WOW Awards 2022: Meet the Jury Members of the Experiential Celebrations Group

by  Mugdha Gaonkar Business Events | June 27, 2022 | News

WOW Awards 2022 Experiential Celebrations Group WOW Jury

WOW Awards - Asia’s largest business and recognition platform for the Experiential Marketing, MICE, LIVE Entertainment and Wedding industry is all set to host its 13th edition.

The WOW Awards Asia 2022 is now open for entries in 125 categories across 5 groups. The five groups of categories are Experiential Marketing (Group A), Experiential Celebrations (Group B), Experiential Management (Group C), Experiential Venues (Group D) and Live Quotient (Group E).

With a two-phased judging process by jury members, audited and validated by KPMG, awards will be announced during the glittering ceremony. Each Jury member is selected from complementing backgrounds with extensive experience in the industry to ensure complete transparency in the judging process. Jury members are particularly very knowledgeable and thus have an upper hand in deciding the most deserving winner.

While you enter your best work in the event & experiential domain with the intent to take the coveted metal home, it’s time you meet the jury members of the Experiential Celebrations Group at the 13th Edition of WOW Awards Asia 2022.

Experiential Celebrations known as Group B includes various aspects of weddings, celebratory and social events. It is all about the full series of functions, celebrations, and ceremonies as part of a wedding, a milestone or any social event including all aspects of Entertainment, Décor, F&B, etc.

The esteemed Jury of Experiential Celebrations Group are:

Anupam Maurya, CEO, KnotsbyAMP  

Anupam is the CEO of KnotsbyAMP, a wedding photography & filmmaking company. With an experience of 10 years in professional wedding photography and filmmaking, the firm has bagged multiple national and international awards. Currently, Anupam is also working on FotoBot and WedPrime two innovative solutions which will improve the experience of couples getting married.         

Asli Atilgan, Co-Founder, Bridolog 

With an educational background in law and business management, Aslı co-founded Bridolog in 2018 which has become the first and most powerful wedding influencer in Turkey. Bridolog is an exclusive wedding planning platform which provides inspirational and quality wedding content for its users through its website and social media channels. Main aims of Bridolog are to connect local high quality wedding vendors with couples and guide the couples while planning their weddings from  A to Z.

Emma Pope, Director - Lifestyle Events, Emaar Hospitality      

Emma Pope is the director of lifestyle events at EMAAR Hospitality Group. For over 10 years she has been overseeing events at EMAAR properties including The Address Hotels and Resorts, The Armani hotel, EMAAR Leisure Group properties and VIDA hotels. With a strong background in wedding planning combined with years of experience at venues, Emma has a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the wedding market in the UAE.

Naz Nalbantoğlu, Co-Founder, Bridolog

Graduating with a law and master's degree in Msc Management in London, Naz has decided to work on digital marketing. Naz and her partner Aslı found Bridolog in 2018 which has become the first and most powerful wedding influencer in Turkey. Bridolog is an exclusive wedding planning platform which provides inspirational and quality wedding contents for its users through its website and social media channels. Main aims of Bridolog are to connect local high quality wedding vendors with couples and guide the couples while planning their weddings from A to Z.

Nikki Rutherford, General Manager, Weddings Online

Growing up in a family owned and run wedding floristry business, Nikki Rutherford have always had a real love of weddings, and the time, thought and planning that goes into them. Rutherford moved to Dubai in 2006 to pursue her love of marketing and event planning, creating full 360 solutions for clients across the UAE, integrating online services with on ground events.

As the world became more digital, so did Rutherford, with her focus shifting towards digital marketing; programmatic advertising, social media management and digital content. She joined weddingsonline.ae in 2015 as an Account Manager, and was then promoted to General Manager in 2016, overseeing the day-to-day running of the business from both supplier and couple facing perspectives. She understands the importance of integrating many suppliers to achieve the shared vision of the bride, and the joy for me is in seeing this transpire.

Ojas Rajani, Director, Ojas Rajani Hair n Makeup Academy     

Ojas Rajani is one of the most well-known celebrity and bridal makeup and hair stylist. She has worked in the industry for  25 years styling models, giving stunning makeovers to Bollywood actors and actressesShe has worked with some of the biggest Bollywood divas including Sridevi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Malaika Arora, Sushmita Sen, Raveena Tandon, Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, and Sonam Kapoor Ahuja among others.

