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Lemonade Leaders
Real stories of turning life’s toughest lemons into something good. Each week, host Riannon Palmer chats with founders and changemakers about resilience, purpose, and building impact from adversity.
Lemonade Leaders
From a Life-Threatening Illness to Fashion with Purpose
What happens when your body forces you to stop and re-evaluate everything? For Victoria Harman, a sudden life-threatening neurological illness and redundancy while on medical leave became the unexpected turning point that pushed her to follow her long-held dream.
In this episode of Lemonade Leaders, Victoria shares her journey from senior leadership roles at global brands like Levi’s and TikTok Shop to founding Rajani Baker, a platform celebrating South Asian craftsmanship and wearable art. She opens up about resilience, health, cultural appreciation, and what it really means to reinvent your life when tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.
If you’ve ever wondered how to turn setbacks into opportunities, or what it takes to create something meaningful out of life’s toughest moments, this episode is for you.
Find out more about Victoria here: https://www.rajanibaker.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/rajani_baker/
Welcome to Lemonade Leaders, the podcast about conversations that do good and feel good. I'm your host, Riannon Palmer, founder of Lem-uhn, a Feel Good PR agency for brands that care. Each episode, I'll be chatting to brilliant people who've turned life's lemons into something meaningful. Today I'm joined by Victoria Harman, founder and CEO of Rajani Baker, a beautifully curator. Destination for gifts designed or made within the Indian diaspora. Victoria's career span senior leadership roles in global brands from Levi's to TikTok shop, but a life-threatening illness and redundancy while on medical leave became the unexpected turning point that pushed her to follow her dream. Her story is one of resilience, reinvention, and turning life's toughest moments into purpose. Hi, Victoria. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Victoria:Thank you very much for having me.
Riannon Palmer:As I said, you've had a big journey and really lots of those lemon moments in your life. I'd love for you to take us back to your lemon moment and tell us more about it.
Victoria:Sure. So at the time I had just moved to the uk. just the previous year I was really excited to take on a new leadership role and I was leading e-commerce governance across the EMEA region for TikTok shop. at that time my days were really fast paced. We had very long hours and I was working on really high stakes decisions across a lot of different teams who usually disagreed on a lot of the different topics that we're talking about. It's a very tense environment and quite suddenly out of nowhere, my body said enough. and, I got this. sensation like having something click in your body and then all of a sudden the pain went from zero to 10. And it was unlike any headache I've ever had in my life. Felt like I was potentially having a stroke or something, which lasted a couple days. And when I went to the hospital, I found out, that I was diagnosed with. Life-threatening neurological illness called RCVS, reversible Cerebral Vasso Constriction syndrome, which of course I'd never heard of before. but it was very terrifying, especially having moved to a new country, navigating a new healthcare system, being entirely on my own. and it just completely stopped me from, being able to do anything, for someone who has. Been really ambitious and built their career on momentum. that sudden illness was jarring and just really hard to accept.
Riannon Palmer:Yeah, I can imagine, especially I think sometimes there's a. Illnesses that you haven't heard of yourself, can you be even more scary because we dunno what it is. And I'm sure now you've become an expert in all things about it. but at the time I'm sure it was, really scary. and what happened from there?
Victoria:I was forced to take time off of work. I, needed to take, a minimum of about two and a half or three months, for recovery, which, is really difficult to do when you're managing a large team and you have deadlines coming up and feel a lot of pressure. I was told that I really needed to manage my stress, that if I felt. anything stressful during that time period that I could have a stroke and die. so when you hear that, you see that written on a piece of paper, that's definitely gonna motivate you to, really slow things down. and so I was able to take that time to reflect on a lot of different things. I think my illness really stripped life down to the essentials. I think, a lot of people of average working age, we usually just. Take our health for granted. we never realized what a vital component that is to keep moving forward, and I certainly never thought I'd have to choose between good health or the opportunities I was so sure were appropriate or the right fit, for my career trajectory. So it definitely made me take a step back, look at the bigger picture. Who was I really living for? Why did I have these perceptions about what was the right career path? What specifically brought me joy, in each of the jobs that I'd had along the way? and I think most importantly, if I knew I wanted to try something on my own, then if not now, then when, for the first time, I realize that tomorrow isn't guaranteed.
Riannon Palmer:Yeah, I think that sometimes it's really annoying actually, that those worst times in our lives are the things that give us. Jog, it's annoying. We can't have that when we're feeling fit and well and healthy. but sometimes those worst moments in our life do give us that natural push to think, what am I gonna do now? Tell us a bit more about what you did do?
