There are people who discover their life’s work through careful planning, and then there are those who realise, years later, that they have simply been following a part of themselves that never changed. For Apoorva Mehandiratta, VP-Marketing at ZEE5, that constant has always been stories.
Growing up, films weren’t merely entertainment in her household; they were conversation starters. There were debates over characters, disagreements about endings and an enduring curiosity about why certain narratives lingered long after the credits rolled. “Long before I understood marketing, I was trying to understand why stories mattered. That curiosity never left,” she added.
Today, helping stories find their place in people’s hearts and culture feels less like a career and more like instinct. “When I look back, it doesn’t feel like a career path. It feels like the most natural extension of who I’ve always been,” she said.
Perhaps that’s also why she’s remained deeply invested in an industry defined by constant change. Having lived across Panipat, Delhi, Pune and Mumbai, Mehandiratta views each city as a chapter that shaped her perspective. Panipat gave her roots, Delhi expanded her worldview, Pune taught her to bet on herself, and Mumbai reinforced that some dreams are worth pursuing despite the intimidation they bring.
Yet, it wasn’t the places themselves that transformed her. “Honestly, what shaped me most wasn’t the cities. It was the people,” she recalled fondly. Every move altered how she understood ambition, relationships and success, while travel became less about escape and more about perspective.
“The more people I meet, the more curious I become,” she says. “And that’s probably why marketing has always felt so natural to me. At its heart, it’s about understanding people,” Mehandiratta affirmed.
It’s a curiosity that continues to anchor her even as platforms evolve and technologies shift. “The platforms, technologies, algorithms – they all change. But people remain wonderfully, endlessly complex,” she observed.
Even after a decade in the business, she finds herself returning to the same questions: what moves people, what captures their imagination and what makes them care? “Every campaign, launch, and story is another opportunity to learn something new about people,” she pointed out.
The same thoughtfulness extends to how she views success. Women, she observed, are often taught to downplay their achievements for fear of being perceived as arrogant. But Mehandiratta draws a clear distinction. “Arrogance says, ‘I’m better than you.’ Acknowledgement says, ‘I worked hard for this, and I’m proud of it,'” Mehandiratta stated.
Titles and designations, in her view, are temporary. What endures is the work left behind and the people encountered along the way. “If I’m proud of anything, it’s the trust, the friendships, the teams and the stories we’ve built together. To me, that’s a far more meaningful measure of success.”
Even as representation improves, she believes another challenge continues to shape women’s experiences in leadership. “I don’t think we’re talking enough about why so many women still feel they need to prove themselves,” she says. The issue, she argues, isn’t competence but conditioning. Too many talented women continue to second-guess themselves, over-prepare and seek permission to occupy spaces they’ve already earned.
“Sometimes the challenge today isn’t an opportunity. Sometimes it’s permission. Permission to take up space. Permission to own success. Permission to trust that you belong in the room without constantly proving why,” she added.
For someone who once equated growth with constant motion, learning to slow down has been equally transformative. But some of her clearest moments of reflection emerged during walks, holidays, quiet weekends with family or while travelling somewhere unfamiliar.
“I’m a big believer in protecting your spark. Looking back, those pauses didn’t take me away from growth. They became part of it,” she said.
Beyond professional milestones, her idea of a good day remains wonderfully simple: “A Pilates session that makes me feel strong. A meaningful conversation. Time spent with family. A good cup of coffee. Sometimes two.” There are sunsets from the balcony, long drives with a great playlist and stories that stay with her long after they’re over. And then there’s laughter – “a moment where I laugh so hard that I completely forget where my phone is.”
Because the older she gets, the more certain she becomes that fulfillment rarely arrives through grand achievements alone. “Happiness rarely arrives in grand milestones. It’s usually hiding in the ordinary moments we rush past every day,” she concluded.
And perhaps that’s the thread running through both her life and leadership: the ability to stay curious enough to notice what truly matters: the stories, the people and the small moments that quietly shape who we become.
