Anita Shrestha,Founder of an NGO named Creative Nepal, using her passion (fabric) and strength (teaching) to make a difference in the lives of countless people. More than hundreds of women have lived with and more than thousands of women have learned from her, and together they combat to be independent.
She is involved in handicraft business for more than 3 decades. She spent 2 years in Japan for handicraft training and the international exposure helped her a lot to build more skills. She herself paid her own school fees by knitting sweaters at home and once she was a mother she worked hard to pay school fees for her two sons as well and since then there was no turning back for her.
With the same belief, she has been providing trainings and various opportunities for woman who think that they cannot do anything. The handicrafts made by these woman are exported in various countries as well as they are sold locally.Creative Nepal has been able to provide employement to many woman who now are able to contribute from her side to her family.
She completed her schooling in her hometown Kathmandu. She was raised in a large family. She was always taught to be independent and fearless. She completed her studies with hardwork and belief. Since a child, she knew her passion. She used to love home science class specially weaving and sewing classes.
She worked in Government project for women who have been trafficked. She used to teach them weaving and sewing as a self survival skill. She always believed in giving power of independence to women. But it was very hard to convince women for this kind of project. She got inspired by the stories of those women. So she decided not to stop and pursue her career in this field of encouraging women to be independent. After the completion of the project, she explored her skills and got involved with an existing handicraft organization. While working there , she learnt more skills like designing new ideas, negotiating, marketing and managing an organization. It was not easy for her, being a mother of two children and leading an organization. But she managed to do both very well. She became a role model for every mother that got knowledge from her.
She always wanted to give back to the society. After successfully running the organization for years, she started her own organization, Creative Nepal. She struggled for almost 6 months for getting it registered. She had hard time when there was no income for next 6 months. That was the time she even doubted herself and her choice of career path. But she didn’t give up. She believed in her passion. She also started a training sessions for married women who do not work. She even went door to door to meet women and convince them to join the class. Her strong passion and dedication made everyone believe in her work. That is how she started with a new team. Since, then it has always grown. Now she has already trained and employed almost 2500 women who now are able to work independently.