Pushpa & Women's Empowerment

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She was like a force of nature for everyone who knew her.  Ether you loved her or you were scared of her. In all the years I knew her, that would mean all my life, I do not recall anyone who remained neutral to her.   

Pushpa was a trail blazer, doctor, artist, author, poet, role model, a wife and a mother. Straight as an arrow, Pushpa always went for what she wanted with everything she had and simply refused to give up till she got it! Best known for her strength of character, ferocious tenacity and infectious enthusiasm she was a huge proponent of empowering women everywhere.

Ujwala, her daughter-in-law wanted to keep the memory of Pushpa's character alive. Ujwala herself had been very deeply influenced by Pushpa and over the years the two had become very close. After intense discussions and soul searching, Ujwala, with the willing assistance from her husband, Harsh, decided that the best way to immortalize Pushpa was to continue what she deeply valued: Women's empowerment. At this point the idea of Sunshine Smiles was born, as a vehicle to empower women first in India and then, possibly everywhere such empowerment was needed.

Our tag line is this:

Empowerment through Employment, Education and Community. Here is what this means.

Employment: Give the individual real vocational training, a real job and a real salary. Do not give them a handout, no one gets empowered by receiving alms or charity.  

Education: Coach and mentor the employees. Classic or vocational, encourage and teach them to save for and get an education. Provide guidance, directions and financial assistance. 

Community: These women do not live in a vacuum. The family and community around them also needs to mature in order to show them the respect and recognition that they worked to earn. This attitude does not follow automatically. The Sunshine Smiles program includes community and family events that help raise social awareness around respect for women. 

The company and the program were envisaged as a vehicle to women's empowerment. That is and always will remain the core mission of Sunshine Smiles. However, since Pushpa never really believed that charity empowers people, Ujwala decided that Sunshine Smiles would not operate on donations. Hence we are a fully commercial, for-profit organization and intend to remain such. Each employee gets to experience the real world in this job. They also get a chance to circulate through every task in the factory, from floor cleaner to phase leader. They are fully aware of the direct relation between quality of product, sales, profitability and their own personal profit shares. Basically, we make money by creating good quality work sold at competitive price around the world - and the profit goes back into expanding the program.