Arjun has a background in finance, operational planning, digital marketing and brand strategy. He began his career at multi-national financial services and accounting firms in the US (BlackRock & EY), working across roles including data integrity, pricing, management and tax consulting.
After moving back to India in 2010, he founded Skarma & DoubleThink Media, both new-age digital marketing and branding agencies where he was creating IPs from idea through execution and while helping build some of India’s largest and most recognizable brands like Starbucks, Mumbai Indians,
FC Goa and the Ministry of External Affairs.
Arjun has a strong passion for building businesses. As a lifelong hot sauce enthusiast and ‘pepperhead’, he was delighted to take the opportunity to combine his passions and create a global hot sauce story right here in India with Naagin.
Deepti Karthik, an experienced marketing leader with over 12 years of expertise, boasts a track record of steering global brands to success. Graduating with honors in 2009, she secured NMIMS's prestigious Shri Tulsiram Harishgupta Gold Medal. After a robust foundation in FMCG sales, she pioneered cosmetic-pharma channels at Wipro Consumer Care. Transitioning to Unilever, she skillfully managed a substantial sales team and moved into consumer marketing. At Snapdeal, Deepti orchestrated triumphant exclusive launches, including the impactful Samsung J series. Joining Nokia Mobiles in 2017, she spearheaded their Android relaunches. After a maternity break, she revitalized DaMENSCH's marketing and now oversees her consultancy, DECISION PINNACLE, focusing on the growth of D2C brands. Presently, she serves as a fractional CMO at the prominent home lifestyle brand Sleepyhead, transforming brand communication with a quirky approach, and leading their #Home'sDon'tJudge campaign.
Featured in 100 Emerging Women Leaders by YourStory and honoured with BW Businessworld Disrupt 40 under 40, Harini Sivakumar is the Founder & CEO of Earth Rhythm, an environmentally conscious and sustainable homegrown D2C brand that offers professional-grade products in hair care, skincare, and makeup lines. She challenged the norms of the skincare and beauty industry with a mission to manufacture clean and sustainable personal care products.
Earth Rhythm has grown by over 500% between FY ending 21 and 22 and is targeting a 150 crore ARR for FY 2022 - 23. The brand has also witnessed exponential growth on the customer acquisition side. For comparison, the number of customers for FY'22 increased by 533% vs. FY'21. In addition, the brand saw a 500% increase in orders per month, along with a 3x increase in website visits.
An IIT Delhi and INSEAD alumnus, Isha has previously worked as a category manager with Urban Company, a successful start-up in the services space. She joined Epigamia in 2016 and has adorned various hats since. After leading the product strategy for the brand and the direct-to-consumer platform, she now manages all things marketing for Epigamia.
Nidhi comes with 12+ years of experience in the consumer insights space. A data-heavy person by aptitude, she enjoys the creative world and hence brand building is what she works on. She enjoys learning about consumers, their lifestyles, their sentiments which are very important in today’s marketing world where every brand is trying to carve a niche for themselves.
Nidhi is currently working with McCann World group, Mumbai as Vice President for Strategic Planning. She has worked on a multitude of brands across FMCG, Banking, Home Décor, Food and Beauty.
Pradeep Krishnakumar is a Co-Founder and COO of Zouk, a direct-to-consumer brand that offers stylish and functional products with a distinct Indian essence. With over 400,000 happy customers, Pradeep has been instrumental in scaling Zouk into a highly promising D2C brand, attracting investments from top-tier investors such as Stellaris Venture Partners, Sharrp Ventures, JJ Family Office, Deutsche Bank India CEO Dilip Khandelwal, Manoj Meena of Atomberg, and Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee of Sugar Cosmetics, raising over $4.5M to date. Under Pradeep's leadership, Zouk has experienced remarkable growth, nearly 10x since the last fundraising round, the Pre-Series A round in mid-2021.
Prerna Tirumalai is one of the key driving forces behind cult.fit's remarkable growth. As part of the senior leadership, she has been instrumental in leading the company's expansion in various growth roles for nearly six years. She did her MBA from IIM Lucknow and her B.Com from SRCC. Together with her prior experience at Aditya Birla Group, Prerna brings a diverse set of learnings and experiences to her role. Her keen understanding of the fitness industry, growth strategies and the Indian consumer mindset have played a key role in shaping cult.fit into the nation's premier fitness chain.
Rishabh Jaroli is the Vice President of Growth at InterviewBit and Scaler. With an experience of over nine years in the industry, Rishabh has worked across verticals and proven to be a true business leader and a seasoned entrepreneur with expertise in business, growth, strategy, operations and technology.
He was part of BOX8’s growth journey of building 300+ business units from just 40. Rishabh started and scaled in-house digital marketing from scratch to drive growth for BOX8 and the brand MOJO by successfully implementing diverse user acquisition and promotion strategies. During his tenure, Rishabh led a cross-functional team of analysts, engineers, and product and
graphic designers, which was instrumental in driving profitability and growth.