Victoria:So I think I try to go back and reflect a bit on. What were the things that brought me joy in all the jobs that I'd have up until that point? I realized that I wanted to do something that was deeply creative. I realized that I enjoyed work that I'd done in the past, that had an opportunity to connect with different cultures and to. bring different cultures together. I wanted to build something that was long lasting that I could really take a lot of ownership of, where I could have a variety of work each day that not every day would look the same. I had always planned at some point in time, back when I was doing my MBA and other things that I wanted to launch my own business. I was just kicking the can down the road for quite some time. And because my illness and my recovery required me to have a little bit more of a flexible schedule, I had to think about what it is that I could do and really the obvious answer was to create an opportunity for myself, that wasn't already there. And so that's really what pushed me into thinking well. This is really the time. and, so that's how things really started. Rajni Baker became the answer to all of those questions that I was having.
Riannon Palmer:And it was taken out of your hands Because when you were on medical leave, you were then made redundant.
Victoria:Yeah, so that was really scary part. I think suddenly losing your private health insurance and your source of income, is definitely not something that you wanna go through when you're unwell and not really fit. To work full time, right away. and just also mentally processing what has just happened to you. so that was definitely a very difficult period for me. I'm not gonna sugarcoat that at all. but I think I am always somebody who's not been satisfied sitting around and doing nothing. So even as I was. Feeling even the least bit capable of being able to dive in and do more work. That's when I really started building up some ideas and trying to think about what it is that I could do. took a lot of time to reflect. that was at the end of 2023 and while I did work on developing products and speaking with different suppliers and really did get things kickstarted and moving. from that point in time, the website itself for my business, with active product sales on there, and everything didn't launch until November of the following year. So it was a lot of planning and a lot of buildup time behind the scenes, before I was actually able to bring something to market. it was a mixed period of reflecting, planning and recovering and making my health the number one priority as well.
Riannon Palmer:And how is your health now?
Victoria:The idea is that it was a reversible condition. So, in theory, things are relatively back to normal, but that doesn't mean it couldn't come back. So I'm of course very tense about that. it means for the rest of my life I'll have to take medication to, try and prevent the illness from coming back, every day. It definitely means managing stress levels, if not for the recurrence of that particular illness, for the things associated to it, migraines, insomnia, and other things that I had experienced for some time leading up to that. I think generally just realizing that stress, is a contributing factor to a lot of neurological illnesses, and you really need to have that right balance of work and, time to relax and focus on yourself and look after health
Riannon Palmer:Yeah, I always love the saying health is wealth. Obviously we all need money to live our lives, but having good health is the most important thing.
Victoria:Yeah, definitely.
Riannon Palmer:And what was the inspiration behind the brand?
Victoria:So I had worked, at a number of different retail brands, before launching my own. I had seen lots of product that was sourced from lots of different places. I had always worked more on the business side of things though, and not on the sourcing and design side. And so it was a little bit of a mystery to me diving into that part. What I did see is that generally when we had products that were made in India, there were really incredible use of different types of textiles, different types of methods of embroidery, bead work, all different kinds of things like that, that really made those products stand out. I've always appreciated the culture greatly. I, have had lots of friends from there, have traveled there, and, certainly being in the UK where we have such a wealth of incredible creatives from the South Asian community. in London, I think it. Something like a third of the population at this point in time are South Asian. it's just a wonderful community. and so I wanted to find a platform to really be able to celebrate, the heritage, the craftsmanship, that be able to sell what I would call wearable art that tells a story. so I decided to take. Some of these techniques, that are more traditional and apply them to designs that would be particularly appealing or resonate with a Western audience. I work very closely with artisans in India. We work on the designs together. I really wanna make sure that there is a respectful nod to the heritage and, thousands of years of incredible art from India. While also combining some, modern motifs and things that just resonate a little bit more with, Western audience as well. so we've been working a lot to strike that right balance although I'm not, Indian myself, Pretty much everybody that I work with on my business is. and so I think that's been, really exciting as well to hear all different kinds of perspectives. and when I mention, India and the greater Indian diaspora, that means not only working with suppliers in India on my own line of products, but I also highlight emerging designers on my platform and sell their products. And they are Indian founders from all around the world. So for example, right now I have some that are based in Spain, some that are based in the USA, some that are based in the uk and I'm always on the lookout for more interesting ones as well.
Riannon Palmer:Amazing. Yeah, I think there is definitely not enough spotlight given to, south Asian fashion at the minute. There's been more influence, like bollywood's coming over a little bit and music. I know Ed Sheeran had that recent song and collaborated with a Bollywood artist. but given how many people from that community live in the uk, especially in London for example. There's definitely not enough spotlight on the community. So, it's always really nice when people are uplifting those communities.
