About – Visalakshi Kannan

ABOUT VISALAKSHI

Where it all began.

I have two names.

Visalakshi — means “wide or beautiful eyed” in Sanskrit. It’s the name of Goddess Parvati in Varanasi. This is the name my parents gave me, and the name of many of my ancestors. It carries the beauty of everything that came before me.

My nickname is Sala. Over the years I have discovered that it appears in many world languages. In Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish and Tagalog, “Sala” means room. In Latvian my name means island. In Fiji, Sala is a flower.

My Story

The journey so far.

I grew up in Madurai. One of the oldest living cities in the world. It made me before I knew I was being made.

My name means wide-eyed in Sanskrit. I think I came into the world that way. Still working on staying that way.

I grew up watching my father, Karumuttu T. Kannan, live a principle passed down through the Thiagarajar family: vinaiye uyir — action is life. Everything you build had to give back more than it takes.

I went to Cambridge. Then in America, I worked, I built, I learned. And somewhere along the way I began to ask growth for what?

I have been a meditator since I was 19. I remain deeply fascinated by what is left when everything external is stripped away.

I came home. People found it strange. I found it obvious. The most unexplored territory in your life is often the place you came from.

Motherhood arrived and cracked everything open. It also gave me the clearest signal I have ever received, that I had more to build.

Today I employ about 700 people. Many of them are women from nearby villages. This is why that calling came.

The weaving expertise of three generations. My own conviction that business must be an expression of values, not a compromise of them. This is what that looks like.

Visalakshi Kannan