Sushma Joseph
Executive Leadership Program - Amsterdam Class 16
A spoilt third child of an academically focussed South Indian family, I always enjoyed entertaining people while dreading the attention. Lucky to be blessed with parents who encouraged my non-conformist ways, and to speak my mind at all times – even if it got me in trouble.
Through my school and college years, both in the town where I was born and raised, Davangere, and then in a Bangalore city in Southern India, I took part and led cultural teams in singing, dancing, theatre, etc. and took an active part in youth activism and elected student unions. Although I studied Electronics, Psychology, Economics, I went and got my first job at MTV, India.
The job took me to Bollywood capital, Mumbai. I worked with some of the most brilliant creative minds around me at MTV, Ogilvy & Mather, BBH, and recently at Star India, the biggest broadcast network in the country, helping global brands like Google, Skoda, Johnny Walker, Vaseline, Game of Thrones, and MasterChef Australia, launch in India – along with huge Indian brands like CRY, VAT69, Titan, Bingo, Roadies, Koffee with Karan, etc. as producer and/or director for their communication (TV, Print, Radio, etc.), winning local and international creative awards for 12 consecutive years in my 15+ years of working in the advertising and broadcast industries.
Something felt off. Discontentment and internal confusion led me to THNK, which opened a whole part of me I’d shut off out of fear: Singing. What next is yet to be figured. Wish me luck.