Karina Aggarwal

An ex-journalist, Aggarwal has consulted with several alcohol brands through the last decade, including with Terai, where she’s the Vice President, showcasing how storytelling can propel spirits to new heights

- SUMAN MAHFUZ QUAZI

576 miles away from Behror in Rajasthan - where Terai's stateof-the-art distillery sits - a lady all the way in Varanasi fashions the gin maker's botanical waste into candles and other wax products. Like her, other women at the helm of small-scale businesses help them with custom corks, Channapatna stoppers, cases and other elements that require embroidery or artwork.

This is an extension of Terai's eagerness to build it into a brand "with heart." And Karina Aggarwal - who leads communication, branding and storytelling for them as their Vice President - has played a considerable role in shaping it.

"The idea was always to show Terai as a brand that celebrated the spirit of craft, and this was something Shekhar [Swarup, founder] was very keen on, too. Craft, in our case, extends to more than just being a craft beverage. So, using Indian handicrafts, art and culture, is what we define as craft. And that conveys through multiple ways, such as in our stoppers or the artwork on the walls of our distillery. For me, it was important to showcase that we were a thinking brand versus a fly-by-night one," says Aggarwal, who joined the team a few months shy of their launch in November 2020. The same year our lives were rocked by a global health disaster.