A typical college student might juggle classes and work, but this San José State student does both while running her own fashion magazine to empower herself and others. 

Sanjana Solanki is a business administration fourth year student with a concentration in marketing. 

From a young age, Solanki said she knew the depth of her creativity but was held back by her lack of self-confidence.

“Back in high school, I was shy and not as confident,” she said. “I always felt like I was a creative person and I would be a good leader if I had more confidence.”

Solanki longed to showcase her creativity but many people didn’t hire her during high school and at the beginning of college. 

“I wanted to be a brand ambassador, but no one was hiring me because I didn’t have a portfolio,” Solanki said. “The lack of creative experience really impacted my potential to go far.”

Wanting an outlet for her creativity, she said she founded solucky to express herself and collaborate with other artists. 

“It was a very vague idea,” Solanki said. “I wanted it to be a blog — of some sort — where I had my creative friends come in to pitch ideas.”

The brand launched in August 2020, and became a hub for her to write about organization, decoration, film, fashion and music.

“It was mostly a gem for my family,friends and maybe even employers, but that was pretty much it,” Solanki said. 

After realizing the people she collaborated with had small businesses, Solanki turned her blog into a magazine a year or so later. 

“Now we do a bunch of things,” Solanki said. “(We) host events, do spotlights for small businesses and other creators and even curate clothes that have been thrifted or picked out from our own closet.”

Shayari Saha, creative director and producer of solucky, was recruited by Solanki about a year ago to be a model. 

“I think it’s a very important skill to be able to start your own business, especially as a woman,” Saha said.

Solucky has sub-teams, which include the stylist team, videographer, writer, editor and photoshoot assistant roles.

“It’s very time consuming, obviously, because we are trying to create a company at this point,” she said. “But it’s very fun and it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do.”

Every issue contains about three photoshoots spread out in its 70-90 pages and it is posted every two months, each containing its own theme. 

“We really want to put out perfected versions of our work,” Solanki said. “We’re very precise about the things we do.” 

Solanki said she was resolved to end the publication following her graduation in December of 2024. 

“Being a college student and also dedicating time to solucky in really difficult and constantly stressful,” Solanki said. 

On top of managing her business, Solanki works part-time at Levi Stadium as a strategic and operations intern.  

“I am always running around but the fact that I am doing something that I love and is so close to my heart makes it really easy,” she said. 

Veda Gottumukkala has been with the brand since March 2024, working on the styling team. 

“I think what’s so unique about solucky is that it creates an avenue for creatives who have never had that experience,” she said. 

Gottumukkala became interested in the volunteer opportunity because she wanted to meet other creatives. 

“It has been really inspiring to meet someone so young start a business,” she said. “Youth voices are ignored and not taken seriously and it shows that (Solanki) put a lot of effort into solucky.”

“I think Sanjana is a very understanding founder,” Gottumukkala said. “She does a really good job at encompassing people’s background and culture.”

Solanki said she was convinced by her team to not end the publication and sees herself dedicating her free time to solucky after graduation. 

“I love solucky with all my heart,” she said. “I’m very passionate about it.” 

Solanki is expanding solucky by creating brand marketing packages and doing photoshoots and campaigns for other companies.

“Solucky is my life,” Solanki said. “If I could give young people who want to become entrepreneurs advice, I would say to just do it.”

In the near future, solucky hopes to collaborate with other small businesses, create merchandise and also pay her volunteers. 

“I would love to be able to pay my team,” she said. “Especially the production team because they work so hard.”

Beginning January 2025, solucky will release an issue every four months. 

“If you don’t even step into it and try to push for something that you’re passionate about,” Solanki said. “You’re going to be left with resentment and misery that you haven’t done what you’re really interested in doing.”