Shalini Gopalan

From Wikitia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Shalini Gopalan
Shalini Gopalan.jpg
Born (1960-12-29) December 29, 1960 (age 63)
Madras, India
NationalityIndonesian
CitizenshipIndonesia
Occupation
Organization
  • LoyaltyHub
  • Alini Jewelry
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Spouse(s)Tiku Menon
Children
  • Drishay Menon (son)
  • Akhil Menon (son)
Website

Shalini Gopalan (born 29 December 1960) is an award-winning Indian-Indonesian entrepreneur and a renowned Loyalty & CRM Marketing Professional. She pioneered Indonesia's first Loyalty & CRM Marketing firm which was acquired by AIMIA, a global Loyalty & Marketing firm headquartered in Canada.[1]

Gopalan has over three decades of experience as a marketing communications professional and helped set up numerous profitable loyalty & CRM programs for the agency’s clients.

In 2021, she started a line of interchangeable jewelry which is sustainable by design through its unique locking system.

Early life and education

Gopalan was born on 29 December in Madras, India, and hails from Kerala. She was the youngest child in the family and grew up in different cities in India as her father, an engineer by education, was a decorated Brigadier in the Indian Army and received the prestigious AVSM from President Sanjeeva Reddy that recognizes "distinguished service of an exceptional order". Her mother is a homemaker and daughter of one of India's most famous Barristers, the Late MK Nambyar, well recognised for his invaluable contribution to the evolution and development of Indian constitutional law.

Gopalan spent most of her early years in Delhi, Pune, and Secunderabad. She completed her schooling in Delhi, ranking 5th in the All India Higher Secondary Merit List which was published in the Times of India. While growing up, Gopalan developed a keen interest in arts, crafts, and design and later sought a degree in fine Arts from Stella Maris, Madras University.

Career

Gopalan started her career as a junior visualizer in JWT in India when she was 19 years old. After working for five years with this firm, Gopalan got married and moved to Jakarta, Indonesia starting as a creative advisor for Matari Advertising and moved on to become the Executive Creative Director of Bates Indonesia. After approximately five years she decided to embark on her entrepreneurial journey by co-founding an advertising firm called Impact.[2]

In 1996 Gopalan shifted from Advertising to Relationship Marketing and with a small team pioneered Indonesia's first CRM & Loyalty marketing company called Interact.[3] Five years later in 2001 they did a joint venture with Carlson Marketing Group, headquartered in Minneapolis, USA. As President Director of the agency she taught herself and her team this new science in marketing and ran several successful programs for blue chip companies. Carlson Marketing was acquired by Groupe Aeroplan, a global company listed on the Toronto stock exchange. Together Carlson Marketing & Groupe Aeroplan were rebranded AIMIA and in 2013 AIMIA fully acquired Interact Calson.[4]

Five years later, in 2018, Gopalan left the company she helped found 21 years ago and started Loyalty Hub,[5] where she continues to help companies with a number of advisory services such as program audits, health checks, loyalty program design /re-design, developing business cases, analyzing data to draw better insights, improving customer engagement as well as short and long term engagements with well known companies like ValueFirst (a Twilio company) and IRIS Jakarta.

Gopalan is a Mentor at Endeavour.org, a global organisation that helps accelerate high impact startups and was the lead judge in 2015 for the EY Women Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.[6]

In 2021, Gopalan established ALINI - a jewelry line of handcrafted silver and gold jewelry created by artisans of Bali & Java. The brand is known for novel interchangeable jewelry which allows women to buy one piece and easily swap drops to match different looks, styles, colors, and occasions through a unique locking system.

Awards

Gopalan is the recipient of the London International Award for Television, Japan Advertising Award, Kompas Reader’s Favorite Choice, APAC Loyalty & Engagement Awards and several Citra Pariwara Awards.

Personal life

Gopalan is married to Tiku Menon, a successful entrepreneur, avid golfer, big bike and car enthusiast. They have two sons.The elder one, Drishay Menon is an entrepreneur based in Chicago and founder of Bottlecode. Their younger son, Akhil Menon, worked at PWC Consulting in NYC and is currently at a startup in the US.

Gopalan is fluent in English & Bahasa Indonesia and spoken Hindi & Malayalam. She lives between her homes in Jakarta and Bali visiting India frequently to see her family. In her spare time she enjoys working out and traveling with her husband.

In the media

     

References

  1. "Shalini Gopalan – Endeavor Indonesia". endeavorindonesia.org. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  2. Indonesia, Endeavor (22 May 2021). "Women in Entrepreneurship: Shalini Gopalan of AIMIA Indonesia". Medium. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  3. "Beyond Building Brands ..." Indoindians.com. 16 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  4. "Business Strategy » "Manajemen Loyalitas Pelanggan Ala AIMIA"". SWA Magazine (beta). Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  5. "A Point is a Point…. until you give it Meaning – LoyaltyHub". loyaltyhub.id. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  6. "Grace Judio-Kahl (LightHouse Indonesia) Named a 2015 EY Entrepreneurial Winning Woman – Endeavor Indonesia". endeavorindonesia.org. Retrieved 14 December 2021.

External links