Poornima Menon converted her love for Sarees into a business venture when she started ‘Five Pleats by Poornima Menon’ in Sydney in 2017.
‘Five Pleats by Poornima Menon’ takes you through the by-lanes of rural India where the artisans weave, and embroider this six-yard wonder with love. The brand was created to support the Indian handloom weavers and artisans, revive the love for sarees outside India and introduce the various Indian weaves to the Indian diaspora. All sarees are sourced directly from the weavers and the majority of the proceeds go back to the weavers.
Poornima Menon in a free-flowing interview told The Australia Today that as an Army wife she travelled across India and discovered the wonders of Indian weaves from different parts of the country and that inspired her to start her own venture here.
Poornima is also the founder of ‘The Saree Club’. She says it is “more than a six yard long connection where empowered women, empower women”.
“It is a network of passionate women who share their love for sarees through stories, culture, traditions and memories. Along the way they empower and educate each other on social issues, fund raise for purposeful causes and provide a safe space for support. They remain connected through their daily conversations and monthly catch-ups. Saree Club is a testament to the fact that from little things big things grow,” says Poornima Menon.
Just this month on 14th August, in an Australian first, Poornima and her friends from ‘The Saree Club’ took part in City2Surf (Sydney’s popular road running event) wearing Sarees.
Poornima Menon is married to an ex Army officer and migrated to Australia with her family in 2003 as a trained teacher. She started her career in Australia as a high school English teacher in the public school system. Later she completed her Masters in Special Education and was part of the Executive team in two different schools in South West Sydney, first as Head Teacher Student welfare and later as the Head Teacher of a Support Unit with nearly 100 students with special learning needs.
She resigned from her career in teaching to join the family business in 2016.
Poornima’s two sons Nishant and Tushar started ‘My Muscle Chef’ in 2013. It is an Australian founded and owned company that started as a small family business in a small kitchen in Potts Point, Sydney.
Currently ‘My Muscle Chef’ is the top rated ready meal delivery service that delivers over 2 million fresh, high protein meals, drinks and snacks to Aussies nationally every month. It is the story of two brothers who believed in their dream and through commitment, hard work and perseverance grew an idea into a leading brand.
