Ima means mother in Manipuri. It is also the name of the world's only all-women market — Ima Keithel in Imphal — where 4,000 women have run business for over five centuries. We took that name on purpose.
I came to Mumbai from Aizawl when I was twenty-two. I worked in three different chain spas across the city before I started this. I won't name them.
The shifts were twelve hours, six days a week. The pay was ₹16,000 to ₹19,000 a month. People assumed I was Chinese, or Thai, or Filipino — never that I was Indian. Customers would ask if I spoke "real Hindi." Managers would skip me for promotions because, as one of them said in front of me, "Madam customers don't trust your kind for the senior treatments."
I am not building Ima Wellness because I want to compete with Urban Company on price. I am building it because every Northeast girl who lands at Mumbai airport tomorrow deserves a different first job than mine.
— Mami, Founder
Owners are women. Therapists are women. Customers are women. Our coordinator on WhatsApp is a woman. No exceptions, ever.
Therapists keep 55–60% of every session. Travel is reimbursed. Tips are 100% theirs. Group health insurance from day one.
We say where ingredients come from. We say which lineage a treatment belongs to. We don't say "tribal wisdom" — we say Mizo, Khasi, Manipuri.
Sealed-pack disposable sheets opened in front of you. Mats washed weekly. Sealed-bottle oils. No reuse. Ever.
No advance from you. No on-arrival upcharges. Pay on GPay only after the session. Refund-on-no-show is the brand promise.
1% of revenue goes to a Northeast women's-craft NGO. Every quarter, we publish whom we paid and how much.
Most of India does not know the Northeast well. That is part of the problem. The eight states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura — hold over 200 distinct ethnic communities, three of the world's most matrilineal cultures (Khasi, Garo, Jaintia), and one of the most concentrated repositories of medicinal-plant knowledge documented anywhere in India.
Meghalaya alone has 850 documented medicinal plants. Cross-cultural studies across Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur consistently show that women — not men — are the primary holders, transmitters and practitioners of herbal-medicine knowledge. Manipur's Amaibi tradition, the priestess-physicians of the Sanamahi religion, has flourished for over a thousand years.
Our therapists grew up in households where post-childbirth massage, sore-back rubs, and herbal compresses are routine domestic skills passed mother-to-daughter. The competence is in their hands before they ever attend a training. We pay for that lineage. We name it.
Every therapist is a verified, full-time team member. We name them. We share their stories.
Deep tissue · 4 years
Signature ritual · 6 years
Postnatal · 5 years
Reflexology · 3 years
Recruiting more women from the Northeast. Message Mami on WhatsApp if you're interested.
