For four centuries, Sindoor Khela — a vermilion festival — belonged only to married women. The divorced, the widowed, the single, the gay, the trans woman: all uninvited. The Times of India changed that. One word at a time.

Vidya Balan, Rituparna Ghosh and Tanushree Shankar spoke up for the campaign. 50 temple societies opened their doors.

The campaign was born from Swati's own life. As a divorced woman, she was uninvited from this tradition. So was her widowed mother.

It began with my marriage. I was on Pepsi — big shoots, big names — and then I married a man who worked for Coca Cola. I was quietly moved to Horlicks. It felt like a demotion. It became the longest love affair of my career.

From epang opang jhapang — the tagline an entire generation grew up singing — to a Konkona Sen Sharma film about a woman who makes her to-do list every morning and realises, at the end of the day, that her own name isn't on it. "Apni hi list mein apna naam nahi." To a Mother's Day film built on a simple truth: only a mother can give what she doesn't have. How else do you explain a painfully shy mother with a fiery debater child?

To Fearless Kota — which sent buses of mothers to Rajasthan's most pressure-filled exam city and gave the world a new phrase: emotional nutrition.

Doodh ki shakti badhao. Badhne ki bhook. Aami Busy. Epang opang jhapang. The Horlicks love story — from one bottle to fourteen — lives on Swati's LinkedIn, on the Horlicks website, and as a Cannes Lions masterclass.

Helping us break stuff. Mend stuff.

Showcased at Godrej L'Affaire.

A boy at a kite festival slips away, drapes himself in his mother's dupatta, finds a mirror, smiles. His mother and grandmother walk in. A few seconds of dread. Then they join him. And they dance.

The UN's first film ever to address the gender identity of a child. Shared on Instagram by Naomi Campbell, Elton John and Charlize Theron. Now used as an educational tool in hospitals, schools and clinics — because the closeting can begin as early as Class 2. Not as activism. As information.

Twenty-two years at JWT India. Then a short, important detour into documentaries and short films. Then a Clio jury in Spain — where I met Susan Credle, FCB's Global CCO, who watched the films, not the portfolio, and called three months later.

There had never been a woman CCO in India.

FCB India. Adweek's 2022 International Agency of the Year. Over 180 international awards. The #2 CCO globally by Creativepool. Cannes Lions See It Be It Ambassador 2019–2022.

Then, in 2023: a wrong step. Both ankles broken. Three surgeries. But first — I judged Cannes from the hospital bed. Brand Experience & Activation Lions. Jury President: Ari Weiss, Global CCO of DDB Worldwide.