Garima Khandelwal

Based in Mumbai

Garima Khandelwal is currently the Founder and Creative Director at BusyPeople, an independent creative collective for ideas and artists alike.

Garima started her career in 2000, as a visualiser at Ogilvy, New Delhi, moving to Mumbai in 2004. In 2007, she won a Cannes Bronze in Direct and later that year joined Leagas Delaney in Prague, where she worked on Skôda for the European market, gaining invaluable global exposure. Returning to India in 2009, she joined Lowe Lintas, spending six years across offices in Bangalore, Delhi, and Colombo, shaping campaigns for Unilever’s portfolio and honing her creative leadership. During this time, she was part of the Lifebuoy team that won a Cannes Silver in Film in 2014.

In 2015, Garima became a founding member of Mullen Lintas, the second agency from the Mullen LoweLintas Group, where she initially served as Executive Creative Director spearheading the Mumbai office. Under her creative leadership, the agency quickly gained recognition, debuting at No. 7 in Brand Equity’s Agency Reckoner in its second year. By 2019, she was elevated to Chief Creative Officer—a triple promotion—making her one of the few female CCOs in India.

Over the course of her career, Garima has worked on notable pieces of work like Lifebuoy 'Help a Child Reach 5', MTV Beats 'Mubarak Ho! Baap Hua Hai!', and TATA Tea 'Alarm se Pehle Jaago Re!'. Some of the other brands in her portfolio are Motilal Oswal, Bajaj Avenger, PharmEasy, Too Yumm, Liva, Axe, and Suzlon PALS.

Garima's career has also been marked by industry recognition and contributions beyond her agency. She has served on several advertising juries, including the Good Ads Matter Awards, Cannes Lions (Film Shortlisting Jury, Glass Lions), D&AD, Gerety Awards, One Show, Spikes Asia (Young Jury), the AAAI awards in India, and TOI’s Power of Print. In 2019, she was also invited to the jury panel for Facebook’s Thumbstoppers initiative.

Alongside her advertising achievements, Garima has a keen eye for design, having conceptualised the visual identity and interiors of Mullen LoweLintas Group’s consolidated Mumbai office in 2019. Today, she continues to balance building iconic brand campaigns with nurturing a young agency’s legacy, making her a respected creative leader in Indian advertising.

Garima believes that “what you will become is always inside you", Garima excels in not only film and advertising but also other identity-defining and artistically inclined facets of creativity.

Social Media Handles:

- LinkedIn - Garima Khandelwal

- Instagram - @grrima

Website: madamg.org