By Amith Prabhu

This column is about 15 professionals whom I have either had the pleasure to work with or have heard of and are doing some amazing work within the organisation they work or for the greater good of the larger public relations fraternity. They needed to be called out and I’m taking the liberty to do so. This list is in random order:

Vivaan Gideon – Vivaan leads communications at VM Ware India in Bangalore and was one of the youngest communications heads of a major tech company in India when he took charge four years ago. He truly belongs to the first family of Indian PR with his wife, sister and brother in law all leading communications at some of the large tech brands.

Bhuvaneshwari Joshi – While Bhuvi, as she is better known currently works at MSLGROUP in Bangalore, her Facebook community Media Movements which on last count had 31000 members. This is possibly the largest online grouping of media and communication professionals and a great service to the community.

Vikram Kharvi – The Mumbai based founder of Vivkypedia, cleverly named after himself also has a day job at Adfactors. He successfully manages the Indian PR Forum, has written a book on PR and is one of the most influential young professionals based in Mumbai inspiring the next generation of Public Relations professionals

Shubashish Bharukha – Delhi-based Shubashish is the man behind Journalist Storyboard which he is building as Media Central – a repository of databases on the media and in-house communications leads. He also runs a boutique PR consultancy, Springhead Communications with some marquee clients.

Aakriti Bhargava – Aakriti is based in Gurgaon and runs an interestingly named PR firm, Boring Brands that works mostly with startups. She is now building a new offering targeted at business owners and communications professionals. Smartly branded Wizikey, this online tool is a great resource for tracking, analyzing and monitoring a keyword.

Sandeep Rao – Sandeep who currently works at Gutenberg curates one of the most insightful and active whatsapp groups which is on its way to becoming an app. It is the one stop place for PR professionals and journalists to exchange insights in real time on media movements, coordinates and information. One Source is a force to reckon with.

Parekhit Bhattacharjee – Parekhit is a member of Genesis BM’s Associate Learning Programme. He has risen through the ranks and leads Step-Up, a firm within the firm that targets startups. He was deputed to spend a few months in Beijing to help BM China set up a similar venture. His twitter following is admirable to say the least.

Ruchica Tomar – Ruchica is the only PR professional in India who has a verified twitter handle. This former journalist is the new India communications lead for Uber. The cab hailing app has many challenges in India in the year ahead. Most challenges are regulatory and communications related in nature. How they will navigate through will be closely watched.

While I’m not speculating about the age of the eight names mentioned above, the next seven are certainly under 30.

Aniruddha Bhagwat – Aniruddha set up his own firm soon after graduating. He is building the Ideosphere group like a holding company with smaller group companies within. He was named young professional of the year at an awards night last year and works on several interesting mandates.

Tejal Daftary – Tejal is partner at Criss Cross Communications. Another young firm led by young co-founders. After her initial training at Perfect Relations, Tejal set up her own consultancy at age 24 and is an Independent board director for Rodium Realty Limited since 2014. Now, we are talking business.

Akshara Lalwani – Akshara is articulate and savvy. She set-up Communicate India five years ago when she was barely 23 which has grown to be a mid-sized firm in a short span. Her clients include Merck, Mindshare, Disney among others.

Priyanka Bhatt – Priyanka is the lady behind Equations Media. After a stint with Text 100 the entrepreneural bug caught her that led to the setting up of her firm. She is one of the smarter young professionals I have met.

Afshaad Kelawala – This man is possibly the youngest branch head of an established PR consultancy. As Mumbai head of PR Pundit Afshaad leads mandates for several of the lifestyle and luxury clients that the firm manages.

Ancita Satija – Ancita is with Cohn & Wolfe Six Degrees and is a former Chartered accountant aspirant who moved to PR. She drives the weekly Social Pow Wow Chat on Twitter. Writes a regular blog – these are hard to come by these days and is a professional to watch out for.

Neha Mohanty – Neha is the Head of PR & Communications for AirAsia in India, where her role includes Brand Building, Media Relations, Publicity, Social Media Marketing, Brand Awareness, Crisis Management and New Business Development. This is truly outstanding.

Jai Kewalramani – Jai makes it to the list for possibly being the only second generation professional (in a long time) of one of the Top 5 firms who has followed in his father’s footsteps at Perfect Relations. It will be interesting to see how the succession planning at this iconic firm pans out.