A woman has to be economically active and independent not just for the sake of her family. Financial independence will give her a new dimension of personal freedom. Women have achieved many heights in their professional lives and have been major players in the economic activity of our nation. Although education provides women the skills to attain this financial independence, the prevalence of economic opportunities is crucial for her to make this seamless transition. In this aspect, rural women face much more significant challenges than urban women in India. The widening of economy, exposure to newer markets and hence the avenues towards financial independence are much more broader for the urban women. In this context, creating ‘culture-centric’ economic activities will allow rural women to leverage their existing traditional skills and develop new proficiencies that translate these skills into economic freedom. Traditional cultural practices and skills which are normally neglected in our education system might prove to be an effective tool in empowerment of women. Pottery, basket weaving, carpentry, traditional weaving and embroidery which are community specific, have added artistic colour to various communities. The talent which has been passed on from generation to generation, can be given new dimension to empower the communities in general and women in particular. The women self-help groups have been working in this enterprise and have gained appreciable success. The socio-economic empowerment of these women could only be achieved through these small groups, as the collective voice give them voice to face diverse personal as well as communal challenges. An example of such a situation can be seen in the Toda women of Nilgiri district, Tamil Nadu. They have used their traditional embroidery skills to find their economic independence. This traditional activity has gained a new dimension in the current context of tribal development and tourism in the Nilgiri belt. Their unique traditional way of dressing up, which includes a special way of wearing heavily embroidered shawls has been showcased and attracted tourists across the world. This accompanied by their distinctive singing and vocal culture has given the Toda women a new way of utilizing their traditional skills to attain economic freedom in the new economy of tourism. The present paper tries to explore the significant challenges, the Toda women face brought by the new economy.