Fehmina Khan (Tina to her friends and associates), is a business graduate with a mission.

With a BS in Business Management from King’s College in London, she is working on multiple ideas to serve up top of the line Pakistani products to the international market. She wants to leverage her knowledge, appreciation, and pride in Pakistan’s merchandise to create a retail business that truly places Pakistan in the top tier with global customers.

Tina has also recently hosted a series of TV shows on the connection between fashion design and the music industry in Pakistan, for ARY Digital's channel “Muzik”. The show explores the connection between Pakistan's music and fashion design industries, and how stylists and designers are working together with musicians to gear up what Tina calls "the image machine."

Read on to learn more about this bright and enterprising woman who is all set to make something out of all that Pakistan has given her, and has to offer for the rest of the world.

I grew up in Lahore, lived and studied there all my life, and then went to London to attend King’s College. I did my BS in Business Management with a Finance major…a long time ago (laughs). Actually, I always wanted to be an interior designer, but at the time there was absolutely no scope for it in Pakistan. But I had always imagined myself as having some sort of a business in Pakistan. So I took my mother’s advice, who thought I should get a degree in something substantial and then pursue my interior design interest afterwards. I chose management because it is a solid field to study, and is a very general and all-encompassing field; it teaches you many different things from marketing to HR to accounting. So I did that and then I moved back to Pakistan. I got married almost immediately and moved to the US with my husband Noman. We lived in Egypt for a while, which I loved. Now we are back and I’m gearing up to launch my own line of business.

I was always on the look out for things that are made in Pakistan that could be improved. I really have a lot to say about local crafts and the abilities of the local people to produce such beautiful things. The only thing is that if you are local you don’t have the exposure, to know what they need and want in the international market. And Pakistan is not a place where international buyers can go to the same extent as, say, India. People who have these designer stores, they will get up and go to India, go in the small streets and shops, pick up what they want, and buy so much of their stuff and place orders for abroad.

Living abroad, I have this exposure that I can take my ideas back and make something out of it to offer to the rest of the world. With that idea I wanted to go into furniture, because that’s my field and I really know the technical side of things. 

Also, it satisfies another one of my criteria, which is to do something that would have me traveling back to Pakistan very frequently.

No, of course not, but it is a major thing. It isn’t just about reaching the international market, but the inward exposure necessary to design and make products that are in line with international trends and standards. There are a lot of other factors as well. For example, the inherent mentality in Pakistan is that they won’t go to the bank to get loans. I mean you can go to a bank in China, or to the government, and say “I want to set up this small textile mill”; they will finance you, they will support you all the way, and eventually you could put up a huge factory and start exporting. But Pakistan doesn’t have that system.

Also, in Pakistan we don’t have a culture of acquiring loans, or getting in debt. Like in Pakistan if you go to a very tiny shop or “khokha” and ask the guy if he’s ever thought of opening other shops or making his current shop bigger, he’ll say “yes, we have thought about it but who wants to get a loan? I am happy the way I am.” Loans are like a burden! They don’t think that getting a loan will help them progress, and make it big and they can eventually pay off that loan. They think it’s a big risk and that “if I get a loan the interest will be so high, how will I pay it off?” That thinking is still very strong.

My plan is to start very small; I don’t want to take loans (laughs)! I just want to keep my investment very low at this time. Basically, what I am doing is making a catalogue and then I will try and sell it to the trade, which is through interior designers. My merchandise will be available to their clients, but only through them. Once I get an order, that’s when the production starts. Also, I will source it through my own channels; I don’t want to go through known sources. I tried that but the thing is that people can be very laid back in Pakistan. I realized that in order to meet my deadlines, I need to be in control of all the aspects of the manufacturing process. So that’s why I have put together a team of my own workers in Pakistan, and I’ll be working through them to get the merchandise produced and delivered here in the US. I am spending a lot of time perfecting the design and the quality through my team. I’m rejecting multiple samples before we get it right. I’m following the design principles and instilling the finesse that exists in really expensive furniture brands.

Maintaining quality is the biggest challenge; I’m doing a lot of research on finishes and learning and applying techniques that are used internationally. We also have to consider the difference in the climate and either use wood that’s properly seasoned or bring in other material like wrought iron. I’m also sticking to modern, clean lines with some infusion of traditional design, which allows me to be flexible and overcome some of the issues that go with furniture that’s only made of wood.

Another big challenge is retaining skilled craftsmen. It’s just the same as in the US, when you hire a contractor to do your floors, they will take off the flooring and disappear for two weeks.  This same problem exists in every industry of Pakistan as well. It may be the work ethic, the perceived indispensability, or maybe just a lack of ambition. It boils down to finding the right people and paying them well enough to retain them, and getting your work done quickly.

It was actually a complete fluke! It really came out of nowhere. I was in Pakistan, just visiting family; I was going to the launch of Hassan Sheheryar’s jewelry collection. He asked me that Fashion TV (FTV) was coming and needed someone to host the red carpet. My first reaction was, “Are you crazy?” because I had never thought of doing such a thing. But he insisted and said all you have to do is ask questions and just make my guests feel like celebrities. That was my briefing, and for some odd reason I said ok, fine, I’ll do it.

