MAM
Kulkarni exits Natural Diamond Council after six-year sparkle
MUMBAI: Aparna Kulkarni, a marketing heavyweight with a glittering CV, has hung up her diamond-studded boots at the Natural Diamond Council, after a six-and-a-half-year stint. She’s leaving behind a legacy of celebrity-fuelled campaigns and a digital strategy that, one might say, was rather brilliant.
Kulkarni, who previously cut her teeth at media giants like Star India and Times Network, joined the Diamond Council in 2018, tasked with building their Indian consumer marketing strategy. She’s credited with transforming the brand’s digital presence, turning it into a “content publishing platform” – a fancy way of saying she made diamonds look good online.
Her tenure saw a focus on “luxury content creation,” celebrity endorsements, and a PR blitz to polish the diamond narrative. She also dipped her hands deep into the nitty-gritty of performance marketing, tracking digital metrics and strategising annual social media plans. No mere baubles, then, but hard graft.
“It felt like home,” Kulkarni said of her time at the council, adding that she’s “equally excited about what’s next.”
She offered a heartfelt thanks to colleagues, and a cheeky “may the diamond prices keep going north!”
One imagines a few champagne flutes were raised.
Her departure leaves a vacancy for a marketing director who can maintain the brand’s digital sparkle and keep the celebrity endorsements shining. The diamond industry, it seems, just lost one of its brightest facets.
MAM
Time brings TIME100 Next franchise to India with Reliance
List to spotlight 100 emerging leaders, gala set for December 2026 in Mumbai.
MUMBAI: It’s about time India’s next wave got a global spotlight and now, it’s on the list. New York-headquartered Time is expanding its TIME100 Next franchise to India, partnering with Reliance Industries Limited to launch TIME100 Next India, its first international extension of the rising leaders platform. The announcement was made at the Time100 Gala in New York by Jessica Sibley and Nita Mukesh Ambani, signalling a strategic push to tap into India’s growing influence across sectors.
The India edition will recognise 100 emerging leaders from the country and the global Indian diaspora, spanning business, science, sports, arts and social impact. The list will be curated by Time’s editorial team and published online, continuing the franchise’s focus on identifying individuals shaping the future.
The initiative will culminate in a gala event scheduled for December 2026 at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, anchoring the platform within India’s cultural and business ecosystem.
TIME’s broader Time100 franchise has steadily expanded its global footprint since 2021 through events and impact-led initiatives. Executives noted that India’s growing pool of influential voices and innovators made it a natural next step for the platform’s international ambitions.
For Reliance, the partnership aligns with its broader push to support emerging talent and ideas on a global stage. For Time, it marks a timely bet on India not just as a market, but as a talent engine shaping the next chapter of global leadership.
