We were lucky to catch up with Sonali Karmarkar recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonali, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Soieli is a NYC based hand-painted hair accessories brand born out of the desire to make hair accessories that rival jewelry, with all pieces individually crafted as wearable art. Soieli is a swirl of two French words, soie, meaning silk and soleil, meaning sun, which reflects our mission to bring light into people’s lives through one-of-a-kind silk pieces.

When founding Soieli, I always knew I wanted to create a brand that operates at the intersection of art and fashion, to help our customers slow down and appreciate the beauty in life, by adding a unique piece of art into their look. Art for me has always been so integral to how I take in the world around me. Since I was little, I’ve always had a strong connection and love for art. Growing up, you could often find me with a collection of paints and colored pencils, and I could entertain myself for hours by just sitting and drawing. I have fond memories spent in India at my family’s museum, which showcases the work of my great-grandfather V. P. Karmarkar, a renowned sculptor. Spending time there, I saw firsthand people traveling from around the world to see my late great-grandfather’s work. I feel fortunate to have been able to experience, at such an impressionable age, the connection that art brings people, transcending cultures and languages. At Soieli, I hope to use fashion as a way to introduce art into their everyday lives.

Sonali, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Coming from a formal education of business and art, having a B.S. in Business from NYU Stern School of Business and a Minor in Studio Art, I always knew I wanted to harness my creativity and start a business of my own. Professionally, I’ve held roles in digital advertising and program management at Google, and most recently at YouTube, where I manage our YouTube Shorts Creator Community.

I have always been curious about how people interact with art and how I could create something to better people’s lives. Marrying my background in business and my love for art, Soieli was actually born out of a personal inconvenience and a brainstorming session on the couch with my boyfriend. I love to dress up and accessorize, but after scrolling through photos, I noticed a very bothersome trend. Besides the ever changing assortment of jewelry pieces was one constant – the little black band. This band is the generic hair tie that I found many women such as myself wear as a safety net regardless of the occasion – our life shield to make us feel equipped if for any reason we have to tie up our hair. I realized that I wasn’t particularly attached to the little black band, but rather stuck to this routine given lack of options. I thought – what if I could create a product that could look beautiful on one’s wrist alongside one’s jewelry and is nourishing for one’s hair.

From there, our hero hair slip was developed and since then we have expanded to a product line of 7 hair accessory pieces, where all products are made from silk for better hair health and hand-painted to ensure each customer gets a unique, wearable piece of art to easily elevate their look. Over the past 5 years of building Soieli, I am so honored to have our brand featured in British Vogue, Forbes, and on TV via NBC’s primetime segment “New York Live.” It truly feels like a dream to bring my art into the lives of so many.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Our brand is rooted in sustainability, intention, and craftsmanship, where we partner with local manufacturers for production and then individually hand-paint all pieces in our NYC studio. Starting out, while I had a background in art, product design was completely new to me. When launching our first hair slip, I drew so many prototypes of what I envisioned our first product to look like, without much knowledge of how it would work in real life. I knew I wanted to keep production local, so I cold emailed a bunch of manufacturers in NYC’s Garment District and one day, I paid visits to some of my top choices. I settled upon a manufacturer that specialized in accessories and then we started what turned into a six month process of collaborating on the development of our first hair slip.

Through much trial and error, we finally came to a prototype that I was proud of. From there, began my testing of hand-painting the pieces and trialing what type of paints and designs worked best with the product and held with wearability. To further refine the product, I conducted wear tests with 10 women of different hair types, where I had them use the hair slip for a month and then report their experience through a feedback survey at the end of the trial. It was through these wear tests that I discovered the need to create 2 sizes of hair slips to ensure our products worked with all textures and thicknesses of hair types.

Through this whole product development process, I really learned the importance of taking it slow and testing products to ensure it best meets customers’ needs. Since then, we still employ a very intentional philosophy of putting forward a selective, narrow product line that is born from extensive design testing. Our “less is more” philosophy ensures that our products reflect our brand’s aesthetic while serving as the curated edit you can turn to effortlessly elevate your look.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media has been huge for growing our brand awareness and has always been so integral to our strategy since the very beginning. Even before we had a physical product, we started a social media presence, where we focused on lifestyle imagery and our key goal was building our audience. All CTAs drove to our website, which had a form to sign up for our email list to stay in the know when we launch. With this strategy, we were able to accumulate an audience pre-launch and ensure we had a customer base to launch to when we came out with our first product. Since then, we leaned heavily on partnering with micro influencers in line with our brand’s ethos to tap into their networks and partnering with like-minded brands through IRL pop-ups and online giveaways. Especially when the whole world went digital during COVID, social media allowed us to stay connected to our audience and keep the conversation going in a time where everyone felt so isolated and was craving connection.

My biggest advice for aspiring brand founders looking to build a social media presence is to first take a step back and ask yourself – who is your audience? From there, figure out what their motivators are and ensure your social strategy is able to speak effectively to the needs and wants of your target audience. Social media is a great way to consistently show up for your audience, keep the feedback loop going, and ensure you are continuing to grow your brand with your customers at the forefront.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://soieli.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soielisilk/, https://www.instagram.com/so_karma/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonali-karmarkar-ab38144a