The Organizing Team
Festival Director
Sharif D. Rangnekar
The author of Straight To Normal – My Life As A Gay Man, Sharif has over 25 years of work experience in the fields of journalism and communications. He currently provides counsel in the areas of workplace sensitisation (LGBT), communications , issues and crisis management. He is also the frontman of the Indie band – Friends of Linger.
A gay activist, he uses prose, poetry, workshops, music and events as a means to express his views on LGBT rights. At the same time, he is an advisor to the PR Trust looking at the area of civil rights and how to advocate change through communications for the queer community. He curates Embrace: Music Justice Arts – a platform that brings together Indie artists, social justice leaders, musicians and academia. He was named PR Person of the Year in 2013 and was part of the Global PR Power List in 2014.
creative Director
Pankaj Malhotra
With over a decade in the event and hospitality industry, Pankaj is the Managing Director (India, South Asia and CIS region) for Pulse Universal – a global event firm. He is also Group Head Events at Epic India.
A chef by qualification and interest, Pankaj has had varied interests from music to dance to people. The combination has led him to support innovation within his firm and outside too. His love for people (he believes a lot of his learnings come from them), instinctively led him to support Embrace: Music Justice Arts for over two years now. For him, every moment can be Epic!
