Simi speaks with Revathi Advaithi, CEO of Flex — a $24 billion global manufacturing company that builds the critical infrastructure behind AI, cloud, healthcare, and automotive. Flex operates in 30 countries with over 140,000 employees, and under Revathi's leadership, the stock has soared from ~$7 to over $60.

Revathi started her career on a factory floor in small town Shawnee, Oklahoma. She is the youngest of five sisters and lost her father at the tender age of 15 in India. After nearly failing out of engineering school, she built her career in the industrials sector in small-town America at companies like Honeywell and Eaton. She ascended to the C-suite at Eaton and was eventually tapped to lead Flex. In 2024, she was diagnosed with breast cancer while traveling — and chose to stay on as CEO, working through treatment without missing a single day. Today, she is one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women in the World, Fast Company's Modern CEO of the Year, and serves on the board of Uber and MIT.

Recorded live in San Francisco in partnership with Pratham USA, this unfiltered conversation covers breaking into the boardroom, immigrant grit, a battle with breast cancer, and what it actually takes to lead at the highest level.

KEY TOPICS:

• Breaking into the boardroom as an immigrant woman in industrial America
• Leading through a cancer diagnosis without stepping down
• Transforming a legacy manufacturer into an AI infrastructure powerhouse
• On work, family, and navigating motherhood across continents
• The moments that nearly broke her — and the ones that made her

Revathi's TIME Op-Ed on her Cancer Battle

ABOUT REVATHI ADVAITHI:

Revathi Advaithi is CEO of Flex, the global manufacturing partner helping a diverse customer base design and build products improving the world. Since 2019, she has led Flex's transformation across 30 countries, driving technology innovation and supply chain resilience. Previously, she served as President and COO of Eaton's electrical sector with corporate responsibility for EMEA, and spent six years at Honeywell in manufacturing and supply chain leadership. She has been appointed by the U.S. President to advisory committees on trade policy and supply chain competitiveness, and serves as co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Advanced Manufacturing CEO Community. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani and an MBA from Thunderbird.

REVATHI ADVAITHI
Instagram: http

South Asian Trailblazers is an award-winning media platform, community, and agency dedicated to elevating leading South Asians. Join our community at SouthAsianTrailblazers.com. Subscribe to our newsletter to get new episodes and updates on our latest events in your inbox. Follow us @southasiantrailblazers on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify.

Simi sits down with Ananya Birla, business leader, artist, mental health advocate, and 7th-generation scion of one of India's oldest and most storied family businesses — the Aditya Birla Group.

Ananya is building across more industries than most people will touch in a lifetime. At 17, she founded what is now India's second-largest microfinance institution. After dropping out of Oxford to pursue music, she became the first Indian artist to go platinum with an English single. A consummate multi-hyphenate, she joined the family business — the first woman in her lineage — now leading subsidiaries across film, real estate, cosmetics, and AI. Today, Ananya is recognized as one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women in the world, shaping India's relationship with the world.

Recorded live at the India Conference at Harvard, this unfiltered conversation covers leadership principles and privilege, music and mental health, and what it means to craft your own legacy when you were born into one.

KEY TOPICS:

• Dropping out of Oxford to pursue music
• Launching her own ventures and earning credibility in the family business
• Being the only woman in the boardroom
• On leadership, privilege, and her vision for the Birla Family legacy
• Leading Birla Studios, Birla Cosmetics, Birla AI Labs, Birla Real Estates
• Self-worth, mental health advocacy, and leadership principles

ABOUT ANANYA BIRLA:

Ananya Birla is the Founder and Chairperson of Svatantra Microfin — India's second-largest and best-performing microfinance institution with a $7 billion portfolio, over 4 million customers, and 24,000 employees across 19 states. The company is heading toward IPO in 2026 — the fastest any Birla has taken a company public in seven generations. The international PE firm Advent invested $400 million alone.

In music, Ananya has multiple English-language multi-platinum singles in India, was the first Indian artist featured on an American national Top 40 chart, and has collaborated with AR Rahman and Sean Kingston. She also leads Birla Cosmetics (LOVETC and Contraband), Birla Studios, and Birla AI Labs.

Ananya serves on the Aditya Birla Group's apex strategic body ABMCPL and on the boards of Hindalco, Grasim, and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. The Birla conglomerate is one of the largest industrial dynasties in India and the largest Indian greenfield investor in the U.S. ($15 billion).

South Asian Trailblazers is an award-winning media platform, community, and agency dedicated to elevating leading South Asians. Join our community at SouthAsianTrailblazers.com. Subscribe to our newsletter to get new episodes and updates on our latest events in your inbox. Follow us @southasiantrailblazers on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify.

Simi sits down with power duo Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Anjula Acharia — like you've NEVER seen them before. In this first-of-its-kind conversation, Priyanka and Anjula — best friends and business partners of 15 years — sit down together to tell the full story of how they built one of the most extraordinary careers in global entertainment.

15 years ago, Priyanka was searching for her next chapter in Bollywood. Anjula, a VC investor with a knack for spotting unicorns, saw something the rest of the world hadn't realized yet: a star who could transcend both Bollywood and Hollywood and become truly global. After an awkward first phone call, a partnership was born — one that would transform the two LARGEST film industries in the world and build a global crossover career unlike anything that came before.

Recorded live at the India Conference at Harvard, ahead of the premiere of her new film The Bluff, Priyanka keeps it cool and candid with her best friend and business partner, Anjula, the investor and entrepreneur who bet on her when no one else would. It's our most star-powered episode yet. Rich with insight, advice, and real talk, this is the origin story behind the icon — as told by the partnership that powered this global stardom.

ABOUT PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS:

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is a global icon — actress, producer, entrepreneur, and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She won Miss World in 2000 and went on to become one of India's biggest film stars with iconic performances in Fashion (2008, National Film Award for Best Actress), Barfi! (2012), Mary Kom (2014), and Bajirao Mastani (2015, Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress). With over 60 Bollywood films and five Filmfare Awards, she is one of the most decorated actresses in Indian cinema.

ABOUT ANJULA ACHARIA:

Born in England, Anjula Acharia is an entrepreneur, investor, and cultural strategist who built her career in venture capital before pivoting into entertainment. She backed Bumble and ClassPass, both became billion-dollar companies. She has managed Priyanka Chopra Jonas's career for 15 years, orchestrating her crossover from Bollywood to Hollywood. In 2025, she co-founded 5 Junction Records with Warner Music Group to develop South Asian artists globally, from Rhea Raj to Nora Fatehi. She has been recognized by Billboard, Forbes, Vanity Fair, and ELLE.

PREVIOUS EPISODE:
Anjula Acharia, Season 6 (2023)

ANJULA ACHARIA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anjula_acharia/

PRIYANKA CHOPRA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/priyankachopra/

South Asian Trailblazers is an award-winning media platform, community, and agency dedicated to elevating leading South Asians. Join our community at SouthAsianTrailblazers.com. Subscribe to our newsletter to get new episodes and updates on our latest events in your inbox. Follow us @southasiantrailblazers on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify.