Women Making Impact - India: Recent Episodes
Shrey Gupta
In this episode of Women Making Impact 99456798 #@, Shrey Gupta sits down with Smitha Krishnamurthy, Vice President – People Strategy for APAC at Nasdaq. Smitha shares her inspiring journey from a local HR leader to a regional strategist, highlighting how asking for opportunities shaped her career growth.
The conversation dives deep into the power of cultural intelligence, empathy in leadership, and the importance of building inclusive workplaces. Smitha shares real-world examples of how employee networks and a sense of belonging can create lasting impact across global teams.
Tune in to learn how the role of HR is evolving—from being transactional to becoming a strategic driver of change—and why agile methodologies, identity, and belonging are now at the heart of the modern workplace.
Mahua Bisht is the CEO of 1to1help, India's leading Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider. Recently, 1to1help released the second edition of their "State of Emotional Wellbeing Report 2024," which offers compelling insights into workplace mental health trends. The report is based on data from over 83,000 counseling sessions, 12,000 elective screenings, and 42,000 assessments conducted between January and November 2024.
Gemeria Hair offers supreme quality, authentic virgin Indian hair sourced exclusively from the temples of South India. We provide a wide assortment of hair products, ranging from ready-to-wear clip-ins, ponytails, and wigs to professional keratin bonded tips, machine wefts, and more. Our hair comes in various colors, lengths, and textures to suit every woman's unique style and preference.
Chetna, a seasoned Communication Strategist and Business & Leadership Coach, is renowned for her expertise in establishing processes and crafting strategic plans tailored to meet diverse business needs. With a wealth of experience spanning 15 years, she excels in building both systems and people to successfully accomplish business objectives
An accomplished academic, Chetna emerged as a university topper in Mass Media and further honed her skills as an Executive Alumna of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Throughout her career, she has made significant contributions across various segments such as branding, research, advertising, design, communication, PR, and media.
As the Co-founder of Morning Star Brandcom, Chetna actively shapes the company's vision and leads day- to-day operations, playing a pivotal role in its success. With a focus on new business development and talent acquisition, Chetna complements her partner Gaurav's expertise in media relations and client servicing. This dynamic partnership ensures a well-balanced approach, allowing the firm to stay true to its purpose.
In her previous role, she led a strategic business unit for a prominent real estate company, overseeing sales, marketing, and corporate communication, with a focus on driving revenue and profitability.
Esha Bhambri is the Co-Founder of House of Fett, a luxury women's wear brand based in Noida, India. Established in 2018, House of Fett offers a diverse range of apparel, including dresses, gowns, co-ord sets, jumpsuits, and tunics, catering to various occasions such as resort wear, party wear, and casual wear. The brand has expanded significantly, with multiple retail outlets across India
Dr. Prachi Benara, IVF Specialist, Birla Fertility and IVF is a highly skilled fertility specialist with over 16 years of experience in reproductive medicine. A Gold Medalist in MBBS, she has expertise in advanced laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgeries, successfully addressing complex conditions such as endometriosis, recurrent miscarriage, menstrual disorders, and uterine anomalies, including uterine septum.
With a rich global experience, Dr. Benara has performed over 3,500 IVF cycles and is recognized for her specialized care in fertility preservation, including egg freezing and cancer fertility preservation. She has worked with renowned institutions like Max Hospital, Artemis Hospital, and Oxford University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in the UK, further enhancing her proficiency in the field.
Dr. Benara is also an active member of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) and has earned certifications in IUI and IVF from the British Fertility Society, UK, adding to her credentials in providing cutting-edge fertility treatments.
Dr. Sruthi Balammagary is a highly motivated IT professional with over 13 years of experience in software development, full-stack engineering, and functional programming. With a Ph.D. in Information Technology, my research focused on addressing IT failures in autonomous cars using machine learning and cybersecurity strategies. Currently, I work as a Senior Software Engineer at Comcast, where I develop scalable, high-performance applications using Java, Scala, and modern frameworks. I have a deep passion for AI, particularly in applying machine learning and deep learning to cybersecurity, anomaly detection, and intelligent automation. My expertise spans backend and frontend development, system design, and agile methodologies. Constantly driven by innovation, I am eager to explore AI-driven solutions that enhance software development, security, and autonomous systems.
Pragya Priyali is the visionary Founder and Creative Director of Unrush, a slow fashion brand born out of her deep commitment to craftsmanship. With over 16 years of experience in the fashion industry, her journey began as a design graduate from NIFT Delhi and evolved into leadership roles in content, social, and brand marketing at India's top fashion e-commerce platforms, including Myntra.
Unrush was founded in response to the "fast everything" culture dominating fashion. It is Pragya’s mission to inspire conscious consumption and embrace timeless elegance. Her personal aesthetic—minimalist, thoughtful, and subtle—drives the brand’s identity. Unrush’s designs are crafted for the modern, mature working woman who seeks both style and substance in her wardrobe.
Pragya ensures that Unrush not only stands out for its fashion but also for its values. The brand operates as a women-only organization, committed to hiring and partnering with women-led enterprises. Fabrics are ethically sourced from India, and garments are produced in facilities that meet international standards for worker safety and hygiene. In keeping with the slow fashion philosophy, each style is produced in small batches, avoiding wastage and ensuring the uniqueness of every piece.
Radhika Koolwal is the co-founder of Urban Space, and her role in transforming her husband Rohit Agarwal’s family textile business from Ahmedabad into one of India’s leading home decor brands.
Urban Space is a great example of how a fresh perspective can take a traditional business to new heights. Rohit, with his deep expertise in textiles and production, laid the foundation for the brand’s quality-first approach. However, it was Radhika’s entry into the business that truly propelled its growth in the digital age.
When Radhika joined the business in 2018, she had no prior experience in textiles or home decor. Yet, she brought her background in engineering and marketing to the table, setting up Urban Space’s e-commerce and digital strategies from scratch. Her ability to quickly adapt and understand market trends has been instrumental in Urban Space’s growth, particularly in the highly competitive online market. Today, the brand boasts INR 6 crore in monthly sales and a strong digital presence, which she has helped build from the ground up.
As the cofounder of ZFunds, Vidhi is on a mission to make purchase of financial products and decision making Sahi (Right) and Asaan (Easy) in the 500 bottom districts of India. ZFunds enables distribution of financial products through ZFunds experts in the highly underserved segment of tier-2,3 and 4 markets.
After spending 8 years working with a couple of unicorns like Zomato and Policybazaar and early stage startups like Healthkart, Vidhi knows what truly drives customers to a product— it’s not dishing out the top trends of the week. It’s how well you connect and understand the users you’re trying to help and communicate your understanding back to them.
Vidhi was a part of the initial investments team at Paisabazaar and had a pivotal role in taking the platform to number 2 in the country. Now ZFunds, engages 1000+ micro-entrepreneursthat advise 60000+ customers from 600 cities and towns.
Vidhi holds a B.tech from Delhi College of Engineering.
Mira Swarup is an accomplished Impact Communication Coach & Speaker based in India. Her military upbringing taught the value of social presence and etiquettes, which sprung into a desire to use effective communication to have a significant impact on people's lives, and was the driving force behind the decision to become an entrepreneur. She gained a grasp of manners and social graces throughout her military cultivation, which sparked interest in the meaning and purpose of life as well.
Ms. Swarup felt a persistent motivation towards accomplishing her potential despite having a successful decade-long career with renowned healthcare organisations. She found her true calling in helping people present themselves more compellingly as a result of her quest. Her passion to support professionals in being heard, seen, and followed has been impactful and has led to solidifying her stronghold as a thought leader in the communication coaching industry – both private and corporate coaching programmes. Her current area of expertise is dismantling ineffective communication patterns and assisting people in improving their interactions with others, both personally and professionally.
Shalu's journey as a startup founder coincided with the birth of her daughter a couple of years after founding Growthpal, presenting a unique set of challenges. Even as her daughter needed time and staying up through the night and juggling the demands of a rapidly growing company leading a team of 50 people, which requires much more time compared to a job, it has been an emotional battle. The clash between the demands of late-night U.S. sales and the desire to be present for her daughter has been a battle of managing the emotional toll and the importance of effective time management.
The emotional battle of not always being seen as the top priority by her daughter while also striving for success in the competitive startup landscape highlights the sacrifices and challenges that many women face in similar situations.After graduating from IIT Kharagpur, she did her MBA from IIM Lucknow, and worked at Mindtickle and Deloitte and was consulting with 20 startups across various verticals including healthcare. During her college days as well, she tried her hand at starting up and learned multiple things even though they did not work out and believes that they helped her get here. Shalu's journey into entrepreneurship wasn't without its challenges. As a co-founder of Growthpal, she faced the unique challenge of navigating a startup landscape with no set guideposts unlike when one is in a job where one is told what to do. Wearing multiple hats, from team building to strategic decision-making, she embraced the chaos and considers it a valuable opportunity for personal growth.
Anika is a highly motivated, result driven digital marketing professional with over 12 year’s experience in developing digital strategy and digital brand management. She is a team leader with the ability to foster progress and manage attrition in a fast paced environment.
Over the years she has had the opportunity to build and drive teams that led digital transformation and customer experience initiatives for some of the top brands in India, through social media marketing, online brand experience, performance marketing, content marketing, brand management, customer experience, mobile marketing, influencer marketing and media planning.
Aditi is the Co-Founder and CEO of EcoRatings, a Gen Ai solution for the sustainability domain. She is also an angel investor, mentor and advisor to female founded start-ups in early stage ventures.
Previously, she was the sole woman founder of a hospitality business that has successfully scaled in a new segment and merged with a strategic partner. Having previously worked with marquee names such as Barings Private Equity, McKinsey & Company, etc. she have extensive hands-on experience with investment, scaling and startups.
Komal Rukhana, the Co-founder at Mint and Milk PR, in her 15 year career tenure, has catered to over 100+ clients including notable brands in the fashion, beauty, home decor, hospitality, wellness and luxury industries.
Known for her creative skills and being adept at crafting compelling narratives for the right audience, Komal has excelled at building strong media relations in an ever-evolving media and social media landscape.
What keeps her going is being able to build brands that she truly believes in and help them realise their goals.
Over the years, upon sharing a great camaraderie, values, working styles and a common passion to work for brands as a strategic partner, during the corporate stints with Janvi Mankani she decided to further pursue her passion and started Mint and Milk PR at the age of 25 in 2017. Mint and Milk PR is a boutique PR agency offering services such as strategic media relations, influencer marketing and brand strategy. 'Mint' stands for Minty Fresh ideas and 'Milk' represents honesty and transparency.
