Born surrounded by the bucolic stretches of Mathbanga in Cooch Behar, Mrs. Archana Surana started her story as Archana Kundalia in a family of jute traders. She did most of her growing up – participating in sports, learning about the world around her - in the characteristically North Bengal atmosphere of Siliguri where her originally Rajasthani family of the Kundalias was settled.
While today we see a bold and outspoken leader in Ms. Surana, as a child she was quiet and shy, albeit one who spent a lot of time observing people and picking up intriguing, little details about the world, a skill that has stuck through the years. The qualities that we see today first started developing their rich, broad hues during her school years and beyond.
Recognized today for her mentoring women and uplifting women entrepreneurs, as a child she tried her hardest to break away from the mould of a girl she was cast in. Girls, she felt, were hardly afforded the same free rein that boys were to go out into the world and achieve their dreams. All that changed when as a 15-year old she received a prize from Kiran Bedi for her achievements in school; meeting such an influential woman in the police forces – a man’s world almost impenetrable by women at the time – was the spark that inspired her to lean into her identity as a woman and channel it in her life’s pursuits.
Whether anyone is ever born a leader is anyone’s guess, though what we can say for sure is that Archana started the process of forging herself into a veritable leader in high school as the Head Girl of St. Thomas Sr. Sec. School. As with most leaders, Ms . Surana had her trials too. And as with most heroes and the stuff of inspiring parables, there were moments that would come to redefine who should grow up to be. One such turning point in her life was when she was supposed to give a prepared speech for a school function - only to forget her speech standing in front of a sea of people . That moment caused a great deal of embarrassment but also birthed iron-clad resolve never to rely on mental crutches again.
Ever since then, Mrs. Surana has given all her speeches spontaneously, be it as a keynote speaker at an international conference at Antwerp or as the Chief Guest at a school event in Jaipur. More than speaking about just her extemporaneous speaking skills, however, the decision to never speak from with a sheet of paper again offers a glimpse into her brand of leadership: a steadfast belief in hidden power of the self that forgoes the comforts and certitude of following a script, and a strong bias to action, come what may. This is the same sense of conviction that she willed Arch into existence with .
The Arch campus in Jaipur’s Malviya Nagar with its state-of-the-art labs and scores of students milling about its campus may belie the humble beginnings of the institution. Arch started as a three-room operation in a small apartment with equipment donated by well-wishers, support from her family and little bit of Mrs. Surana’s imagination: the idea that Arch would someday break out of the confines of that apartment into something much bigger.
“I had never even picked up a needle and thread in my adolescence and getting into fashion never figured in the larger scheme of things,” she recounts. “I had just attended a summer course and that was my first stint in fashion."
Her interest in all things creative, the crafts and her love for India’s bounteous wealth of textiles would eventually influence her decision to pursue a diploma course in Fashion Design from the South Delhi Polytechnic where her distinction-scoring proficiency in the subject was rewarded with an invitation return as a teacher. She would continue to teach at the JD Institute in Jaipur after her marriage and later at Deepshikha College of Fashion Technology.
