Learn everyday, better your art and make the right choices- Bhavana Bhatia

Having a wide experience of hosting a variety of events ranging from business events to award shows, Bhavana Bhatia has made most of every opportunity that she got. She has worked with mega stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Priyanka Chopra and Boman Irani to name a few.

The diversity of her choices has given her the flexibility and spontaneity which are the must-haves of the profession.

In an exclusive interview with Everything Experiential, India's Preferred Emcee Bhavana speaks about her journey and her learning experiences from the industry.

Excerpts:

What has your journey as an emcee been like? 

Well being from a highly scholastic education from esteemed institutes like St. Xavier’s college , school captain at Bombay Scottish School and Student Ambassador at RN Podar High School, being an Emcee was definitely not on the cards . It was only after my multiple beauty pageant wins like Miss Mumbai 2009 , Indian Princess 2010 that love for being on stage grew coupled with my south movie stint back in 2011 as an actress . My first show was with cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar for Toshiba Premier League in 2010 and there has been no stopping since then . 

I have emceed milestone events every year with my key ones being - Dabur Star Awla Ki Khoj With Priyanka Chopra 2012 , Hem Group of Companies 100 year celebration 2013 with Mahima Chaudhary as my co emcee , Sab Ke Anokhien Awards red carpet 2015 , Manchester United Legends Talk 2015, Godrej Group Product Launch - Interview with Adi Gorej & Family - 2017, Moderating Narayana Murthy - Sudha Murthy 2019 , Nokia Lumia Phone Launch 2013 , Apple Dealer Meet 2015, Samsung President Club Meet 2017, DNA Sir JJ architecture awards on Zee Business to name a few noteworthy events.

How do you think this profession has aided your career? 

It definitely has helped me in weaving my personality as a highly influential individual at the age of 28. Emceeing some of the key events across the world with the business tycoons only helps me gauge the real time know-hows of how things are shaping up across multiple avenues in the world. Be it supply chain , technology , legal , information , finance & banking- every edition emceed over the last 9 years connects me to the right information and the most noteworthy people of the business fraternity.

Tell us about that your firsts in the ‘Live Experience’ space.

Firsts are always very special. I have been the first female emcee to be featured about my lifestyle in a Korean documentary which was telecasted on Korean broadcasting network , first female emcee in India to come in Top 100 women in India by wearethecity.in, UK for my contribution to the space of media , first female emcee in India to say no to a job at Google to pursue my career in movies & live Industry space , first female emcee to do more than 100 plus events for one client- Accenture in India across 9 Years in My space and yes the first female emcee to interview Manchester United Legends in India when they were in a tour with Nissan Brand and the most recent - the first female emcee to moderate a  live panel discussion of Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murthy for 45 golden minutes of value induction on stage with Adi Gorej and Montek Singh Ahulwalia being in audience.

What do you think are the drawbacks of being in this profession? 

Every evolving profession has many drawbacks and so does my profession of emceeing. I personally would not like to pinpoint any drawback currently. All I would like to say is that a profession which has drawbacks also offers many opportunities to excel as it is an emerging field and can allow one to be a strong leader.

What are the other activities that you are involved in a part from being in this profession? 

Diversity in my work helps me focus better in my profession. I am a chief marketing officer and co-owner of my mom’s pre-school chain in India called India Kids - a brand known to the parents since 1999. A co investor with my brother’s startup - Zillon Life Pvt Ltd . Also I am seasoned speaker on renowned platforms like Dialogue Now- London, A rotary lakers members with Niranjan Hiranandani - Founders of Run Powai Run ,and an influencer with Amazon India to throw some light on the hats I wear.

You’ve worked with multiple brands, how has the collaborations worked for you? 

I have always believed collaboration is the way forward. A huge part of my career’s success has been the collaborations with brands like Reliance , Tata Motors , Asian Paints , Accenture , HUL to name a few . Be it emceeing their dealer - channel meets , award shows , conference , launches - every event helps you associate with the brand better . For one of my conference producer I started with emceeing Legal Summit in 2011 now 8 years later I have emceed majorly all the editions of the Legal Awards , CFO and HR Summit. A key to a long healthy collaboration is all about making efforts every single time on the content of your work , maintaining punctuality as a key ethos , ensuring every event - edition one  performs better and ensuring one adds value with the growing experience every year.  I always like to  call my event vendors as partners.

What is the scope of making a career in a profession like this one in the events industry? 

Scope is ever growing in my field . I believe I have the perfect mix of personality,voice and diction for the live events space - though I believe my voice can be explored in key voice-over projects across the world , radio as a special project is knocking my door and another avenue I have been working in developing more content for my youtube channel. If one has passion, trust me the scope is endless.

What made you decide to take up emceeing as a full-time career? 

Honestly I believe that if you take up a project, give your 100 percent . When I started I had many ramp shows , brand shoots , ad campaigns , film projects which kept me busy along with live shows but over the years , very organically I would say my scalability in live shows just grew without measure because of the continued trust of my event vendors and clients. For me I always believe , I am as good as my last show. So yes the attempt is always to deliver every event to perfection . So a lot of ongoing efforts happen for the same on a continuous basis.

How supportive is your family? 

Oh my! I have no words to describe how blessed I am for the support I have received from my family. An eight digit salary would have easily been possible for me to have with the scholastic me and my personality. But for them to so  gracefully guiding me on  following my passion has been always been very commendable. My parents have truly been torch bearers of my career. So yes I would like to take this opportunity to thank them. Ma , thank you for pushing me for the auditions of my pageants and always helping me garner courage to do what my heart wanted to. Dad , thank you for letting me choose the live experiential space as my career . I know the plans you had were different but allowing me on this 180 degree diversion and never making me feel regretful for it. - Bhai - thank you for helping me in being fearless in my choices and always being so appreciative. Your love and support always completes me.

Who was the source of your inspiration and why?

I have a very different take to this question - I derive a lot of inspiration from some of the noteworthy speakers and people I have met across my events . Be it Adi Godrej , Niranjan Hiranandani , Narayana Murthy , Sudha Murthy , Dr Velumani ,Boman Irani - all the business tycoons who I have had the privilege of having interactions with because of my events. Also a special mention for the Experiential Everything and BW Applause readers, another notable inspirational source for me is  Dr. Annurag Batra -Chairman and Editor in Chief -BW Businessworld - who chooses every day to only excel and indeed serve as a huge inspiration for the entire media industry.

If you could what would be your advice to yourself as a newcomer in the industry?

My honest advice would be just learn everyday, better your art and make the right choices when it comes to taking up projects. My brand is developed because of the many nos I have said .