Shalu's journey as a startup founder coincided with the birth of her daughter a couple of years after founding Growthpal, presenting a unique set of challenges. Even as her daughter needed time and staying up through the night and juggling the demands of a rapidly growing company leading a team of 50 people, which requires much more time compared to a job, it has been an emotional battle. The clash between the demands of late-night U.S. sales and the desire to be present for her daughter has been a battle of managing the emotional toll and the importance of effective time management. The emotional battle of not always being seen as the top priority by her daughter while also striving for success in the competitive startup landscape highlights the sacrifices and challenges that many women face in similar situations.After graduating from IIT Kharagpur, she did her MBA from IIM Lucknow, and worked at Mindtickle and Deloitte and was consulting with 20 startups across various verticals including healthcare.
During her college days as well, she tried her hand at starting up and learned multiple things even though they did not work out and believes that they helped her get here. Shalu's journey into entrepreneurship wasn't without its challenges. As a co-founder of Growthpal, she faced the unique challenge of navigating a startup landscape with no set guideposts unlike when one is in a job where one is told what to do. Wearing multiple hats, from team building to strategic decision-making, she embraced the chaos and considers it a valuable opportunity for personal growth.
Amit Chhabra heads health insurance in Policybazaar.com. Under his leadership, Policybazaar.com witnessed significant growth for health insurance vertical to emerge as a one-stop destination for online health insurance needs. In this period, he also developed, Health-CRM team to create best-in-class service solutions for the company. He is also responsible for acquiring new partnerships to further expand the health insurance business.
A Post Graduate in Business Management from IIM, Indore and a Bachelor in Business Studies from Delhi University, Amit brings with him more than a decade of experience.
Disha Shah, a second-generation jeweler, grew up immersed in the world of jewelry in Hong Kong, spending countless hours at her father's natural diamond business. Despite her upbringing surrounded by the craftsmanship and beauty of jewelry making, Disha initially pursued a different path, working in corporate roles. She never felt drawn to follow in her family's footsteps, especially as she found traditional jewelry designs to be too bulky and old-fashioned for her taste.
Kitchens are smaller now, and families are looking for variety in meals. Simultaneously, there is a growing awareness among the working population about healthy choices, including natural and preservative-free options. Additionally, the drawbacks of ordering food in are evident – it can be expensive, less hygienic, and might compromise the freshness and authenticity of the taste.
In response to these challenges, a culinary revolution has unfolded with the rise of ready-to-cook products. This trend provides a practical middle ground for families striving to balance the demands of work and home life without compromising the quality of their meals. Innovative brands in this segment are addressing these concerns by offering preservative-free and authentic-tasting RTC products. This not only caters to the desire for convenient cooking but also allows households to indulge in guilt-free home-cooked meals.
Aanchal Saini is a seasoned entrepreneur with a wealth of Knowledge and experience in the rental fashion industry.
Flyrobe understands this need and has come up with an innovative solution. They offer a wide range of designer outfits, including ethnic wear, premium apparel, and accessories, all available for rent at a reasonable price. The brand has the biggest flagship store in New Delhi and franchise stores in 10+ prominent Indian cities. The company operates on an Omnichannel model with an online presence in 30+ cities via its website. The Flyrobe website’s monthly traffic is 2.5L users with 6L page views in a month. Flyrobe in its 8 years of existence has saved 4.8 Billion litres of water, turned 2L+ buyers into renters, and delayed Millions of outfits from ending up in the landfills.
Devyani Pawar, a distinguished social entrepreneur and accomplished graduate from the London School of Economics (LSE), founded DP House of Media at 22. As a dynamic young entrepreneur, she has reshaped design and marketing landscapes with a unique vision, boasting over 500 successful projects across India, the UK, and Europe. Notably, Devyani made history as the sole female representative at the World Economic Forum at the age of 22. Beyond business, she serves as the Curator and Impact Officer at Global Shapers Community Baramati Hub, actively promoting sustainability. Devyani also launched ForSapio, an innovative platform breaking conventional boundaries, and empowering individuals and businesses globally. Her multifaceted profile includes hosting the "Unfiltered Conversations" podcast and receiving the Times Power Women West India Award in 2020 for her excellence.
Chaitali brings over a decade of experience spanning technical product development, manufacturing optimization, and quality assurance for medical devices. Her last stint was with a major pharma corporation making non-invasive diagnostic tools. This exposed her first-hand to how better design and efficiency could improve patient access. Chaitali channeled those learnings into co-founding EzeRx in 2018 - with the vision to make reliable, non-invasive screening reach every household.
Under Chaitali’s leadership, EzeRx delivered on that vision within months of inception. Their pioneering product EzeCheck, the world’s first non-invasive anemia screener, secured crucial verifications from ICMR- RMRCB and CDSCO. She considers that her biggest achievement yet - a testament to her meticulous approach and appetite for translating dreams into reality.
Mansi Poddar, an esteemed psychologist and psychotherapist in India, brings over 13 years of invaluable experience to her practice. She operates a private practice and is the dedicated founder of the Heal.Grow.Thrive Foundation, a global psychotherapy private practice headquartered in Kolkata. At the helm of the Foundation, Mansi's unique blend of professional expertise and personal empathy, drawn from her own experiences with C-PTSD, eating disorders, and suicidal ideation, allows her to guide clients through trauma therapy using somatic and narrative approaches.
Mansi'seducational journey is anchored by a foundational Master's degree in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness from New York University, establishing a solid expertise in her field. This foundation is further enriched by various specialized certifications, training, and apprenticeships, including Queer Affirmative Counseling Practices, Narrative Therapy, the Gottman Method of Marital Therapy, Anger Management, Trauma Focused Psychotherapy, Psychospiritual Psychotherapy, Compassionate Inquiry, and a Professional Training Program in Compassionate Inquiry.
TekUncorked is a start-up company that is making waves across the globe with its award winning LVIoT platform that makes the electricity distribution grid Smart, Connected and Predictive to eliminate grid losses and help decarbonize the grid. LVIoT forecasts and mitigates risks and threats to the electricity distribution network, provides accurate insights about power quality, load management, demand forecasts and grid losses and health of the grid assets. Tekuncorked is one of the early providers of integrated and comprehensive solutions for eliminating grid losses and reducing the carbon footprint of the electricity distribution grid. There are other providers however, their solutions are fragmented and partial. The company is committed to reducing grid losses and enhancing efficiencies, safety and protection in the grid operations through the AI, IoT-based LVIoT platform. In India, trillions of units of electricity are generated. However, a significant percentage of it never reaches the intended customers, owing to losses in distribution.
Neha Juneja is a seasoned entrepreneur having previously co-founded & scaled Greenway - India’s largest clean cooking enterprise with ops across rural India and sub-Saharan Africa where she developed multiple credit partnerships focused on women as borrowers. Her work has been featured across the covers of Forbes, Businessworld etc.
Sunanda Tai Pawar is a philanthropist and women's rights activist who has dedicated over two decades to various initiatives to uplift rural communities. By providing multiple employment and earning opportunities, she stands as a beacon of hope to smaller communities in rural India. Along with her remarkable work done for the community, her heartfelt engagement with the younger generation and addressing critical topics like good touch and bad touch amongst children, period hygiene, and offering invaluable guidance against sexual harassment is admirable. Through her various initiatives, she seeks to empower many with resources and opportunities to better life and future.
GloWorld Energy, an ISO 9000:2015 certified start-up, is engaged in designing, manufacturing and selling Solar lamps. We are working at reducing carbon footprint and bringing world class solar powered light to millions living in electricity deficit / off-grid regions. Solar lamps are transformative products which enhance livelihood, reduce health risk, and increase productivity & safety of rural and urban consumers.
GloWorld Energy is a Made in India start-up in the renewable energy space. We manufacture high quality off grid solar lighting solutions, across various price segments.
In three years, over 125,000 rural households on the fringe of the economy, have been illuminated across 7 states.
As Co-Founder and Director, my responsibilities are not limited to :
· Business development with MFIs, Corporates and Institutions
· Set up and management of distribution channels
· Managing the marketing collateral and digital assets for awareness generation
· Oversee the manufacturing scale up for the operation
Share India provides access to formal credit to the unserved sections of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. This not only enables women in Rural areas to start their own business but also instills confidence and self respect in them.The company currently operates with 46 branches spread across 4 states UP Bihar Haryana and Punjab.
VOBBLE is on a mission - to engage young kids meaningfully and imaginatively. It provides a unique, immersive audio platform/device for kids to listen content from around the world! We are in the course of building Vobble and encourage parents and others who feel this need strongly to join the cause!
Harshita Khanna was appointed as the Chief People Officer at Home Credit India in June 2021. She has been with Home Credit India since 2015 and was heading the compensation & benefits and Rewards vertical. In her current role, she is responsible for people strategy including talent acquisition and management, employee lifecycle management, HR digitalization, Reward Strategy, performance management and internal communication.
A seasoned HR professional, Harshita brings 15 years of rich experience, driving various facets of Performance Excellence in India and International markets across diverse industries. Her core expertise includes Rewards and Performance management, Merger & Acquisition, Succession Planning, Business Partnering, Talent Management and development and HR digitalization.
Prior to Home Credit, Harshita has worked with large multinational corporations such as Computer Science Corporation, Schneider Electric India Pvt Ltd and AON Hewitt, serving diverse national and international HR mandates for these brands.
Harshita has many certifications and accolades to her credit namely Certified AON Hewitt Performance Management expert, Certified CIPD Organizational Design Professional, MEHR’S-Certified OD Analyst, MEHR's Certified Psychometric Test Professional. She has been awarded ‘Knowledge Builder of the Year Award - 2010’ in AON Hewitt, nominated as TCC Strategic Lead for Asia-Pacific Region by Regional and Global Leaders in AON Hewitt, nominated for CIPD training on successful completion of European Regulatory In-Home Credit India Finance Pvt to name a few.
Harshita holds a Master’s degree in Operational Research and has completed Bachelors in Mathematics Honors from University of Delhi. She is an avid traveler and is determined to build on her strengths of being analytical & self-driven, continuously drive for accurate process improvement with a focus on training and knowledge-sharing.
Poorvi is a techie at heart. Having spent several years helping organizations optimize their operations and scale up their business, data analytics and technology comes naturally to her. She was born and brought up in Agra, and from her young age, had a keen interest in technology, software and start-ups. She completed her B. Tech in Information Technology from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, and went ahead to work in Kronos Solutions as Software Developer for 2+ years where she gained hands-on experience in Big Data, Hadoop development and Workforce Management. Armed with her industry experience, she went on to do MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi in 2018.
