Ashwini Shelke currently resides at her maternal home in Osmanabad who has been juggling between her in-laws’ and parents’ houses due to an alcoholic spouse, since the past six years.

For economic independence, she decided to open a small Pan shop to support her family despite it being a male-dominated ‘untraditional’ livelihood. With a firm decision, she took help from her brother and attended Ekal Mahila Sanghatana- an organisation that supports women to gain economic independence. Now, she follows all the meeting and plans to claim property rights in her in-laws’ property. She is grateful to EMS who encouraged and inspired her to start her entrepreneurship journey and break the stereotypes associated with women.