They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, couldn’t be more true as it has been for Sujatha Prakash Babu and her journey to establish her name and fame with Queen’s Jewel Emporium.
Once a trained interior decorator, today Sujatha has come a long way to sustain the success of Queen’s Jewel Emporium which was established in the year 2000, with the help and support of her loving husband Mr. D. Prakash Babu.
How it all started? It started with a spark of interest and passion for innovation. Sujatha’s husband was already into gold jewelry business when she started taking interest in jewelry designing. Soon Sujatha’s creativity inspired her and she decided to do something that was never done before, she took it upon herself to break the norms and to create a new dimension to the jewelry buying experience.
The challenge was big – Sujatha was aiming to break the age old tradition of donning GOLD and ONLY GOLD jewelry and she generated awareness in the market that there’s a more affordable, viable, fashionable alterative to gold – that is south Indian traditional FASHION JEWELRY.
The challenge continued:
When we asked Sujatha, what were the biggest challenges she faced in reaching the pinnacles of success she’s at today, she said - “We have been running Queens jewel emporium for over a decade now, we are manufactures and designers of south Indian traditional fashion jewelry.
When we started this venture, the fashion jewelry trend was not in the market. People were only aware about and interested in buying gold or imitation jewelry with regular gold covering. At that time, real gold antique jewelry was very expensive, that’s when we started marketing our jewelry.
The concept of south Indian traditional FASHION JEWELRY raised doubts and a few eyebrows too! People had questions about the quality, durability and price of the jewelry. I still face such problems. However, our quality is what helps us stand out from the flock and be the best in our business.”
Another challenge that has continued to trouble Sujatha is that she cannot benefit from word-of-mouth publicity. She says – “While it’s our USP that no one can tell apart our jewelry from gold jewelry, it’s also the biggest disadvantage for us in terms of publicity.
If a bride wears Queens jewelry at her wedding, there’s little to no chance that she’d actually give credit to the brand as she’d want people to believe that she was wearing real gold.
This is something that we have come to terms with and accepted as an occupational hazard. While we do look forward to some words of appreciation and acknowledgement form our clients the absence of the same is also understandable. After all it was our plan all along, to suport women with a better and more affordable option in comparison to gold.”
Sujatha believes that while word-of-mouth publicity is a distant dream for Queens jewelry, still the brand will continue to thrive because they offer superior quality that lasts a lifetime and they create unique designs for every single piece of jewelry they manufacture.
Another advantage that brides get with Queens fashion jewelry is flexibility, as the craftsmen at Queens can create unique designs that match the wedding themes, this is something that brides were not able to achieve with gold alternatives.
Message to women:
When asked about her message to women, Sujatha said – “My advice to women who wish to create their own brand or who wish to succeed in the corporate world is to have a CLEAR FOCUS. I advice women to determine their goals early on and then utilize all their energy on the one thing that they have decided to pursue. For instance, the jewelry domain has countless categories like, imitation, fashion, kundan, jadau, pearl and so on, yet I chose one area that is south Indian traditional fashion jewelry and I decided to stick to it. I made a decision that I won’t try to sail in multiple boats, all of my focus and energy would be dedicated to this endeavor and the rest of my time will be dedicated to my wonderful family without whose support I won’t be the woman I am today.”
