She Chose to Begin Again — The Story of Shashikala P

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In the hush of pre-dawn kitchens and under the relentless weight of generational expectations, millions of Indian women silently shelve their dreams. According to a 2023 report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), only 9% of Indian women aged 15 and above are part of the paid workforce. The rest? They're holding up families, managing farms, cooking meals, raising children — unpaid, invisible, and often unacknowledged.

This isn't about ability or ambition. It's about how often society wraps a woman's purpose entirely around sacrifice. But some women, like Shashikala P, choose to turn the tide — quietly, determinedly, and with extraordinary grace.

Shashikala's story doesn’t begin in a boardroom or an art gallery. It begins in S. Naganahalli a small village tucked near Doddaballapura in Karnataka. Her father, Puttappa, and mother, Lakshmamma, are farmers — rooted to the land and rich in wisdom that grows outside textbooks. Shashikala studied at the local sarkaari proudha shaale and later at Bindu High School. Like many young girls in rural India, her education halted at SSLC — the responsibilities of womanhood arrived before she could even ask what her dreams were.

Marriage followed. She became the wife of Narasimha Murthy, who was working in the administration at V-Guard. A year later, she became a mother to Sevanth, who would go on to make her proud by pursuing his Master's degree in London. But in between, like most women, Shashikala pressed pause on herself. She worked briefly as a nursery teacher in Indiranagar but gave it up to fully dedicate herself to raising her son — a decision so many mothers make, out of love, out of necessity, out of the way life is designed for them.

But what happens after the child grows up and flies across oceans? For many, it becomes a moment of quiet grief. An identity crisis. A stretch of time that feels both vast and vacant.

Shashikala decided to rewrite hers.

In December 2024, at an age when society whispers, “Just rest now,” Shashikala launched CUT IT THE FAMILY SALON and Academy in Bengaluru. What started as a dream to keep herself occupied soon became a full-blown entrepreneurial journey. Today, she runs the unisex salon with a team of seven and has already secured an ISO certification from the UK — a feat even large businesses take years to achieve.

But the real story here is not just about a business. It's about purpose.

CUT IT salon is more than a salon offering beauty services like haircuts, facials, skin treatments, bridal and party makeup, threading, waxing, grooming packages, and more. It's also an academy for women — especially homemakers — who, like Shashikala, once left the world of work behind. She teaches them styling, grooming, makeup artistry, and helps them find a second beginning — one that comes with financial independence and dignity.

The salon’s atmosphere is warm, inclusive, and bustling with ambition. A bride-to-be comes in for a full bridal transformation while a college student walks in for a quick haircut. Next door, a young woman is learning the art of contouring from Shashikala herself. Each mirror in the salon reflects not just faces, but stories of self-belief being restored.

Shashikala’s journey hasn’t been without its challenges. From mastering new skills like printing and small-scale production, to running a business in a competitive industry, and navigating the world of ISO audits — she’s had to learn it all from scratch. But she has, and with no formal business background or urban privilege. Her fuel? A stubborn will to reclaim her own identity.

And she’s just getting started. With expansion plans in the works, Shashikala envisions a network of salons where women are not just customers, but creators. She wants CUT IT THE FAMILY SALON and ACADEMY to become a safe, creative, and empowering space — part salon, part support system.

In a world that often celebrates women only when they do things "in time" — young achievers, prodigies, women who do it all by 30 — Shashikala reminds us that the timeline is a myth. Growth isn’t linear. And sometimes, the most powerful moves are made after everyone thinks your story is done.

Through her life, Shashikala proves something fundamental: A woman doesn’t stop being herself just because she becomes a mother, a wife, or a homemaker. Those roles may shape her, but they don’t define the boundaries of her dreams.

So the next time someone says it’s too late to begin again, tell them about the woman from S. Naganahalli who turned her pause into a pivot — and in doing so, created space for many more women to do the same.