Early to bed, early to MagicRise: Rakhee Mehta wants you to party at 6 am

Mumbai-based wellness party platform MagicRise organises morning parties in cities across India. The idea is to get together with family and friends, party with a workout, and leave refreshed.

Party is the one word that can get a smile on everyone’s face. But over time, the idea of going out after a tiring day at work, to gorge on fried snacks and alcohol amid loud music, doesn’t seem to hold much appeal. But office- to-home and home-to-office can put you in a rut.

This is where Rakhee Mehta’s MagicRise comes to the rescue. This wellness party platform wants you to party, but in the morning.

MagicRise organises morning parties in cities across India – they offers all the pluses of a night out such as music, dance, fun, and friends, but without the minuses late nights bring such as junk food, alcohol and hangovers.

Mumbai-based Rakhee, 36, is a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple ventures under the ever-evolving umbrella brand IdeaShop. This includes Brook Street, a men’s wear brand, with stores in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai. ChatterBox Unlimited, another offering from IdeaShop, hosts high-end flea markets, of which Princess Beach Fair - held annually at Sea Princess Hotel - is the most popular.

However, it is MagicRise that has caught on fast with urban denizens and is becoming a community, a movement.

The idea for MagicRise came to Rakhee during a six-month sabbatical in 2014 during which she joined a tech circus called Two Bit Circus in LA. She happened to attend a morning party there for the first time.

Rakhee says,

It was very exciting as people were enthusiastically dressed up in animal costumes like unicorns. The ambience was of a typical party, albeit in the morning. This is what led me to infuse wellness and entertainment into a business idea.

The rise and rise of MagicRise

Being a wellness enthusiast, a gymnast, a dancer and person who hates typical gym workouts, Rakhee has created morning parties that are dance and music infused.

At our events, you can feel absolutely detoxed while partying and simply enjoying the energy around. It does not require a commitment of a month unlike other group fitness classes like aerobics or Zumba. It’s as easy as logging on to our website or Bookmyshow, and buying tickets for your family the way you would for a movie or play.

she says.

With interesting permutations like Aquarise, water-based workout parties, and Glowrise, glow-in-the-dark workout parties with glowing props, the events are fun for all age groups, from children to senior citizens.

Rakhee has several new ideas in the works, including magical retreats (wellness-based weekend getaways).

MagicRise was started in February 2017 and currently has a four-member core team, with creative and IT functions outsourced to an external agency. The Mumbai-based wellness party platform has raised their first round of seed funding from a 100 percent plant-based pharma firm called Herbal Millennium.

Each event sees a turnout of around 100 attendees and revenues come in through ticket sales and sponsorships from brands like Jean Claude Beguine, Chado Tea India, VH1 and Radio City. The events are hosted at upscale properties like Taj Hotels and Four Seasons.

Rakhee believes the location “matters a lot”.

“Most recently we were thrilled to conduct one at the NASDAQ entrepreneurial centre in San Francisco,” she says.

Celebrating the sunrise

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Rakhee hails from a Marwari business family. While she was trained in gymnastics, swimming, and Bharatnatyam in her childhood, sports and dance became a part of her work much later. With an MBA with a major in marketing, Rakhee initially enjoyed a successful career in corporate strategy and international marketing with leading business houses like Future Group and Aditya Birla Retail.

Along with her passion for dance, her love for Mumbai also inspired Rakhee while embarking on the MagicRise journey.

Rakhee says, “The city has beautiful sunrises and an amazing coastline that should be celebrated. But then again why just Mumbai, our country has beautiful sunrise vantage points across the country – from castles in Rajasthan to the mist in Bangalore’s parks, they all are breath-taking. The early hours of the morning are scintillating and pure and needs to be seen.”

The idea of Magicirse is to re-imagine nightlife, replacing one’s toxic lifestyle with community dancing, healthy natural foods and juices. An early morning workout in the outdoors releases serotonin, the chemical which regulates mood and happiness, in the brain.

 When you immerse yourself in a group activity like dancing and combine it with vitamin D from the sun you will feel happiness inside out.

Rakhee explains.

Read also: This 51-year-old mother of two is a bodybuilder who will give you serious fitness goals

Workout without monotony

After events in cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai, the team is now eyeing Kolkata, Jaipur and Jammu.

As far as future plans are concerned, Rakhee says, “I want to continue organising MagicRise events in San Francisco since the last one was very well received. Next on the cards is an app for your friendly neighbourhood wellness party and corporate sessions to ease work stress and fatigue. A wellness festival is also on the cards.”

The next morning party is going to be at Bengaluru’s Vivanta by Taj on December 24, followed by events in Pune, Gurgaon and Nashik in January 2018.

It looks like it’s time for party animals to put on their dancing shoes, and party all morning. Wellness partay, anyone?

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