MAM
Ruchi tunes in to a new beat as she joins Kuku FM as creative director
MUMBAI: If careers had soundtracks, Ruchi Singh’s would be a genre-blending chartbuster. And this week, she’s dropped her newest track: stepping into the role of creative director at Kuku FM, marking a fresh chapter in a career that has zigzagged across radio booths, newsroom floors, TV studios and now, the growing audio-streaming universe.
Ruchi joins Kuku FM in November 2025, bringing over 15 years of creative, programming, production and storytelling experience across some of India’s biggest media networks. Based between Mumbai and Bengaluru, she takes on the full-time, on-site role at a time when Kuku FM continues to expand its scripted, non-fiction and regional audio play.
Before this move, she served as assistant creative director at Zee Entertainment Enterprises ltd. from September 2023 to May 2024, where she crafted concepts, screen aesthetics and large-format content for Hindi audiences backed by expertise in After Effects and other creative tools.
Her longest stint came at Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd., where she spent 3 years and 9 months (January 2020 to September 2023) as senior programming manager, leading content strategy, programming grids and platform positioning. Prior to that, she held a similar role at Sony Pictures Networks India between August 2018 and December 2019, sharpening her chops in video production, journalism and audience-first storytelling.
Ruchi’s grounding in television dates back to her five-year run at Zee Entertainment (2013–2018) as programming manager, where she shaped content pipelines across genres and platforms. But her creative instincts stretch further back to 2012–13, when she served as assistant creative head at Dancing Water, a production house known for new-format ideation and show design.
Her early years were a whirlwind of hands-on storytelling, post-production roles, scripting, concept creation and content output across Utv Bindass, Sony (MA Exchange), and freelance projects that sharpened her eye for both narrative and execution.
But before television and OTT came calling, Ruchi cut her teeth and found her voice in radio. Between 2008 and 2010, she was an RJ and senior producer at Radio Mantra 91.9 FM in Agra, simultaneously taking on producer and RJ roles at Red FM. The high-energy world of live radio, with its creative improvisation and constant adrenaline, shaped the foundational tone of her craft. She later worked on a BBC Worldwide project with Star Plus as an assistant producer, adding international exposure to her early trajectory.
Across every chapter, her skill set remained consistent, video production, journalism, social media, concept creation, creative direction and programming, the kind of multidisciplinary toolkit that aligns naturally with the hybrid storytelling world of audio entertainment.
At Kuku FM, she steps into a role that demands inventive thinking, new-age content sensibilities and an ear for what young India wants to hear. With her experience spanning radio, TV, production, digital storytelling and network leadership, the platform is betting on her ability to elevate its creative slate across languages and genres.
For an industry veteran who has jumped formats, cracked new ideas, shaped programming blocks and led creative teams across platforms, the move to Kuku FM isn’t just a new job, it’s another remix in a career defined by reinvention.
And if her trajectory so far is any cue, this new beat is just getting started.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
