Kanika Subbiah

Soft and demeanor with a perpetual smile and a palpable passion for her work—that is Kanika Subbiah, in a nutshell. The founder of bespoke gifting website Cherrytin and the wedding registry portal, Wedding Wishlist is a woman of many talents. As she speaks of her work, and its exponential growth over the last few years, you can see how deeply involved Subbiah is with every little aspect of her company.

“In a startup, there are challenges, frustrations and dead ends. But hardly a day goes by that I don't learn something new. And most days, I cannot get to work soon enough,” says Subbiah.

L’Officiel India DigitalRead L’Officiel India in the digital libraryEvery issue and every cover story, on TCG Media.Read now

Now that her first venture, Cherrytin, is well established, she expends most of her energies on her new project, Wedding Wishlist. “The idea for this company came from personal experiences. When close friends, family members and even I got married, we each ended up with a ‘recycling cupboard’ of gifts. So much of what couples get on their weddings aren’t of any use to them and just get passed around.” Having spent a significant part of her life in America, Subbiah saw the relevance of bringing the Western concept of wedding registries to India, leading to the first-of-its-kind company in India.

Married to Vellayan Subbiah of the Murugappa Group, Subbiah feels that her background has been both, helpful in achieving her dream, and a source of added expectations. However, a master juggler, she attributes a large part of her success to being able to maintain a balance between work and home. “Sometimes it feels like there are not enough hours in a day. But you have to strike a balance, whether that's helping my son with maths problems at work, or working while on vacation before the kids wake up,” she says.

With so many feathers in her hat already, we can’t help but ask what’s on her professional bucket list. “When prospective couples become as matter-of-fact about creating a wedding registry as they are about deciding on the invitation, My job will be done.” Well, for a woman whose professional aim is to make our gifts better, we can only hope for raging success.