Building Stori | Head Personal Branding & Content Marketing | Personal Branding Strategist | Managing Brands & People

I’m a marketing strategist with 4+ years of experience working across personal branding, influencer marketing, content strategy, and creator-led storytelling.
I’ve worked closely with coaches, founders, and creators - helping them shape narratives, build personal brands from the inside out, and show up online with clarity and confidence.

Over the years, I’ve interacted with countless influencers and digital creators, understanding deeply what drives visibility, trust, and audience loyalty.
This experience has shaped the way I approach marketing:
not as a loud performance, but as a human conversation.

For the past two years, I’ve also been building and strategising a newsletter from scratch.
A big part of this work involves researching how real people communicate - digging into Reddit threads, analysing LinkedIn posts, studying creator patterns, and speaking to people who show up authentically online.
From all these insights, we create simple, actionable prompts that make personal branding feel less intimidating and more accessible.

And then there’s my other identity - the writer.
For the last 1.5 years, I’ve been working quietly on my personal blog, where I talk about emotions, womanhood, the things we internalise, and the feelings we rarely articulate.
It’s where I’ve discovered that sharing honestly creates space for others to say, “I feel that too.”

My work is strategy.
My writing is honesty.
My brand is a blend of both.

If you’re someone who values storytelling, authenticity, emotional depth, and marketing that feels human - we’re speaking the same language.

Shivi Jalota

Malay Damania

Principal Owner

DNV & Co.

Partner

BUSINESS COACH for MSMEs | Chartered Accountant | AUTHOR - Business Champ | PODCAST HOST - Business Veda | YOUTUBER | Keynote Speaker

For the past 30+ years, I’ve been mentoring entrepreneurs, decision makers, and business owners - helping them move from stagnation to sustainable growth.

Over time, I’ve realized most businesses don’t fail because of lack of effort, but because they lack clarity, structure, and accountability. That’s where I come in.

I work closely with entrepreneurs to:

* Define a clear vision and set achievable goals.
* Build a robust business plan for every division.
* Draw our Systems, Processes and SOPs
* Create reporting templates to track key business parameters.
* Establish regular review meetings so teams stay aligned on performance and financials.

In short, I help you run your business like a pro so you can finally sit on top of it, not under it.

Beyond mentoring, I also run Book Summary Sessions - a powerful way to learn and discuss business lessons from the world’s best books, in a time efficient and engaging manner.

I’m also the author of Business Champ, a book born out of my years of experience with businesses that have failed, stagnated and succeeded.

And if you’d like regular bite sized business wisdom, subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@malaydamania

Want to explore how I can help your business? Drop me a DM and book a 15-min FREE consultation.

✉️ malay@malaydamania.com

Big news for India’s retail & F&B ecosystem!


McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC, Haldiram Snacks Food Pvt. Ltd., Subway and several major QSR brands are soon opening outlets inside Indian railway stations. 

A move that’s far bigger than just ‘another expansion’.

Here’s what this really means for business - 

1. Footfall that brands dream of
Indian Railways sees over 3.5 crore passengers daily.
Even a 0.5% conversion per station can outperform many high-street locations.

2. High-volume, low-CAC model
Railway stations offer ready-made traffic.
Brands won’t have to burn money on attracting customers - the customers are already there.

3. Convenience is the new currency
Travellers today expect safe, fast, hygienic food options
The QSR industry is simply solving a massive, underserved demand

4. Railways = India’s largest retail real estate
With 7,000+ stations, this move opens one of largest untapped F&B opportunities in the country.

This isn’t just a win for passengers, it’s a case study in strategic expansion & intelligent positioning.

#trending

CA Malay Damania

Business Coach for Practicing CAs | Consultant for Restaurant Owners | Keynote Speaker | Youtuber | Author of Business Champ

Rather than Italy or Spain, this man chose INDIA for F&B industry!


Bert Mueller grew up in a middle class neighborhood in Silver Spring, Maryland. He studied music and public policy in college. 

Not the type you'd bet on to crack India’s F&B market.

While everyone else chose Italy or Spain to study abroad, Bert chose India. He wanted to go somewhere that would break his worldview.

In the chaos and crowds where even Indians barely make it, Bert found his calling. In December 2011, he moved to Bengaluru with one insight: 
"India doesn’t reward the bold. It rewards the patient."

In October 2012, he launched the first California Burrito. But he had:

No supply chain.
No flavor familiarity.
No existing models to copy.

He raised $250,000 from friends and family. 
And set to challenge India’s unpredictable market.

To make Mexican food taste California-authentic AND India-approachable, Bert had to rebuild the entire supply chain from scratch:

As ingredients in India taste different, he spent years with his team reformulating every input. And while everyone else was competing on discounts, CB built a moat in operations:

Let's break down their $23M revenue (FY22-23):
Food + Packaging: 37%
Labour: 12%
Marketing: 4%
Real Estate: 9%
Corporate Overhead: 5%

Net: 10%
Most QSR chains at this scale run at 5–8%.

