Ruby Sinha: The inspiring entrepreneur and epitome of women empowerment

Today’s e4m PR & Corp Comm Luminaries story features the powerful women leader who empowers and inspires several women professionals and entrepreneurs – Ruby Sinha, Founder, Kommune Brand Communications.

Ruby Sinha is a visionary entrepreneur and an ardent advocate for social change. With her unique vision and leadership attributes, she has established Kommune as a leading PR and marketing agency in the bustling industry market. But what's even more remarkable is her commitment to empowering women, providing mentorship and opportunities to pave the way for future female leaders. Through her pioneering work, Ruby is revolutionizing the PR industry and empowering women to shatter glass ceilings with confidence. She leads several organizations and initiatives like sheatwork to help women professionals and entrepreneurs move up to the next level in their professional journey. 

We're excited to share Sinha's story:

• From her early days in journalism and filmmaking to finding her purpose in PR and communications.
• ⁠How she turned her passion into a successful business
• Her secrets to building a leading PR agency
• Why empowering women is at the heart of everything she does, and so much more.

Beginning of her Professional Career

Ruby’s career foundation was in journalism, but she was equally drawn to documentary filmmaking and electronic media. She shares how this unexpected turn to PR in her career unfolded, “While studying Journalism at University, I also had an interest in making documentaries and the electronic medium”. Her passion for visual storytelling led her to pursue an evening filmmaking course at Chitrabani, Kolkata’s oldest film institute, which had the legendary Satyajit Ray as an advisor and founder member. “I got selected for the course, and, in fact, I was the only female in my batch,” she adds. Initially, her decision to move into PR was driven by a desire to pursue filmmaking more actively. “So, initially I thought a Public Relations job would offer me free time on evenings and weekends to pursue my interest in filmmaking. In fact, during that time I also freelanced as an Assistant Director with ETV,” she explains.

Founding of Kommune Brand Communications

Ruby calls herself an accidental entrepreneur and unveils that she started Kommune Brand Communications while on a sabbatical post the birth of her second child after working with several leading communication firms. “It started more like a work-from-home consultancy because a former client wanted me to advise him. In fact, my first few team members were former colleagues who were on a maternity break,” she states. Over the years, she has worked hard and created a fair, transparent, and equitable workplace offering opportunities for growth to professionals both females and males.

Sinha describes, “Entrepreneurship is not an easy journey as any entrepreneur can tell you. It is more like a roller coaster ride with lots of ups and downs full of thrills.”

Discussing the challenges of being an entrepreneur and running one’s venture, especially for a mother with two young children, she acknowledges, “Handling all aspects of a nascent business while balancing family responsibilities was very challenging for me initially and is even now sometimes.” She also shared a personal anecdote stating “There was a time when my daughter did not perform as expected in her exams and being a guilt-ridden working mother, I almost thought of shutting down Kommune and going back to a regular job with fixed timings. But I have realized over the years that work-life integration is the key. Our personal and professional lives have to co-exist in the digital age.”

Due to the flow she followed initially, another challenge she faced was the lack of a solid business plan. She expressed that like many women she became an entrepreneur thinking it was a good part-time option but after a few years, she understood that one cannot achieve any amount of entrepreneurial success by investing a few hours every week, especially in a profession like PR where constant learning is required.

Furthermore, next challenges, she encountered was of changing people’s perceptions about her business’s stability. “Getting well-known names even though you may have serviced them for years in your agency career to trust you with their business was also a challenge,” she asserts.

“Hiring and retaining the right talent is another ongoing challenge. Budgets and cash flow management are always a challenge, especially in our business where margins are low and our primary source of income is client retainers which sometimes get delayed whereas your team salaries, taxes, etc. have to be paid on time,” Sinha adds.

Inception of Sheatwork

Entrepreneurship often brings its fair share of challenges, especially for women who navigate additional hurdles in a male-dominated space. Sinha’s experience as a female entrepreneur was eye-opening. Sharing the struggles that many women face in their entrepreneurial journeys, she describes, “After becoming an entrepreneur, I experienced the challenges most entrepreneurs, especially women, face in their entrepreneurship journey,” Ruby explains. This personal encounter with the difficulties of being a female entrepreneur fuelled her desire to create a solution, and Sheatwork.com was born. 

Sheatwork is a unique comprehensive knowledge hub designed specifically for women entrepreneurs. She wanted it to be a place where they could find everything they needed to succeed, whether they were just starting or looking to expand their ventures. She explained, “Besides having information on incentives for women entrepreneurs globally, the platform also endeavors to reach out to small women entrepreneurs beyond the metros and empower them through the right training and mentorship programs,” Sinha proudly mentions.

