Shreya Chandak
Shreya Chandak created a quiet stillness in the center of the crowd.
Sitting in a dark blue, low chair Chandak held the bride's hand as she smoothly squeezed the brown paste into a complex symmetrical design out of the tip of the cone. Henna flowed onto the bride's hand and Chandak, 20, crafted the intricate flowers and designs for the Indian wedding a day away.
A collection of vibrant colors, hot pink, lime green, bright orange, and royal purple, all intertwined in the room. Jewels adorned each person, small hors d'oeuvres were served and glasses were champagne-filled. The guests peered down to watch the art being created from the tips of the bride's fingers to her elbows.
“People liked to stand over to watch and record me. I was in the very center. There's definitely that pressure and I needed her to stay as still as possible,” said Chandak, the henna artist.
For five hours, Chandak sat with the bride, talking, laughing, and adorning her with traditional henna designs. There were 50 people surrounding them, dressed in Salwar Suits, one of India’s traditional clothing. “It was an intimate party, Indian weddings are huge, so this was a small Mehendi event, but of course, I still had butterflies,” said Chandak.
Henna By Shreya
Chandak started her self-run and self-taught henna business in June 2020. With almost 1,000 followers on her Instagram account @hennabyshreyaa, she has had clients for parties, events, and especially her favorite, weddings.
Chandak is currently an honors student junior at The University of Arizona. She is majoring in neuroscience and cognitive science on the pre-med track, with a minor in biochemistry. She is originally from Scottsdale, Ariz.
“I think many people can relate to this but when COVID-19 happened, I was slowly falling into a minor depression and boredom. Nothing was happening, and that's why I was like let me just pick up a cone and do something,” said Chandak.
Being inspired by Chandak’s friend from high school, Chandak decided to start practicing henna, and eventually open her own business.
“I had never actually held a cone before the business. I had had my henna done a lot by my mom because we would do it for festivals, she was good at it so I would let her do it when I was younger. When I was young I would try to hold the cone and it was a struggle for me,” said Chandak.
Chandak is completely self-taught and learned through family, friends and YouTube.
“My mom had bought me some cones, and I just wanted to start trying it, I would practice literally anywhere on myself, on my sister, on paper. And then once I started watching some YouTube tutorials I got the hang of it,” said Chandak.
It was the most validating for Chandak when she started getting inquiries about bridal henna work.
“Being booked for bridal henna is like the highest reward and validation for a henna business since it is one of the most important henna that can be done,” said Chandak.
Starting this new hobby and business brought Chandak a new creative outlet.
“When I started one of my parent's concerns was that I would focus too much on henna and not school. We are a very academic-minded family and it took a while for them to respect it,” said Chandak.
Henna By Shreya grew as a business, and so did her parent's trust. “It helped them to see family friends tell them how pretty my work was. Having other people say it to them made them see how amazing it actually was,” said Chandak.
“I was very excited at first when she started initially doing it for family and friends, and we noticed that she had a really good neat hand, you know her designs were really nice, it took her some time to begin with she was slow at first because she wanted perfection,” said Kavita Chandak, Shreya’s mother.
Shreya’s family support only continued to grow as they watched Shreya improve her skill set.
“She has always had a passion for creativity and art, Shreya first started showing an interest in henna just around the home, and seeing it being done, as it is a part of our culture. It was an exciting time and an exciting journey. It was really nice when through word of mouth other people inquired about Shreyas's henna and we were super excited when she got an inquiry for wedding henna,” said Kavita.
Henna, and especially bridal henna, holds an important cultural significance in Indian culture.
Henna History
A Mehendi party is one of the most important pre-wedding events in traditional Indian culture and is often when a bride gets her henna done.
“The bride puts it on as a symbol of prosperity and marriage, love, luck, there are sayings that say the darker the bride's henna stain the longer your partner will love you. It's a cultural practice,” said Shreya.
Usually just the bride, but sometimes the groom will apply the henna the day before the wedding, so the stains are as dark as possible for the day of the wedding.
A friend of Shreya, Vennela Ambadipudi, 20, whose family had a traditional Indian wedding, says henna is a unique part of the process.
