In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Vaishali James, ex-CMO of OpenTap, Community Director for AnitaB.org and mentor at HopeWorks FoundationVaishali starts the episode with a very funny interaction of giving a technology solution ahead of its timeShe shares her tryst with doing an engagement on brand alignment and how simple steps could be taken at different levels to create that viable and clear brand promise to the end customerVaishali talks about the cross section of people who have to come together to understand each other's vantage point before creating a coherent marketing story.She shares about why she took the plunge towards the startup - OpenTap that worked in the financial inclusion spaceShe also shares experiences as the co-Founder and what it takes to be in the financial spaceImpact of Covid and what it took for the company and needing to shutdown the firmVaishali shares how her own modest upbringing has influenced her to create an ecosystem where women can depend on one another for a sense of sisterhoodVaishali shares her experiences of being a mentor and community director for the AnitaB.org and Hopeworks foundation and how its deeply ful fillingWhat it took to unlearn from hi-tea in corporate world to having coffee with the customers in their humble housesVaishali is the brand aficionado and a deep understanding of developing products. She has worked for 19 years in different roles as a marketeer for Servion Software. Later she became the co-founder and CMO for OpenTap for 5 years. Vaishali has the additional benefit of understanding / working on designing and aligning organizational strategy across all functions with the brand strategy to ensure that brand conversations externally and internally talk the same language. So that, the entire organization works towards living and breathing a single ideology to ensure that the promise and the experience is consistent – both internally and externally.Vaishali can be reached in https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaishali-james-25066815/