Victoria:Yeah, definitely. The other thing that's a bit unusual is that during COVI, I decided that I wanted to learn a new language and, I already spoke, Spanish and Portuguese and I thought about what's the next thing that I might wanna learn, what would be an interesting language that could combine my interests in technology and retail? MI had just finishing up my MBA at the time. I finished it in spring 2020. Not the greatest time to be a student. so many of my friends were international students from India. And I thought, gosh, well it would be really fun and really interesting to learn a bit of Hindi. So I found an online tutor and I took Hindi courses during COVID. so many people in India speak English, it's one of the largest English speaking, countries in the world. But to really be able to connect with the people that you work with, to really be able to deeply understand and to work with a lot of people, it is very helpful. I think people really appreciate it. so I think although it's not been a particularly popular language, for a lot of foreigners to learn, it was something I very much enjoyed learning and, was also an inspiration for working on this as well.
Riannon Palmer:Yeah, it's incredible. I think, lots of westerners, especially in English speaking countries, forget about language learning these days. So, it's always really incredible, to be able to go back and learn the language. I learned Spanish in 2023. Not quite as hard, but it's so good for your brain as well. and definitely should have more people trying to learn languages. And how has the jump been from the corporate life working with these big brands to working on your own business?
Victoria:I think throughout my career I had tried to test out working in businesses of a lot of different sizes. That's something where for, a recent university graduate, it's something I would recommend. I know there's a lot of pressure to stay within one company or to aim for the biggest companies possible, but I found a lot of value out of trying out working with startups, working with large corporations, medium sized corporations, public private companies. I even worked for UK government for five year period of my career. and so I think that's how you can really learn what fits for you and what's right for you. And I always really enjoyed either working in a startup or a medium sized private company. there's lots of pros and cons and things are very personal, I would say, in terms of what someone's preference, might be. So I'm not saying that's the right choice for everyone, but I just really loved the ownership that I could take from end to end in those kinds of companies. The focus on long-term growth rather than perhaps focusing on, what are the priorities for the next investor meeting and being able to, impress people in the quarterly reports with quick things that might not be to the advantage of long-term growth. so I'm not saying all companies are like that, or even all the companies I worked at are like that, but it's just an interesting and different perspective. and so that led me to this. Interest in working at startup. and I would say that the biggest difference I've seen between working in a really large corporation, and doing a startup is that in a large corporation, I was essentially like. If you think of a sports analogy as the coach of the team, and I was, trying to coordinate my team and other teams to achieve different goals, different outcomes be successful. The goal is still the same when you're an entrepreneur. But suddenly you're not just the coach, you're the offensive player, you're the defensive player, you're the photographer, you're the janitor, you're the person selling the tickets in the front. You're a little bit of everything. and I think the real challenge is balancing all of that, doing it. All well enough that you can keep everything afloat. but not necessarily, recognizing where some of your own personal shortcomings might be. And going out in the beginning, even if you don't have a budget, to hire a big team to find different people who can advise you on different topics, places where you can easily learn and pick up new skills that you didn't already have. Finding people you can hire for contract work for a particular project. I think that's something that, I've really learned is really helpful. but it's something where, you have to be very proactive every day and also very introspective to be able to understand where your strengths and weaknesses are.
Riannon Palmer:And what's been the most surprising thing since launching your own business?
