WOW STORY OF THE DAY: From a Mumbai Living Room to India, Singapore, and the UAE: The Bloomingdale PR Story

A Living Room, a Commerce Degree, and Ten Years of Learning Before the Leap

•⁠  ⁠Diana Fernandes grew up in Mumbai as, by her own admission, an introvert with few friends. Her mother who built a corporate gifting business across forty years - she would accompany her as a child to client meetings across the city on buses and trains, watching her build something brick by brick from the very beginning.

•⁠  ⁠⁠"When I see everything she has achieved, it reminds me that I've only just begun," Diana says.

•⁠  ⁠⁠She completed a Bachelor's in Commerce and an MBA in Marketing and HR before spending a decade at Planman Marcom in business development 1st, then followed by client servicing, and media relations. That decade became her training ground. When she moved on in 2013, she thought she would join her mom’s business full time; however she knew that PR was her calling. That belief and trust of people who had experienced her work firsthand, was the only validation she needed. 

•⁠  ⁠⁠She set up Bloomingdale from her living room with three ex-colleagues. The workstations were bought with personal savings. The first clients were two or three. The ambition was enormous.

 The CEO Decision That Changed Everything

•⁠  ⁠The single decision that transformed Bloomingdale from a boutique agency into an institution was one that surprised almost everyone around Diana: she brought in a CEO in 2024.

•⁠  ⁠When she announced the hire, the question she heard most often was: "Why do you need a CEO? Are you planning to step back?"

•⁠  ⁠⁠Her answer was the opposite of what people expected. "I didn't want to step back. I wanted to move several steps forward."

•⁠  ⁠⁠That shift, from running an agency to building an institution, forced Diana to think in systems, in scale, and in structures that would outlast any individual. Vikram Kharvi, with over 27 years of experience across Adfactors PR, Tata Housing, and Indian Express, joined as CEO, bringing the operational depth that allowed Diana to focus on vision and growth.

•⁠  ⁠⁠The result was acceleration. Bloomingdale expanded from Mumbai across India, & widened its reach from just Singapore in 2018, into the UAE, building on-ground teams across markets. Today the agency operates across India, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the UAE. It launched GROW, a dedicated cross-border practice connecting Southeast Asian brands entering India and Indian brands expanding across Asia, with various among its multi-market clients.

Scale, Recognition and Real-World Impact

Bloomingdale Public Relations was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Mumbai. It has partnered with over 200 brands across sectors including startups, technology, hospitality, lifestyle, real estate, healthcare, and FMCG. Clients include Arrow by Arvind Brands, Hyfun Foods, Antler Global VC, Mad Over Donuts, Mokobara, Crunchyroll, Naturals Ice Cream, Kaspersky, Safari Industries and Brother International India. The agency recently won three awards at the Business World Marketing Awards, including Rising PR Agency of the Year. It has offices and teams in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Singapore, and the UAE, with delivery capabilities extending to Southeast Asia, Middle East & the United States.

 The Loudest Voice in the Room Is Rarely the Most Influential One

•⁠  ⁠The sharpest lesson from Diana Fernandes's twelve-year entrepreneurial journey & 22 years in the industry is the one she has lived every single day since she opened that living room office in 2013.

•⁠  ⁠⁠"You don't need to be the loudest in the room. You need to be the most relevant.” She however jokes about herself being very loud, but always relevant!

•⁠  ⁠⁠She built a PR agency on the principle that visibility without substance is noise. That credibility, built consistently across markets, clients, and conversations, is a compounding asset that no marketing budget can buy outright. She watched larger agencies walk away with tables full of trophies, and she built toward that moment one quiet, consistent year at a time.

•⁠  ⁠⁠The agency she built is a reflection of that philosophy: deeply involved in every client relationship, focused on long-term brand equity rather than short-term moments, and led by a founder who still shows up every day because, as she puts it, stagnation scares her more than anything else.

⁠”In a world chasing visibility, choose substance," Diana says. "That's what truly lasts.”

•⁠  ⁠Twelve years in. 200-plus brands. Three continents. And by her own account, she has only just begun.

Sources: WOWNEWS24X7