Meet the VNYA Family
The explorers
Supriya
Mother dragon to Leo and Kafka and creator of a jewelry brand Sitara. Supriya is led by heart and a fiery ball of energy. She loves trails, treks, waterfalls, and all things outdoors, and the forests and oceans are her happy place. A traveling nut, Supriya always makes sure local food is part of her travel itinerary. As well as checking out local art and crafts, rather than those available at fancy stores. Wherever she goes she likes to live as the locals do. Unless it's after a long diving trip on a small wooden boat or an island with no electricity, after which a day of luxury seems perfect.
After spending most of her professional life in advertising, promoting products she didn’t believe in, Supriya decided to create her own that speak for themselves. A passion for experimenting with food and the need to do better led her here.
You will probably meet and chat with her at the store in Juhu. While she loves to immerse herself in the silence of the seas, be warned she loves to talk even more and is inquisitive about everybody and everything!
Tilak
Devoted dad to Leo and Kafka, Tilak is an award-winning sound designer and also found his groove with scuba diving. While he has found himself deep-diving into the ocean, Tilak also discovered his love for marine life and is now actively involved in beach clean-ups and marine life preservation. He loves taking trips near and far and is slowly also turning his travels into journeys with a purpose.
He’s a foodie, but a very picky one. No fancy restaurants for him and local comfort food are the way to his heart.
Through Vnya, Tilak wants to create awareness about the damage we are doing to the environment and how sustainable consumption and living, can result in a brighter future for us, our children, and Mother Earth.
You will probably meet him at the store in Juhu, running the show with his boss lady, and will be lucky to get a few words out of him, unless it’s about the products and diving of course!
Leo and Kafka
Our perfect kids are the bosses and thrive on adventures and attention! Both Leo and Kafka are adopted and we at Vnya are huge propagators of ‘adopt don’t shop’. Little do people know that rescues actually rescue us. We are huge animal lovers and feed and medically assist as many animals as possible. Along with donating to NGOs, we are planning activities with Vnya and animal welfare soon as well.
Our journey
Our organic journey started when our four-legged sons Leo was diagnosed with Autoimmune disease. When Allopathy did not really work, we started looking for alternative (holistic) healing options.
After a lot of searching, we realized that there aren't any holistic healers in the country for animals and therefore started approaching doctors from all over the world. After a lot of research. and writing to a lot of doctors who had done in-depth studies on autoimmune diseases, we found a practitioner in Washington who prescribed loads of supplements which included locally available Ayurvedic herbs. After using a combination of Homeopathy medicines, Allopathy, imported supplements, and Ayurvedic herbs/leaves and a couple of years of trial and error, Leo’s condition finally stabilized. He's been off steroids for a long time now, but his supplements which mainly include amla, aloe, wheatgrass, giloy, etc. still continue.
Organic food has been a huge part of his treatment. The doctor clearly told us to switch to organic as non-organic or chemical food triggers this condition. And suggested that the same applied for two-legged beings as well. Of course sourcing organic chicken was nearly impossible and we really tried. But everything else that we feed him from the vegetables to the millets (yes, our son only eats millets) to organic free-range eggs, are as clean as possible. In fact, if he eats a non-organic egg now, he gets a stomach upset immediately.
What completely solidified our growing belief in organic foods, was when Tilak’s father got diagnosed with cancer. It was a very hard time for us but we all believed that we will overcome it and got down to a lot of research. Which lead us to switch him to a completely organic plant-based diet and completely non-toxic food. While he went through radiation, the food and supplements helped support his system. He has been cancer-free now for more than a year. And while it isn’t a cure, clean wholesome nourishment helped with his strength and wellbeing.
Our main aim to start Vnya, an organic brand, and store, is to make sure we source real organic food for our family, friends, and everyone who connects with us on this journey. Let’s embrace what is good for us, our loved ones, and our planet!
