When fashion meets wedding e-tail – wedlista.com

Nishat Mukaddam, founder of Wedlista.com shares the story behind her venture and what initially triggered the idea. WedLista.com is a 'Fashion for Weddings' e-commerce portal. Let's get to know more about this concept today. 

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I’ve previously worked in a BPO, an HR consultancy and at RCF (Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers) and it helped me learn about working with people from diverse backgrounds and age groups.

Today, I am a Digital Media Professional who has worked with the best of brands in India and abroad. I became "Director for Communications, HR and Alliances" and a partner in less than 3 years from being just a regular employee at LCmediaHouse (a digital creative agency in Mumbai).

I joined LCmediaHouse as a business development manager, an agency started by my friends. I realized I have to develop a team to service the clients before I do business development at all to get brands on board. With this I began building a team, pitching our services, getting brands on board, servicing them and even collecting payments.

After servicing more than 85 clients and learning about different industries like F&B, fashion, FMCG, healthcare etc. I got the confidence to start my own venture.

I have been a part of so many weddings that I have actually lost count. One thing that I particularly observed is that 'shopping for weddings' becomes a tiring experience after 2 days of excitement. We are so consumed these days that time constraints, non-availability of your best friend to shop together and wide array of choices to make from many options can make it a tedious affair for many. This is why WedLista.com happened!

WedLista.com is a 'Fashion for Weddings' e-commerce portal. For consumers it will be the most convenient and personalized platform to browse, buy and share (yup, share!) all-things-fashion for weddings in India. The categorization of the products would be based on the ceremonies they can be associated within any Indian wedding. Enhancing the experience further would be our on-call style counselling services, trial facilities and product showcase centers.

For sellers, WedLista.com would act as an enabler and aggregator of sorts. Known brands, local boutiques, famous labels, freelance fashion designers, jewellers, everyone would be invited to list any of their products which can cater to 'Fashion for Weddings' category.

My entrepreneurial journey has been very fulfilling. I am living my life in seconds! It's all happening at such a fast pace. My to-do list suggests that every morning I approve the day's social media plan for WedLista.com first, post that I take stock of my team and align them to the day's objectives. Major part of my work hours are now involved in pooling in the right set of talent to work with us and also managing the sellers/brands who are already on board or who'd like to take our initiative further via WedLista.com in truer sense. Setting up strategies require lots of insight and I make it a point to keep myself updated on all that's happening around me.

A startup is a startup after all. We all face similar challenges. Selecting right partners (sellers), finding talent, forming a robust core team, legal hassles, funding are few of the challenges we faced and these challenges are sure to stay with us as WedLista.com grows further. My biggest challenge was to exit from my previous organization (LCmediaHouse) where I became what I became and made it what it is now. I take pride in my associations and LCM will remain close to my heart. 

Women Entrepreneurs have carved a niche for themselves in the startup domain and are making steady progress. I feel elated to be a part of this supportive ecosystem where women collectively are pushing their own boundaries and are getting their hands dirty where they should!