Storyboard18 presents inspirational stories of women who continue breaking barriers and setting the precedent for other women marketers, entrepreneurs and communication specialists.
We invited the business and marketing community to step up and share their spotlight with women in their team or any other team, a new group or previous one, from a past work place or the current one. So many people came forward to shed light on the stories and work of exemplary women.
It was heartwarming to see the community come out and share words of praise and encouragement for each other, appreciating and acknowledging the contributions of so many people who make businesses, brands and workplaces better.
This is just the beginning of a long journey to spotlight individuals who are empowering others and bringing change and growth for all.
Read on to find out who shared the light with whom. And why.
Devargh Mukherjee, Senior Creative Strategist, Schbang shared the spotlight with Aishwarya Krishnan, Account Lead, Minimalist for her grit and ability to single handedly manage her family through their toughest times and not let any personal challenge come in the way of her work. “She has always showed up and aced every project she was handed,” says Mukherjee
Then there is Behzad A Patrawalla, Institutional Business Head, Tata Consumer Products who wants his former colleague Sanaya Tangri, Key Accounts Manager at ITC Limited, to be in the limelight for her potential and her intellect. Patrawalla says, “She has a never-say-die attitude which makes her a lethal combination of effectiveness and customer centricity.”
Sandeep Rao, CEO at One Source nominated his wife Srishty Chawla, Co-founder of One Source Chawla who started her firm at 25 and was CFO for the first three years, because she couldn’t afford one. Chawla battled crippling depression with determination and mandala colouring books, and built a company on a culture of High Performance High Empathy. As per Rao, Chawla gave 125 percent growth YoY to One Source and appraisals of 27, 24, 30.14 percent the last 3 years to her people.
Dr Virginia Sharma, India Marketing Head, Google Cloud nominated her colleague Neha Sharma, who is Customer Reference Marketing Manager, Google Cloud, for her efforts to put the spotlight on female spokespeople in the technology industry so that there are less manels.”
Sagar Boke, Country Head Vectura Fertin Pharma recommended Jyoti Joshi Patankar who is presently serving as General Manager in the Marketing vertical for Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited. Patankar was previously with Tata Consumer Products and has been a strong partner in creating and building the brand Tata Sampann. Boke shares that Patankar contributed immensely, right from crafting and executing the brand purpose, building go-to-market strategy and product innovation pipeline and applauded her for her “Solid marketing brain” and “infectious passion” for work.
Anirban Basu, Country Manager, Abbott shared the spotlight with Aastha Bhasin. Bhasin is currently an Associate Director at Pepsico (Africa, Middle East and South Asia Region), and one of the country’s top marketers who worked her way from insights to brand marketing leadership roles. Basu also shared the spotlight with Rashi Chugh, Marketing Manager, Pernod Ricard who came from a sales and business background and absolutely rocked her marketing stints in two very different categories – Nutrition and Alcobev.
Siddharth Banerjee, Managing Director, Pearson, gave a shout-out to Neha Ahuja, Director and head of Marketing at Spotify India, for building the brand and business together at Vodafone, and for the impeccable work she is doing now at the audio streaming giant, Spotify.
Aishwarya Jaishankar, co-founder of Hyperface Technologies, nominated Chaitra Chidanand, co-founder, SALT, for being one of the grittiest, sharpest people who is building SALT. Jaishankar also shared the spotlight with Aishwarya Malhi, co-founder, Rebalance, for making it her mission to help women entrepreneurs be successful. She also put forward the name of Isha Sapra, co-founder and CEO, Ausper, for her sheer versatility. Sapra plunged into entrepreneurship with fintech platform Ausper after successful leadership stints at GroupM and Tanishq (Titan).
Read more: Women’s Day: Here’s what happened when we asked people to Share The Spotlight (Part Two)
Other women spotlighted by Jaishankar were Monica Jasuja, Ambassador Emerging Payments Association Asia for being the intelligent practitioner of fintech Coaching and mentoring; Vineeta Singh of Sugar, for entrepreneurship, parenting, marathons and running SUGAR; and Dr. Jasmin B Gupta for building LXME, India’s first Financial Platform for Women.
