Payal Vaidya is Managing Director - Customer Experience (CX) at VMLY&R India. She is a design leader, strategist, facilitator and entrepreneur with 20 years of global experience in transforming brands and businesses through collaborative leadership, creative thinking and problem-solving skills. She thinks in systems to bridge gaps and create innovative solutions that build long term value for organizations through human-centered design (HCD).
Payal is formally trained in Design Thinking and HCD, and holds a Master’s in Design Management from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD, US). She co-founded The Thinking Hats, an Innovation Consultancy in New York City and has helped start-ups, not-for-profits and Fortune 500 companies launch, sustain and innovate their brands, experiences, products and services. She is passionate about designing with purpose, putting people first and creating a sustainable impact for businesses and the planet.
She speaks at national and global events, mentors women leaders in WPP through the STELLA program, South Asian women at the Third Eye Collective in NYC, Designers at ADPList, and has served as the Chair and Host of the Service Design Speaker series at International Society of Service Innovation Professionals (ISSIP), US and Europe.
Outside of work, you’ll find her at a pottery studio experimenting with clay, taking in the nature on her long walks or obsessively facetiming her nephew and niece. She’s always looking for a reason to run to the mountains or to New York City.