From living in a humble duplex in Bengaluru to running a 103-store chain, Bert’s relationship with India transformed from visitor → operator → citizen of the growth story.

And he plans on opening 300 stores by 2030 + IPO in India.

I believe what leaders can take from him is:

Build local supply chains.
Don’t fight India. Flow with it.
Build systems that survive unpredictability.

That’s how CB became a masterclass in operations.

1,600 franchise enquiries in 48 hours.


All this for a chai brand built by a man who started with a cart.

There’s a lot to learn from the Dolly Chaiwala story - especially if you’re in F&B, retail, or simply building a brand from scratch.

Many people call it cringe, but he's built a successful business from it. 

Here are 4 business lessons hidden behind this viral headline:

1. A strong personal brand is a business model in itself.
Dolly didn’t scale because of tea. He scaled because of storytelling, uniqueness and recall.

When the face becomes the differentiator, the product automatically becomes conversation worthy.

2. The ₹20 - 22 lakh franchise model is not the hero. The demand is.
1,600 applications in 48 hours signals two things:
✔ India’s appetite for F&B franchises is exploding
✔ Investors are actively looking for low-ticket, high-footfall businesses

3. F&B today is about “Instagram value” as much as “taste value.”

Aesthetics sell.
Experience sells.
A brand that gives people something to talk about wins more than a brand that only serves a good product.

Dolly Chaiwala is proof that your look, vibe and content are just as important as your menu.

4. Right timing + consistency = exponential growth.
His international virality, celeb collaborations, and the Modi clip earlier this year built massive recall.

Most businesses struggle not because they don’t work hard, but because they don’t launch at the right time.

This isn’t a chai story.
This is a brand positioning and demand creation masterclass.

#trending #opinion

Talent blooms in the right environment.
Not in the right intentions.


You can be the most hardworking, kind, supportive, or committed person in the room. 
But if you’re in the wrong room, none of it will matter.

The wrong environment will:
 - Overlook your efforts
 - Misread your intentions
 - Underestimate your potential
 - Take your strengths for granted

And slowly, you start thinking something is wrong with you, when the only thing wrong was the place.

Choose places that recognize your worth, not just expect your work.

#quote

If there’s one book that can genuinely shift the way you start your day, it's this!


The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.

I presented this book into my Book Summary Seminar Series, because the ideas are simple, but the impact is massive.

Here are 4 takeaways that stayed with me -

1. Your mornings decide your momentum.
Most people start their day reacting - rushing, scrolling, catching up.
But when you begin with intention, your whole day moves differently.

2. The SAVERS routine is a game changer.
Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, Scribing.
Just 10 minutes of each can compound into life-changing clarity and discipline.

3. Small habits → big identity shifts.
You don’t need a dramatic makeover. You just need daily, repeatable actions that slowly turn into the person you want to become.

✨ 4. Change your mornings, change your self-belief.
The real magic isn’t waking up early, it’s waking up to your potential.
You start building trust with yourself.

This book is a game changer for those looking to change their lives!

If you'd like to be a part of the Book Summary club, DM BOOKS.

#book #learning

Respect doesn't come from how rich you are..


Or how qualified, skilled or well positioned you are.

Respect should not be subjective. It should be mandatory. 
Because this is a kind of behavior everyone deserves. 

In a world where money, position or power decides respect, be someone who shows it every step of the way.

That's how a happy environment is created. 

#thought

How do you sell 500,000+ units in 72 hours?


By doing what most brands still ignore!

SNITCH just pulled off something unbelievable this Black Friday - 5 lakh+ units sold in 72 hours.
Nearly 2 items sold every second.

For a homegrown fashion brand, this isn’t a sale, it’s a masterclass in speed, systems, and scalability.

Here’s what truly impresses me -

1. They built a brand before they built a sale.
Snitch didn’t discount to survive, they discounted to dominate.
Their demand was already strong because their community was strong.

2. They mastered operations like a tech company.
Look at that warehouse image - chaos in numbers, order in execution.
This kind of scale doesn’t happen on Black Friday.
It happens in the 200 days of preparation before Black Friday.

3. They behaved like a D2C brand with enterprise discipline.
From SKUs to supply chain, from drops to delivery - Snitch runs on a system, not on hope.
Many brands market hard but prepare soft. Snitch does the opposite.

4. They understood one thing: customers buy experience, not clothes.
Fast trends, fast deliveries, and fast responses!
That’s the new luxury today.

This achievement isn’t luck.
It’s operational maturity + demand intelligence + culture of execution.

As someone who has worked with F&B and retail businesses for decades,
I can tell you this - numbers don’t scale, systems do.

And Snitch has clearly built systems that are ahead of the market.

Massive respect to Siddharth DUNGARWAL and team.
You didn’t just break records, you set new benchmarks.

#snitch #blackfriday

taplio

The Battle

Shivi Jalota

Malay Damania

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreMalay Damania's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Shivi Jalota

Malay Damania

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Malay Damania's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMalay Damania's LinkedIn Performance