Not every successful person speaks in the language of achievement. Some speak in the language of balance, values, resilience, and the people who helped them become who they are. Harmeet Singh’s journey unfolds that way, less like a story about titles and more like a story about becoming increasingly certain of what matters, both in boardrooms and beyond them.
For Singh, Chief Brand Officer, The Body Shop – Asia South, the path to leadership was never built by choosing between logic and emotion. Instead, it came from understanding that the two can coexist far more naturally than people imagine.
“Numbers have always fascinated me, not as cold data points, but as stories waiting to be decoded,” Singh said, reflecting on her early years working across pricing and consumer insights. “My time as a forecaster sharpened that instinct to find meaning beneath the surface.”
What began as an analytical foundation slowly evolved into something more layered as she entered the world of beauty and purpose-led branding. “What I discovered along the way is that data and emotion are not opposites,” she said. “The best decisions are born when rigorous analysis meets human empathy.”
That balance, she believes, becomes especially important in industries built around people and identity. “In beauty, especially at a brand as values-driven as The Body Shop, the numbers tell you what is happening, but emotional intelligence tells you why it matters and what to do about it,” Singh said. “I never had to choose between the two. I learned to let them speak to each other.”
After years at Oriflame, returning to The Body Shop felt far more personal than professional. “It felt like exhaling after holding your breath for too long,” Singh said. “It wasn’t just a job I was coming back to, it was a value system I had never truly left.”
The return, she explains, felt deeply aligned with who she already was. “Purpose, inclusion, conscious beauty, standing for something bigger than a product on a shelf, these weren’t new ideas I was being asked to adopt,” she said. “They were convictions I had carried with me all along.”
That is perhaps what makes her relationship with the brand feel unusually sincere. “It was absolutely a homecoming,” Singh said. “Not just professionally, but deeply personally.”
In a role where purpose is not a campaign but a constant responsibility, the line between professional and personal identities often disappears. But Singh has learned not to resist that overlap.
“Honestly, the line between Harmeet the brand leader and Harmeet the citizen has always been beautifully blurred for me,” she said. “When your work is rooted in values you genuinely live by, it doesn’t feel like a burden to carry it home.”
Still, balance is something she has had to cultivate intentionally. “Family has always been my anchor, my reset button,” Singh said. “And then there are my hobbies, painting, music, golf, and of course, my furry baby. Each one becomes a portal into a quieter, more present version of myself.”
Rather than viewing those moments as separate from ambition, she sees them as necessary to sustaining it. “These aren’t distractions from my work,” she said. “They are what make me better at it. A full life makes for a fuller leader.”
Leadership, particularly for women, often arrives with assumptions attached to it. Women in powerful roles are frequently labelled intimidating or tough long before they are understood. Singh, however, refuses to let labels become something she negotiates with.
“I’ve never wasted energy trying to navigate labels,” she said. “That’s not where I choose to spend myself.”
Instead, her focus remains on authenticity. “What I do invest in, deeply and consistently, is showing up exactly as who I am,” Singh said. “I dilute those labels by being approachable and managing situations with balance, depending on what the moment requires.”
At the centre of her leadership style lies one unwavering principle. “My foundation is based on honesty and clarity, which no label can touch,” she said.
And if there is one word that defines the spirit she brings to work every day, the answer comes instantly. “Purposeful,” Singh said. “Every conversation, every decision, every campaign comes back to one question: what is best for The Body Shop, and what keeps its soul alive in the hearts of consumers?”
For her, the role extends beyond business targets or market performance. “We are not just managing a brand,” she said. “We are guarding something that matters.”
Even through difficult professional periods, Singh has learned to rely on perspective rather than panic. One of the phrases that continues to anchor her is simple but deeply personal. “Impossible also says I’m possible,” she said. “There is something quietly powerful about reframing the word itself. It reminds me that limitation is often perspective.”
Another belief she returns to often is the idea that hardship carries meaning, even if it reveals itself later. “Everything happens for a reason,” Singh said. “It doesn’t make the difficult weeks easier, but it makes them more bearable.”
Together, those beliefs help her move forward without becoming consumed by uncertainty. “They help me move from anxiety to acceptance, and from acceptance to action,” she said.
Much of that steadiness also comes from embracing imperfection instead of resisting it. “I’ve never believed in projecting a polished façade,” Singh said. “What you see is genuinely what you get.”
Perfection, in her eyes, is neither realistic nor sustainable. “Perfection is a myth. Balance is a practice,” she said. “I try to find equilibrium rather than perfection.”
That perspective has also changed the way she views the “messy” parts of life and leadership. “The messy parts don’t feel like failure anymore,” Singh said. “They feel like proof that you’re fully in it.” When she reflects on the younger version of herself working at Shoppers Stop and The Home Store, there is no desire to erase the struggle. If anything, she values those years even more today.
“I’d tell her not to rush through those years,” Singh said. “The long hours, the multitasking, the learning to do everything and ask for nothing, those years were not a detour. They were the foundation.” Every challenge, she believes, quietly built resilience that no title could replicate. “The grit you build in those formative years is irreplaceable,” she said. “It’s what no classroom or corner office can give you.”
And while data may guide decisions, she eventually learned to trust something even more instinctive. “The data will guide you,” Singh said. “But your instincts will lead you.”
Today, as someone many young women in marketing look up to, Singh understands the responsibility that visibility brings. But she approaches mentorship with honesty, not performance. “The world doesn’t need more polished imitations,” she said. “It needs more of the real you.”
Her advice to women navigating ambition, doubt, and expectation is deeply simple and deeply direct. “Be you, unapologetically,” Singh said. “Be different, be just, be honest.” And long after the campaigns, titles, and business milestones are forgotten, there is only one thing she hopes people remember about her leadership.
“That she made us feel heard and seen,” Singh said. “Leadership is about what you awaken in others.”
If the people around her walked away feeling more capable, more purposeful, and more confident in themselves, she believes that matters more than any metric ever could.
Because some leaders build businesses. Others build people. And the latter tend to stay with you far longer.