Rhiannon Downie Hurst, Founder and Editor in Chief, Bride Club ME 

Rhiannon, first came up with the idea behind Award winning website, brideclubme.com when she became engaged in April 2012, and found she had a barrage of unanswered questions and wanted inspiration and ideas at her own convenience. After researching the bridal media market in the UAE, Rhiannon saw a gap for a modern, stylish and interactive website. Six years later, Bride Club ME is now the region’s leading online wedding inspiration website and directory for brides and grooms in the UAE, also putting on fun and interactive events for readers and vendors alike.

Rhiannon is also a professional industry speaker, and Founder of Bride Club ME Business, the first wedding industry specific consultancy of its kind in the UAE for wedding entrepreneurs, wedding businesses and venues. She has contributed to various articles published by global entrepreneur websites, newspapers and wedding magazines.

Rina Dhaka, Fashion Designer  

The 'Goddess of Oomph' of Indian fashion, designer Rina Dhaka styles clothes with a lot of fun. Being in the industry for quite some time, Rina feels that globalization has opened up avenues for young and dynamic women and with it, the options of women designers as well. To be in sync with demand for comfortable, yet stylish outfits for offices, designers are trying out all possibilities of being creative. Rina Dhaka emphasizes silhouette and is willing to take risks. In one collection, she mixed fur and boots with her Indian outfits, to create a unique look. Every time, Dhaka tries to give four to five looks to in her collection.

Samar Shawareb, Founder & CEO, Arabia Weddings      

Samar Shawareb is the Founder and CEO of Arabia Weddings, the leading online wedding planning platform in the Middle East and North Africa. Samar has over 30 years of work experience. She founded Events UnLimited in 2001 as a professional event management company producing top quality exhibitions and conferences in Jordan among which is The Wedding Show (a b2c event).

Samar has extensive knowledge of the Wedding industry in the Middle East and built a great network of wedding professionals around the world. As a Media Partner to several regional and global events, Samar attended and participated in many b2b & b2c wedding and bridal events in the US, Europe and the Middle East.
Earlier, Samar worked as a Senior Commercial Officer at the British Embassy in Amman-Jordan promoting British trade and investment between the UK and Jordan. During that period Samar won the “D Group Award for Outstanding Export Achievement” by the British Government.

Samar is also a Certified Event Management Professional from George Washington University and a Certified Trainer in entrepreneurship delivering the UNCTAD’s Empretec program.

Sharad Puri, Cluster General Manager, Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center and Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park

Sharad Puri is the Cluster General Manager of Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center and Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park. Sharad’ s career spans over 25 years, working in multiple metropolitan cities across India in various positions in hospitality.

Sharad is a graduate from the Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development. Prior to his current assignment, Sharad was the General Manager of the iconic JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu. Before joining Marriott, Sharad held various positions in Oberoi hotels.

Sharad has worked in large hotels with large conventions and has done tremendous work in creating and attracting convention centers in the cities that he has worked in. He has worked in several luxury hotels creating luxury experiences for small and large groups.

Sharad is a passionate hotelier and takes pride in seeing people around him grow. Sharad is an avid reader and a music lover.

Sheetal Munshaw, Atout France India

Sheetal Munshaw - Director Atout France (The France Tourism Development Agency) in India is passionate about all things travel and lifestyle. She started her career in the travel industry as a journalist with the Indian Express Group. 

Her objective is to promote France as a premier tourist destination and enhance its visibility in the Indian landscape resulting in augmenting the footprint of Indian travellers in France.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Sheetal has also pursued her interests in oenology. Sheetal is also an honorary member of the Governing Council of the Indo French Chamber of Commerce and a special invitee to the CCEF India Chapter- Conseillers du Commerce Extérieur de la France which is a worldwide network of senior business leaders that was founded in 1898.

Vikas Oswal, General Manager, Aloft New Delhi Aerocity     

With three decades of experience in the hospitality industry all across India and South East Asia, Vikas Oswal, General Manager of Aloft New Delhi Aerocity has attained expertise in the skills of managing and strategizing successful operations.

After acing the hospitality industry with his precise management skills, and strategies to drive business, Vikas Oswal is an enthusiastic and passionate hotelier with apt leadership skills and has an energetic and dynamic personality. 

Prior to joining the Aloft New Delhi Aerocity, he was the General Manager at Holiday Inn Aerocity New Delhi. He has worked for leading global brands like IHG, Hyatt, Taj, SPHC, and Starwood.

Vikas Oswal is a decisive leader and has specialization in leading hotel operations, revenue optimization, guest satisfaction, expense discipline, food & beverage and employee engagement. Vikas is driven by the passion to lead and put effort to develop the leaders of the future. His success and huge achievements are clearly demonstrated by the level of commitment to his work. 

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WOW Awards Asia website:  http://asia.wowawards.com/

T&C - https://asia.wowawards.com/support/

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