By Shakira Shareef   “I'm always humbled and blown away by the love and support CRIO is constantly at the receiving end of!” shared Suraiya H. Farook.   The owner of CRIO Design House, Farook was born in Sri Lanka and raised in UAE. Her unique business — polymer clay jewellery – started in 2020 and from there on, it was a journey onwards and upwards. She did have her share of obstacles of course.   My interview with Farook will take you through an interesting journey of how a mom in business runs her show.   Q: I'm going to ask you the same golden question – did you dream of becoming who you are today? I want to know whether being an entrepreneur and mom was something you knew you would be one day. A: For the life of me, this truly never was the plan. I didn't think I had an entrepreneurial bone in my body in fairness and to do it alongside being a mother, would have been a very alien thought to me. But here I am, doing exactly that. On a personal note, the woman I am today and the mother I learn to be every day is a culmination of support, strength, and so much cultural unlearning as well as open-mindedness. I have a fantastic support system that includes my husband, mum, and my mum-in-law who is a massive fangirl of my work and style. They come together to allow the entrepreneurial side of me to coexist with the mother in me. It's tough with my feisty little guy who is every drop as tenacious as his mother, but we definitely work together to make sure he and CRIO are cared for in their own way.   Q: I have seen CRIO take baby steps, and now I see mammoth steps. How did CRIO start? A: Wow, yeah, I'm in constant disbelief and awe of how people are enthusiastic about CRIO and this air of excitement they build around it. I live for it vicariously! CRIO was always meant to be more than just jewellery. I am at a point in my life and CRIO's journey that I am synonymous with my brand and that is what resonates with people. I intended my trip to Sri Lanka to be a short and quick one, but how wrong I was! My pop-up did extremely well, much of the crowd brought from Twitter, which I am forever appreciative of. I assumed 20 at most would turn up, but I had a full room within the first hour and people just kept coming. My heart was so full, especially to know people stayed the length of the show, helped me with setting up, sales, and making sure I ate. There were some people taking time off of work, rescheduling out-of-town visits, and even changing their plans to be there. I am still giddy with all the love I received! I continued to sell post the pop-up and my stock reduced drastically. The highlight of this trip, other than making new friends that may last a lifetime, was the fashion store Nil's reaching out to me regarding carrying CRIO as a brand in their new flagship store at One Galle Face which I ended up extending my stay for. I will soon be stocking more in that branch and hopefully grow from there. It's been a whirlwind of emotions in all fairness and I connected with the land and people on a level I never thought I would. It is now, more than ever, that I express that my brand and I stand for good and show our solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka.   Q: I know how you deal with customers — kind, compassionate, and professional. How do you do it? How do you handle customers in Sri Lanka while operating your business from the UAE? Can you talk about how you ship the items to Sri Lankan customers? A: It's very important to me that CRIO remains grounded and a human brand. Customer service, community bond, and networking are the foundation on which I build my repertoire for CRIO, and in simple words, it costs nothing to be kind! I enjoy the immersive experience I offer my customers to be part of the process because this is a passion-fuelled business for me and to them, a piece they will wear or use and make memories with. Much of my customer base is from Sri Lanka and the platform they chose to communicate with me is Instagram. I take on all their messages and requests and usually set up bulk orders and shipping in a bid to reduce shipping charges for my customers. Individual shipping is quite expensive and I'm working and searching for cheaper and safer options to still deliver to my clients. I can only assume this is a forever search for reliability and good customer service that I intend to offer to everyone alike. Regarding operating in UAE, my only challenge is usually time zone differences but that doesn't deter me as I usually stay up late to work on my pieces or some administrative work while my toddler is off to bed. Being a small business owner comes with a 24/7 guarantee of working and being available. Hard but no complaints, it's all part of the hustle. Q: I see you as someone empowering women. Just as much as women do many amazing things to ensure equality, I know there are a lot of challenges in achieving what a woman wants. What kind of ordeals do you come across in your business? A: Without a doubt, I want to be a pillar of support within my community and tribe of other female entrepreneurs. I don’t do jealousy so it's easier and more productive for me to be of support and offer my knowledge and experience to uplift those who are starting up. There is no gatekeeping with CRIO and its success. In fact, I always say CRIO is more than just jewellery and I hope something aligns where CRIO is able to give back to women in Sri Lanka, be it an avenue or a stepping stone to their own success. My biggest challenges have been dealing with suppliers and delivery services, who I have a particular tone with in terms of professionalism as both are male-dominant services. I can easily not be taken seriously or somehow pass on an over-friendly tone in engagement. By demeanour, I tend to be intimidating so I've navigated that very professionally and that's where I would continue to draw the line.   Q: A lighter but a must-ask, what's CRIO? How did you come up with the name? The sweet name! CRIO literally translates to CREATE in Portuguese. This was a nod to my ever-supportive husband's ancestry. It wrote out so clean and was very true to my being in terms of creativity that it just felt right. I tend to combust with ideas at ungodly hours, so at 4 AM on a balmy November morning of 2020, CRIO's name and logo were created, and unbeknownst to a very tired me, a brand was born.   Q: Lastly, what do you want to tell our readers about life, business, and being a woman in business AND a mother? A: My biggest takeaway on the success of CRIO is being so stupidly passionate about what you do that you embrace the bad days too. I went through a dark spell for months but I loved what I did, and when I came back to it, it was a success on success because the love for my brand shone through. It's the very passion and fire you possess for your brand that makes every obstacle easy to conquer. I still face massive and new challenges now as a mother and business owner. Some days one takes precedence over the other and that's OK. In a way, working on CRIO is a learning and bonding experience for myself and my 3-year-old son, Elijah. I want people to know it's important to try to live out all aspects of their lives with no regrets. Everything has a time and space to exist and we need to allow it so we see our full potential through. I have embraced this and I have full faith the readers will too.   PHOTOS © SURAIYA H. FAROOK, JANITH HEENATIGALA