Anjali Virmani is the Global Head of Creative Solutions at Time Out Media. Shuttling between 10 global offices with a brief of 333 cities, she crafts and implements the Time Out global brand story, strategy, and identity, building bridges between the Time Out brand and its consumers globally.

Anjali’s passion for diversity, uniting, and empowering people of all ages and cultures shines through in her life and career. She sees her role at Time Out as a gateway to building bridges between brands and consumers and fostering connections worldwide. And she is in a unique position to unite diverse communities through the shared experiences of food, culture, and general joy.

Anjali shares her incredible journey from her childhood, always feeling out of place, to finally finding her home in New York and Time Out. She reveals the challenges and the exhilaration of managing the amazingly diverse Time Out brand. We dive deep into the evolving nature of DEI, race, and what it means to be South Asian for our generation compared to our parents. We go into breaking out of the mold of Good Indian Girl and the importance of learning new things. Finally, we reflect on being the freest South Asian generation and look forward to a new era of diversity for our children even if we still have a long way to go.

• The Lowdown on Time Out: Time Out’s story from its humble origins as a free magazine to its rise as a global brand + the excitement of creating food spaces and music festivals in Lisbon, Abu Dhabi. and New York + the challenges of appealing to Gen Z (5:38)
• Spreading the Time Out Message: The challenges of combining local, national, and global brands + traveling in Asia and Europe + future expansion of Time Out into Barcelona and Budapest (12:45)
• “Indians Come In All Shades, Right?”: Anjali shares her story of growing up in Manchester and the US as the only brown girl, not knowing if she’s white or black, and finding her voice in the “blonde hair” publishing world + the joy of living in New York and having a mix of everything + the shift from “multicultural” to “mainstream” marketing and uniting diverse cultures rather than emphasizing “otherness” (20:03)
• Our Parents and Us: Anjali on moving to the United States at 10 years old + Anjali and Ami envy their parents’ social lives and sense of community + how parents allow their children freedom while keeping them grounded + how the price of freedom can be loneliness (27:48)
• Back In The Day: - Anjali shares her early days of acting and tending bar and always wanting to do new things + backpacking and worrying her poor parents + how South Asian parents give their children freedom while keeping them grounded (31:13)
• Rapid Fast Round: (38:11)
• Anjali’s Bucket List: (39:39)

Connect with Anjali:

• LinkedIn Profile
• Time Out

Let’s talk Connect:

• Instagram

This podcast is produced by Ginni Media.