Meet Kaviya Ravi | Maker, Designer, Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kaviya Ravi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaviya, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born in India and came to the US 16 years ago. Moving to a new country you leave everything familiar behind and have to start from scratch. It has taught me resilience, hard work, to be humble and never forget where I come from. It constantly pushes you outside of your comfort zone and to be open to new things. I grew up in a traditional Indian family, where a straight path was drawn for me and it was unacceptable to diverge from it. It was not an option for me to follow my passion or beleive in my dreams. But moving to the US and becoming an American changed that. I understood the power of investing in your self and the power of confidently following your passion. So I would say that the both the Indian and the American part of my dual Identity had lead me to discover the person I want to be and in a way also to freedom. The freedom to set my own path and my own destiny.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My Art is colorful, whimsical and Joyful. Life is not always those things and I consciously choose to lead a playful life. It is easy for a lot of us to gravitate towards the negative rather than the positive. So for almost selfish reasons I create work that makes me explore my positive side constantly so that i can keep my reliance on my negative side in check. Don’t get me wrong I still have plenty of negative days filled with depression and self doubt but being in touch with my upbeat bright self helps me bounce back quickly. Getting to this point in my life and starting my brand Khromophilia was a long a hard one. I was and still am some one that is averse to risk taking. So working for myself was a hard decision for me, because thinking about giving up a steady paycheck made me panic. But I was so unhappy and I always dreamed of having a business for a very longtime. My biggest fear is having regrets in life towards the end of my journey and I knew if I did not take steps to make this dream of starting Khromophilia a reality, I would be riddled with what if’s. So with a very supportive partner and big colorful dreams I started Khromophilia. I am so excited about the possibilities it brings and cannot wait to see it evolve and grow.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
In my story a lot of credit goes to my principle Kumidhini Periyaswamy who was one of the strongest and most confident woman I knew as a child and I wanted to be her when I grew up. The blog Design Sponge, where I found a sense of belonging when I had a hard time fitting in. My professor Mary Carothers whose passion and encouragement made me open up my imagination and explore my creativity. My Mom for always loving me and finally the countless badass women that are constantly breaking the ceiling and investing their time and energy into teaching other women and giving a platform for other voices to be heard.

Website: www.khromophilia.com

Instagram: @Kvyainc, @Khromophilia

Image Credits
Leslie Rodriguez, LovethyOrdinary