Danish Khawaja, who is the VP of Production at FTV and the Muzik, was there. After the show he told me that I looked terrified in the first interview, but by the time I was on my third and fourth interview I was rolling. So he thought I had this thing for showbiz, and asked me to do something for FTV and Muzik, which is one of the most watched channels in Pakistan.

I didn’t want to do a music video, or be a VJ, but I really liked the idea of this show, Fashion Unplugged. I went to Karachi and recorded 18 episodes in 10 days.

The show is about what fashion designers, stylists, and models have done for the music industry. I interviewed a bunch of fashion designers, stylists, models and anyone related to the music industry. Designers like Deepak Perwani, who makes wardrobes for music videos; Tariq Amin, who is a fashion personality but he also has also his own production company for music videos. I asked Tariq Amin questions on how fashion is related to the music industry, and to what extent is music influenced by fashion. Like even five six years ago, music videos in Pakistan would be a bunch of guys wearing black t-shirts and that’s all; very different from what we see today. Tariq Amin would give examples of videos that show that difference, and then we would also play that video. So it was a mix of conversation, punctuated with music, showing how the Pakistani music industry has progressed. This program will start airing in April. Muzik will be coming to the US as it’s a part of the ARY network and so is FTV.

Pakistan has a rocking underground rock scene. It is unbelievable! India has none. India just has a filmi music scene. We have a lot of talent as far as pop and rock are concerned. If you listen to the new rock bands, like Call, Aaroh, and Atif, they are all really good. And now that they have realized that they can’t run around in black t-shirts and long hair, they have also realized that part of being a star is to have a star image, to have a signature look. So they are allowing designers and stylists to style them and give them that branded image look. You see if you are a star, you need to have an agent, someone who is very plugged in, intuitive, proactive and creative; who can form your image and project it out there in the media! That image machine is actually now starting in Pakistan. You now have a lot of agencies, production houses, music channels, and more are coming up. There was just one record label, Sadaf, in the past, but now there are a lot more. Muzik started its own record label and signed up Aaroh and a bunch of other artists as well; obviously they’ll make sure they promote their stars. Sure, the young kid on the street still wants to look like Shahrukh Khan or Saif more than one of our pop/rock artists, but it is slowly changing now. The biggest thing is that there are so many channels and so much competition now that it has to be the “survival of the fittest”. There is only so much advertising that can go around; you also have to be really good at what you do

Yes, I think they do. Of course, some people are more talented than others, but everyone that I met, had everything that it takes to take it forward.  I was really impressed with the team at ARY, the Muzik, and FTV. They are very creative. One thing I picked up in Karachi was that everyone is really excited and charged up about the whole change that is happening. I don’t know if it was me, but I really picked it up in the atmosphere. Everyone that I met was in some way connected to the media and all these people are educated and come from good backgrounds. They really have something to give, something to offer.

Nobody was really shocked. Things are really changing in Pakistan. It’s not like how it used to be, when there was this whole stigma and scandal element involved. Actually in Karachi, I was really surprised to see that every single person who is involved with the network is educated. They are people from good schools and good families. And it’s clean! There is no cheapness as you might think that there is. It’s all very clean and the people are very professional. So basically the reaction was positive. People told me that this is your thing, why don’t you leave DC, and come back and start doing this full time. Of course there were some people, who were making fun of the whole thing; they were saying next you will go into movies (laughs). My family is actually very conservative and normally this kind of thing would be unheard of - totally unmentionable. But for some odd reason, maybe because of how spontaneously it all started, there was no negative reaction at all from anyone, they told me to just stay true to myself. They know that I don’t want myself to be exposed to the extent of being in a music video, which is forever and you have everybody watching it. So they told me that if I have qualms about something, I shouldn’t do it. And I did stay true to myself. VJ-ing and being filmy is not my scene, but interviews and fashion, and anything to do with fashion and design, and being creative is my thing! So that’s what I did, and will do more of it in the future as well. It was a brilliant experience and I would really recommend it to other people as well.

Fashion in Pakistan right now its taking its cue from the international market trends. Like if you follow what is going on in NY, Milan or London, the fashion right now is that everything is in fashion. You can wear 80’s, 70’s or anything, as long as you stick to one look per season, and you wear it with confidence and don’t let your clothes wear you! That’s what it is basically in Pakistan as well. People are wearing a lot of western wear; in the past people in Karachi were always more into western wear, but now it’s the same in Lahore too. The girls in Pakistan are really trendy!

I think it’s the most fun place in the world. The field that I am in, like interior design and now this media business, there is so much more opportunity in Pakistan, especially for Pakistanis with international exposure. They are desperate for people like you and me to come back and do something there. Over here you are just a face, an immigrant in a sea of people; you are actually nobody. It is very difficult to break into the media or into the design industry. But in Pakistan, you can get these opportunities, because there is so much happening in Pakistan and there aren’t enough people yet to take advantage of all those opportunities. I know there are many people here who don’t buy that. They are very negative. Maybe they are right and I am wrong, but it just kills me that they are so negative about anything that comes out of and everything that is going on in Pakistan, politically, economically, and socially. How can you sit hundreds of miles away and criticize when you don’t know what is going on there? But then, there are negative thinkers everywhere! Just because half the people you meet are negative doesn’t mean you lock yourself up in your house and say I can’t do anything and nothing is ever going to work for me. In every society things progress; there are new influences; things change and times change! And people do move with the times, which is exactly what they are doing in Pakistan as well!