Somina Mehrotra, Growth Marketing Manager, Adobe, gave a shout-out to Anindita Veluri, Adobe, Director Marketing “for her charming leadership, the fire she brings and the fun that she creates for the team to enjoy working each day.” She leads a team of all women marketeers, making it an inspiring and insightful journey.
Shireen Sultana, Co-founder, KinderPass, gave a shout-out to Shalini Rao, Chief Marketing Officer, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) for helping to enhance the public perception of BIAL Cargo by developing the brand and providing visibility for the Cargo business. Sumedha Khoche was also nominated by Sultana for reinventing low-cost, effective marketing strategies consistently at KinderPass.
Pradeep Krishnakumar, co-founder, Zouk nominated co-founder Disha Singh, for overcoming the biggest challenge for Zouk which was to persuade artisans to work with Singh as a female founder and challenging their social conditioning.
Arun Anandagiri, co-founder and group editor at Taxsutra, nominated Anjor Khopade, digital marketing strategist and Assistant Editor, Taxsutra for her effortless transition into the digital content world. Khopade is a Chartered Accountant and lawyer by education.
Sundar Kondur, SVP and Regional Head – South, Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. (Times Group), gave a shout-out to Saraswathi Anand, Assistant Vice-President, Network18 for bringing together research, insights, consumer data, trade analysis, competition mapping to chart a new path for the brand.
Ankit Vengurlekar, Director at CoinSwitch Kuber, shared the spotlight with Meenal Rajda, Senior Brand Marketing Manager, LinkedIn, for being hardworking and her passion for animal welfare and work with YODA NGO.
Sandeep Nair, Brand Marketing Consultant and ex-Swiggy marketer, nominated Shahana Nayak Chowdhury, Senior Brand Director, P&G, for building a fast paced career in brand management while balancing aggression in chasing goals, compassion in treating others, and mentoring those who want to follow in her footsteps.
Juhi Chaturvedi, Associate General Manager, Marketing, PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd nominated Darshana Shah, Head, Marketing and Customer Experience, Aditya Birla Capital for her democratic style of leadership. “Her ability to lead and motivate a team to perform above and beyond is absolutely inspiring. With her, you are always part of the winning team and on a continuously learning curve,” says Chaturvedi
Sai Nagesh, founder and CEO, RootDrive, gave emphasis to Anu Raj, Chief Marketing Officer, Aditya Birla Health Insurance for being calm, cool and passionate about whatever she does and continuing to raise the bar in her current role at the Aditya Birla Capital.
Malhar Barai, Senior Director, Marketing, Affle, shared the spotlight with Ashima Kakkar Chandra, Head Of Marketing, NLB Services and Diksha Sahni, Associate Director, Communications, Affle. “Each of them is mighty enough to be called out for the innovation in the work they do and they are wizards of words too!” says Barai
Vikesh Dhyani, OakBridge Publishing Private Limited spotlighted Harpreet Kaur, Head Of Marketing, KGOC Global, for her drive, grit and perseverance. Her ability to take on new challenges and deliver on them successfully is truly inspirational, he added.
David Coutinho, Assistant Brand Manager, Unilever, highlighted the qualities of Priya Rai, Brand Manager, IndiaMART: “She is innovative, super passionate, intelligent and extremely hardworking. She goes out of her way to listen and empower the colleagues around her. She’s on a journey and I see her becoming a brilliant leader someday.”
Ushamrita Choudhury, Vice President, IDFC FIRST Bank shared the spotlight with Suhael Choudhury – Associate Partner, Customer Transformation, IBM. “She is someone who has paved the way for data-driven marketing maturity in the Indian market.” Choudhury has consistently chosen challenges that have provided maximum value for customers and tremendous returns for her organisation.
Read more: Women’s Day: Here’s what happened when we asked people to Share The Spotlight (Part Two)
Know anyone you’d like to share the spotlight with? Join the movement, give them a shout-out on LinkedIn and tag Storyboard18 so we can take it forward.