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She named the store Kokoro, a 
Japanese word meaning heart and 
spirit. “It turns out Kokoro was actu­
ally a very apt name for the purpose 
that it served for me,” she says. “I al­
ways say it’s true retail therapy.”
Years later, Salaskar found her 
own unexpected path into retail. “I 
always wanted to open my own busi­
ness,” she says. “I was a real estate 
broker in New York City, but once 
we moved here, I used to wear a lot 
of my tunics and Indo-Western out­
fits and people would ask me where 
I got them.”
Many had been made for her in 
India. Salaskar saw an opportunity to 
bring the simpler, everyday styles she 
loved to local customers. “I thought, 
why don’t I open a small business 
where I can actually sell some of 
these things?” she says.
Her family in India helped turn 
the idea into something real. Her 
mother, brother and sister-in-law 
encouraged her from the beginning, 
helping manage customized tunic 
orders, production and shipping 
from India. At home, her husband, 
Manoj, was equally involved.
Kimaya Kama began at street 
fairs. Eventually, she found a small 
space in South Orange and opened 
her first store in late 2011. Two years 
later, everything changed.
In 2013, at 34, Salaskar was di­
agnosed with breast cancer. “I went 
through all my treatments while I ran 
the store,” she says. “Having the store 
was a blessing because I would liter­
ally go for chemo and then to work.”
Some customers began sharing 
their own experiences with cancer. 
“I had people coming in who I had 
never known had double mastecto­
mies or who had been through can­
cer,” she says. “There was so much 
positive energy and support from 
my customers.”
The relationships became recipro­
cal. “Sometimes I was a shoulder for 
someone else to cry on and some­
times I was the one crying on some­
body else’s shoulder,” Salaskar says.
Over time, Salaskar began imag­
ining Kimaya Kama as more than a 
clothing boutique. “I was trying to 
expand into home goods besides just 
the tunics,” she says. In 2015, she 
found the space to bring that vision 
to life in Maplewood, where Kimaya 
Kama would remain for the next 11 
years.
Her merchandise expanded to 
include jewelry, accessories, gifts, 
home goods, specialty foods and an 
Salaskar and husband Manoj. He has been involved with the store from the start.
Kimaya Salaskar stocks a collection of 
her favorite items. 
Rachael Benjamin, 
LCSW
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