The face behind Conscious Paper –  Polly Setunga!

What’s your story?

Palak Shah Setunga, also known as Polly, is the founder of Conscious Paper and a passionate traveler who thrives on exploring new cultures, cuisines, and connecting with people. Before embarking on her entrepreneurial journey, Polly spent 12 years as an investment banker with JPMorgan Chase Bank in India and Hong Kong. Her banking career equipped Polly with a strong foundation in financial analysis and strategic decision-making. However, her innate curiosity and love for travel led her to pursue a new path in life. Combining her passion for adventure with her desire to make a positive impact, Polly established Conscious Paper, an award winning sustainable stationery business. Through her creative designs, she promotes eco-conscious practices and contributes to the global shift towards sustainability. Polly invites individuals to embrace unconventional solutions for a greener future. Through Conscious Paper, she encourages people to appreciate the harmony between nature, creativity, and the transformative power of waste—a testament to the potential of unexpected materials in building a sustainable world from trash to treasure that is responsibly sourced and sustainably made.


How & Why did you start your company/passion work? 

I grew up in the busy bustling city of Bombay in India but I remember every summer holidays when we would go to visit both set of my grandparents in a small town in Gujarat, India. My paternal grandmother loved her small garden and she would always grow her own food like tomatoes, green chilies, mint, basil, and so much more. I would love to go to her garden and help her out. Find new flowers, new bugs, new plants. This experience is embedded in my memory so much that I can still smell the garden. My grandmother passed in 2016 and up until her last day I shared so many new and interesting natural materials that are now being used to make paper and other products. This helped me realise how passionate I feel about the nature, trees, and the love my grandma had for her garden. Working in this industry and educating younger kids about this industry is very important for me and comes very naturally to me. You may one day look back and see something in your journey that makes you proud to be stood where you are, you may already be in that place!

How do you bring BALANCE to your roles as MOTHER: FOUNDER: SELF? 

A good 7-8 hours sleep is very important for self, kids and business. Im early to bed and early to rise kind of person. Get things ready for the kids to go to school and then start my day with a good dose of exercise. I play Badminton every weekday for 2 hours. Things to do list, goal setting, calendar blocking, reminders is key to make sure you have all the business related tasks and key dates covered. Same goes with the children’s dates in schools and other important information, events and cut off dates.



Any recent accomplishment you would like to share with us? (personal/professional) 

My most recent achievement has been winning the bronze REBORN! Upcycling Design Award in September 2023 and being featured in the TMS magazine interview. https://themilsource.com/2023/08/19/polly-setunga-conscious-paper-in-hong-kong/

What would you like to say to fellow mothers or women thinking of starting a business? 

Entrepreneurship is hard! Just to even get going and understand the flow, getting the direction right, it’s just so difficult. I am doing this all by myself at this moment, but I realized that investing in people, investing in a team, is extremely important to go through the various levels of entrepreneurship. Events like COVID and events like changing the mindset of the people in Hong Kong are very difficult, and they do take a toll on you. I find that being consistent is the key and pushing your mission and pushing your business. As long as it’s correct and as long as it’s true to yourself. That is what will push you through entrepreneurship and through the ups and downs.

What are three words you would use to describe your experience of being a Mother/Founder ? 

Consistency, Patience ,Will power.

Find & Know More about Polly and her brand!

Connect with her. 

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Website: https://consciouspaper.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consciouspaper?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Instagram: https://instagram.com/conscious_paper?igshid=NzZlODBkYWE4Ng==
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/consciouspaper

Click here If you are interested in knowing more about The Mother/Founder Movement & Community. To join us, click here for Association Membership.

Who is Sarah Raman from the Fourth wellness?

 

Tell us something about yourself?

I became a mother during a time when my husband and I were still based in New York, US, while both our families were back in Singapore, our home country. It was a huge transition for us without family close by and having to manage a newborn while recovering from giving birth was not the easiest for me too. However, the thoughtfulness of friends who sent me gifts during that postpartum period helped a lot in my recovery physically and mentally too. Moving back to Singapore a few months after my first child was born, I thought about how people in Singapore don’t know what they can give to a new mom especially when the culture of confinement is quite big and mothers are often well taken care of already. But the thoughtfulness of a gift to the new mother who has been birthed too, not just the newborn, can be so helpful for their recovery and their transition into motherhood too. Hence, the idea for Fourth Wellness was born and I hope that more people would be able to easily find something to gift to the new mom and not just their babies.

 

How & Why did you start your company/passion work? Did you have a crossroad moment?

I started the company after much consideration of my financials and whether I want to plunge into this without a full-time job. Given the move back to Singapore, I was taking the opportunity to really question the career path that I would like to embark on. Since no job offers came by at the time, and I was able to financially afford starting a small business, plus the fact that there really was this gap in the market at the time, I did not want to waste the opportunity to have a go at starting this business.

 

What would you like to say to fellow mothers or women thinking of starting a business?

