TRINIDAD GUARDIAN - By Roslyn Carrington - Nalini Bissambhar-Sankar likes to think of herself as the Bissambhar family’s best kept secret. Her siblings Nisha and Ravi B are instantly recognisable to the party-going crowd, and even behind-the-scenes brother, Anil, has his following. But you’d have to be a pretty hard-core chutney-soca fan to know about big sister Nalini, who’s flying the Trini flag high for all in Florida to see. She claims she’s “the shy one,” although you’d hardly count as shy a woman who sings front and centre with her own band, Dimensionz, and who also runs a fashion and cosmetics company. Never having seen herself as the lead-singer type, she had to be coaxed onstage by her husband, Nigel, who plays the keyboards and is the band’s leader and musical arranger. Once she climbed up onto that stage, she found it hard to step down again. “That really changed my life. He helped me find my true self.” When Bissambhar-Sankar talks about her Tacarigua-born husband, she gets all warm and gushy. “We truly complement each other. We met through mutual friends while I was vacationing here in Florida. He proposed after a month and we were married three months after.”
Hands up all those who thinks she should sing about that! Like her siblings’ band, Karma, Dimensionz has a wide repertoire, playing everything from film songs and chutney to soca and pop. “We’ve released several singles, including Sach Liye Kaha, a Hindi remix of Gwen Stephanie’s Underneath it All, which created waves in the US and which was also very popular with many radio stations in T&T. Last year we released a collaboration with my brother Ravi B entitled Dil Mein Sanam which was No 1 on the charts for 11 weeks.” Some women would have stopped there, but Bissambhar-Sankar has set her entrepreneurial sights on being the next big thing in cosmetics and style for fashion-smart Caribbean folks. She launched her company, Symphony Empires Inc, on her late father’s birthday, as a tribute to him. “My dad was a musician and our inspiration. He dreamed of really big things for us, and he and my mom worked really hard to see that we had the necessary foundation to accomplish the things we wanted in life.” She takes comfort in his continued presence in her life. “I know he’s smiling right now, with everything my siblings and I have accomplished.”
Caribbean women, with our wide range of hues and tastes, will delight in the Nillilicious beauty line, which includes the gorgeous Lumishine lip losses in Drama Queen, Player, Lust, Fantasy, Fairy and Magic. There’s also a Dream Girl lip collection, which comprises lip colour, vitamin E moisturiser and a sugar lip scrub. “Everything is really dreamy and pretty,” she enthuses, “with the highest quality ingredients. Everything has been carefully selected and approved by me.” The B sisters have collaborated on Sisters Are Forever, a line of twin contrasting lip colours, Truth by Nalini and Dare by Nisha. Guys who like to step out in style can look out for a line of clothing designed by brother Ravi. While her products are already on sale in the US, Bissambhar-Sankar has sent her feelers as far as Canada, Guyana and the UK for distribution, and is in talks with well-known retailers here in Trinidad.
Juggling all these business endeavours are exhausting enough, but throw into the mix the role of mother and home-maker, and you’ve got a recipe for some very long days. “I have two wonderful little boys who are my world. Nigel and I had them when we were really young so we basically grew up with our boys. We do everything together: If we’re practising in the band room, the boys are with us. If we take a business trip, I make it a mini vacation for the kids as well.”
Running her own business gives her the flexibility to be there for her sons. “On any given day you’ll find me volunteering at their school, or at a music lesson or soccer game. They are two very cool kids and I love hanging out with them and they with me. They actually sat through my lip line colour testing and helped me choose from over 300 samples!” On top of all this, Bissambhar-Sankar is completing her degree in accounting at Florida Atlantic University. While the whirlwind in which she exists can sometimes take a big toll, there are two things that keep her going: the support of her family, and a passion for what she does. “There are days that feel never-ending, but when I hit my pillow at night I can smile because I know it is all worth it. If you do something you love, it’s never really is work and that’s how I feel about my music and my business.”
MORE INFO
The Nillilicious line is available at Strylista's on High Street San Fernando and Doniella's in Valpark, or at www.nillilicious.com.
