Tina Garg: A First' class icon

Tina Garg, founder-CEO Pink Lemonade, feels that if an entrepreneur is not in for a long haul, they shouldn’t even bother to take the entrepreneurial plunge. Driven by her passion for excellence this Bengaluru lady has now been selected at first rank from India for the US state department by Fortune Global Programme for women entrepreneurship. She will be interacting with senior women executive mentors in the US. We speak to her on what keeps her driven and inspired.

She lived all across the country, as her dad was in the army. “After marriage, I moved to Bengaluru as my husband Tapan had moved here with his parents. Bengaluru is home to me now and is the best place I have ever lived in. The name Pink Lemonade came about to signify fresh, out-of-the-box communication and innovation, which is what we stand for. I’ve always said that if a piece of communication doesn't make sense to the client or help them reach their target audiences effectively, then no amount of creativity justifies it. Bengaluru is where I have explored and developed my creative talents. It's also the city where Tapan and I started our first venture, Zatang.com a few years back,” she recalls.

Now that the company has carved a niche for itself in the industry, Tina believes it’s time for her to pay it forward as an entrepreneur. “I’ve started working with other women entrepreneurs and mentoring small businesses and women looking to return to the corporate world. I’d like to believe I can guide others on the various aspects of communications. The Fortune/US State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership Programme is extremely exciting precisely for this reason, because I am being given a chance to meet and engage with successful women entrepreneurs from all over the world. Through the course of the four-week programme, I will be given an opportunity to develop my leadership, management, and business skills while gaining first-hand experience at American businesses. I am super excited to be working with Varsha Rao and Belinda Johnson at Airbnb,” she states as she sets off to pack for her flight tomorrow.

She was earlier chosen from among 10,000 women in the world to be coached by Goldman Sachs and ISB, as part of the Rs 10,000 Women’ programme which provides women entrepreneurs business and management education, mentoring and networking, and access to capital. “The Goldman Sachs and ISB Rs 10,000 Women’ programme opened several other doors and made it possible to attend similar events over the past few years. My being chosen to be invited by the US State Department and be mentored by the Fortune Most Powerful Women is again thanks to this programme.

Over the years, we’ve had many highs, the most memorable of them being our big account wins. It's a great feeling when we work with brands we've grown up with. Further, the many awards (such as the Big Bang last year) we've won only cement our place in the industry. Again, extending our portfolio of offerings to UI/UX and getting all video and web capabilities in-house has been a matter of pride for us,” says Tina.