
Honestly, I am not a reader or a writer and this was something that I was trying for the very first time …as a special way to say my goodbye to my hero in heaven! I lost my father to COVID during the second wave of Delta, unable to find closures or handle my grief I was slowly dipping into a very deep ditch of mourning and that’s why I decided to write a book and launch it on my father’s first death anniversary to celebrate his extraordinarily ordinary life…also it helped me finally find my true identity at the age of 40 and this was something that was very unexpected yet so beautiful.
Also, I realized it was very important to talk about one’s grief as it helps u heal and overcome ur pain as there is no one who says would never experience this heaviest emotion once in your lifetime!
My book is called ‘MY DADS DAUGHTER’ and it’s my unique way to preserve my father’s memory for a lifetime in the pages of this book …it’s about his life, our beautiful father daughter relationship and also the ordeal of a covid hit family and dealing with the pain of losing a loved one so suddenly n unexpectedly to a pandemic n not getting to say their last goodbye.
Also, this book is my way to find closures and heal eventually and most importantly transform my pain into my biggest strength…it has given me a new direction and purpose in life to not only make Dad live on forever but also help those who like me lost a loved one and are still wondering WHY US?
What inspired you to write “My Dad’s Daughter,” and how did you go about the process of writing and publishing it? How did COVID-19 impact you?
As I shared, my biggest inspiration to write the book was my Dad! It was an attempt to keep his memories alive forever and moreover to give the most befitting tribute to him as we lost him to COVID and never had our last goodbyes. Losing a parent is a heart-wrenching experience, and the pandemic has only added to the difficulty of coping with such a loss.
It affected me immensely…I had never imagined myself in this most excruciating pain that I landed into, being stuck in it was a nightmare for me and my family and it felt so lonely and scary …we all know one day we will lose our loved ones but losing to COVID made this pain 100 folds more.
There were no closures, no goodbyes and no farewells which left me with so much pain and this grief was unbearable…we were left all alone to mourn in this darkness with no friends and family around and the process of healing got badly delayed and slow.
Where do you draw your motivation/inspiration from? What keeps you going?
My father was my hero! He was my pride, my guide and anchor…I always knew no matter how hard the situation would be in life I would always have his back …and this gave me so much happiness and strength.
He made every major decision of my life..be it from deciding my name, my school, my college to selecting my life partner…and I trusted him completely. He used to be very proud of my every small and big achievement and would feel happy seeing I was a lot like him in many ways!
No wonder losing him was heartbreaking as I loved and respected him so much and therefore I took this drastic decision to celebrate his life and hopefully make him feel proud as his daughter.
My father was a true example of the quote ‘Legacy is not leaving something for people but leaving something in people’…he lived a beautiful life and let me watch him live instead of teaching me how to live life.
As a woman, what are your biggest strengths as well as weaknesses?
My biggest strength has always been my confidence and my habit of multitasking various things together with ease…My extrovert personality always gave me an opportunity to connect with everyone instantly and create a lasting bond… I love networking and making new friends and growing and learning from them as much as I can I also have a very religious side that gives me a lot of strength and courage to face any challenges in life, I also feel I have always been a very creative person, be it clothes, jewellery and writing have been a result of this side of my personality only.
I also give great credit to my wonderful parents and my amazing educational background that shaped me into what I am today …as far as my biggest weakness is concerned I feel I am a very emotional person, my emotions tend to make me weak many times. Also, I feel I am very impatient and a perfectionist as I need everything perfect that sometimes leads to a lot of stress around me as not everyone is perfect and expecting the same level of organization sometimes puts everyone under stress and often leads to anger issues.
Would you like to share about your family business and your role in it?
I am a Director in my company KOTAWALA CREATIONS and the founder of HOUSE OF KOTAWALA.
I look after the marketing and social media department and sometimes enjoy designing too thanks to my creative side.
We deal with B2B and B2C clients and all Jewellry is in-house made using very high-quality diamonds along with precious stones like Rubies, Emerald, Pearls and Sapphires all set in 14 and 18 carat gold.
How has your journey been so far? What were the challenges or struggles you faced as a Woman Entrepreneur?
No life can be easy, it’s full of learning and growing with each experience that helps you evolve everyday. Every challenge leaves u with a new and valuable teaching …my journey as a business women teaches me to deal with such varied kinds of clients who are so different emotionally and mentally,..moreover to understand what they are looking to buy is a task to understand sometimes yet so interesting too!
Moreover, the most beautiful part of this business is that we deal with generations in one family and hence form bonds that are special , as we sometimes do complete wedding Jewellry for our clients hence we literally become a part of their families and it’s so beautiful as they trust us completely.
My journey as an author wasn’t easy too it brought so many struggles and challenges as it was the very first time for me and I was clueless about what I was getting into …there was so much confusion about first getting the draft ready, then finalizing the publisher followed by editing process n deciding the book cover n title till finally launching it for the world! Everything was just so new and challenging yet so fulfilling.
Infact, the book is a year old and I am still struggling to learn everyday on how to market my book and make it reach the maximum number of people to read this most precious gift that I have created for my father and I want more and more beautiful daughters n fathers to connect with it!
What’s the way forward? What are your plans as an author and a businesswoman?
This new journey of life has made me interact with so many different people and their reactions often leave me overwhelmed! What started as a goodbye gift for my father could turn into a life-changing experience for me I had never thought…before that, I was a mother, wife, daughter and a happy business women …but today this identity is very special as it feels it’s a gift from my father from heaven as this path still feels so unbelievable!
These days I am trying my hand at public speaking which I honestly love as it helps me connect with people instantly, I am doing Podcasting, many platforms have invited me to share about my journey, and have been able to heal so many through my words that gives me so much peace n happiness.
I shall happily continue on this path and keep exploring till I am guided by divine will. As far as my work as a businesswoman and founder of my brand is concerned, it’s a forever learning and growing job, we need to learn about our market, create new and trendy designs accordingly and always satisfy our customers with the best quality and finished jewellery that shall continue their never-ending trust on our brand and legacy.
What’s your advice to budding women entrepreneurs?
My advice to every amazing woman out there is to be herself! It’s very important to prioritize yourself as eventually ‘ we are our own longest commitment’ so work hard on your mental, physical and emotional well-being and growth….we may play many roles but the ones that should be closest to you should be our relationship with our inner soul!
If we are happy and content from within we will reflect that in our every relationship be it of an entrepreneur or an author…give your best, go by ur intuition, be an original and love yourself 💕
What is your advice for upcoming authors?
Be an original, it’s tough but that is what makes you stand out, listen to your heart and intuition do take advice but eventually do what you feel is the best lastly it’s very important to shamelessly talk about your book, don’t feel embarrassed about it, it’s your baby and feel free to share it with the world as you never know when you touch a life because of this.
For every author out there it’s your time to show what your inner feelings are and do it to the best of your capacity with complete honesty…you might touch cords with the audience that you never thought you would.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