Anjali Raghuvanshi is the Chief People Officer for Randstad India. An MBA from ICFAI Business School Hyderabad, she also has flair for finance, having earned an honors in finance from the reputed Banaras Hindu University. Anjali is a Strategic Business Partner who facilitates, supports and challenges business leaders along with anticipating the much-needed focus and change in workplace dynamics with the ever-evolving business landscape. Her experience ranges from industries like IT, Automotive to Consulting. Anjali is an expert in driving strategic resource optimization and rationalization initiatives through the organization. She has been instrumental in business continuity through developing a talent management framework which brings in all elements of talent together - like attract, retain, develop and engage. She has also been instrumental in driving a performance based culture in the organization and moving away from traditional performance management approach. She is passionate about protecting our environment for the future generations and an inclusive workplace. She also associates with campuses and B-schools in shaping the young minds and building talent for tomorrow.
Yashna Garg is a young and dynamic Indian entrepreneur who has made a name for herself in the business world through her innovative ideas and outcome driven leadership. She iscurrently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Zeon Lifesciences Ltd, a leading nutraceutical company headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Mamta Shekhawat, a dynamic and accomplished professional, having years of expertise in education industry and human resources. With a strong academic foundation in Political Science, holding a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree, Mamta further honed her skills with an MBA in Human Resources from the prestigious MAISM College in Jaipur.Mamta Shekhawat's career commenced with prestigious MNCs like ITC & Hitachi on different roles. Additionally, she has worked as vice-president at Cognus Technology, showcasing her entrepreneurial spirit and versatility in both education and tech industries.Her journey didn't stop there. In 2012, driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and a vision to address the unique challenges faced by students seeking international education opportunities, Mamta founded Gradding.com. Mamta recognized the need for a platform that not only guided students towards their study abroad dreams but also provided comprehensive assistance in navigating the intricate application processes. Thus, she conceptualized and established Gradding, a pioneering study abroad platform.Her unique blend of academic excellence, hands-on HR experience, and entrepreneurial acumen has made her a trusted voice in the education industry. With a deep understanding of students' concerns and a passion for bridging the gap between aspirations and reality, Mamta is dedicated to making the study abroad experience accessible and hassle-free for aspiring scholars.Mamta firmly believes in the importance of maintaining equilibrium among her roles as a successful entrepreneur, a loving mother, and a dedicated housewife. Her commitment to these values serves as a source of inspiration, demonstrating that it is indeed possible to excel in one's career, nurture a loving family, and find time for personal passions.
Seasoned and vibrant professional with almost 14 years of experience in the communication sector, Neha Bajaj, founded Scroll Mantra in 2014 with a vision to provide a holistic marketing strategy for upcoming and established brands.
She graduated from Delhi University in Bachelor of Commerce and worked for almost eight years before taking the plunge to start her own agency. She started her career with an MNC in Delhi where she had a long stint of six years. Post that, she moved to head the northern region for a Bangalore based PR agency for two years. She has strong inclination towards achieving operational excellence, media intelligence, and designing strategic campaigns for brands to realize communication objectives. She has worked with many leading brands like PVR, Airbus, AITA, Huawei, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Myntra.com, Jabong.com, Zivame.com, LAP, DKNY, MINISO, Marks & Spencer, Carlton London,ViewSonic, HCL, ASICS, Sunglass Hut, DKNY, Claire’s, Mothercare, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Louis Phillippe,bluO, W for Woman, AHS, Asian Roots Spa, Sportsfit and more.
Her areas of focus include designing creative brand campaigns, team leadership, counselling and mentorship to deliver desired results. In her career of 14 years she has headed marketing communications for national and global companies and has a strong expertise in sectors across Entertainment, Consumer Lifestyle, Legal, Infrastructure, FMCG, Hospitality, F&B, Personalities, Corporate and Finance.
She always strives for new opportunities to achieve a high standard in whatever is undertaken and has successfully built a complete marketing communication agency catering to verticals like Public Relations, Digital Media Marketing, and Social Media Marketing apart from Graphic Designing and Corporate Branding.
Archhana Agarwaal is a woman entrepreneur and educationist, renowned for her passion and dedication to transforming the educational landscape for young learners. As the Founder and CEO of Joonify and Aark Learnings, she has emerged as a leading figure in the field of child development and personalized education.
An all-rounder with a diverse skill set, Archhana possesses a deep-diving and patient nature, coupled with assertiveness and strong leadership qualities. Her self-motivated approach and exceptional managerial skills have been instrumental in driving the success of her ventures.
Archhana holds a postgraduate degree in International Management from the prestigious University of Strathclyde, Scotland. Her academic prowess was evident during her school days when she was a prominent member of the council team for three successive years during her Higher Secondary Education. She has also achieved remarkable milestones in sports, winning State Championships and participating in National-level competitions.
As a mother herself, Archhana strongly believes in the significance of holistic education and experiential learning for today's generation. She understands that these aspects play a vital role in a child's growth and overall development, forming the foundation for crucial life decisions.
During the early phase of her entrepreneurship journey, Archhana, along with her Co-Founder, recognized the challenges faced by parents in selecting the right courses and learning paths for their children. Witnessing the struggle parents experienced due to the abundance of choices and the fear of missing out (FOMO), they realized the need for a revolutionary solution.
Coming from the family of educationists, having been part of running K-12 schools and colleges from more than 2 decades Archhana has closely seen and witnessed the challenges faced by children due to the lack of personalized learning, killing their creativity and uniqueness which could have helped them to be ahead and different in this competitive world. By the time these children reach college level, they are often stressed as the stream that they have chosen is not aligned with their talents and interest, hence the learning process becomes stressful for them and they tend to make wrong career choices and face challenges and failure in their future life.
Driven by the belief that every child possesses unique talents and skills that require identification and nurturing, they conceptualized India's first intelligent assessment platform for children - Joonify. This platform empowers parents to uncover their child's unique strengths, interests, and talents through the Talent Discovery Program. It allows parents to craft personalized learning plans, leading to overall growth and development and inspiring a lifelong journey of joyful learning.
Archhana's vision goes beyond merely providing a platform. She leads a dedicated team of expert counselors who provide guidance and unwavering support to parents throughout their child's learning journey. Their aim is to help parents navigate this crucial phase with confidence, ensuring every child receives a tailor-made education that maximizes their potential.
Archhana invites parents and educators to join her on this transformative journey of unlocking every child's unique potential and creating a better future for them.
Sangeeta, is a digital growth specialist by profession & an entrepreneur from heart. She is the founder, director at digiDZN - a digital marketing agency & digiCART India - an Ecommerce company & one of the top sellers on Amazon & FlipkartAfter completing her MBA (International Marketing) from SIBM, Pune, she worked with Standard Chartered Bank for a brief period & then moved on to start her own venture.She drove a personal finance consulting firm in Mumbai for six years before relocating to Delhi, where life ensued & she was blessed to become a mother. Always the one to believe in the multi-tasking abilities of women, she re-launched herself into business in 2014.She felt there was a gap in the digital space where the consumers are being conned by agencies in the name of deliverables and decided to tap into the previously unventured digital space for Indian SMEs.She started small by catering to clients looking for social media marketing & digital branding. The firm, digiDZN, received an overwhelming response. The next leap was from the Social Media space to search engine marketing & then on to influencer marketing.eCommerce happened in 2018 where again she started small along with her husband - from selling 1 unit in Sep ‘2018 to selling over 22000 units in Jan ‘2023.
Nalini Saligram, Ph.D, is the Founder & CEO of Arogya World, a global health non-profit committed to changing the course of chronic disease. She is an Ashoka Fellow.
Under Nalini’s leadership, Arogya World designs and implements scalable, science-based diabetes prevention programs in Indian schools, workplaces, and the community. As a tireless advocate for NCD prevention, Nalini leverages public-private partnerships and global platforms to improve the world we live in. Arogya World has made three Clinton Global Initiative Commitments (one in 2011, and two in 2013), a United Nations Every Woman Every Child Commitment (2014), was active with MIT’s SOLVE effort (2017), and was named a finalist for the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation (2014). Her story and that of Arogya World has also been highlighted in a book – The Healthcare Gamechangers.In 2021, on her watch, Arogya World was chosen to be part of the Google AI for Social Good effort.
Nalini has lived and worked in many parts of the world, including Merck in Philadelphia, Merial in Atlanta, Glaxo Wellcome in London, and Hill & Knowlton in Hong Kong.
Dr. Monica Kapoor is a Cosmetic and Aesthetic physician in the field of Skin, Hair, and Dental who has immense experience of 16 years in this field. Her passion is to make people look their best with the help of modern medical treatments. She is the Director of the clinic i.e Flawless Cosmetic Club which has its branches in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, France And Germany. Dr. Monica is a pioneer in India for a couple of new cosmetic procedures. Having a degree in Fellowship in Aesthetic Medicine and Antiaging from Germany University (Greifswald) and Oral and Maxillofacial surgery, she practices as an Aesthetic physician, Cosmetic surgeon, Dental specialist, Trichologist and Hair transplant specialist in Andheri West Mumbai. Dr. Monica Kapoor is proud to have patients from high profile professional like Bollywood actors, models, entertainers, singers, comedians, television personalities and also people from other parts of the world like France, Germany USA, UK, Canada, Africa & UAE to name the few. Apart from practicing Doctor she even shares her knowledge with other doctors in the form of imparting lectures in this field and is attached to Institute of Laser and Aesthetic Medicine wherein she has traveled in different parts of the world for the medical conference for the same. You can book an instant appointment with Dr. Monica Kapoor on Timesmed.com.
Mugdha Pradhan CEO & Founder of iThrive, TedX speaker, Healer & Spiritual Coach
In 2017 despite having a Master's in Nutrition she struggled with her own personal health issues, learning the nuances of Functional Medicine transformed her health- from losing 37 kg's to reversing an autoimmune condition, healed herself.
She moved from Canada to introduce Functional Nutrition for the first time in India through iThrive - Healing & Beyond 2019. Her vision is to create healthier, happier, lifestyle disease-free communities across the world every single day.
With her expertise in Functional Nutrition, her ability to build strong teams and beautiful cultures, and her passion for scientific research and evidence-based work, iThrive has raised two rounds of funding so far.
