VANDANA LUTHRA, A WOMAN WHO REDEFINED WELLNESS

By CJ Ankita Singh in Lucknow

As founder of the numero uno wellness center VLCC, Vandana Luthra has redefined wellness and revolutionized the industry in the last two decades. Founded in 1989 in India, VLCC is currently the largest and most sought-after brand in the Wellness domain in South Asia and Middle East. It has 300 different centers in 109 cities of 10 countries including India, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Luthra had decided at a very young age to start a beauty center as she liked giving people haircuts and facials. However, she hadn`t imagined that she would actually have a wellness center, which would not only provide beauty solutions, but also help people remain fit. Although, this wasn`t easy because she conceptualized VLCC at a time when Indians weren`t really accustomed to the idea of such health and beauty centers.


Luthra had a challenge of establishing a business in a completely new industry in India. Therefore, she worked painstakingly so as to not only successfully venture into an unknown industry, but also get the industry recognized across the nation as an organized sector industry. To make her dream come true, she set qualitative standards by providing excellent services, using advance techniques and measures, all the while pressing on customer satisfaction.

Other than delving into a new industry, Luthra was also being challenged as a woman as there were scarcely any women entrepreneurs at the time. Any business started by a woman was considered to be her hobby and women had to make twice the efforts than men to get people to take their ventures seriously enough. And since the concept was new to the nation, she had to face many difficulties in order to procure finances for establishment and further expansion of the business.

The hard work and dedication Luthra put into starting up and expanding the wellness center finally paid off. She founded the very first VLCC center in Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi in 1989, which delivered slimming solutions, skin care and hair care services. And today, it is by far the best beauty and fitness business in India, providing unsurpassed services, known for its scientific weight loss measures and a therapeutic approach to beauty treatments. VLCC is at par with the wellness centers from the most advanced nations that have state of the art equipment.

Other than a leading entrepreneur, Luthra is also a social worker and educationist. She provides professional training through her vocational training school called VLCC Institute of Beauty, Health and Management. It is one of a kind institutes in India offering courses in beauty and nutrition. At the institute, she spends plenty of time with her students. Moreover, she also helps physically challenged as well as underprivileged people by offering them free education scholarships. Luthra also works as a trustee of the National Children’s Fund, which was constituted by the Government of India under the backing of the Ministry for Women and Child Development.