From Being Left to Beg and Dance to Exporting Herbal Products to Multiple Countries, this Transgender Entrepreneur is Rewriting her Journey

Amidst the bustling crowd, stepping down to browse the stalls that are aligned on both sides - as for almost many years on the occasion of Bandra fair, sits Zoya Shaikh. Hair wrapped with a dupatta, she talks to those who stop by at her stall, explaining the products kept at the front of her - the majority of which are made at her home in Mumbra. 

Shaikh has come very far from what her life used to be, just five years back. Perhaps, a sign that the COVID-19-induced lockdown turned out to be helpful for her to have taken a leap of faith and leave dancing in bars. "I have danced in the nightclubs and even begged several times. In fact, I have done a lot of things that I should not have to earn money. Pet hai to karna parega, pet nahi hota to kuch nahi karti shayad (I had to do certain things to feed myself. Had this necessity not been there, probably, I would not have done it,'' the 41-year-old says, as we speak at the fair. 

Organised annually in Bandra, the fair celebrates the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, commemorating a miracle in which a statue of St. Mary was found floating in the Arabian Sea centuries ago. One of the stalls, which is of Shaikh, is at the very beginning of the stalls this year. This is also the first year she has participated in the fair through the Kinnar Maa Trust, a community health centre, which has a stall here.

From 10 bottles to earning in lakhs

In her decent English, she says, "They (the trust) might have seen something in me to give me this stall," she says, grin on her face. Her displayed products include the herbal shampoo, oils, handmade rice milk soaps, oat soaps, fairness creams and even the lip balms, Moroccan Nila powder. "I make bases for soaps and shampoos at home and source some herbals, as per requirements," she says, adding that rice and flour in her house make for a lot of bases. 

Living on the elevated area also allows Shaikh to grow the moringa and neem plants that are further used in the making process. "I pluck Moringa to make Moringa powder and sell that as well," she further says.

While Zoya started the business single-handedly, she was joined by another childhood friend later, who continues to help her in the business, which is not only exporting products across India but also to other countries like Scotland in the UK, Dubai, Bahrain, Muscat, and others. "At least 4-5 orders come from different countries every month. Dubai makes for the largest share out of it," she says, "Wahan per paani kharab hai na, baal jharte hain logon ke (People in Dubai have haifall because of its water quality)!" Shaikh adds. 

Zoya also remains active on social media. "I am a small influencer also (laughs) with 508k followers, where I make videos of the product-making process at home." But is all of that helping her right now in the business at the fair? "I am almost making 10,000 here." Having long hair initially, Zoya would often be asked on Instagram about what she uses to maintain it, and, as she says, that sowed the seeds of running a business in her mind.

What started with only a pack of 12 bottles of hair oil to be given to her friends who had asked for it, increased to 24, and then 40 bottles. Cut to 2025, where she makes 500-1,000 per month. "I make at least 2-3 lakh in a month now." Shaikh mentions that her products are easily available on Amazon and her own website, with the name, 'Zoya Herbal Products'.

Battling numerous and never-ending biases 

Needless to frown upon the fact that such a journey has not been a cakewalk for Zoya Shaikh. Born as a transgender woman, she lived with the Hijra community, and although she knows the whereabouts of her parents, she remains unknown to them. "No, they don't enquire about me," she says. 

By dancing in the earlier years, she, however, managed to financially support her education and even studied B.Com in Mumbai, but could not complete it. "I wanted to be a lawyer, but I realised that I might not have been able to complete it and hence, took B.Com. But even that remained unfinished," she says. 

Perhaps, this is the reason why Zoya is content that she not only has a sustainable income but her business has also reached above the break-even point and has been making profits for quite some time now. However, the challenges persist. "People still call me names. They tell me that business is not meant for me, and I can only either dance or become a prostitute," she laments.

"But if given a chance," she continues, "we can be doctors, engineers, police, fashion designers and anything, for that matter." Without a family and support, Shaikh is confident that she wants to work and aims to change the condition of the transgender persons. "Society probably will not change. Wo humesha chadhte suraj ko salam karti hai (society always salutes the rising sun), so, we (the transgender community) will have to take it on ourselves to change our condition, I feel," she further says, adding that the community does not "pity" or "kindness" from society and it is them who have forced the transgender persons to do the work they don't actually want to do.

As Zoya speaks of courage and determination, there are people around the stall listening to her silently while looking at her products kept on the desk-like structure. "Identify our skills and then comment," Zoya comments at the right time. "To all those who believe that we are only meant for begging, dancing and sex work, I would like to say that 'business' does not flow in the blood; one learns and can do it, which I have done."