Anushree is an entrepreneur helping brands with Strategy led Influencer marketing campaigns by bridging the gap between brands and influencers through her agency, SocialTAG.
Working in the creator economy space for 2+ years, she has experience in delivering stellar influencer campaigns from onboarding influencers to creatively directing influencer campaigns and ensuring a smooth journey of the influencer-brand relation.
In this episode of Women Making Impact, we spoke with Meraj Farheen Ansari, Ph.D., MBA, an challenging, committed, and goal-oriented security engineer, technologist, and IT strategist. She has been serving as a reviewer in multiple journals, published various articles in emerging technology field such as AI in Cybersecurity, healthcare, education and many more.
Below are some talking points which Meraj answers:
- How important is cybersecurity awareness in today's world.
- Benefits of using AI in Cybersecurity
- What are some concerns about using AI in cybersecurity?
- Why cybersecurity is more important now than ever.
Gunjan Goel is a Director in Goel Ganga Developments. Goel Ganga Developments is one of the most trusted real estate developer in Pune. It is also a multi-faceted business conglomerate with business ventures across myriad sectors like education, logistics and energy. We are known for our time-tested commitment to details, innovation, reliability and value. Be it any sector we deal in; a customer-first approach is the crux of our business operations.
Malvika is the COO at LadiesWhoLead, a members-only platform empowering, engaging, and enabling leaders to grow. Malvika is passionate about diversity, and would like to see more leaders, who are women, gather influence and affluence, and positively impact important decisions shaping our economy, society, industries, and policies. She started her journey with Aabha & Ladies Who Lead as a Strategy advisor in Oct 2020.
An alumni of MICA, she began her career as an Analyst with the Leadership Council at CEB (now Gartner) and contributed to several disruptive tools & studies solving for organizational & leadership effectiveness. After CEB, she embraced her passion for entrepreneurship & started Ikinaki - a social commerce app for beauty and wellness shoppers, and built a community of 30,000 shoppers on the app. Since then she has consulted multiple brands on finding the path from 0 to 1, and taking business from idea to revenue stage. From 2020-2022, she headed the consumer marketing function at Sunstone, as the Edtech company scaled 10x from series A to C.
The Vivekalaya Group of Institutions is a world class educational centre that promotes inclusivity, equality and empowerment, and was founded by the incomparable, Mrs. Prema Rao, the mother of the current Director Academics and Administration, Ms. Aishwarya Rao. Aishwarya is also the Managing Trustee of the PremAnand Foundation.
She’s from Coimbatore and had a comprehensive and progressive upbringing surrounded around inclusivity and innovation in modern Indian educational practices. She has a Bachelor’s in Business Management and a Master’s in Education from University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Shreya Sharma is an ambitious young entrepreneur and tedx speaker, who studied International relations at the prestigious Harvard university, Cambridge, Massachusetts and recently graduated from the Cardiff University, Wales with llb hons.
Although Ms. Sharma came from an affluent family of the city, she always knew that she was to make her own mark in this competitive world. After a lot of pondering,introspection and hard work she successfully built a legal aggregator platform, Rest The Case, that strives to make legal information and services approachable to the nation.By the people and for the people, Rest the case offers infinite opportunities for lawyers and clients and makes the law accessible to everyone in just a few clicks. In just the first year of its inception her company Rest The Case has been recognised as the best startup of 2021 by India 500. This award winning company Is an online platform that gives a smart and convenient edge to bridge the gap between the courts and the people. From starting her own company at the age of 21 to being a recipient of India 5000 women achiever award 2021 she left no stone unturned to rise triumphant.
Tanya started her entrepreneurship journey in her 20s and founded her venture SolarArise, a solar power producer with projects in several Indian states (SolarArise has recently been acquired by Thomas Llyod Energy Impact Trust which is listed on the London Stock Exchange). She has worked with the Indian Government (Ministry of Renewable Energy) to shape India’s renewable energy policy. Over the years,she has been recognized as Asia’s Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy, Woman of the Year in Solar and was also featured in Business World 40 under 40.
Her goal is to move the world towards carbon neutrality, towards an emission-free lifestyle, and bring more women into this journey. She is also on the board of Milaan, an NGO supporting underprivileged adolescent girls who aspire to excel professionally.She started her career as a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and holds a Bachelor in Technology degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.Tanya speaks effortlessly and with expertise on various topics such as policies, regulation, the renewable energy sector, climate technology and infrastructure, and entrepreneurship, especially in a largely male-dominated energy industry and her role in supporting and empowering girls through Milaan.
Rimjhim Ray is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, author, technologist and digital strategist. She holds the position of Vice-President (Marketing) at MyOperator, a cloud-based omni-channel business communication platform. She has also joined hands with the founders of MyOperator, Ankit and Pratik Jain, to build and launch Heyo Phone, India’s first digital phone line for SMBs. As part of the founding team, Rimjhim is building Heyo into the next gen communication tech for India's start-ups and small businesses to help them deliver customer experience that is at par with MNCs. Thriving in India's techade, Heyo is levelling the playing field for the 65 million SMBs that constitute the economic backbone of Bharat.
Shilpa Mehta, a CA with polio, who has recently been awarded under the Category, ‘CA Special Recognition (for specially-abled members)’ for her exceptional level of professional achievement.
On account of receiving the recognition, and being given the ICAI Award 2022, Ms Mehta has pledged to pay it forward by supporting 100 people with disabilities to pursue their CA in the next 10 years through her foundation, dJED Foundation
Every person has a different background and culture, but to enhance their happiness & of those around them, each one needs to shift their focus from "doing" to "being".
Using her knowledge of NLP #HappinessCoach Farheen helps in reframing perspectives so you can better appreciate what you have while you acquire skills and work towards what you desire. With nearly two decades of experience in HR, teaching and entrepreneurship, Farheen is now actively delivering Workplace Happiness Coaching sessions to foster collaborative thinking to further drive workplace productivity and innovation.
Farheen has been a leading force in Happiness Coaching and helping in-grain a mindset that is positive and stepping towards embracing happiness. Through her activities and interventions, she encourages the participants to look for happiness within. One of her most popular modules is ‘Chasing Smiles’ which has got a tremendous response from both the corporate world and individuals.
She is a trained Statistician, Educator, Happiness & NLP Coach. When not teaching or coaching, she can be found gardening or hiking in the hills!
Minal Anand is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at GuruQ, a unique and integrated digital tutoring platform that promises to bring high quality standards and new age methodologies to the way education is imparted in India. A graduate in Business Administration from the School of Management at Boston University, Minal had worked at companies like Franklin Templeton, Citigroup to gain relevant experience in business planning, fund raising, enterprise design and structuring, and talent management.
She returned to India to join Delhi-based HPL Additives as Manager - Corporate Development. However, the glaring difference between the education sector at home versus overseas drove Minal to explore the ed-tech sector – one of India’s most prolific segments and want to improve it.She had previously taught several under-privileged school students and it is this very experience that armed her with the required knowledge to pursue her idea.Education in our country centers around bookish knowledge and traditional learning that is a disadvantage to students when they compete with international peers.A fresh perspective on education and innovative ways of teachingvia certified,qualified tutors,must be infused into the education sector, to give our students a winning edge.
With Minal at the helm, GuruQ is off to a promising start andbound to make a positive change in the education sector.
Dr. Isha is a Sensory Integration Therapy Certified and Licensed Occupational Therapist with over 13 years experience as a Pediatric Occupational Therapist.Additionally led multidisciplinary teams and set up Therapy and Child Development Centres. Love to play with children, give Parent Training and provide complete transparency in the therapeutic journey of a child. Strongly practising the Secret - Ask ,Believe and Receive
Akanksha Sharma is a young entrepreneur who has dressed her family business lineage with a dash of innovation, all rooted in sound business ethics and technology. As a youthful leader with strong self-belief, she established the unique business of all natural baby products at the young age of 22 years.
With an education in Apparel Industry Management from Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles United States of America, Akanksha continues to approach business through her multidimensional understanding of concepts and ideas.
At the young age of 24 years, this TEDx speaker is already an inspiration to many young women who wish to live and thrive on their own terms. As a person of sound business ethics and leadership, Akanksha is known to be a dynamic risk taker who is humble and determined to make things happen. She remains goal driven but extremely flexible as well. This is one reason for the grand success of her growing business of baby personal care products that goes under the name of CITTA.
As a completely homegrown brand, CITTA epitomizes the clear ethos of conscious business practices, with products that uphold the highest standards of manufacturing practices too. The brand is unique in the ways it is a perfect amalgamation of Indian traditions and new age scientific technology.
Having had travelled and educated abroad, Akanksha brings with her sound business knowledge, qualities of strategizing and inspiring likes of her age. She is known to be a calm team player, an empathetic introspective individual and an intuitive listener. Her mantra of entrepreneurship is deeply inspired from her father’s personal challenges and growth curve as a successful businessman.
As someone who oversees her brand’s growth story, she is carefully involved in the R&D of each product.
Akanksha envisions CITTA to be an Indian household name for skincare products for children. She launched the brand along with her mother, Monisha Sharma (Director of The Lexicon Group & Co-Founder of CITTA) inspired from learnings from old age recipes that work wonders on growing babies and children.
Nishtha was appointed as the Head of Office for Timor-Leste in UN Women, the entity of the United Nations that is dedicated to working towards Gender Equality and Woman's Empowerment in September 2021. She was the former Deputy Country Representative for UN Women in India and served as the Officer in Charge starting January 2018. As the youngest woman to head a country office for UN Women amongst 193 countries, Nishtha Satyam is an unapologetic feminist, a trained economist with a keen interest in applied macroeconomic and fiscal policy. In her long-standing career in the United Nations, she has managed the UN Women Office for a geo-politically diverse group of countries including India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
She has also served as the Private Sector Partnerships Specialist with the Office of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations and UNDP. Prior to her career with the UN, Nishtha worked with leading firms such as KPMG and American Express as an Economist. As a futurist and feminist, she is a loud advocate of the urgency to mainstream women across the marketplace, workplace and community. Nishtha serves on several national and international committees including the national committee to review CEDAW, the advisory board on programming on Artificial Intelligence of Global Policy Insights, the national committee to review Gender Budgeting, amongst many others. As a policy expert to Goverments.
Her interest lies in the intersection of policy, politics and people to foster lasting change for the most marginalized. She is well known columnist with leading dailies in India and is currently working on a book that captures the 25 landmark judgements that changed the course of gender equality in India. Nishtha holds a Master's Degree in International Business from the University of Nottingham, UK and a Bachelors in Economics from Delhi University.
