“The difference between having a job and having a vocation is that a job is some unpleasant work you do in order to make money with the sole purpose of making money,” Alan Watts once rightfully pointed out.
The recipe to true happiness is thus a combination of many delicate pieces of which a fulfilling job is one of the mainstays. It is a stroke of rare luck to meet a person who both lives his dream and professes it. Sourabh Sharma’s life is both an adventure and an inspiration for those of us who want to live a happy and fulfilled life.
“If you know what you can do well, you can laugh at what you can’t do well, but if you don’t know what you can do well, then your life becomes a tragic joke,” shares Sourabh of his recipe for happiness and success. Sourabh is a rare gem being an entrepreneurial prodigy with a taste for adventure. The life that he led since childhood formed his free cosmopolitan spirit and laid the groundwork for his many spectacular business achievements.
He was born in Tanzania to Indian and British roots and from a very young age spent most of his time travelling the world with his family. He had the benefit of a great education, getting his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania (Ivy League) and an MBA from the prestigious Wharton Business School and the Rotterdam School of Management.
The first-rate education in combination with Sourabh’s naturally inquisitive mind propelled him to becoming an acknowledged thought leader in modern-day digital marketing with a particularly strong grasp of Gen Z audiences at topical conferences and events worldwide.
Standing out from among his multiple businesses in the field of digital marketing is FIG or out (a pun on “figure it out”) a platform that offers a comprehensive package of marketing services encompassing social media and influencer marketing, paid social advertising, content creation, and brand strategy formulation.
In unison with its logo, the platform treats success as a science and delivers results, many of which have been featured in Allure Magazine and Global Cosmetics Industry (GCI) Mag. “You have to understand what audiences may need or look for, empowered by technology while breaking through the ad clutter, yet being attractive, relevant and with matching values,” says Sourabh.
Sourabh has applied this principle of being in sync with a changing digital landscape and with the “pulse” of Gen Z to launch and scale numerous businesses, making him the modern era Renaissance man. This leads us to list out his ventures that are in disparate fields. “Originality is difficult and creativity is easy,” he qualms.
Starting with Print All Over Me, an apparel brand that offers an unmatched experience of creating your own one-of-a-kind garment by choosing from a multitude of styles and designs. PAOM is not just about ordering your next T-shirt, top, or leggings online, it’s about having a hand in designing your outfit.
“It is a fine segway that allows customization with all of its creativity alongside the commerce side of scalability. I also love that over time it has grown into a community of artists who literally like to wear their art,” speaks Sourabh.
Dot & Pin, his other project, identifies the coolest spots in any city based on influencers’ choices in order to support local. With a keen eye for business opportunities, Sourabh spotted this one where others missed the chance to “dot” the adventures and “pin” them on the map. Adding a whiff of fragrance to the range is his creative work with the effervescent Histoires de Parfums, now under the umbrella of Europerfumes, where he heads and manages 6+ niche fragrances across North America.
As a freelance food critic, formerly with Bon Appetit, he used to judge food shows worldwide. Through his extensive travel, Sourabh is often seen as l’invite d’honneur at various events, galas, and fashion shows worldwide, such as Bazaar Icons New York, Cannes Film Festival, Monaco Grand Prix, Sundance Film Festival, and Fashion Weeks in New York, Milan, Paris, and London.
“When opportunity knocks on your door, you should throw it open and embrace it,” he remarks. With an amazingly keen eye for business opportunities and famously adverse to monotony when it comes to creating new businesses, Sourabh is a vivid example of an inquisitive and tireless mind that certainly has many more surprises in store for the digital marketing space.