He joined Scaler in 2019 and leads the growth mandate part of the marketing function. He and his team have been able to achieve a remarkable 600% growth in monthly revenue run rate. Rishabh was one of the first few to join Scaler’s marketing division and established the performance and growth team from scratch. He has spearheaded the launch of various Scaler programs and executed numerous digital Growth IPs, successfully acquiring over 7 million users through organic and inorganic channels. Rishabh completed his Electrical Engineering from Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur.
Rohan Mehta, the visionary founder and CEO of FCB Kinnect & FCB SIX/INDIA, India's unrivalled Digital First Marketing Agency. With an unwavering commitment to innovation and an indomitable entrepreneurial spirit, Rohan has propelled FCB Kinnect to the forefront of the industry, setting new standards of excellence along the way.
In May 2023, Rohan launched
a Digital Media, CX and Performance offering in creative data speciality, FCB/SIX. The speciality helps clients around the world activate their data, performance media and customer experiences to drive timely and immediate results by offering a suite of digital services.
As a true maverick, Rohan's journey began with humble beginnings, single-handedly building FCB Kinnect from the ground up into one of India's largest and most influential independent agencies. His relentless pursuit of success has garnered the attention of industry peers and experts, earning him prestigious accolades such as the Campaign Asia 40 Under 40 2021 and IMPACT Digital Power 100 - India's Top Digital Leaders.
In the realm of digital marketing, Rohan Mehta's name shines brightly as a beacon of inspiration and achievement. With his visionary leadership, unwavering commitment to excellence, and dedication to fostering innovation, Rohan has cemented his place as an iconic figure, propelling FCB Kinnect to unparalleled heights in the dynamic world of digital marketing.
Rohit Nandwani, Founder and Chief Operating Officer (CO0) at HAMMER, is the driving force behind the meteoric rise of HAMMER Lifestyle, India's first Athleisure tech brand. With an unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence, Rohit's journey from a small-town dreamer to a tech tycoon has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. In January 2019, Rohit Nandwani, along with a passion-driven team, brought HAMMER Lifestyle to life. From its inception, the company envisioned a future where cutting-edge technology merged seamlessly with everyday athleisure wear. Inspired by the idea of stren gth and durability, the brand name "HAMMER" became synonymous with robust gadgets and uncompromising performance Under Rohit's visionary leadership, HAMMER garnered nationwide recognition when it featured on the renowned show "Shark Tank."
Sagar Kochhar is the co-founder of Rebel Foods, the world's largest internet restaurant company. Under his leadership, Rebel Foods has pioneered the cloud kitchen model, empowering thousands of internet restaurants across multiple brands, catering to diverse palates worldwide. He has played a pivotal role in building category-leading brands in India such as Behrouz Biryani, Lunchbox, Faasos, Ovenstory, Sweet Truth and more while serving as the CMO of the company. He currently leads the omni-channel D2C charter of Rebel Foods which includes EatSure, India's first foodcourt on an app experience. His commitment to enhancing the dine in and delivery experience and solving customer problems has led the company to remarkable success, reshaping the future of food technology and delivery in India.
Shouvik has over 25 years of experience in the branding and marketing industry, having co-founded and led multiple successful brand consulting and marketing agencies, such as Brand Planet, Elephant, and YAAP. He has worked with global and regional clients across various sectors and industries, such as Coca-Cola, Tata and Godfrey Phillips India, delivering strategic, creative, and effective solutions that enhance their brand value and performance. He has also held senior positions at Ogilvy and GE Capital. He believes that his mission is to help brands connect with their customers and stakeholders through compelling and authentic stories and experiences that reflect their vision, purpose, and identity. Currently he is building G.O.A.T Brand Labs, a house of D2C Brands where he leads marketing for a portfolio of disruptive and emerging D2C brands in India.
Taniya, who wears several hats as an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and vocal advocate for mindful fashion, is the co-founder of Suta. She has an engineering degree in ceramics from NIT Rourkela, and an MBA from IIM, Lucknow. Taniya was associated with IBM as a strategy consultant, with Tata Refractories as a production manager at, and with Seed Fund’s investee firm as a marketing consultant, before co-founding Suta. Under her visionary leadership, in only seven years, Suta has grown into an organisation that employs more than 170, engages more than 17,000 weavers and artisans, and has a turnover of Rs 56 crore.
Vanda Ferrao is the Chief Marketing Officer at WOW Skin Science, a leading D2C wellness and personal care brand headquartered in Bangalore. As the CMO, she is responsible for the development and implementation of marketing strategies across all of WOW’s product categories and channels. Additionally, she also drives forward the brand strategy in digital content and communication along with product categories for WOW Skin Science, Body Cupid.
Vanda’s Alma Mater includes her Bachelor’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Goa University in 2003 and has subsequently completed an MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai in 2006. She holds an experience of nearly 2 decades in driving growth and revenue, brand management, digital marketing, sales, innovation, and customer marketing across roles spanning FMCG, personal care, consumer healthcare and retail organizations.