Her Contributions as the President of BRICS CCI WE

“Women as half of the world’s population have a key role to play," Ruby believes, emphasizing that their contributions to entrepreneurship can reshape economies. Her passion for fostering women’s entrepreneurship grew naturally over time. “Somewhere along the way, promoting women's entrepreneurship became my passion,” Sinha shares. This drive led her to become part of women's entrepreneurship networks and events, eventually propelling her to a leadership role at BRICS CCI WE. 

BRICS CCI WE, the Women Empowerment Vertical of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a not-for-profit organization which promotes commerce and industry in the BRICS+ nations. In her role, she focuses on empowering women entrepreneurs across various geographies, ensuring that their entrepreneurial journeys are supported through multiple programs. Talking about her role as the President of this vertical, “I work closely on conceptualizing and running Global Women Entrepreneurship Mentoring and Leadership Training Programmes, initiating topical discussions with various country representatives, developing reports/whitepapers, and hosting forums on contemporary issues related to women empowerment," Sinha explains.

Through mentoring, leadership training, and policy discussions, Sinha aims to inspire women to take charge and lead in the entrepreneurial space, thus contributing to the global economy.

Strategies that Helped Her in Building and Sustaining Kommune Brand Communications

PR field requires resilience and dedication, especially for women entrepreneurs who often have to navigate a competitive and demanding environment. However, amidst this complex business environment, Ruby has built a business that not only serves its clients effectively but also operates with integrity, empathy, and a clear sense of purpose by staying committed to her vision and values. Sharing the growth of her company, Kommune, Sinha shares that the firm's growth has been driven not just by numbers.

“Today, Kommune is a mid-sized integrated communications firm. Besides Public Relations, we have over the years also enhanced our profile as a Digital Services agency.” Sinha emphasizes that success has come from being selective about clients and being fully engaged in both strategy and execution. Rather than chasing arbitrary targets, her approach has been to focus on client satisfaction and growing strategically, which has allowed the firm to remain aligned with clients that resonate with their values.

Ruby highlights another principle of her success, describing, “Global reports state that alcohol and tobacco are among the top causes of preventable deaths, and as a communications firm, we have abstained from promoting these categories since our inception.” Furthermore, internally, she has fostered a culture of empathy and collaboration, creating a tight-knit team that supports one another. She emphasizes the importance of nurturing talent through training programs and team-building offsites, even extending these efforts to international locations.

As the firm has continued to expand, most recently into the Middle East, Ruby attributes their success to several key factors, stating “There are a few factors that I feel have been critical in Kommune’s journey - investing in a strong core team, focusing on vertical-wise growth to consolidate our strengths, being hands-on with clients and teams, gradually expanding to other geographies, and trying to live up to our commitments to not just clients but our teams and extended partners also.” 

Her Views on the Changing Landscape for Women in Business and Leadership

Ruby emphasises on her journey as a woman leader in an era when female representation in business was sparse. Her experiences reveal her personal growth and the evolving landscape for women in leadership roles. 

Sinha acknowledges, “Compared to other industries, our industry has always been inclusive, especially at the entry and middle management level.” However, she continues with a note of caution, recognizing the gaps that still exist, mentioning, “But there are still not enough women at the senior management level, especially in PR firms.” 

Her observations reveal a dual narrative—one of growth and opportunity at lower levels but a concerning drop-off as women progress in their careers. “The number of women entrepreneurs in our industry has also grown substantially over the years,” she states, emphasizing the rising tide of female-led initiatives. Yet, she believes that it’s not enough to simply increase numbers; a more supportive ecosystem is crucial. “In my opinion, we need to work towards creating a more conducive environment so that women do not drop out midway or move to corporate communications roles as soon as they have some professional experience.”

For Ruby, true success is not a solitary achievement. “I feel women should come together more to create a more supportive environment for other women. “True success is not about standing above others but about lifting each other. We have the power to inspire and uplift others by fostering a culture of trust, mentorship, and support,” she affirms, supporting the potential for women to inspire one another.

Her Vision

As she looks to the future, she envisions even greater progress in her work at Kommune and her dedication to women's empowerment. Ruby shares, “Going forward at Kommune, the plan is to focus on new practice areas while strengthening our core competencies. The uptake of digital technologies is fast changing the communication landscape and we are also looking at further consolidating our integrated communication solutions.”

Moreover, Sinha has a deep passion for gender equality and actively seeks to drive change in this space. She says, "We must acknowledge that the journey towards true gender equality in the real world is far from over." For her, empowering women should not just be a slogan, but a mission to uplift them on a global scale.

Sinha is undoubtedly all set to push boundaries and bring her bold ideas to life. As she moves forward, her goals remain rooted in both advancing her organization and creating a world where women lead development on their terms.

Her Guiding Principle

Ruby lives by a guiding principle inspired by Alvin Toffler, a quote that encapsulates her approach to both personal and professional endeavours: "You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction." This philosophy has been her north star, ensuring that even the smallest actions she takes are aligned with her larger vision for gender equality and societal progress.