For Srishti Narayan, the chief marketing officer for Tourism Fiji, ensuring that brand Fiji is represented on a global stage in the most authentic, impactful, distinctive way, and positioned as a leading must visit destination, sits squarely on her shoulders.
This 41-year-old power woman was born in Suva and moved to Wellington with her parents at the age of five after Fiji’s first coup.
Srishti completed primary and secondary school in Wellington and did a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration with honours at Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in International Business and Management. Although she’s practically lived abroad for most of her life, she still has wonderful memories of her early years in Fiji, between Suva where her dad’s family is from, and Navua her mum’s family is from.
“My earliest memories are full of time spent with family (usually over food!) and running around outside with my cousins,” she shard with The Sunday Times.
While she had dreams of studying design and creative writing, she decided on a ‘safe’ good all-round degree that would open doors for her.
“I was really interested in community development when I left university, and the first few years of my career were based in that field.
“I fell into a PR role while I was living in Kuala Lumpur because I like to write, and that was really the start of my marketing and comms career, and the field I later decided to explore more deeply when I got back to NZ.”
Picture: SUPPLIED
Srishti has been in marketing for almost 15 years and held roles across Asia and New Zealand in several industries including finance, advertising, and media.
Prior to taking up her role at Tourism Fiji as the head of global marketing, she led the Trade Marketing team at New Zealand’s largest media company, Stuff Ltd.
Her marketing experience spans across leadership, brand and digital strategy, campaign development and integrated marketing.
When the role at Tourism Fiji came up, Srishti was at a happy place in her life in New Zealand, but this was an opportunity that spoke to her heart.
“Being born in Fiji, it’s an enormous privilege to be able to contribute to my birthplace in a professional capacity.”
She shared that as a marketer one often had to walk a fine line between ‘the brands you work on and your own values’. At Tourism Fiji, she finds the perfect balance of personal connection and professional skills.
“When I started as Head of Global Marketing, I knew the CMO role could be an opportunity in the future, as our former CMO knew she would be wrapping up her time in Fiji at some point for her family.
“When the opportunity came up, I followed a formal application process and was interviewed amongst other candidates. That was important to me because I wanted to get the CMO role on merit – because I was the best person for it.”
Srishti has had a varied and rewarding career where she has tried to take opportunities that genuinely interested and excited her.
“I’ve taken a few different tangents through the years but I’m glad I’ve tried different things because I’ve gained transferable skills and learnt to be adaptable and resilient.”
As guiding principles, she feels that choosing a boss that she would learn from was critical including environments where growth, diversity and innovation were valued.
“I’ve also always been drawn to brands that are making a positive social impact, and as I get older, I find it’s becoming more and more important for me to work for brands that are doing something good in the world.”
Srishti and her Fiji-based marketing team of 12 span across global campaigns and partnerships, communications and public relations, content and digital.
“I work alongside my incredible team based in Fiji, and our international teams to create marketing and communications that reach high value audiences in our key markets.
“Our goal is to encourage more people to come and experience Fiji’s diverse regions, activities, and culture in a sustainable way, so the whole country benefits from the impacts of tourism.
“One of the favourite parts of my job is working with such a passionate and committed team and seeing them grow and develop.”
Stressful situations are an expected part of her role as working in the tourism industry often involved big events and travelling which may not always be a nine to five job.
“But that’s also what keeps it exciting and varied. I think most marketers are inspired by the world around them and therefor on the job all the time, which makes taking time out consciously to rest and recharge even more important.”
In the past Srishti had the tendency to push through the stress which eventually led to burn out and various health issues but over the years she has learnt to stay in balance.
“I’m social but I’m also someone who needs my own space and lots of downtime to recharge – so for me that means not overloading my weeknights, not scheduling my diary backtoback every weekend, and having enough time to rest and reflect.
“I’m also learning the art of saying no (very much a work in progress), being protective of where my time and energy goes, and staying focused on things that deliver impact rather than things that distract attention but have low returns.”
She says for most part of her career which she has spent in a corporate environment, her biggest challenges were pushing for inclusion and sometimes just being a brown woman in the western corporate world trying to drive change.
“Some corporates are really set in their ways so coming in with a different perspective is not always welcomed.
“I’m really lucky that this is not the case at Tourism Fiji, and we work hard to have a workplace that’s inclusive, supportive and welcomes new ideas.”
Aside from work, Srishti loves travelling, reading, listening to music, going to gigs, eating, cooking, staying active and doing anything related to wellness and healing.
A couple of years ago, she did a reiki course, a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that promotes healing through gentle hand movements on the body. Since then she loves doing it on her friends and family.
Srishti owes her achievements in life to her parents and grandparents who instilled in her the values of hard work, respect for people and the environment, and the power of giving back.
“They made sure my sister and I, and our cousins, are deeply connected to where we’re from and the story of our ancestors,”she said.
“I really appreciate the sacrifices both generations have made to give us access to so many opportunities.”
