Note to readers: Storyboard18’s Share The Spotlight aims to highlight inspirational stories of women who continue breaking barriers and setting the precedent for other women marketers, entrepreneurs and communication specialists.
The initiative aims to kick off a movement where people from across these communities step up and share their spotlight with other women. They could be women in their team or any other team, a new group or previous one, from a past workplace or the current one.
Share The Spotlight calls on us all to 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. Learn and understand how to face challenges and seize opportunities while bringing along others on the path to progress.
This is just the beginning of a long journey to spotlight individuals who are empowering others and bringing change and growth for all. Together we rise.
Meet Mausumi Kar. She mentors young women leaders under the flagship WPP Stella programme. She believes her life’s purpose is to change the world one action and one conversation at a time; she is deeply inspired by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. Kar joins Storyboard18’s Share The Spotlight initiative to share her learnings so that others may benefit from what life and work have taught her.
Kar is an accomplished business leader with over three decades of experience in the advertising and marketing industry. Currently serving as the Managing Director of Motivator India, she is leading the agency’s efforts to become the go-to-market agency for emerging brands.
Kar has spent more than fifteen years with the WPP-owned GroupM, where she held various leadership roles across different operating units of the organization.
Even after all the boardroom victories, Kar doesn’t have a ‘my greatest achievement moment’.
“I can rank order certain events in my life in terms of their importance and the impact they have had on me. Singling out any as an achievement, let alone “greatest” seems pompous! I do reflect each day and ask myself whether I have been happy so far, whether I want to continue to live the life I have lived so far. The answer is always a “yes” and that to me is my single most achievement,” she tells Storyboard18.
Read More: #ShareTheSpotlight: Learn how to ask the right questions, says BACARDI’s Sameeksha Uniyal
Kar is also a passionate advocate and GroupM EXCO sponsor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and she is a member of the India council of WPP Stella. She practices the philosophy of touching the lives of people and helping them bring about transformation in themselves and their environment.
While Kar might not have an ‘it’ moment to talk about, her career speaks volumes about her journey and successes. Prior to joining Motivator, Kar set up and headed the independent SBU within GroupM to handle the Bharti Airtel business, reporting to the CEO, GroupM, South Asia. She also drove digital partnerships and growth for GroupM India, where she focused on evangelizing and developing the digital business for existing and future clients across regions. Mausumi was also the custodian of the GroupM-Google partnership with special focus on SMBs.
Kar’s first six and a half years with GroupM were with Maxus, where she headed their North and East offices and handled marquee clients like Google, Nokia, Hero MotoCorp, and Dabur. She helped them adopt innovative media and communication solutions, winning acclaimed global and Indian awards, including GroupM India’s first Cannes award. Prior to her stint at GroupM, Mausumi headed Research and Strategy for ESPN-Stars Sports, India, and was the AOR Head at IPG for Maruti Suzuki.
Kar gets some of her life lessons from pieces of literature. “I read Saint-Exupery’s ‘The Little Prince’ and Kipling’s ‘If’ as a kid. Both impacted my impressionable mind. The first questions the paradigms of the adult mind and I vowed to be always in touch with my inner child and not get carried away by accepted definitions of success. From Kipling, I learnt not to bracket outcomes as success or failure; both are ephemeral. Ironically, I have been successful at that!” she says.
Like every successful person Kar is inspired by many. Kar wants to share the spotlight with Priya Gopalan and Sandhya Rajan, the founders of Great Goals. Why, we ask. “I met them recently and am so inspired,” says Kar, adding, “They give a whole new twist to the term ‘soccer moms’.”
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.