Who's That Gal: Sowmya Pelluru, Founder of manakii
Name: Sowmya Pelluru
Age: 26
Occupation: Founder of manakii
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Current ‘hood: Boston, MA
Currently reading: The $100 Start Up by Chris Guillebeau
Favorite workout: Barre3
Favorite meal: Sweetgreen Salad
Favorite quarantine activity: Hiking, or anything outdoors really!
Dream vacation: Backpacking through India
I never leave home without____: My underwear ;)
Tell us a little bit about your career. How’d you get interested in underwear?
I started working in retail and fashion at a pretty young age. I always had a passion for creating products that people loved, and building brands that were moving the needle in their respective industries. I interned at Nordstrom the summer before I graduated, which eventually led me to a program at Belk post-graduation. After my stint at Belk, I decided to make a jump to Boston and shake things up, which landed me where I am now, with Wayfair.
I got interested in women’s underwear….well, I stumbled into my interest with women’s underwear because of an unfortunate situation. When I made that big city move to Boston, I conveniently forgot all of my underwear back home in North Carolina. At that moment, I felt really overwhelmed by the thought of having to go to a cringy, dimly lit store that always made me feel uncomfortable. This feeling of helplessness led me to question why I felt this way about a product that I knew I had to wear. Because of my background product development and brand building in the fashion space, I knew this was a gap in the market that I could solve. On top of that, I saw a world where I could use underwear as a lever to build confidence, and increase accessibility to women who are in under-resourced areas. I knew this combination of business for good and women’s underwear was what I wanted to bring to the world.
Tell us a little bit about starting your own company. What made you want to found isbelle and monet?
I founded manakii to create a social and environmentally conscious space within the underwear industry that was female-led, and focused on using the product to have women optimize their purchasing power, to uplift other women in under-resourced communities. As a kid, and as an adult, I had this very negative connotation associated with the experience of buying underwear. I knew I had to do it, because I wore this product every day to make myself feel clean, but as I grew older I couldn’t wrap my head around why a need-based product had such a terrible brand and experience tied to it, and was run by a bunch of men. This realization frustrated me first hand, so I decided I wanted to change it.
What made you want to focus on sustainability and being socially conscious as a company?
Well, I think all companies should be sustainably and socially conscious. We have one earth, one life. That being said, these were baseline, deal-breaker priorities for me. Since my production days, I’ve kept an intentionally close eye on the sustainability world within fashion. Because fashion wastage is such a large percentage of the pollution, I knew it was a core issue I wanted to tackle in tandem with making underwear more accessible and a better experience for all women. We are aiming to be a certified B corp in the next 2 or so years, so our commitment to social and sustainable causes is deeply rooted in our values from conception onward.
What’s the best thing about starting your own business?
It is a reflection of you and your morals. When you sign up to work for another company, of course ideally the company aligns completely with how you feel and the impact you want to make in the world, but very very few people are given an opportunity that is perfectly tailored. When you build your own business, it encompasses how you view the world and how you treat both the business and the people it is impacting. It’s been really empowering for me to be able to say, hey - we are going to build an awesome underwear company that is highly profitable, but we are going to also take that profit and reinvest in women. When you work for someone else, that flexibility on the bottom line isn’t there.
What’s the hardest?
You are single handedly responsible for the learning opportunities as much as the wins. Because of this, you are constantly in evaluation mode. This, while seemingly proactive, can be exhaustive when it’s day in and day out. One thing I’ve recently started doing is just stepping back and taking time to see how far we have come in such a short period of time.
What skill is most important for you to be successful? Why?
An unwavering belief in your product and yourself. As the founder, you will get 1,000 no’s for every maybe. You will have people tear your idea apart, question why YOU, question why THIS. This sort of consistent need to stand up for yourself, your product and company are crucial. Of course there will be days in any founder’s life where they want to give up or they start to wonder if they made the right decision going down this uncharted path. But the relentless bounceback and desire to grow at all costs is what you need to be successful.
Any advice for other professional ladies?
Know that you CAN do it and you ARE qualified. Women have a habit of dismissing themselves before anyone else can, whereas men tend to push their qualifications more and go for opportunities that are “out of reach. The best thing us women can do for ourselves is believe, and go for it. Whether it is a promotion, raise or launching your own business - you can do it. If you’re having trouble reminding yourself of this, it’s vital that you build a community of women and people around you that will help keep that mantra top of mind.
How can JUGs readers support you and learn more?
We are launching our kickstarter campaign Spring 2021! Until then, check us out and be a part of the journey as we create a movement on our Instagram: @manakii
Love reading about Boston women?
Lindsay Gardner is an Instructional Designer living and working in Boston. You can follow her on Instagram @lindsaygardner09.
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