At Business Unusual 2025, Sonal C Holland and Shefalee Vasudev revealed how wine, clothing & culture quietly shape personal branding and powerful storytelling
Session 4 of Business Unusual 2025 unfolded like a finely layered narrative – rich, reflective & deeply personal. Moderated by Somak Ghoshal, the session titled “Coffee, Khadi & Wine: Encounters with Excellence” explored a deceptively simple question: What can identity tell us about who we are – and how does personal branding emerge through storytelling? What followed was an intimate conversation with Sonal C Holland and Shefalee Vasudev, two women whose careers prove that ‘taste’, when lived authentically, becomes a language of its own.
From the outset, the dialogue opened doors into the backgrounds and inner worlds of both speakers. Creating an emotional and unconventional moment, Sonal C Holland shared that the session coincided with the launch of her first book, One in a Billion –a story written from the heart and lived with fierce intention. The book chronicles her extraordinary journey in the wine world, a space once considered exclusive, elitist, and distant from middle-class India.
Sonal spoke candidly about leaving behind a high-paying corporate career, armed with clarity about what she didn’t want, even before fully knowing what lay ahead. Wine entered her life almost serendipitously. In a country where wine was consumed by a privileged few, she saw not a barrier, but potential. After identifying her core strengths, communication and networking, she had set an audacious goal: to become India’s first Master of Wine, the highest and most demanding certification in the global wine industry.
One in a Billion traces her journey from a middle-class Mumbai upbringing to becoming the first Indian (and one of the few women globally) to earn the ‘Master of Wine’ title. Along the way, Sonal demystifies wine tasting, the Indian wine market, and the technical intricacies of production, while sprinkling in delightful nuggets that make wine feel accessible rather than intimidating. “Wine came as a bolt of lightning, out of nowhere,” she said, adding with conviction, “Wine is all about storytelling.” For her, wine evokes memory, emotion, and conversation – an identity expressed through the senses.
If Sonal’s medium was wine, Shefalee Vasudev’s was clothing, culture, and context. A journalist, cultural commentator, and narrative psychotherapist, she had spent over three decades shaping Indian lifestyle and fashion discourse. As Editor-in-Chief of The Voice of Fashion and the first editor of Marie Claire India, her work has always looked beyond trends into ‘meaning’.
Her book Stories We Wear is a compelling exploration of silent narratives – those stitched into everyday lives we often pass by. From cremation grounds to coffee shops, khadi debates to airport lounges, Shefalee uncovered how identity is quietly expressed through what we wear and what we erase. With a journalist’s eye and a storyteller’s empathy, she showed how fashion becomes political, personal, and profoundly communicative.
Somak Ghoshal steered the conversation toward the idea of ‘taste’- in wine, in clothes, and in life. Shefalee observed that taste reveals itself most clearly in difference. Referring to politicians and public figures, including the Prime Minister, she noted how clothing choices become deliberate signals. “Fashion is not always about beauty,” she said. “Difference is taste.”
Addressing the perception of wine as a ‘snobbish’ pursuit – and the uniqueness of the Indian palate, Sonal responded swiftly: tasting, she believes, is a learned skill. “Taste evolves,” she added. Importantly, she chose not to merely import foreign sensibilities, but to groom the Indian wine market, respecting local preferences and cultural context.
Challenges, both speakers agreed, are inevitable when forging unconventional paths. Shefalee shared that her compass has always been ‘uniqueness’. “I prefer to be surrounded by people who cheer me on,” she said firmly, “and I always shut out the noise!!”
Turning to Gen Z and Alpha, Somak asked how younger generations use identity as storytelling. Sonal reflected on their sense of unsettlement, visible even in dress codes, while Shefalee was unequivocal: Gen Z cannot be ignored. Experimental, expressive, and narrative-driven, they are perhaps more decisive than ever about taste.
Session 4 left the audience with a powerful realization: whether through wine or wardrobe, identity is not declared – it is lived. And in that living lies the most compelling story of all.
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