A seasoned entrepreneur, designer, mentor, and mother of two, Khushei Aggarwal is a woman of many hats. Hailing from a small town in Haryana, Khushei is breaking the glass ceiling with her private label manufacturing company, Casa Joya.
Khushei, who juggles multiple duties, is a role model for many women because she has shown her mettle in the face of many obstacles. Women still struggle to make a name for themselves in the business world and hold back because of numerous social constraints and responsibilities. She has skilfully carved out a niche for herself in the fashion world by working with many labels in both the domestic and international markets.
Khushei has the full support of her husband, Himangshu Aggarwal who is playing an equal role in realising her ambition. The duo brings to the company their shared values, trust, and professional acumen. Their familiarity with each other’s work styles, passions, and unique skills fuelled the success of Casa Joya.
Himangshu is an IT professional by training. He left his full-time IT job and took on the responsibility of managing operations in 2014, as Casa Joya started growing significantly. They started the business in 2012, just after getting married.
Khushei has years of management experience in the corporate industry and a teenage passion for apparel design and making. Having managed, created, and launched online fashion brands for both domestic and foreign markets, Khushei has a strong and well-established track record. With extensive experience in retail sales and distribution, Khushei assures profitability by maximising the use of available resources through smart distribution planning. She has excellent communication skills and a strong reputation for motivating teams to achieve corporate objectives.
Shweta Tanwar Mukherjee, With more than 15 years of marketing and brand development expertise with several firms, she has also pursued interests in wellness, travel, fashion, and photography. She has been working actively in the parenting, wellness, and lifestyle fields for the past 4 years.Shweta can be regarded as a Mom , Entrepreneur , Wellness & Beauty Influencer. She started SHVTAS (www.shvtas.com), a digital platform where she elaborately discusses her choices, interests, and lifestyle as an influencer.She has produced visual content, collaborated with more than 300 Brands on experience sharing on social media, and served as the spokesperson for more than ten major Brands. Shweta is utilising her best of her expertise in order to solve the issues that new mothers could be experiencing. Shweta, who primarily focused on affinity marketing and brand development, is making a career out of her enthusiasm for fashion and concept photography.
Nehal Mota, Co-founder of Finnovate, is a successful financial services professional with close to 20 years of industry experience under her belt. She is known among her peers for her passion, non conformist attitude & resilience.
She is a B.Com, MBA and has completed her MDP from IIM Indore.
Finnovate is India’s first end-to-end ecosystem to manage your financial life and reach Life Goals. In a way of explanation- Finnovate is a wealth tech platform which offers unbiased holistic personalised financial planning and investment solutions to working professionals, high-networth individuals and families.
· Finnovate is a Financial Fitness Management company that uses a hybrid tech+advisory model to enable busy professionals reach their financial fitness goals by focussing on all aspects of their financial health - Budgeting, Risk and Investments
· Our expertise lies in helping clients build a holistic perspective of their financial fitness needs throughout their lifetime, and thereafter partnering with them to
· Build their personal FinnFit plan that would help them achieve their lifelong financial fitness.
· Choose research backed investments across diverse asset classes, suited to their personalised plan
· Implement the plan seamlessly using our dedicated service team
· Monitor Portfolio real time on FinnTrak
· Review and Rebalance portfolio based on changing life circumstances & dynamic Financial Markets and therefore
· Funding: A round of approximately $1 million in 2022.
Ayushi is the Founder of Media Corridors which is India’s fastest growing Public Relations and Digital Marketing Consultancy Company, helping brands to build an exemplary image in front of their target audience through engaging brand stories. Making brands build a genuine connect with the right audience through the art of modern conversation is Media Corridors’ motto. Just how you’re passionate about your business, we’re passionate about taking your business to “Super accelerated” mode. Media Corridors, headquartered in New Delhi, has worked with over 80+ clients across 10+ countries.They pay great attention to the changes happening across the globe and are cognizant of the latest news and updates in both macro and micro economic scenarios. We leave no stone unturned to ensure that our clients stay ahead of their competition and their brand shines brighter than anyone in their industry.Their industry research team comprises experts from Top B-schools and their job is to make sure that our clients are in complete sync with what’s happening in their, their customers’ and their suppliers’ industries. This ensures them in telling customized stories to their industry peers, competition, customers, suppliers and internal stakeholders through a mix of Print, television, radio, web and social media.
Dr. Meraj Farheen Ansari is an Artificial Intelligence researcher and work as a Cybersecurity Engineer for a Fortune 500 financial firm in Chicago, IL. She received her Ph.D. in Information Technology, Master of Information Security Systems from University of the Cumberlands, and MBA (Management in Information Systems – Human Resource Management) from Concordia University Mequon, WI. Her research interests include emerging technologies such as Cybersecurity, AI, big data, blockchain, Internet of things and cloud computing.
FLEDGE INSTITUTE OF AVIATION & HOSPITALITY, a unit of MYFLEDGE PRIVATE LIMITED is known as the fastest-growing brand in the field of Vocational Training in India, spanning industries such as Aviation and Hospitality. Over the years it has consequently transformed countless careers and has inspired many to join us in our efforts to provide vocational skills to the youth of India.
The brand FLEDGE is known for its core expertise in Cabin Crew Training and Commercial Pilot License programs with International & National Accreditations and process-based Operations and Placement support. FLEDGE INSTITUTE OF AVIATION & HOSPITALITY offers well researched and customized courses that help one prepare for the Industry. FLEDGE offers courses in the field of Aviation and Hospitality, Pilot Training, Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, Hotel Management and Event Management.
The Courses offered by the Fledge institute are industry recognized and job-oriented as it covers not only communication skills and personality development but also in-depth knowledge about aircraft and flight safety protocols.
A seasoned entrepreneur with varied interests, Monica Dhawan dons many hats. Monica, has a deep affiliation with delivering unique concepts and stories. Starting at an early age several notable projects have emerged under her entrepreneurial prowess . It is noteworthy to mentions that she carved space on the J&K bank board at the age of 42. She currently serves as the CEO and Executive Director of Fusion Corporate Solutions, which was founded in 1999 and has become a premier service provider for complete design and display solutions for exhibitions, events, and employee engagement programmes.As a leading woman entrepreneur, Monica combines her corporate experience with over two decades of work in experiential marketing, conceptualising the biggest scale conventions and events and moving to adjacencies like capacity building, project/program management, digital transformations, and IEC, building brands and campaigns within government that India has ever seen. She has designed bespoke intellectual properties for customers throughout her career. She is progressive and a forward-thinker. She has been honing her skills in data science and data analytics, creating opportunities and converting opportunities into strength for organizations.
ReachIvy.com was founded when Vibha, while applying for overseas education, was barraged with a range of choices and faced a fundamental lack of access to high-quality expert guidance. This is what drove Vibha towards building a consultancy that believes in providing students with intensive guidance on studying abroad and careers. With her team of experts who have first-hand knowledge of what it means to earn a degree from a top school and lead initiatives at prestigious companies/organizations, Vibha aims to guide students with an end-to-end consultation about all things higher education.
With a vision to bring cutting-edge consulting expertise to family-managed businesses in India, Swetha quit her job in McKinsey & Company, where she advised CEOs of conglomerates such as Mahindra Finance, SBI, Ashok Leyland on growth strategies and productivity enhancement and setup PKC Consulting. Over the years, the company provides growth advisory and consulting services to help companies multiple growth. Today, PKC works with over 1500 clients globally including renowned names such as Microsoft, Sundaram Composites, Renault Nissan with a team of 100+ professionals of CAs and MBAs.
Their work is focused on 3 broad areas – process consulting & automation, audit & tax advisory. They were the subject-matter experts to the Government of India's Income Tax Portal revamped in 2021. Swetha has won several National Awards including the Entrepreneur of the Year, National Fund Raising Award from HDFC Bank. She was recognized by the Governor of Tamil Nadu as the Inspiring Business Woman of the Year. Swetha is not only a partner of PKC, but also an investor and member of the Chennai Angels, an angel investment group in India.
Furthermore, she has delivered keynote addresses at numerous forums, including Madras Chamber of Commerce and Retailers Association of India. Swetha’s key objective lies in empowering women in making their own choices.
CCO & Assistant Director at Rizzle, has always strived to make organizations successful by translating her knowledge of business practices and experiences into pragmatic solutions with lasting impact.
She has a mixture of skills. And some of her key strengths include project management, content marketing, product management, social media strategy, community building, start-up consultation, legal liaisoning & public speaking. She has also been a consultant to start-ups since 2016.
She has an engineering graduate with a business administration and a law degree. Yeah, she is the jack of all trades the storybooks warned you about!
Amandeep Kaur is the Founder of Phoenix TalentX Branding, India’s Out of the Bulb Digital employer branding agency with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to several start-ups, and products companies from India, Middle East, UK, and the US. She has 20+ years of experience in identifying talent insights, strategically manoeuvring and impacting employer brands in India. She specializes in developing brand’s India entry strategy and crafting employer value propositions (EVP) that resonate with Indian and global talent.
Over the years, her company has developed its own unique model of crafting EVP which channelises the exponential potential of a company’s Business Brand X Employer Brand X Employees Personal Brands.
Mira Jhala a serial entrepreneur and over the last decade has been involved in various food startups. Mira is the Founder CEO of FroGo - she aims to build India's first and largest online frozen food product and distribution company. Mira is an Operating Partner at ScaleX Partners and in this role she provides strategic and operational expertise to startups in the food and FMCG domain.
Prior to ScaleX, she founded Purist, a new age contract food manufacturing company, which was acquired by Cure.Fit - India's largest health and fitness tech company. While at Cure.Fit, Mira was heading the food business for the North and East regions.
Founded and ran Purist, a new-age contract food manufacturing company, now part of Eat.Fit. A serial entrepreneur, previously co-founded and ran two successful food businesses: The Urban Kitchen (2009), and Curry-in-a-Hurry (2013).
Have been recognized by NDTV Food as one of six inspiring women food entrepreneurs across India.
Samara Mahindra is the Founder and CEO of CARER – India’s first personalised integrative oncology company that provides customised nutrition-based cancer therapies for cancer patients. Her rule to success lies in understanding the goal, agreeing on the outcome, and committing to make it happen.
Samara decided to launch CARER because of her personal experience of losing her mother to cancer. During the cancer care journey of her mother, Samara realized that cancer care is not just focused on medication alone, but the recovery journey that involves changes in lifestyle also plays a crucial role that could drastically improve quality of life. Thus, aiming to address this gap in cancer care, Samara started CARER.
