Meet the Brilliant Woman Behind Lakmé As it Stands Today

Purnima Lamba, Innovation Head, Lakmé 

She's a huge bastion of reinvention, believing that complacency is a person greatest enemy—and it's easy to attest how much she's reinvented the brand. 

"Reinventing Lakmé simply meant predicting the consumer's needs ahead of time. We did that by launching the 9to5 range for working women. I try something new each season." 

Her job is all about creation—even though it seems like it's not a 'creative field' "We (her team) are responsible for new product ideas and development, consumer research—plus advertising and communication. When I came in four years ago, I brought the Lakmé Salon Skincare and Make-up business under one platform of Pro Stylist. We became potentially the only brand who could offer the Indian woman an entire grooming portfolio, as well as be her stylist, and help to reinvent her." 

Purnima's key to dealing with world head-on—looking like you can take the world head-on! There's a rising need for us to integrate themselves into the new professional codes. This requires us to present ourselves as well turned-out, and signal to the world how we want to be perceived." 

She also gets her power from her balance, that comes partly from "my morning yoga sessions—they reconnect me with myself…" and partly from "time management—getting a lot done in very little time." 

The biggest myth about being fearless she wants to bust, though, is that it comes with a side-salad of being ruthless. "Being adaptable is far more crucial to being successful than being ruthless is," she counters.​