"I enjoy my work and am happy that I am not dependent on anyone for my day-to-day expenses."

Tara Tiwari

EMBROIDERY ARTISAN, AT WARE COLLECTIVE AND MEMBER OF QUALITY CHECKING TEAM

"I am passionate about my work and double check the garments, even those checked by others. I do not want any flaws to go in the shipment to the customers when I am in charge. Now we are making garments with different fabrics, some organic and many blends. It is important to have the right tag, like 80% cotton and 20% silk, is attached on the right garments."

Tara was born in the village of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, the first girl after four boys. As was the custom there, she was not sent to school because she was a girl. She moved to Mumbai after her marriage to a driver and daily wage earner. The transition was traumatic, but she kept sending her mother optimistic messages saying she was fine and that if things were not good she would "make it work."

She has been with the WARE Collective for years and has witnessed many of the situations and considerations that have shaped MarketPlace's development. "My life has changed too," she says. "Before joining WARE, I had lost the self-confidence of my youth. Now I am proud to be a part of the Quality Checking team. In order to qualify for this, I learned English through my son. I knew the alphabet but I asked him to read aloud and I learned pronunciation. Now, I can read and separate all of the different categories of garments and make sure the right tags are attached.

"I enjoy my work and am happy that I am not dependent on anyone for my day-to-day expenses. What I appreciate the most is the setting, mixing with everyone and forgetting all the worries of home. It is also the fact that people care, everyone from fellow artisans to staff at both MarketPlace and SHARE. A few years ago, I had my eyes operated. Everyone I met after returning to work asked how I was doing. It felt really nice, not even relatives care so much."