Victoria:I think probably since I had studied business, I had always worked in corporates, or startups that had more of a B2B emphasis to them. I would say that what surprised me the most was that I've found that of those many different roles on the team, the one that I've enjoyed the most has been. The more creative aspects of the role. So where I worked more on say, strategy teams, business development teams in the past, in larger corporations, and wasn't necessarily exposed to the design and sourcing part. That's really what I find the most enjoyable right now, is coming up with the ideas for new products, working with the, suppliers directly. really in a partnership with each one of the suppliers. It's like working with a different team and. It's definitely collaborative process. It's back and forth. I work with smaller suppliers where they give me their input on the designs, and we work together. It's not like I have thousands and thousands of styles that I launch every season and, that, I've done all of the specifications with no room for flexibility. So it is really interesting, that relationship and managing those relationships. I'm a people person and it can be really hard being a solo entrepreneur and working by yourself. especially if you work from home or work from a small office just by yourself. and so I've really enjoyed, that aspect of it as well. Like the networking and getting to know your suppliers, getting to know their lives and their stories. I think that's been the part that's been interesting to me. And when I worked at Fashion Brands before, Oftentimes how they were started is they had the founder who was the designer, and they were wildly creative person. My first company I worked at was Betsy Johnson, so she's like the epitome of that very, very creative person, but didn't have a business background. And in that business and a number of other ones that I worked at, as they grew, they needed to hire. another person to come in who had a strictly business background, sometimes not a creative bone in their body, but to be the person who was really running the business, hand in hand with them. And I had pretty much never seen, in my own experiences, things the other way around. Someone who had business experience, but not the creative design background. I thought, well, why wouldn't that be a possibility? So, I gave it a shot. So I did a crash course at Central St. Martin's in fashion design. it was one of these short courses that they have. I plan to take lots more. I cannot recommend that, program more fervently. It was just like a really fantastic experience. And I really found that, as long as you find the right suppliers that have their own design team as well and can meet you halfway, and there's also so many resources online around this topic, if you can envision something and you're passionate about it and you know a lot about what's out there in the market, Then you can fill in those gaps where you need them. So it's not impossible to start with business and bring in the creative part. I think when you go into a very highly analytical field, you're working in corporate strategy, you've done an MBA, you've been around people who are more bankers, consultants, that kind of thing. a lot of the creative side of things is something sometimes that you feel like you need to suppress, especially in a large corporation, and I really like that it's now something I can embrace, something I'm respecting in myself a little bit more that maybe I hadn't valued as much in the past just because of the environments that I've been in. and I have. Huge respect now, for anybody that's done a full-time degree in fashion design, for example, because that class that I took was really difficult. and to imagine that some people, do a full degree in that, is just incredible. So it's wonderful to open my eyes to this new world and, to really question, why I had any particular, Misgivings before about, what something was like or what skills were valued more than others.
Riannon Palmer:Yeah, I think it's the environment that we grew up in. It's those traditionally soft skills. Quite often they're female associated not given as much, accreditation. Whereas skills like negotiating or typically masculine skills are usually considered better, even if you're choosing your subjects at school or university, if someone says that they're gonna do an arts degree, everyone still looks down at a little bit. But actually there's so many different skills that you get from that and also transferable skills. some cases it might be that you were gonna have more transferable skills in an arts degree than you might have doing a maths degree So, I think there needs to be a change in the conversation and the perception of those skills.
Victoria:Yeah, I found that as well that it's reflected in today's environment around support for startups, funding opportunities for startups, what VCs invest and that kind of thing. There was a little bit of a boom, probably around 2010 or so where there were a lot of consumer startups that were getting VC backing. But now if you are a retail or consumer goods startup. It's really difficult to find organizations out there that are supportive of your sector. There's tons out there to support tech startups, tons out there to support, sustainable development in agriculture and that kind of thing. But for the creative industries. It is actually really, really challenging to find resources out there to support you. You can only get into it if you can bootstrap for a little while and push yourself through that. And it's interesting to me because if you look at the Fortune 500 companies, you look at, a lot of the major. Companies in the world that have had longevity, and sustained success. There are a lot of consumer goods and retail brands on that list. so it is unfortunate that, it's seen, I think probably because of the number of different, Blips we've had in recent history with the recession with COVID and everything, you know, that it's been a little bit of a more unstable industry or one that's constantly being challenged by new technologies, but I think there's still a lot of space and opportunity in the industry, and I'm always excited to hear about different people who get excited about it and come up with new initiatives to support it.
Riannon Palmer:Yeah, I mean, people are a huge resource and we're going nowhere. So even with the changes in technology and AI and everything, you still need to satisfy the consumer. And fashion is something that everyone has always loved, even looking back. thousands of years, people have still had fashion in different areas or other consumer products that made their lives happier. So think there's been a little bit of people have forgotten about the person behind it, but if you bring the most important consumer and who is spending the money to the forefront of the conversation, then we need to be considering those needs, which has seemed to have been a little bit forgotten lately.
Victoria:Yeah, you mentioned the human element as well, and I think it's really interesting to look at that. On the product side, we are very focused on sustainable production. We do small batch, Pretty much almost everything that I sell is made by hand. And so all of our beaded jewelry and accessories, every single bead is stitched by hand. And some of them are absolutely covered in beads. We have block print clothing where they start off as a sketch that turns into something that's carved into a block that's hand pressed into the fabric every time. So there's a lot of time and a lot of human effort that's put into these, which really, does bring a story to every garment that we have. when people are educated and they know about the processes and the historic techniques behind these things, they understand the value in investing in things that are very unique. One of the goals that I had of starting a company that's, colorful, cheerful, that can spark a little bit of joy in customers, hopefully, is that it'll inspire them to bring out their own creativity and follow their dreams, especially if they're going through a hard time. I think, if you open up your closet and you see something that's a little bit bright and cheerful and different than some of the other things you have there, you put that on. It can change your mindset. so I know that at the end of the day, You're not saving lives, perhaps, by, selling a shirt or earrings or something like that. But it is nice to know the impact that it can have on customers. and also on the communities where we source the products as well, because for a lot of those people, there's a lot of, female artisans in India, for example, who, can take the money that they earn. To send their kids to school for the first time, to feed their families, to really be able to make a life for themselves that they wouldn't have if this industry didn't exist. so, that's very fulfilling as well. I think having worked in government, previously, one thing I realized that I really loved about going to work every day is the feel good factor of knowing that you're helping create jobs. Knowing that, you're trying to leave the world in a slightly better place than it was before. so that's something that I always think about in everything I do, even if it's just something that seems very small.