“Marriage henna is so special, it's always the day before. It’s unique to each wedding. My sister got her husband’s name secretly in the design. It's a meaningful way to connect to culture, and creates a beautiful decoration,” said Ambadipudi.
Ambadipudi is a junior at The University of Arizona studying psychology, and from Chandler, Ariz.
At the start of traditional henna culture, the henna shrub leaves were placed on the hands of the bride directly, as a symbolic rather than aesthetic display of love and devotion on the wedding day.
However, “it has now evolved into more intricate designs with the cone,” said Shreya.
The artistic designs can vary between different types of occasions for henna. Take a look at three different henna designs by Shreya (Figure 1).
Henna By Shreya, by the numbers
How many bridal events has Shreya done?
Six wedding events.
What is the time range for a bridal appointment?
Three hours minimum and Seven hours maximum.
How much does a bridal event cost?
$70 an hour, plus mileage fee for travel.
“Deciding my pricing was so hard, I felt like since I was the youngest one in the field that I know of, and I'm so new, I was supposed to keep it lower,” said Shreya.
Before Henna By Shreya became a more established business, she used to practice on friends and family, for free or very inexpensive by design prices, never more than $30.
Shreya was wary at first about creating a legitimate business for herself at the beginning of the process.
“There are three main henna artists in Arizona. They are very established. People know their names, and I’m the new one, which was intimidating at first,” said Shreya.
On her Instagram page, she mainly posts her work examples, rather than her face, so her clients often don’t know how young she is.
“I’m sure at first people get a little doubtful when they meet me, but it feels great that they like it after, even though I’m younger,” said Shreya.
“I would say it's super relaxing, it’s super nice to get it from Shreya because whenever she would do it, she lets me customize it exactly like I want it,” said Anushka Kale, 20, a past client.
Kale’s family and herself have gotten henna for the Bali festival each year, for the past three years from Shreya.
“We look at reference photos and collaborate together, we take parts of different images, and we put them together, she is super accommodating and will do exactly what I want done, ” said Kale.
“You can really tell she knows what she's doing, you can show her any design and she can replicate it the way you want, it feels so comfortable. She sits with you and talks about it, it's never awkward at all,” said Kale.
Shreya explains that at the start, she thought being younger would give her a disadvantage. However, she now thinks that her fresh perspectives and young mind is a great conversation starter, and keeps her clients interested and comfortable.
“When people see that I’m so much younger they love to ask about it, where I’m going to school, what I’m studying things like that, and I think it gives me an advantage to personal connections,” said Shreya.
The Future
Starting her own business has given Shreya the skills she can take with her in the future.
“Henna did show me a lot about the types of connections I want to make being a physician. My favorite thing about being a henna artist is developing those long-term connections. And I love when people rebook me, and we can continue past conversations,” said Shreya.
Shreya hopes to work within the field of primary care, in a clinical setting where she can see returning clients and establish relationships with them and their families. She would like to be in conversations with her patients, rather than have them under anesthesia.
“I have developed long-time connections, and learned how to keep people engaged for many hours,” said Shreya.
The many hours Shreya spends sitting with her clients she described as intimate and very personal, creating art for their wedding day is high stakes and has to be special. Shreya has learned so much from her experiences as an artist.
“I think in order to connect with people, what I have learned is that you need to let them talk first. Rather than you taking up the entire conversation, because it is my goal to connect with somebody. I want them to be able to talk to me, and I can connect to them based on picking out certain things that they said,” said Shreya.
“It is important to know how to make someone in a somewhat unforgettable position comfortable, I mean they can’t use the bathroom, or move for a very long time usually,” said Shreya.
She is grateful to this business for opening her eyes to the world of entrepreneurship.
“I have learned so much professionalism and how to market myself and stand up for myself,” said Shreya.
“I am really learning how to know my worth. This business is such an important part of my identity now. It is even going to be my medical school personal statement on my applications,” said Shreya.
Shreya has loved every minute of her henna journey and hopes to continue booking clients and making personal connections.
“She is a perfectionist, and whatever she does she does with a lot of passion,” said Kavita.
“It's something completely of my own, I didn't do it with anyone else, it's named after me and created by me, and I couldn’t be prouder of myself today,” said Shreya.
