Effective leadership goes beyond fitting into a stereotype: Sheetal Vanwari

The landscape of coworking spaces in India is changing, and Sheetal Vanwari, Chief Marketing Officer of Awfis Space Solutions Limited, offers a front-row perspective on what it takes to lead in this sector. With Awfis’ focus shifting towards Tier II cities and its direct-to-consumer (D2C) approach, Vanwari’s role goes beyond traditional marketing. Her work bridges customer insights, long-term strategy, and community-driven experiences, shaping a brand that caters to modern workforce needs.

In this conversation, Vanwari shares how a typical day at Awfis involves balancing the intricacies of operational execution with strategic vision. Each day at Awfis involves everything from checking performance metrics to planning new initiatives and engaging with customers through events and reports. 

In this conversation, Vanwari shares the lessons and experiences that have shaped her leadership style over the years and how she continues to guide Awfis through an ever-changing industry. 

Edited Excerpts:

Can you walk us through a typical day in your role as the CMO of Awfis? What are the key focus areas that occupy your time, and how do you balance strategic planning with operational execution?

As anyone in marketing knows, there’s no typical day so maybe I can take you through some of those rare days that go as planned. Generally, it starts with reviewing daily social media and SEM performance followed by catching up on industry news. New initiatives, campaigns, and interdepartmental collaborative projects take up the rest of the morning. The second half of the day is spent catching up on deliverables with the team, maybe visiting other centres, stakeholder meetings and brainstorming. Thanks to a very strong team, I’m able to give due time to planning and long-term brand strategy along with new launches and initiatives, while the team flawlessly executes and handles their individual projects end to end.

As a newly listed company, and the first in our category, our focus areas are to continue enhancing the customer experience, work on bettering our ROI, especially on new customer acquisitions and retain our leadership position through concentrated branding efforts. Going public comes with its fair share of responsibility and learnings and it’s an exciting time for us. 

Awfis has seen remarkable growth since its launch. How has the brand's positioning evolved over the years? What would you say is the core USP that sets Awfis apart from its competitors in the coworking space?

Since its inception in 2015, Awfis has transformed India's corporate real estate landscape through its customer-centric approach and spectrum of workspace solutions. As one of the pioneers of flex in India with the largest network, the Awfis brand always stood for consistent delivery. Today, Awfis stands as a trusted and reputed brand that has placed flexible workspaces at the forefront of commercial real estate by pioneering key innovations, including the Managed Aggregation business model, online booking of workspaces, expansion into Tier II cities, and a commitment to transparent pricing. Over time with its many firsts, the brand has established itself as a thought leader in the flex sector by curating conversations on the ever-evolving workspace sector, whether it’s through podcasts, webinars, guest blogs or collaborative industry reports. As India’s first publicly listed flexible workspace provider, Awfis has paved the way for emerging businesses to take bold steps in this dynamic sector.   

Awfis has adopted a D2C approach in its marketing strategy. Can you walk us through the key customer touchpoints that you focus on? How do these touchpoints help build deeper connections with your target audience?

When you think about our product and the fact that our TG is a captive audience in our own spaces, Awfis' direct-to-consumer (D2C) approach makes perfect sense. We have deep insights into their behaviour and access to their journey from an offline and online perspective. We can further break this journey by product. For eg: our mobility products which include Meeting rooms, Day passes and Virtual Offices, have a very distinct user type and a huge potential for cross-selling.  For this audience, who uses our services sporadically, the main touchpoints are email and WhatsApp. Whereas, for longer-term customers, the touchpoints are incentre marketing along with community engagement. In the last fiscal year alone, we hosted over 700 pop-up stores, collaborated with 200+ brands, and organized more than 450 events. These community-driven activities continue to foster networking opportunities and strengthen relationships among our clients. We also use space and people insights to create industry reports for other stakeholders like our latest Awfis Unwind report which deep dives into consumption behaviour amongst the modern workforce.

While coworking spaces have traditionally thrived in Tier I cities, is there significant want in Tier II and III towns? Or does Tier I still hold a lot of potential for growth in this sector?

