Stories of Hope: Gunjan's Story

People are and always will be the heartbeat of Kantha Bae... seeing people and loving them. The stories of beautiful souls from across the globe are woven into each and every garment here. We are so honored to begin to, with their permission, be able to share the stories of some individuals and families from our amazing partners in India with you, all told through their own words. So welcome to the first of many, Stories of Hope blogs! 

Meet Gunjan

Gunjan was one of the first employees of our partners in India. She is a lady with a beautifully contagious smile, big dreams and an even bigger heart. Through working with Kantha Bae, Gunjan has not only been able to help provide for her family, but has been able to thrive. She is also an amazing leader in her department. She arrives early everyday to prepare the quality check space for her fellow workers, trains them how to intentionally quality check each piece, and ensures they are set up for success and comfort throughout their day. Gunjan is part of a group of 20 beautiful souls who quality check and mend each and every up-cycled piece with love + intention. 

Here is a piece of Gunjan’s story told by our India team… 

“She is a 30 year old lady, born in a place with no electricity, no transportation, no proper water supply, no phone to communicate--nothing to live even a normal life. She has 8 siblings with two parents who doesn’t have any work to fulfill the family’s basic requirements. She had to leave her education and work in agriculture so they can have food on time. Her sisters always help her so she can earn the bread and butter for her family!

It was hard--so hard--that no one can imagine but she had to do it. She is the eldest child and she somehow managed to do this. Slowly she had some money so she sent some of her siblings to schools too. It’s time for her to get married, but she made her siblings capable so they can earn and fulfill everything’s family need.

She got married far from her house (30 hours by train). She got married so far because the place she lived has a high demand of dowry that her family cannot afford so they had to do this.

She got married in our village where she knows no one because it’s a arranged marriage so she was unaware of anything. As she came she was always requesting her husband to let her go to work, but he was worried so he always avoided her request. She didn’t have much of anything.

She never lived her life for herself but she wanted to do something. One day somehow she got to know about my dad as he used to bring some work from Jaipur so they can help household ladies. That’s how she came. My dad try to bring as much work as he can, but it was hard for him to give all the ladies work because he has to go to Jaipur. Sometimes he has to face situations and everyone related to him had to wait.

A little snippet of a day in the life for Gunjan 

A story of growth and hope

When you guys came into our life, we were able to provide work to all people who was connected to us and added more people! She was one of the first ladies who started working with us when we connected with you guys. She worked so hard and she learned so many things: she learned how to handle many situations.

Today she has a team of ladies whom she teaches how to check every single bit of every design! She comes before everyone else so she can arrange everything so no one faces any kind of difficulty. She is working so hard that today she earns equal to her husband which is so rare in rural Indian culture.

She is finally living her life for herself. We still remember when she got her first jewelry with her money. We could not capture that moment on camera but we still remember—she had tears in her eyes thanking everyone. That’s something she never had in her life. She inspires everyone to work and that’s because of you all, you love everything we do for you, you guys appreciate our efforts and inspire people.

She and everyone are so thankful, thank you for always loving us, we love you soo much and thanking each one of you from bottom of our heart.”

From KB India Team

Gunjan with our ceo + founder, Krista.  

Working together to quality check each piece. 

When you shop with Kantha Bae, you are making a real, tangible difference in the lives of others and we want to humbly come and thank you for that. We’re incredibly honored to link arms with such creative, gifted, and beautiful souls both in India, stateside and beyond. Thank you for taking time with us today to celebrate Gunjan's beautiful life and story! We look forward to sharing more amazing stories just like her's in the time to come. 

With love + open hands, 

KB Team

Another peek into our India partnership

You can learn more about the story behind your Kantha Bae here.

With open hands, Team KB