Varna Bhat had grown up gearing to crack the UPSC examinations and become an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer. Today, she is a serial entrepreneur having founded three companies in less than a decade of a sensational entrepreneurial journey. Her most recent venture is an alco-beverage company called Blisswater Industries which makes India’s newest alcoholic drink brand Rahasya Vodka.
Are you a foodie but you don't have much time to cook? You want tasty recipes that are easy and fast, correct? Then check out @eatswithmish on Instagram. Created by Mish Sen, a US-based Indian blogger and content creator Mish likes to show her audience how to cook Indian food with easy steps and in a healthy way. In this podcast Mish talks about how she simplifies her recipes for busy people, how her recipes are very easy for beginner cooks to make, and how you can lose weight even while eating the dishes she features. We also asked her about her 2021 plans and she discloses something special!
A little more about Mish: Mish began her Instagram page during the COVID-19 2020 lockdown to help people cook Indian food easily at home as all restaurants were closed and to guide beginner cooks to be successful in the kitchen and enjoy home-cooked meals.
Jen mccarty is a leading voice who brings together twin flames, divine relationships, the great awakening and the law of attraction.
Widely known as the Healer of the Healers - Jen McCarty has earned the most astonishing place in everyone’s heart. Jen assists people with addiction recovery as well as helping many people heal their core wounds on a soul level. Jen had a massive life-changing Kundalini Awakening when she was just 21, in the Himalayas in Northern India chanting the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” from that moment on she passed over the threshold from third dimension Consciousness to stabilising in fifth Dimensional Consciousness.
She is an awakened spiritual teacher, deeply and highly skilled at facilitating a space for all those who she comes into contact with. Jen has been working quite specifically with the Twin Flame Community and her skills are vast and varied – she can help bring in greater levels of abundance, greater health, well-being, weight-loss and also assists people to align with their souls highest density.
Widely known as the Healer of the Healers - Jen McCarty has earned the most astonishing place in everyone’s heart. Jen assists people with addiction recovery as well as helping many people heal their core wounds on a soul level. Jen had a massive life-changing Kundalini Awakening when she was just 21, in the Himalayas in Northern India chanting the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” from that moment on she passed over the threshold from third dimension Consciousness to stabilising in fifth Dimensional Consciousness.
She is an awakened spiritual teacher, deeply and highly skilled at facilitating a space for all those who she comes into contact with. Jen has been working quite specifically with the Twin Flame Community and her skills are vast and varied – she can help bring in greater levels of abundance, greater health, well-being, weight-loss and also assists people to align with their souls highest density.
Devina Kaur is a creative entrepreneur, researcher, inspirational speaker, radio host and producer of the 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐘 show with Devina Kaur and founder of the Sexy Brilliant™ Global Revolution. She is a published author as well as the creator of The Sexy Brilliant™ Academy of online personal development courses, including: The Power of Being Single, The Heart Break Process, How to Make Money Your New BFF, and the unique Sexy Brilliant™ Empowerment cards. She has also developed her signature, life-changing K.A.U.R.™ Process, which teaches empowerment through self-knowledge, self-love, and radical self-acceptance.
Devina was named a Top 25 Canadian Immigrant of the Year in 2019 and is the winner of a REX Karamveer Award as a “Champion of Change.” Undoubtedly a humanitarian and philanthropist, she has volunteered most recently in India, Rwanda, and Guatemala.
Devina's 1st book titled Too Fat Too Loud Too Ambitious is a spiritual, self-help workbook available in all major bookstores across the globe. All your purchases, and donations help support our non profit foundation to raise human consciousness.
Devina Kaur is a creative entrepreneur, researcher, inspirational speaker, radio host and producer of the 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐘 show with Devina Kaur and founder of the Sexy Brilliant™ Global Revolution. She is a published author as well as the creator of The Sexy Brilliant™ Academy of online personal development courses, including: The Power of Being Single, The Heart Break Process, How to Make Money Your New BFF, and the unique Sexy Brilliant™ Empowerment cards. She has also developed her signature, life-changing K.A.U.R.™ Process, which teaches empowerment through self-knowledge, self-love, and radical self-acceptance.
Devina was named a Top 25 Canadian Immigrant of the Year in 2019 and is the winner of a REX Karamveer Award as a “Champion of Change.” Undoubtedly a humanitarian and philanthropist, she has volunteered most recently in India, Rwanda, and Guatemala.
Devina's 1st book titled Too Fat Too Loud Too Ambitious is a spiritual, self-help workbook available in all major bookstores across the globe. All your purchases, and donations help support our non profit foundation to raise human consciousness.
Shruti Aggarwal is the co-founder of StashFin, an app-based digital lending venture started by a team of former financial service professionals, dedicated to disrupting traditional lending in India.
A graduate from Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, Shruti pursued Chartered Accountancy and Masters from the prestigious Columbia University in New York. From being a young team leader to launching global initiatives, Shruti’s professional journey is nothing short of inspiring. As an accomplished financial expert, she has led strategies for top banks and spearheaded her family business, apart from launching two successful startups. With immense love for numbers, Shruti started her professional journey with PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been contributing to the finance industry for close to two decades now.
Founded in 2016, the team at Stashfin is an eclectic mix of professionals who have worked with reputed firms in Banking and Financial Services such as Bank of America, Merill Lynch, Citi, Deloitte, Kabbage etc. in India and USA.
Vrushali is the Head of HR & Customer Care at Vistaprint India.
She has over 19+ years of experience in Strategic HR, Coaching, Leadership development, Employee Engagement and Organisational Capability Enhancement . Experience in setting up HR function in a start-up.
Khushboo has completed her education in Engineering and worked with an IT firm for 2 years. She was rejected her maternal leave that's the reason she took a break from her previous organisation. After a year, she started her own advertising agency Zero gravity Communications which has completed successful 6 years.
About Zero Gravity Communication
Started in the year 2014, an idea in mind, fire in the heart and creativity in our hands, we embarked on the journey with thoughts evolving and our strength increasing every year. Today, we are proud to be a full-service advertising agency. With our four pillars of Zero Gravity Communications – Strategy, Branding, Advertising and Digital, we are making whispers in this chaos. Soon we wish to make the noise in the Ad world to stop the chaos for a minute to watch the idea people have done.
The company has acquired a client base and leading brands since its inception. Brands include Astral Pipes & Adhesives, Arvind Ltd, Goyal & Co., MyByk, NEI, KP Sanghvi etc. Mainly focused around SMEs, National Brands from Gujarat, promoting Startups, they started with small but now works with some of the best brands to Gujarat in across more than 15 industry verticals.
Sonia’s story is similar to all home bakers, who is a mother of a boy, who happened to be my reason to be in the world of Baking.
AnyBodyCanBake is a trusted learning platform that serves a worldwide community of food entrepreneurs. Sonia helps people take action towards achieving their goals by providing best-in-class educational content and training experience.
Swapna More is a successful serial entrepreneur, a realtor, a restaurateur, a teacher, wife of a Defense Officer, and a mother of two kids, one son, and one daughter. She is the State Chairperson, Maharashtra of Confederation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CIMSME), and Director of Global Council for the Promotion of International Trade (GCPIT). She is bestowed with the National Leadership Award 2020 as the Best Community Leader.
KAGAAY “India’s First Technology-Driven Gamified Realty Sales Enablement Platform”. While most of the platforms in the Real Estate space are Discovery Platforms, the KAGAAY app is the first dedicated ‘SALES’ enablement platform addressing the most important need of the sector – SALES. KAGAAY's purpose is to provide technology-based online solutions for the real estate industry.
The mission is to provide all end to end services in the Real Estate Industry. To bring all Quality Housing Projects across the globe at affordable pricing for the citizens across the World using the technology platform. And, vision is to bring automation and transparency in the Real Estate Industry.
Jessica earned her graduation degree in Communication from Singapore and did her masters in Fashion Marketing and Management from London School Of Fashion. While doing her Masters, she was also working at a PR firm in London and earning hands-on experience in the international market which can clearly be seen in her drive today and the way she deals with her international clients and the fact that she has already established her name in the International Market. After completing her Masters and coming back to Delhi; for almost 2 years she worked in a 9-5 job in a PR firm but that wasn’t satisfactory enough for her. She had too much vision and creativity stored in her that she wanted to tap at; that a simple 9-5 job didn’t cut it for her. She took that risk of risking that job security to try something of her own and it led to the birth of Jessica’s brainchild: Stanley Communications.
Manmeet is the Founder of Diginetic which is a digital marketing agency which specialises in web development. She also has an experience of 7 years working in the Rotaract and holds an advanced diploma in the Japanese language.
She also believes that in today's time, it is extremely simple to create a business out of scarce resources and is enabling the culture of Solopreneurship with the help of her recently launched course on WordPress Mastery.
The dynamic Ms Yogita Tulsiani is armed with a Master’s in Business Administration from ISB, Hyderabad. The versatile businessperson has more than a decade of experience in Business Development and Consultancy across various industries in the UK, USA, Europe and APAC. Her repertoire includes an illustrious clientele in the Financial Services, Telecom, Retail, Information Technology and Learning industries like Genpact Headstrong and HP. The current role of Director in IXCEED has been a culmination of various roles in her career. Global expansions and exponential revenue growth have been the trajectory that Ms Tulsiani has followed. She has been instrumental in starting new lines of business. The stint at IXCEED has already proven her mettle in initiating growth patterns.
IXCEED has been functioning as one of the leading end-to-end recruitment solutions in the UK for the last few years. Under the able leadership of Director Ms Yogita Tulsiani, it has become operational in Noida for the last year or so. The Noida facility has proliferated with seat strength of over a hundred.
Anindita has 14 years of professional experience in Public Relations & Marketing, Anindita comes with a deep understanding of the dynamic media and communication landscape in India. Through her successful stint with reputed PR agencies like Genesis Burson & Marsteller, Percept Profile and Mileage Communications etc., she has worked closely with clients across verticals, such as, travel, hospitality, F&B, Fashion & Lifestyle, Entertainment, IT and corporate. Her clients portfolio includes California Tourism Board, Flanders, Hong Kong Tourism Board, New Zealand Tourism Board, Brand USA, GHM Hotel, Venetian Macao, Deltin Corp, Aspri Spirit, Broadcast Asia, Schwarzkopf, Indola, BlackBerry, Giovani, Dwarkadas Chandumal Jewelers, Zee Entertainment, FLY mobile, Education New Zealand, Essel World & water Kingdom etc. Her Key skills include strategizing public relations, marketing and advertisement campaign with a methodical and disciplined approach.
