Doing Business With Purpose - A Conversation With Salima Visram, Founder of Samara Fashion House: Lesson 39

In this episode, Komal talks to Salima Visram, founder of the 100% cruelty-free fashion brand Samara. Salima shares her experience and lessons learned building her business as a vehicle for her to create change in the world, the challenges that she and her team have faced in this season of COVID, and how she has supported herself in these times.

You can also look forward to:

2:35  - Komal asks Salima what inspired her to create Samara, and what meaning it has taken on. Salima shares with us: 

The original inspiration for the name ‘Samara’, and how it became a meaningful way for her a business that aligned with her values 

Where the inspiration for the Solar backpack came from being someone who grew up in Kenya, and how she realized that she could create impact through her brand 

How she took one of the hardest experiences in her life such as losing her mom and channeled her energy and feelings into creating a brand that embodied her mom and what she believed in 

7:55 - Salima and Komal talk about what it means to channel pain into impact, and how we can gain a sense of purpose through our work

Salima shares her advice for those facing a hard season in these times and explains how you can make a choice to channel the negative energy that you are feeling right now into creating something impactful that will contribute to your mission 

Salima shares her lessons learned over the past few years building her Samara community, and what her favourite parts of it all have been such as: connecting with those that share her values, and achieving philanthropic goals with the help of her community

Salima shares how she has faced self-doubt as a business owner when she has encountered it, and Komal and her discuss how being a business owner is a continuous process of building resilience and self-efficacy

16:32  - Salima tells us about the incredible impact that she and her community were able to have during this COVID season in Kenya by creating a meal program to provide meals for families in her hometown for every dollar spent in her business 

Salima shares what her inspiration was to create the meal program, and what it has meant to her to work alongside her community to create change in the world Salima and Komal discuss the power of human connection, and how running our businesses in a way that is aligned with our values can help us find like-minded people 

22:12 - Finally, Salima and Komal discuss what it is like to face burnout as a business owner.  Salima shares about her own experience with burnout, and how she has been able to set boundaries with her business and work in order to build what she wants over the long-term. They also talk about: 

Why it’s important to know when to step back and allow your team to “step in” How connecting with our family and friends and setting time aside for ourselves can actually help our business What is bringing Salima light during this season, and what is coming up for her and Samara over the next few months. 

“At some point, you realize that you have a choice. You can either sit in what you’re feeling and let it dictate what every day is going to be like, or you can take what you are feeling and turn it into something. Doing that will pull you through so much.” - Salima Visram, Episode 39 of the Lessons Learned Podcast.