Essence has announced the appointment of Sonali Malaviya as the agency’s Managing Director for India. Based out of Delhi, Malaviya will report to Essence APAC CEO, T. Gangadhar (Gangs) and GroupM South Asia CEO, Prasanth Kumar (PK). She will join Essence’s APAC leadership team and GroupM India’s executive committee as part of her role. Anand Chakravarthy, previous MD of the agency, has moved on, to pursue new opportunities.
Joining Essence in 2018, Malaviya most recently led the agency’s Google business in India and Southeast Asia as Senior Vice President, Client Services. Prior to this, she served as Chief Operating Officer at Colorbar Cosmetics and Country Marketing Lead at Twitter in India. With over 20 years of industry experience, she has also held senior roles at Mindshare, PHD, Roy Morgan Research and MediaCom in India, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
“Sonali comes with rich experience in management, marketing, and media across industries and markets, as well as a deep understanding of Essence’s business, work, people, and culture. In addition to building strong, collaborative partnerships with clients and employees alike, she is an advocate of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. India continues to be a priority for Essence in APAC and globally, and with Sonali at the helm, I am very excited about our next phase of growth and development in the market,” said, T.Gangadhar, CEO-APAC, Essence. “We would also like to thank Anand for his efforts in helping to establish our business in India over the last three years. We greatly appreciate his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavors”, he added.
“We are glad to see Sonali take over the role of Essence India Managing Director. With her background and significant achievements, she will add to the capabilities of Essence and work with our teams to improve the client experience. As we continue to develop leaders internally, Sonali is also part of our growing pool of talent taking on various leadership roles across GroupM India. I look forward to working with Sonali and leveraging her expertise,” said, Prasanth Kumar, South Asia CEO, Group M.
“I am truly honored to have the opportunity to lead Essence in India. Over the past three years, I have witnessed and been part of our incredible growth story in this market, and am very proud of what our agency, clients, and employees have achieved together. I am looking forward to partnering with our highly talented teams and leveraging our industry-leading capabilities to help even more brands in India achieve data-driven growth and transformation, as well as valuable connections with consumers,” said, Sonali Malaviya, Managing Director – India, Essence.
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