Riannon Palmer:Yeah, it's one of the reasons I started Lemon. I wanted to create that workplace that I wanted to work at and couldn't find. and then when you hear positive feedback and people say it's the most happiest they've been at work, it's always. So rewarding and even on the hard days, it reminds you why you are building this company.
Victoria:Yeah, definitely. that's I think what moves me forward. And having gone through the experience that I did, has really been something I've realized is a north star and a priority for a business that can sometimes be hard to find when you're working in a really large corporation and you're a very small cog on a very big wheel and you don't always get to see. What the results are further down the road of the particular piece of work that you're doing. So it is very satisfying to be able to take ownership of something and, factor in all of these different elements to your work.
Riannon Palmer:And if you were gonna go back to yourself when you had just, found out about your condition, and you knew you wanted to do something different. What advice would you give to that version of yourself?
Victoria:I think that, having just studied business and, being in an environment where I was surrounded by a lot of people who did go into, the very traditional careers that you would typically do coming out of graduate school? I think it's very challenging to say. You know what? Maybe that's not for me. Maybe I wanna do something completely different and not worry about what anybody else has to say. and so I think that's something where. it's hard. It's very hard to branch off and do something that's very, very different from what everybody else is doing. people will think you're crazy. People will think that, you're not pushing yourself hard enough or something like that. But actually, if you haven't been in it where you've taken that risk yourself. You are the one who's pushing forward your own business. You realize that in many cases it could be a lot more work than it would've been in a corporate role. and that many of the people who criticize you are people who wouldn't have had the guts themselves to be able to take that risk. so I think that's, that's something just having that confidence to know that it's okay to do something a little bit different. There's no right. Or wrong answer, it's your life. I think another piece of advice that I got recently that was very, very helpful because you're gonna have critics whenever you start, anything that's, your own, is that, you shouldn't take criticism from somebody that you wouldn't take advice from. I guess I'd never really thought about that before. there are gonna be plenty of people criticizing you who know nothing about the industry that you work in, and who would never take the risk and be in your shoes, and you just have to think about that. I think. And take everything with a a grain of salt. all of the successful businesses out there have had, critics along the way. a lot of the most interesting stories I've heard from entrepreneurs are people who just got kicked down and kicked down and kicked down. And the reason they were successful is because they were persistent and they just kept trying, and not listening too much to the critics. I think, that can be really difficult. I think you really have to find that self-confidence. It's deep within you. for me it was really challenging in the beginning because you do feel a little bit badly about yourself when you see that your body has responded to stress in a particular way. you feel like you lose a little bit of confidence because, here I was thinking, oh, I got this great job. You wrap a lot of your identity around your job title, and what your career is. But really, at the end of the day, it's a job title. It's not who you are. job titles can change and, there's nothing wrong with being a founder or CEO of your own company. I think the confidence part is a thing that Can be a trap for a lot of people, who are trying to start their own business.
Riannon Palmer:Yeah, definitely. I don't think we could do it, if we didn't have the confidence. In it and it's definitely something that grows as well and gets easier. thank you so much for being so open about your story today and sharing it with us. It was really great to hear it and an example of someone who's taken something that could have been the worst moment in your life and taken it as a reason to start something that you're really passionate about. So definitely, really inspiring, I'm sure to lots of people.
Victoria:Thank you so much. I really appreciate it and love the mission that your business has.
Riannon Palmer:Oh good. Thank you. And where can people find you if they wanna Find out more about your business.
Victoria:Our website is www.rajanibaker.com. and we're also on Instagram at Rajani Baker.
Riannon Palmer:Amazing. Well, thank you so much.
Victoria:Thank you.
Riannon Palmer:Thank you so much to Victoria for sharing her story today. If you like this episode, please give us a like and follow for more episodes of Lemonade leaders. Until next time, keep making your own lemonade.