MAM
Baby & Mom Retail appoints Sucharita Reddy as CFO to scale growth with sharp financial stewardship
MUMBAI: As Baby & Mom Retail Pvt. Ltd. preps for a growth spurt across the Indian consumer landscape, it’s calling in seasoned financial muscle to keep things in check. The company has roped in Sucharita Reddy as its new chief financial officer (CFO) to lead its finance engine through a phase of ambitious expansion, operational rigour and digital transformation.
Reddy, who brings over 15 years of experience across startups and large enterprises, has held leadership roles at Myntra Jabong, Amazon and EV startup Blusmart. Her deep expertise in finance, business operations and scalability will now power Baby & Mom Retail’s journey across baby care, skincare, pet care and home products.
“I am excited to join Baby & Mom Retail at a time of rapid growth. My mission is to create a resilient and agile finance ecosystem that not only strengthens our foundations but also acts as a strategic enabler for business growth. Finance should go beyond compliance and control; it must empower decision-making, fuel innovation, and support sustainable scaling”, expressed Reddy.
In her role, Reddy will steer the company’s financial planning, performance tracking and data-led decision-making. She will also focus on building a future-ready finance function that enables smarter inventory management, sharper customer acquisition, and scalable infrastructure—especially relevant as Baby & Mom Retail builds out its omnichannel and direct-to-consumer footprint.
“Sucharita’s appointment aligns with Baby & Mom Retail’s vision of strengthening operational excellence while scaling smartly across omnichannel and D2C markets. Her experience at companies like Myntra Jabong, Amazon and BluSmart equips her with a nuanced understanding of inventory management, customer acquisition economics, and platform scalability, all crucial for a fast-growing consumer brand ecosystem like Baby & Mom Retail”, said Baby & Mom Retail founder & CEO Shish Kharesiya.
Her leadership will also drive a finance culture built on ownership and accountability, where financial decisions fuel innovation as much as they guard the bottom line.
This leadership move comes at a pivotal moment. Baby & Mom Retail has been expanding its brand portfolio with new launches like Corvell, a healthcare equipment label, and continuing growth across flagship offerings including Oyobaby, Newish, Amorite for pets, Redcop, Mattress Protector, and Gadda Co.
The numbers may stay in spreadsheets, but the impact is set to show on balance sheets—and beyond.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
