Today we’d like to introduce you to Anita Rajendra.
Anita, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Memphis, TN. After college and grad school, I spent 13 years in Corporate America at Fortune 100 companies like General Motors and The Coca-Cola Company. I was fortunate to be involved and lead great initiatives for these companies but I always had a passion for entrepreneurship. For as long as I can remember, I would say that one day I would have my own business. When I started working at The Coca-Cola Company, I planned to be there for three-five years and then move to a smaller company, so I could learn more about entrepreneurship. I ended up staying at Coca-Cola for eight years and was definitely ready for a change towards the end of my tenure. I realized that I had to either take action or stop talking about my dream of having my own business. I decided to take action.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being an entrepreneur is both exciting and challenging. I’ve never worked so much and so hard before. You have to do everything, especially at the beginning – figuring out the operations, content creation, marketing, research, buyer, maintaining and finding business relationships, figuring cost-effective ways to manage assets, shipping, customer service and so on. There’s not enough time in the day to do everything! So, time management and understanding priorities become very important and critical. And of course, balancing that with a personal life is a challenge. I have three young children as well and it’s important to me that I’m available for them.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the La Belle Bump story. Tell us more about it.
I founded La Belle Bump, a company that rents maternity and nursing clothes. I started this company because I believe pregnancy is an amazing time in a woman’s life but it can also be a hard time too – your body is going through a lot of changes, you don’t feel like yourself, focus starts to move to the baby… I wanted to create a company that focused on the woman and to celebrate her pregnancy. I want to help women feel and look confident and beautiful throughout their pregnancy and as a new mom. I love when we get comments, notes, emails from customers that thank us for helping them feel beautiful and making their pregnancy easier and more fun.
I’ve also learned a lot about what customers want and what’s missing in the maternity and nursing wear space. Based on some of that information, we launched a patent- pending nursing scarf. The Mina & Vine Nursing Scarf, which uses smart fabric and magnetic fasteners, is currently in production and will be available for pre-order soon!
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck has helped me by being at the right place at the right time. There have been several instances where I happened to be somewhere, met someone and learned something that would help my business. One example is when someone I had just met mentioned a subscription-based web platform. I was beginning to look for someone to build LaBelleBump.com but once I heard about the web platform, I was able to do it myself, saving me a lot of money and time.
Also, by being in a woman’s entrepreneurship program, Launchpad 2X, I met my partner for the Mina & Vine Nursing scarf and we are now in production with this patent-pending scarf.
I do think luck plays a part – good or bad – but I also think that by building your network, putting yourself out there and taking some initiative, you can help create some of that luck.
Pricing:
- 3 Item Plan (Includes unlimited exchanges) $69
- 5 Item Plan (Includes unlimited exchanges) $99
- Special Occasion dresses (Formal dresses) starts at $30
Contact Info:
- Website: LaBelleBump.com
- Email: hello@LaBelleBump.com
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