We have witnessed tremendous potential in Tier II cities for flexible workspaces due to the growing influx of entrepreneurs, SMEs and demand from GCCs. With 90% of our operations currently in Tier ! and 10% in Tier II, we are shifting this focus to balance our growth by expanding aggressively in Tier II cities, targeting 15% in Tier II and 85% in Tier I. Cities like Indore, Jaipur, and Bhubaneswar are emerging as key markets due to the availability of skilled talent, cost-effective real estate, overall quality of living and increasing focus on infrastructure development.

In previous discussions, you've highlighted how some brands today are built with short-term, fast-track growth strategies. In an era where customers are often treated as "look-alike" audiences, how do you think brands can build genuine customer loyalty through their marketing efforts?

The simple answer to building genuine customer loyalty? Build products that genuinely help and better a customer’s life. Market them through authentic conversations and be consistent in your delivery. It’s not the catchy slogan, the price tag or the influencer – it’s the BTS work in getting to know your customer, and their journey, and then adding value to their life. At Awfis, we're passionate about customer experience. We spend time understanding our customers and building meaningful connections through personalized experiences. We listen, adapt, and deliver tailored solutions, fostering connections through community events and initiatives. By prioritizing empathy, trust, and mutual growth, we have built a strong and loyal community who have today become our brand advocates. Our members aren't just customers – they are also our partners who keep us grounded and encourage us to do better every day.  

You’ve worked with Awfis for close to a decade, rising from a general manager to becoming the CMO. Could you share a pivotal moment or challenge during this journey that significantly shaped your leadership style? How do these experiences inform your decisions and actions today as a leader?

When your growth is parallel to a company’s growth, the company’s values become ingrained and a part of your leadership style. There were 3 distinct phases in my journey at Awfis – The startup phase – We were young, raring to go, and the world was our oyster. During this phase, my workstyle was all hands on deck, experimenting with new initiatives, quick ideas, and quicker turnaround times. We were growing fast as an organization and marketing was instrumental in laying the building blocks to the brand we were going to become. The second phase was during the pandemic and this period marked the growth of the company, our network and us, as a team. The culture of empathy and open communication which was solidified during this time still holds true and is part of the leadership DNA in Awfis. Finally, while we always anticipated the company’s listing, as the vision was consistently communicated, the actual experience brought a reserve of strength and resilience that I wasn’t sure I possessed. Going through the listing process has been a valuable learning journey, marking a new chapter that can feel quite overwhelming. As brand custodians we are aligned with the company’s vision; the world is watching, and every decision we make carries weight.  

Inclusivity is an essential point of conversation across industries. How does Awfis ensure that inclusivity is embedded both in its creative marketing efforts and internal corporate culture? Can you share any specific initiatives that stand out in this regard?

When we talk about inclusivity, we generally tend to think about it in terms of 2-3 parameters, but it is so much more. Diversity extends beyond gender and age, encompassing various personality types so that we create a welcoming space where everyone can be their authentic selves. We try our best to ensure that our marketing efforts are not token gestures but real conversations. For eg: one of our GenFlex reports, we had extensive surveys to understand workforce preferences across generations, geographies, and genders. We use these learnings to design spaces to cater to their divergent needs. Inclusivity is not restricted to marketing, it’s in the spaces we build, it’s a part of our culture, and it’s being aware that it’s an evolving process, and we all have a long way to go. 

What is your leadership philosophy, and how has it evolved over the years? Additionally, what advice would you offer to young professionals entering the marketing industry today, especially in a fast-evolving B2B space like coworking?

My philosophy can be summed up as ‘You do You. Find a place that celebrates your uniqueness and encourages you to be yourself. There are too many people telling young professionals what to do so my only advice to them would be to be clear about what they want and go wherever they can find it. Similarly, effective leadership goes beyond fitting into a stereotype or role model of who a leader, a woman, or a woman leader needs to be and instead focuses on being authentic and building qualities that contribute to a positive work environment

In your earlier advertising days, you mentioned how high-stress environments affect your mental health. With the benefit of hindsight, what advice would you give your younger self in those early, fast-paced years? How do you manage stress and work-life balance in your current role?

It’s easy to look back and be unaffected but when you’re in the moment and so involved, it’s difficult to not get stressed. My go-to mechanism then and now is to have a life outside of work. Something you love, and helps you really disconnect from work. And please, this doesn’t include doing things to put on Instagram to show the world what a great time you’re having – that’s another stress by itself!