Journalist, Advertising Copywriter, Author
London, United Kingdom
Vinati Sukhdev is a writer who has worked across journalism and advertising and authored a successful book targeted at the Indian diaspora. She was born and raised in India but has been part of the 30 million strong diaspora herself for about 25 years.
Starting at one of India’s largest mainline dailies, The Hindustan Times, Vinati quickly moved up the ranks and used her multi-disciplinary education to give colour to the unusual stories, including an article on Gandhi’s descendants and what they were doing in modern India and another on widow remarriage (very much a taboo in India in the 80’s) where she inserted a fictional matrimonial ad in a newspaper on behalf of a widow.
In her advertising copywriter avatar, she headed a creative team at Hindustan Thompson and DDB Mudra in Mumbai and DDB Needham and Batey Ads in Singapore. Her work can be viewed at www.vinatisukhdev.com
In 2017, Vinati wrote a book called East or West: An NRI mother’s manual on how to bring up desi children overseas. It immediately struck a chord with a diaspora looking to bring Indian culture and values to their children in a relevant and meaningful way. Her share of proceeds went to Pratham – an Indian education NGO that she has long supported.
Vinati holds a BA (Hons) Economics from the University of Delhi and an MA Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics.
Vinati has two daughters who graduated from Yale and UPenn and who, she hopes, are testimony to her book!