Kajol Bheda, Founder of Scribbld, is a marketing strategist and entrepreneur who launched the independent agency in 2020, growing it to serve clients across India and the UAE, including Amazon Prime and Nykaa. With a background in media production in the UK and experience at Love Gen, Harrods, and OTT platforms, she blends creativity with strategy to deliver impactful campaigns. In the interview, Kajol spoke about building a resilient, inclusive agency from the ground up, balancing creativity with performance, and empowering teams—encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women, to start boldly, embrace challenges, and focus on consistent execution
1. From media production in the UK to Harrods and Love Gen, how have these experiences shaped your approach to brand building?
My journey began backstage with Anita Dongre, running cues and learning the immense effort it takes to present a brand to the world. This led to 13 internships across fashion and media, giving me a 360-degree view of branding.
At Love Gen, I experienced the pace of fast fashion firsthand—staying relevant meant moving quickly, sparking conversation, and building community every day. Later, in the UK, media production sharpened my storytelling skills, while Harrods taught me the luxury of consistency and attention to detail, where precision mattered more than speed.
These experiences showed me there’s no single formula for building a brand. The playbook shifts with the audience. At Scribbld, this balance is clear: Foot Locker demands culture, energy, and rapid responses, while Vu Televisions focuses on benefits and steady storytelling. The constant is understanding the difference between noise and long-term impact—an insight my early years instilled deeply.
2. Scribbld began during the pandemic. What gave you the conviction to start then, and what early challenges did you face?
I started Scribbld because I had no other choice. I moved back to India during the pandemic when the job market had collapsed. Instead of waiting for opportunities to open up, I decided to create my own. We began with just one intern and one client.
Suburban Diagnostics was among our first accounts, right in the middle of a health crisis. Managing their communications taught me how even small shifts in digital presence can be powerful. It also showed me that conviction isn’t about certainty, it’s about resilience.
The early days were full of challenges. Clients were cautious with budgets, remote work was new for everyone, and I had to earn trust as a young founder with no track record. What kept me going was the work itself. Every time a campaign landed or a client renewed despite the uncertainty, it validated that we were building something of real value.
Five years later, we’re still bootstrapped and growing. Starting in a crisis gave us a discipline that has never left. We learned to operate lean, stay adaptable, and keep moving, even when conditions were far from perfect.
3.You’ve worked with brands like Amazon Prime and Nykaa. How do you balance creativity with strategy to deliver impact?
I do not see creativity and strategy as separate things. Creativity without impact is indulgence. Strategy without creativity is noise. The real magic happens when they come together.
Those were creative ideas, but they were anchored in strategy because they solved real consumer friction and encouraged sales.
With Amazon Prime’s My Fault: London, we paired a strong influencer line-up with meme content that people wanted to share. The film became the number one most-watched title on Prime India for three weeks straight. That happened because we treated creativity as a lever for distribution, not just entertainment.
The balance comes from always asking why. Why will someone care about this idea? Why will it matter tomorrow, and why should it move business today? Once you build that discipline into your process, you stop having to choose between creativity and impact. They naturally reinforce each other.
4.Scribbld’s team is predominantly female. Was this intentional, and what does inclusive leadership mean to you in practice?
When Scribbld started, many of our early hires happened to be women. Over time, the mix has become more balanced, which I see as a positive shift. What has stayed consistent is the culture we built—one centered on performance and clarity rather than bias.
To me, inclusive leadership isn’t about labels or quotas. It’s about systems. People need clear roles, transparent feedback, and the freedom to grow based on performance. When those structures are in place, people feel safe enough to speak up and bold enough to take responsibility.
I also believe inclusion means recognising that people have lives outside work. Flexibility and respect in policies make a huge difference in how motivated teams feel.
What makes me proud is that Scribbld isn’t seen as a female agency or a male agency. It’s a place where ambition is rewarded, voices are heard, and performance is valued. That’s what inclusivity looks like in practice, and it’s what has kept us resilient as a team while we continue to scale.
5. With Scribbld’s expansion into the UAE, how are you approaching this market today, and what plans do you have for its growth going forward?
The UAE is an exciting market because it is culturally diverse, but also community-driven. What works here is not the same as what works in India. In India, speed and trend hopping help brands stay visible. In the UAE, trust and consistency matter more. So we adapted our model. We build slower, deeper relationships and invest in localisation.
We have already helped Indian brands adapt for GCC consumers while building local partnerships in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The plan is to establish hubs in both cities so we can bridge India and the Middle East more effectively.
The bigger goal is to make the UAE a launchpad for Scribbld’s global expansion. It sits at the intersection of East and West, which makes it the perfect base to scale outward. The lesson for me has been simple. Markets will not adapt to you. You have to adapt to them. Once you respect that, your ideas can travel anywhere.
6. As a young founder, what advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women, entering this industry?
The biggest advice I can give is do not wait for the perfect time. It will never come. Scribbld was born in the middle of a pandemic when every sign said wait. If I had listened, I would not be here today.
My second piece of advice is to stop waiting for permission. As a young woman in this industry, I faced doubt from clients, peers, and even myself at times. The only way through it is to build anyway. Show up consistently and let your work do the convincing.
The third is to invest in systems early. Grit gets you started, but structure keeps you going. Having clarity in roles, feedback, and goals makes growth sustainable.
Scribbld began with one intern and one client. Today, we are a global agency with projects across India, the UAE, and Europe. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that small beginnings can still lead to big outcomes. Consistency is what bridges that gap.