Amrita Chowdhury is Co-Founder of Gaia, where she leads the Business & Marketing functions. Gaia provides solutions for Smart Sites and Smart Cities, blending IOT, ICT, AI/ML, and analytics to provide insights. Gaia has worked with cities and enterprises on digital transformation via new age technologies and digital workflow automation to impact business processes and operations.
Amrita is a business strategist, engineer & innovator. She brings a unique understanding of business growth, technology, digital spaces and brands. Previously, Amrita served as President & CEO of DY Works (Future Group); Country Head South Asia for Harlequin; and Associate Director, Education for Harvard Business School for South Asia. Amrita provided Board assessments and strategy consulting with AT Kearney in USA and Oppeus in Australia for clients in the mining, tech, automotive, professional services, and government sectors. She started her journey in innovation and product development with Applied Materials in California.
Bushra Ismail is the Founder of Confiance Communications which is one of the fastest-growing communications consultancies in Delhi. She has recently been awarded 'CEO of the Year' at exchange4media's Women Achievers Awards, which is amongst the most prestigious platforms in the communications industry.
She has also been named amongst the #50MostInfluentialWomenLeaders in Communications in the latest issue of Impact Magazine.
Pratibha Singh - Pratibha Singh completed her Masters in Biotechnology and Entrepreneurship from University of Manchester. Today Pratibha is VP of Brand Management at Sublime Life and her expertise include brand relationships, platform integration, content strategy and brand development. In her free time, Pratibha likes to read and has a keen interest in spirituality and yoga.
Sama Patkar - Sama Patkar completed her MBA from Zicklin School of Business, New York. She currently Heads Marketing at Sublime Life and her expertise include data analytics, marketing and social media strategy and digital growth implementation. A dogmom, she enjoys spending time with her pup and enjoys reading & dancing in her free time.
Sublime Life is India's first clean beauty curator. Clean beauty has not just shaped up to a buzzword or a trend anymore, but it's a movement that demands clear, transparent labelling of beauty products. They are often confused with 'natural' or 'organic' products while they may not be all-natural and preservative-free. Clean Beauty at its core is simply synonymous with non-toxic beauty. The revolution advocates for the consumer's right to know what ingredients go into the products that they consume so they can make healthy and informed purchasing decisions. These toxins may seem harmless right now, but can severely damage the skin in the long term by upsetting its natural balance, disrupting hormone levels and causing cancer.
Keeping that in mind, Sublime Life curates the cleanest and safest beauty brands from across the world. The brand resonates with clean, conscious, and cruelty-free beauty to lead a movement of building a more sustainable, more transparent, and safer ecosystem for all stakeholders. The online destination has over 35 brands from India and overseas that have ingredients that are free from toxins, are cruelty-free and eco-friendly. Sublime Life curated products that are effective, and toxin-free.
Additionally, Sublime Life is built on pillars of sustainability and strives to make a positive impact on the environment with the little things they do. Some of their initiatives include plastic-free shipping, seed paper where they encourage each of their customers to plant a seed paper that they send out with each delivery and #SublimeRecycles Programme.
Suravi Patnaik is a digital entrepreneur with a proven professional track record of 6 years started her entrepreneurial journey at the age of 17. She is currently based in New Zealand and has a zeal for movies, travelling, and reading.
Abinash Sahoo, a finance guy with over five years of industry experience and a CA in the making is the third Co-Founder at Sponsa.
Sponsa is India's first Social Referral and Endorsement platform. This network referral platform offers cash incentives to consumers for referring local products and services while allowing businesses to grow sustainably with consumer-powered referrals in a decentralized platform. With 1000s of users already associating with Sponsa including celebrity stylist Anuj Lalwani and Amjad Habib, this social referral platform is helping businesses on zero marketing budget thrive in the pandemic with consumer collaborations. The underlying vision at Sponsa is to provide a space that meets the diverse needs and expectations of the seller as well as the buyer.
Bhavna Juneja is the Co-Founder of Mpowered, a firm that specialises in Asset-Management Solutions, to help property owners convert their real estate liabilities into chic profit-generating ventures for long term use. The brand envisions converting unutilized real estate into A-grade facilities by investing in them and implementing its various models on the properties as per the fitment in terms of size, location, infrastructure, among other things.
She is an IT Thought Leader with expertise in Strategy, Technology Assessment, Risk Assessment & Management and Best Practices. She comes with more than 2 decades of value creation to her credit, having been a serial entrepreneur across sectors as diverse as Interiors, Manufacturing, Life Science, CPG and Technology, which she built and grew single-handedly. Speaking of her stint in the interiors’ space, Bhavna has had an extremely successful career in designing, before she set foot in the IT sector. During her professional years spent in India, Bhavna successfully designed some of the plushest hotel projects, as well as commercial and residential properties in the country, which she took on as passion projects given her acumen for design thinking and her refined sense of aesthetics.
Sangeeta (San) Banerjee is the Co-Founder & CEO of ADDA – Your Apartment SuperApp for complete management of Apartment complexes. She is responsible for managing the overall strategy, product positioning, customer outreach, and business expansion of the company.
San holds an MBA degree in Finance & Decision Sciences from Louisiana State University, USA, and a BE in Electrical & Electronics from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai. She commenced her professional career as a System Analyst with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) where she was in charge of jobs churning billions of dollars every day for BFSI clients. She has also worked with SAP as a Consultant, where she earned certification in: SAP ERP Financials, SAP Business Intelligence 7.0, and SAP End2End Solution Operations (RunSAP Methodology). Apart from TCS and SAP, San has also worked with Capgemini, US as a Senior Consultant.
Khushboo has completed her education in Engineering and worked with an IT firm for 2 years. She was rejected her maternal leave that's the reason she took a break from her previous organisation. After a year, she started her own advertising agency Zero gravity Communications which has completed successful 6 years.
About Zero Gravity Communication
Started in the year 2014, an idea in mind, fire in the heart and creativity in our hands, we embarked on the journey with thoughts evolving and our strength increasing every year. Today, we are proud to be a full-service advertising agency. With our four pillars of Zero Gravity Communications – Strategy, Branding, Advertising and Digital, we are making whispers in this chaos. Soon we wish to make the noise in the Ad world to stop the chaos for a minute to watch the idea people have done.
The company has acquired a client base and leading brands since its inception. Brands include Astral Pipes & Adhesives, Arvind Ltd, Goyal & Co., MyByk, NEI, KP Sanghvi etc. Mainly focused around SMEs, National Brands from Gujarat, promoting Startups, they started with small but now works with some of the best brands to Gujarat in across more than 15 industry verticals.
In this episode, we talk about the evolution of marketing along with what it takes to build a successful brand.
Khushboo has completed her education in Engineering and worked with an IT firm for 2 years. She was rejected her maternal leave that's the reason she took a break from her previous organisation. After a year, she started her own advertising agency Zero gravity Communications which has completed a successful 6 years.
About Zero Gravity Communication
Started in the year 2014, an idea in mind, fire in the heart and creativity in our hands, we embarked on the journey with thoughts evolving and our strength increasing every year. Today, we are proud to be a full-service advertising agency. With our four pillars of Zero Gravity Communications – Strategy, Branding, Advertising and Digital, we are making whispers in this chaos. Soon we wish to make the noise in the Ad world to stop the chaos for a minute to watch the idea people have done.
The company has acquired a client base and leading brands since its inception. Brands include Astral Pipes & Adhesives, Arvind Ltd, Goyal & Co., MyByk, NEI, KP Sanghvi etc. Mainly focused around SMEs, National Brands from Gujarat, promoting Startups, they started with small but now works with some of the best brands to Gujarat in across more than 15 industry verticals.
Meghna Suryakumar is the Founder & CEO of Crediwatch a ‘Data Insights-as-a-service’ company that provides lenders, businesses with actionable credit intelligence on private entities they need to improve trust and increase their lending and trading activity. Crediwatch does this with no human intervention by deploying the latest practical AI and technology tools that provide the most reliable comprehensive real-time inputs.
Prior to Crediwatch, Meghna practised Law and had her own international law practice based in New York City and India. She is an alumnus of Columbia Law School and has a Certificate of Entrepreneurship from Stanford Business School. Her prior experience of finding alternate sources of data to find risk information on M&A targets led her to start Crediwatch.
At Crediwatch, she seeks to realise her passion for solving large complex problems by using technologies such as AI, ML & NLP to provide a dynamic “Trust Score” on the unbanked SME, an untapped opportunity worth billions of dollars.
Roma Priya is the Founder of Burgeon Law. She advises and mentors early-stage & high-growth startups, incubators, accelerators, angel investors, family offices, and venture capital/private equity funds. Roma has worked with over 500 clients over the course of her almost decade-long career. With her distinctive viewpoint and strong market understanding, she has guided businesses on complex legal issues ranging from formation to exit.
Burgeon Law is a new-age boutique law firm that provides a one-stop legal shop to emerging companies, incubators, accelerators, angel investors, family offices and venture capital/ private equity funds. Started in 2015 by an entrepreneurial lawyer, mentor, and startup enthusiast Roma Priya, it has facilitated 400+ deals since inception and has successfully represented leading Indian and international clients from multiple jurisdictions such as Singapore, USA, the UK, Mauritius, China, and Japan. Some of the top clients successfully served by Burgeon Law are INDwealth, AngelList, VH Capital, Bulbul, GrowX, Innerchef, Money 91, Akiva, GSF Accelerator, Mamaearth, BiryaniByKilo, Suman Munjal Family Office, Niki.ai.
Richa Jaggi is an Award winning digital marketing and strategy specialist with 8+ years of rich cross-category and sector experience with leading global brands. Richa is a leading marketer and social media influencer.
Kamakshi and Vishala Khurana have started The Sound Space India. It is an endeavor started by Kamakshi and Vishala Khurana.They create modules, workshops, and interactive sessions with music at the core. Through The Sound Space, the duo is paving the way for innovation in traditional Indian music the world over. Crafted with a holistic approach the programs are designed for both adults and children and focused not only on teaching Indian music in a deconstructed form but also on other aspects like distressing, achieving inner balances, and healing. The Sound Space works extensively with NGOs and care centres apart from schools, corporates and are pioneers in the field of music wellness.
In this episode, we do a live chakra balancing session which is facilitated by Mr. Harendra Khurana who is an expert in this field. This session balances the energy levels in the chakras in our body leading to a more harmonious life.
