Meet Mansi Bhatia

We were lucky to catch up with Mansi Bhatia recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mansi, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

My purpose became clear the moment I realised that my curiosity was bigger than any one industry or title. I have always moved between different worlds: journalism and corporate life, culture and strategy, storytelling and systems thinking. Instead of choosing one path, I built a career that allowed me to draw from all of them. Whether it was writing my film script, creating video content at Pernod Ricard India, building digital strategy at Oijo Media, or running The Blahcksheep, the same instinct kept coming back. I was drawn to stories that made people feel seen, connected, or understood.

Along the way, I discovered that I thrive where communication has the power to shift something real, whether that is a mindset, a culture, or a conversation waiting to happen. Today, my purpose feels grounded. I use narrative thinking to create change, encourage connection, and shape environments where people and ideas feel valued. For me, purpose is not a single calling. It is the steady decision to follow work that feels honest, human, and genuinely meaningful.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Most of my career has unfolded at the intersection of storytelling, culture, and strategy. My work spans internal communications, digital strategy, film writing, and editorial storytelling, and I enjoy building narratives that make people feel connected, informed, or simply a little more human.

Currently, I consult with Pernod Ricard India, where I have helped reimagine their internal communication ecosystem. One of my most exciting projects has been Salut! a first-of-its-kind internal video newsletter that has grown into a cultural moment inside the organisation. It also happens to be an industry-first format in the alcobev space. Most companies rely on long emails or static newsletters, but this video newsletter model turns internal communication into a dynamic, TV-style experience. I love projects like these because they combine creativity, strategy, and audience insight in a way that truly shifts engagement.

I also run The Blahcksheep, a publishing platform for nonconformist voices. It is a space that celebrates writers who take risks, experiment with form, or challenge the safe middle. The platform continues to grow, and I am currently developing new verticals to expand its reach and bring more unconventional stories to the forefront. Alongside consulting and publishing, I continue to write. I have worked as a journalist and I am currently working on a film script, which has been a deeply fulfilling way to explore storytelling in a longer, more emotional format.

What excites me most about my work is that it never sits in one box. Every project, whether corporate or creative, is an opportunity to create something that leaves people feeling seen or inspired. My focus for the year ahead is to keep building meaningful communication experiences, grow The Blahcksheep into a stronger cultural voice, and push my own creative work forward.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

When I look back at my journey so far, three qualities have made the biggest difference: curiosity, adaptability, and audience empathy.

Curiosity
Curiosity has shaped every chapter of my career. It pushed me to explore different paths. For anyone starting out, my advice would be to nurture your curiosity instead of suppressing it. Follow the work that energises you. Read widely, experiment with different mediums, and allow yourself to be a beginner again and again. Curiosity is often the first step to finding your voice.

Adaptability
My career has been anything but linear, and adaptability kept me moving forward. Each industry demanded something new and I learned to translate my skills across contexts. It allowed me to grow instead of getting stuck in a single professional identity. For early-stage professionals, adaptability comes from saying yes to learning, even when it feels uncomfortable. Take on projects that stretch you. Build skills that are portable. The ability to evolve is often more valuable than the ability to specialise.

Narrative awareness and empathy
Whether I’m writing a script, designing communication or creating social media posts, I always start with one question: How will this make someone feel? Understanding your audience, and their needs, emotions, attention span, and expectations is at the heart of powerful communication. The best way to build this is to observe more than you speak. Pay attention to what resonates with different audiences. Study reactions. Listen deeply. Great work is almost always rooted in understanding the human on the other side.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

Both of Coco Mellors’ Cleopatra and Frankenstein and Blue Sisters! She has this rare ability to write with such emotional precision that you end up feeling seen in moments you didn’t expect. The most impactful lesson for me was her refusal to romanticise her characters, who were often all at once – hopeful and destructive, loving and insecure, tender and selfish. It taught me that we’re allowed to hold contradictions, and that complexity is sometimes the very thing that connects us.

Another lessson I took from her work is the value of honesty in storytelling. Mellors writes emotion without dilution. She doesn’t try to make you like her characters; she wants you to understand them. That has influenced not just the way I write, but the way I communicate at work. Good stories don’t perform, they reveal.

And perhaps the most meaningful of all: her understanding of growth. In her world, growth isn’t a dramatic turning point. It’s a slow, often uncomfortable accumulation of tiny choices. That idea softened the pressure to “figure things out” quickly. It reminded me that becoming yourself is a process, not a performance.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theblahcksheep.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mansibee/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mansibee/