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NabaShree – When Women See Themselves Differently

Kolkata’s beauty salons often feel like spaces meant for women with money, confidence, and connections. Project NabaShree – EmpowerHER changes that story by inviting underprivileged women and transgender youth to step into the beauty and wellness world not as customers, but as professionals in the making. In free, community-led classrooms filled with mirrors, chairs, and laughter, participants begin to see a new reflection of themselves: skilled, poised, and worthy of opportunity.

For Rupa from Nagerbazar, a school dropout who once stitched fall borders to support her family, the word “course” used to mean something she could never afford. When she walked into a NabaShree canopy near Rashbehari Avenue, she discovered that the beautician training was free, came with placement support, and welcomed women like her. Weeks later, Rupa was confidently practising facials and threading on classmates, learning how to talk to clients and maintain hygiene standards. Today she works at a neighbourhood salon, sends her younger brother to coaching classes, and keeps aside savings each month for her own parlour chair one day. She says the biggest change is simple: “Aage ami nijeke kono kaaj‑er joggo mone kortam na—ekhon kori” (Earlier I didn’t think I was suited for any work, now I do).

In Tangra, Puja, a young transgender woman, had faced rejection in almost every workplace she approached. At NabaShree, she found a classroom where her name and pronouns were respected, and where trainers looked at her hands not with judgment, but with the belief that they could become skilled and steady. As she learned haircuts and manicures, she also learned to hold her head higher on the streets that once mocked her. After completing the course, Puja joined a unisex salon that valued her talent; clients now ask for her by name. She often returns to the centre to encourage new participants, telling them, “Tomar kaaj tomar porichoy hobe” (Your work will become your identity).

NabaShree’s outreach—through toto miking, street kiosks, live demos, and henna stalls—brings the idea of opportunity right to the heart of Kolkata’s markets and crossings. Women who stop for a quick mehendi or to watch a threading demo leave with something more powerful: the realisation that professional training and a different future are within reach. Inside the classroom, they practise not just techniques, but teamwork, time management, and client communication; outside, they begin negotiating later curfew hours, travelling across the city for interviews, and discussing finances at home with new confidence.

At its core, NabaShree is less about brushes and wax strips, and more about identity and dignity. One salary slip clutched proudly by Rupa, one warm smile from Puja as she welcomes a client, one batch of women and transgender youth who now introduce themselves as “beauty therapists” instead of “unemployed”—together, they show how a free beautician course can become a doorway to respect, independence, and a future they choose for themselves.