Aditi Kakkar is a high-level athlete, industrial designer, entrepreneur and a leading voice on women's sport in India. A national-level weightlifting athlete, international karate athlete and 2nd place in CrossFit India, her athletic background gives her a grounded, embodied understanding of performance, resilience and what women in sport actually need to progress.
Holding a degree in Industrial and Product Design from UNSW (Sydney) and an MBA in Marketing from Pondicherry University, she leads the media and communications team at Harmony Systems, where she explores the intersection of function, narrative and systems design. Her design practice is guided by one conviction: objects, spaces and systems should ask better questions — not merely answer existing ones.
Founder of Ochre Athletica, a sportswear brand designed specifically for Indian women — with intention, functionality and cultural understanding at the core of every design decision —, she built a brand that places performance, longevity and real bodies ahead of trends. Founder of HerSide, a podcast dedicated to women in sport, she gives voice to the stories that rarely make headlines: the injuries, the comebacks, the quiet negotiations women make with their bodies and their ambitions.
Her work is grounded in one core belief: women in sport don't need more motivation — they need infrastructure, representation and room to exist fully.
At ESIP, Aditi Kakkar coaches sport, leadership and mental performance, bringing a rare perspective: that of a high-level athlete who has built brands, media platforms and systems around female performance. Her sessions place students at the heart of the real mechanisms of leadership — performing under pressure, building a strong identity, developing resilience and questioning systems in order to transform them.