It may be daunting and the thought of juggling your different roles may seem difficult but you can always start small and begin from there. Every step of the way will be part of a learning journey and discovery about yourself and your abilities too, which will be so valuable in the long run.

 

 

What are three words you would use to describe your experience of being a Mother/Founder ?

Challenging, Fulfilling, Enriching

 

Find & Know More about Sarah and her brand! She is an integral member of the The Mother/Founder Movement & Community.

Connect with her.

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• Website: https://www.fourthwellness.com
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/fourthwellness
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/fourthwellness
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-lui-raman

Click here If you are interested in knowing more about The Mother/Founder Movement & Community. To join us, click here for Association Membership.

 

 

 

Who is Praveena Mangipudi from Kraftomania?

As praveena says:

I am PRAVEENA MANGIPUDI, mama to a 7 year old girl.. The one behind kraftomania .one-woman run business.The designer,maker, customer service, model,photographer, logistics behind KRAFTOMANIA. I consider myself as an HANDMADE ARTIST who works with different mediums.
I’m originally from India, now based in singapore.I have come from a computer science background but I work with what I’m passionate about.I graduated with professional silver clay designing certification from JDMIS, Singapore in 2019.

I love working at my own pace, because playing the roles of a mother and a wife is equally important to me besides being an artist/entrepreneur.

Kraftomania started in 2014 but we took a leap and restarted in 2018 and dint look back to work hard to create beautiful pieces.
Kraftomania aims To Provide Our Patrons Exclusive And Unique Products. I offer beautiful, handmade resin Jewellery with real dried flowers, quilled jewellery and wall art, wire jewelry with swarovski and handmade silver Jewellery, personalised gifting products. I am passionate about our beautiful designs.Each piece is handcrafted with love.

During pandemic I started Happylah which is a wing in Kraftomania aims to Design customized gifting products, greeting cards and hampers.Each and every piece is exclusively designed for you. You name it, we will create that unique gift you are looking for. The motto of happylah is to make people happy. This personalised gifting and hampers flourished during pandemic as it has been a source for the people to send love to their loved ones admist of restrictions around.
Besides creating products I also love teaching, I conduct workshops to share my art and knowledge I have gained over the years of practice.

Find & Know More about praveena mangipudi and her brand

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• Website: n/a
• Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/kraftomania
• Instagram: Www.Instagram.com/kraftomania_by_praveena
• Linkedin: n/a

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Praveena was the winner of our @mother.founder Giveaway for the Mother/Founder Manifesto Business & Balance Journal book available on Amazon!

Click here If you are interested in knowing more about The Mother/Founder Movement & Community. To join us, click here for Association Membership.

Who is Ashin Alexia from Alexia’s oils?

As Ashin shares her story:

I found my passion for aromatherapy at 18, and experienced its amazing effects for ailments, skin issues, and hair issues.

But it was only after becoming a mum, I realized how quickly the gaps in modern medicine can be closed with aromatherapy. Our oils are cruelty-free and ethically sourced from Australia and each bottle is hand blended with love in Singapore.

In 2022, I found out I was expecting and life took a whole new direction. My body wasn’t in the best shape. I got married and morning sickness was a whole day of sickness for me that pretty much lasted till I gave birth.

The one thing that gave me solace during my pregnancy was my recovery blend as it helped me with all my aches. And I discovered that a lot of pregnant mommas were using it for their backaches as well! Going through C-sec resulted in me having to really sit back and REST! During that time, I kept thinking if I should go back to work because now with a child expenses will definitely increase. And honestly having a stable income seemed like the most reasonable thing at the time.

During this conundrum, is when my newborn fell sick and I rushed him to the hospital and spent over 3 hours carrying him around just to be informed that he is TOO young and there isn’t any medication that can be given. All we can do is monitor. As a mother, I couldn’t accept that. I came home and started researching using aromatherapy for babies. I barely slept for a week because every opportunity I got I was on my phone doing research or taking care of my newborn. Then came the testing of the products. Tried different combinations to get a scent I liked without compromising the holistic properties of the oils! And then my son started using the oils.

And I’m happy to report that I never brought him to the doctor for flu after that. His immunity also became stronger and with that the baby range was created. With that I knew that Alexia’s Oils was here to stay and there was no way I was going to give this up to return back to the workforce. Thats how my story started. 

Deep down I always knew that I wanted to be a stay at home mum, but I constantly require my mind to be stimulated. By being a founder and mother, I am able to live my dream of owning a business that I am extremely passionate about while being able to see my son grow up through his various stages.

Find & Know More about Ashin Alexia and her brand

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• Website: https://alexiasoils.cococart.co/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexiasoils21
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexiasoils/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashin-alexia-maliga-291b36233/

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Ashin is joining us as a Vendor at the Mother/Founder Conference in Singapore May 2023! and shall have some special offers to annoucne for the day! Join us on May 25th 2023. 
Tickets Available: Click Here

Click here If you are interested in knowing more about The Mother/Founder Movement & Community. To join us, click here for Association Membership.