Entrepreneur Shruti Shibulal talks about her life as a hotelier and her privileged background
Shruti with her husband Gaurav Manchanda
.jpg.jpg "Straight Shruter!")
Shruti with her husband Gaurav Manchanda
She’s the daughter of Infosys co-founder and former CEO SD Shibulal, and is already on a prominent list — the Forbes India Rich List. But that has in no way made her complacent or just happy to rely on her enviable business lineage. Shruti Shibulal decided to create her own body of work, and her entrepreneurial accomplishments are quite impressive.
After completing her bachelor’s degree from Haverford, she quit her corporate job and plunged into entrepreneurship with restaurants under her company Avant Garde Hospitality and soon set up a luxury resort in Coorg. She’s been on a roll ever since — zipping through time zones, completing an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York and visiting her parents in Bengaluru. We speak to the curly-haired, smart and savvy scion who has moved back to Bengaluru and is starting a music and cultural festival guided by her passion for travel, arts, food and culture. “I moved back to Bengaluru three months ago. I’ve been to a few international festivals. And now that I’m back in India, I’m trying to catch up on a lot of theatre and music. In New York, there’s a lot of access to fests. I used to go for a lot of jazz shows. I prefer smaller intimate shows over bigger music fests though. I’m now focused on the Tamara Carnival taking place from December 21 to January 4. The performances include folk dances, Oppana, classical dance, Kuchipudi, martial art, Kalaripayattu, Blues music and more,” says Shruti as she spills beans on what’s on her plate. Currently, projects are under way in Trivandrum, Kodaikanal, Guruvaryoor and Bengaluru.
Though her work keeps her chained to her desk most of the time, she takes out time to pursue her creative interests. “I’ve learnt about eight dance forms. I started with ballet, then learnt folk dance, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, hip-hop, tap dance, Mohiniattam and I’m more of a soloist and don’t like partner dances like Salsa. I don’t have enough time for dance these days, but I still go for violin lessons. I’ve been learning Carnatic violin since I was seven,” shares the lady who won the star youth achiever award.
Confessing to being a travel junkie, the perpetual nomad, reveals, “Last year, I visited the Galapagos Islands, which are amazing as 98 per cent are part of a natural reserve, so I stayed on a boat and snorkelled twice a day. I was completely one with nature and wildlife. The other end of the spectrum that I recently did was Japan, in terms of culture, food and people.
Being from the hospitality industry, there is so much that one can learn on how to best to apply technology and innovation to the services. I’ve travelled to Europe, but would love to explore north-eastern Europe and North Africa — Prague, Croatia, Tanzania and Uganda. I love wildlife and my husband shares the same passion.” About her epicurean leanings, she adds, “I love Per Se restaurant in New York. I like to try and explore different ones.” Shruti is also on the board of a fashion incubator, which helps emerging designers build their brands and grow their businesses.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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