In an exclusive conversation with TheGlitz, Dr. Pooja Malhotra reveals how she blends her medical expertise with a passion for fashion, creating PowerSutra, a brand that redefines ‘Desk to Dinner’ dressing for the modern woman.
With a distinguished career in Anaesthesiology, Dr Pooja has spent over 15 years in top hospitals like Max, Fortis, and Safdarjang. But it’s her belief that confidence and comfort come from the perfect fit that truly sets her apart. A confident, well-dressed woman at heart, Pooja’s mantra is simple: to feel powerful, you need to look powerful. And through PowerSutra, she’s doing just that, empowering women to dress with purpose and poise.
Over To Dr Pooja & PowerSutra
You have an extensive background in medicine with over 15 years of experience. What inspired you to make the transition from being an Anaesthesiologist to an entrepreneur in the fashion industry?
Entrepreneurship was always there on my mind and it was always a passion to be an entrepreneur and fashion came effortlessly to me. While practicing medicine, I used to travel a lot to attend conferences within and outside India but never used to find formal blazers, trousers or suits easily within India and always bought it from the USA. I found that this problem was even more prominent in my colleagues who were in extremes of sizes : sizes below small size and sizes beyond 2xl size. I researched about the gap and market size which existed in the market for size inclusive western formal wear and launched PowerSutra as a size inclusive western formal wear brand and converted my passion into my profession.
Powersutra focuses on empowering women through fashion, particularly with your ‘Desk to Dinner’ concept. How do you think a well-fitted outfit can influence a woman’s confidence and success in both her professional and personal life?
Confidence can be communicated through body language. Well-fitting outfits can enhance a woman’s posture and poise, contributing to a more assertive and confident demeanour and can influence a woman’s confidence and success by enhancing self image since wearing clothes that fit well can improve how a woman perceives herself. This boost in self-confidence can lead to a greater confidence in both personal and professional settings. Well-fitted outfits project professionalism which can open door to various opportunities. Lastly, dressing well can serve as a form of empowerment, individuality and personal style while fostering a sense of control over their image.
What challenges did you face in building Powersutra from the ground up, and how did your medical background influence your approach to running a fashion brand?
Since I am not from the same background therefore learning a completely different profession was a challenge in itself. I faced challenges in every aspect in my business beginning from streamlining operations to recognising our target audience and also financial management. I encountered challenges in supply chain issues, inventory management to sizing & fit. Providing right fit to extremes of sizes was a challenge which I overcame by doing research on different body sizes and shapes & also learning from the feedback which we obtained from our customers. We fed forwarded these feedbacks to curate our algorithms to give them the right fit. But I enjoyed each and every challenge and tried to convert it to
opportunity to learn and grow.
Anaesthesiology being a challenging branch in the medical field considering we get only 5-10 minutes as an anaesthesiologist to save a patient’s life on table, I was already used to facing the challenges which were way harder than the challenges I faced as a fashion entrepreneur. I think this resilient and fighter attitude helped me a lot to face all the challenges and gave me the strength to overcome them.
As a busy professional and a fashion enthusiast, how do you balance being a doctor, an entrepreneur, and staying connected with the latest fashion trends?
I believe that it is important to give your 100% into what you are doing if you want to succeed in that. Therefore I converted my passion for fashion and entrepreneurship into my profession and quit medicine before launching PowerSutra. To stay abreast of the latest fashion trends, we follow trend forecasting services like WGSN, trendstop or pinterest predicts. We also gain insights from fashion magazines.
PowerSutra emphasizes the importance of a perfect fit. What do you believe sets your brand apart from other women’s formal wear brands, and how do you ensure every garment resonates with your vision of power and confidence?
Ans: Size inclusivity and minimalism sets us apart from other women’s formal wear brands.
Using high quality fabrics that not only look good but also feel good to wear, creating a sense of
confidence in the wearer and creating designs that enhance the wearer’s silhouettes and body
positivity ensuring all body types feel powerful and confident helps us ensure every garment
resonates with our vision of power and confidence. Not only this, incorporating thoughtful details
such as tailoring, embellishments or unique cuts still maintaining minimalism elevate the overall
garment and imbue a sense of power.
Looking ahead, what are your future plans for PowerSutra? Are there any new collections, collaborations, or exciting expansions on the horizon that you’d like to share with us?
My vision for PowerSutra is to make it a one stop solution for women’s western formal wear globally. We have already been selling through our own PowerSutra website, Myntra and Nykaa but now in the new year we are live on AJIO and Tata Cliq as well. In terms of international expansion, we are live on platforms like Etsy and very soon we will be live on Amazon USA & Lazada too.
Our new summer and spring collection is going to get live in the month of February 2025.
Ans: My vision for PowerSutra is to make it a one stop solut
