Pooja Gupta found her calling in the world of beauty when she was merely 14. She began with baby steps, perfecting the art of a winged liner on her younger sister

In an exclusive conversation with Mid-day, she reveals that she began with a meagre income of Rs 10,000 which has now turned into Rs 1,00,000+ corpus. Currently, she uses this income to facilitate her family’s needs and pay for her college fees

In a bid to take her skills one notch higher, she was assisted by Salaam Bombay Foundation (SBF) with skills@school programme in grade 9. Here, she acquired skills in colour theory and facial anatomy

Post the completion of this course, Pooja participated in the hyper-local version of ‘Shark Tank’ known as ‘Dolphin Tanki’ where she secured the top prize for her business plan along with funding of Rs 40,000

When asked about her vision for the parlour, she remarks: “It is my dream to launch a make-up studio under my name in Bandra. Here, I will not only provide make-up services but also teach make-up to budding artists"