My Indian Persian blended identity comes with a long, proud lineage of people who appreciate rich history, deep philosophical debates, and spectacular hair. Naturally, I turned this cultural inheritance into a career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I essentially sit at the busiest intersection in the modern business world: the chaotic crossroads where creative, tech, and real human insights collide. And I\u2019m the one directing traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My journey started in the deep trenches of qualitative research at Kantar and Nielsen. I spent six years there doing what I do best\u2014being a professional eavesdropper. It was my job to ask people, “But why?” until they finally told me the truth about their habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I thought, Why just study people when I can gently persuade them? So, I moved into advertising. For 15 years, I worked as a strategist at Leo Burnett and WPP, across India, China, and in various global roles. I spent a lot of time thinking about skin care and hair care for P&G and Unilever. If you\u2019ve ever bought a shampoo because the bottle made you feel like you could conquer the world, you\u2019re welcome. Along the way, I realized that making the product look good wasn\u2019t enough\u2014the entire journey had to make sense. So, I dug into shopper strategy and UX with ARC worldwide and Sapient Razorfish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my current role at Colgate Palmolive headquarters in New York, I lead innovation insights in enterprise Oral Care. I look after Horizon 1, 2, and 3 projects\u2014which is corporate speak for figuring out what people need today, tomorrow, and in the year 2050. I guide the entire funnel, from that initial “Aha!” moment of need identification, through incubation, all the way to launch and experience design. My proudest flex? Building AI-enabled capabilities so we can design and test innovation bundles at the actual speed of the market. I basically make sure science and art are talking to each other to give real people what they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I\u2019m not using AI to predict the future of consumer needs, I am busy getting absolutely humbled by my teenage son in video games. It\u2019s brutal. To heal my bruised ego, I read the musings of Rumi. And to remind myself that the world is a beautifully complex place full of plot twists, I watch films by Majid Majidi and Bong Joon Ho.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","talk_category":[],"event_category":[615],"class_list":["post-35114","speaker","type-speaker","status-publish","hentry","event_category-america_2026"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n