The Sound Space can be contacted via their Instagram page or their website.
Kamakshi and Vishala Khurana are sisters who are professionally trained in Indian classical music. They create modules, workshops and interactive sessions with music at the core. Through The Sound Space, the duo are paving the way for innovation in traditional Indian music the world over. Crafted with a holistic approach the programs are designed for both adults and children and focused not only on teaching Indian music in a deconstructed form but also on other aspects like distressing, achieving inner balances and healing. The Sound Space works extensively with NGOs and care centres apart from schools, corporates and are pioneers in the field of music wellness.
In this episode, we talk about how music is a form of energy and is capable of transforming a person's life. We also discuss about the finder aspects of music therapy and how it has been recorded in our scriptures that specific rags can help in different health conditions.
The Sound Space can be contacted via their Instagram Page or their website.
Jerlyn Dsilva aka Radiowali Ladki. Jerlyn has a background of working with Radio as a radio jockey, then made a move to branding, PR, Social Media marketing and currently working as a Marketing Communication Executive at a 5 star property in Pune.
She is also a blogger and has been blogging about food and lifestyle for past 6 years now.
After finishing her business studies from Australia, Swati was all determined to join her family business in Kolkata. Hailing from an affluent Marwari family of Kolkata, Swati soon realized that she is not fit for this number crunching role in the metal trade.
She was more of a people’s person and found her calling in spreading happiness and positivity. She started painting and enrolled her for sessions in Pranic healing. Also, she started helping her Grand Father in running his NGO in Benaras. While Pranic Healing helped Swati find a way to express her inner soul through her paintings, her work at NGO fuelled her determination to help poor and needy and bring smiles on their faces.
Swati’s Art Brand, Soulink, took shape in 2007 and she held her first exhibition in the year 2008. Her artworks are mostly painted in bright and colorful hues which instantly radiate happiness and peace. Through her art she believes in spreading an aura of peace, happiness and most importantly positivity.
Sahiba has provided her services to schools like Carmel Convent & Pathways, Colleges of GGSIPU & Khalsa College of DU. With working professionals being the epicentre through Ameriprise Financial, Max Life Insurance, LawSikho, Rotary Club Aurangabad, Bar Association Jalna District amongst many more.
Having a wide spectrum of training deliverables, she has empowered over 600 individuals.
A Delhiite, Vidhi Puri has always been a social butterfly, she’s known for hosting some of the best parties right from her high school. She studied literature from Jesus & Mary College. For post-graduation, she chose Gender Studies as a specialisation from Ambedkar University.
She is a young visionary who founded The Cocktail Story, India’s first Cocktail Community in 2018. Quite popular for its unique and themed exclusive trade and consumer experiences across India. A platform especially built for the bar fraternity and spirit enthusiasts in India, The Cocktail Story has been capturing the bar scenario all across the nation, promoting the cocktail culture, highlighting bartenders and updates of local and international brands. It is the only community with a robust digital presence now turned into the biggest online portal for acknowledging the work of Indian bartenders, exclusive bar reviews, home bartending tips from the Indian masters and exciting cocktail recipes.
In a professional career spanning over 30 years, Pearl has been associated with the not-for-profit, educational and corporate sectors.
A post-graduate from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Pearl’s early job profiles ensured a close association with urban and rural development issues, inclusive development and as faculty at TISS before joining the corporate sector. Mid-career, she completed the Executive Education course in CSR from the Harvard Business School in 2008.
Pearl joined Ambuja in 2000 and ever since has been at the helm of nurturing the Ambuja Cement Foundation that has expanded from a fledging team to 400 development professionals it now boasts of today, with a pan-India presence active in 22 locations across 11 states.
CashKaro’s Co-Founder, Swati Bhargava is a global entrepreneur, who along with Co-Founder, Rohan Bhargava has turned around India’s online shopping landscape. Together they ensure users save money in the form of Cashback whenever they shop online and make CashKaro a household name. A Fortune 40Under40 entrepreneur, Swati is an exemplary leader with over 15 years of work experience. At CashKaro she spearheads departments like Investor Relations, Marketing & PR, Strategic Partnerships & Alliances among other domains.
CashKaro is India's Largest Cashback & Coupons Site which has nearly 4Mn registered users. It is also India’s #1 savings destination as here users can get the best Cashback deals over discounts from 1,500+ online retailers. One can shop for categories such as electronics, fashion, large appliances, medicines, grocery, etc., via CashKaro and earn extra Cashback on every purchase. CashKaro is the only VC funded Cashback site in India and has so far raised a total of $4.6Mn led by Kalaari Capital and Mr Ratan Tata.
Chinu’s journey started at the age of 15 when her first job ever was to work as a Door to Door salesperson. This was one of the most challenging jobs but at that age, this was the best that she could get. Along the way she faced many challenges and for many years she did multiple part-time jobs thus working almost 16 hours every day.
She recounts that during her struggle period having 3 meals a day was a luxury for her and today she is the owner of Fashion Jewellery Brand RUBANS. It’s been a dream journey but success has not come easy, she says. Rubans in some ways is the result of her 15 years of hardships and never give up attitude. From her childhood, she was always fascinated by the prospect of being an entrepreneur. She began her entrepreneurial journey with Fonte Corporate Solutions – a company that specialised in corporate merchandising. Within 5 years of operations, Fonte Corporate Solutions soon became the gifting partner of choice for UB, Sab Miller, ITC, Set Max, ESPN etc.
Currently, Chinu is focusing on expanding her product portfolio and entering the Luxury Fashion Jewellery market. The brand is also planning to get into strategic partnerships with other national brands to increase the reach.
Paramita is a certified Sports Nutritionist cum Entrepreneur with diverse experience in the field of Nutrition Science. She has been practising yoga for more than 15 years now as a disciple of Sadhguru. Prior to focusing on nutrition science, she was a business analyst for nearly 12 years. Shifting from corporate to being a certified nutritionist and fitness coach, the journey was emotional and transformational from being an individual to becoming a mother.
Struggling from post-pregnancy weight gain yet was inspired as a mother which led her to be full- time nutritionist specializing in macro and micronutrient diets. There are many roles that she has had to don ever since she put on the shoes of becoming a certified nutritionist and fitness coach. Most of her clients have come to her and expressed the pressure of the societal glare that has pushed them to take a look at their bodies. She consults each of her clients personally with mental support and guides them to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Manjula Nairr is the Founder of A Buzz Company and has an overall 25 years of experience in the field of Marketing and Communications.
Manjula is an active startup mentor for over 400 startups and has interviewed around 800 startups. She is an official mentor for ‘Google Startup Weekend’ and official sponsor for ‘Google Startup Grind’ & ‘Founder Institute’. She founded A Buzz Company to help Start-Ups and SMEs with effective Marketing & Communication strategies and a Go-To-Market Approach.
Mrs Mansi Gupta is a woman with a strong aura to her name, with determination and talent being a few remarkable traits. The co-founder of the lifestyle brand ‘Tjori’ founded in January 2013 in India. She created this brand with the idea of promoting the traditional Indian handicrafts with the touch of modernism to get global recognition. A plan built on the whiteboard in a room of the Wharton university housing has now become a global e-commerce website with ever-expanding future plans.
Isha Bhandari is an International Social Scientist, Chairperson DSB Foundation, India, Global Goodwill Ambassador India, Advisor to National & International Charities, A Campaigner, Speaker, Panelist &Moderator. She has to her credit National and International Campaigns on Women Health. She has voiced many forums in India and abroad at House of Commons and House of Lords, UK and she has also been a TEDx Speaker, Madagascar.
A recipient of Women Leaders in Community Service Award by Indian Council for UN Relations 2019, Inspirational Social Scientist Award2019 under Women Legendary Awards, Exemplary Contribution Award as Social Activist & Self Help Group by MSME Govt of India and Foundation for MSDG’s 2019 &Outstanding Women Health Campaign (Women Health Awards 2019)by ASSOCHAM, Iconic Women Award by Women Economic Forum 2019 and International Women Achievers Award 2012.
Dr Kruti Khemani, a specialist in sports physiotherapy has many accolades to her name having extended this specialisation into her own physiotherapy clinic Continuum. Kruti has completed her Masters in Sports Physiotherapy from the University of Sydney and has been working in the field as an expert for the last 14 years.
In this podcast, we talk about her fascinating journey in physiotherapy from Australia to India and ethos behind Continuum.
Aishwarya Ganji is the Founder and CEO of Mahila Saksham Foundation. A firm believer in education as a driver of social and economic change, Aishwarya has worked towards this cause with pioneering NGOs such as Pratham Education Foundation, Ann Foundation Inc. and AIESEC. A graduate from Mumbai's prestigious Dhirubhai Ambani International School, she holds a Masters Degree in English Literature. With Mahila Saksham, she intends to eradicate opacity in the way CSR in India functions, while also creating awareness and intentional action towards Financial Independence and Employability for all Indian women.
Stuti is an award-winning entrepreneur, young achiever, internationally recognized as an emerging woman leader –founded Crosshairs Communication when she was 23 years old.
She recently foundedWIN - Women Inspiring Network (https://since1700.com/stimulus) that is powering up women with information and builds networks and creates ecosystems for women to thrive lead & create.
In this podcast, I speak with Rashi Menda who is the CEO of IS.U. Rashi has had an illustrious career with E&Y prior to starting up on her own. She discovered that women are bombarded with choices when it comes to online shopping and thus built a technology platform which adjusted itself as per the browsing history of the shopper and only showed relevant options.
Her next big move was launching an independent clothing brand especially suited for Indian Woman in the form of IS.U. IS.U recently launched a clothing line with Radhika Apte.
This interview is with Corolyn. She has been working as a voice-over artist for 5 years now. In this interview, we discuss how patience is a very important thing while starting something new. She also stresses how we only become proficient in any activity only with relentless practice. She started baking as a way to feed healthy food to her kids but her recipes have been very famous with moms across India now.
She has a very active social media presence on Facebook, Youtube and Instagram.
In this podcast, I interview Pragya Batra who graduated from IIT Delhi joined Bain & Company. She worked there for four years and later went on to study at INSEAD for MBA. She again came back to India to join Bain & Company again, got smitten with the startup bug after 2 years and joined InMobi in Bangalore working closely with one of the co founder. Incidentally, her sister was also in Bangalore at that time who specialises in design and they both started Quirksmith (www.quirksmith.com) and Pragya has been growing Quirksmith with her sister since then.