T hree influential South Asians with unique professional backgrounds came together to select their favourite works from Sotheby's upcoming online sale, A Lyrical Line: Paintings and Drawings by Francis Newton Souza. A Casper Mattress Co-Founder, a doctor and nutrition blogger, and a Founding Partner of Female Founders Fund searched through five decades of the legendary Indian Modernist drawings, sketches and paintings. Neil Parikh, Rupy Aujli and Anu Duggal each chose the works that most captvated them and why they made a connection with it.
Neil Parikh
As Co-Founder and COO, Neil Parikh oversees Casper Mattresses’ expanding global team. The son of a sleep doctor, Neil is perfectly positioned to bridge the gap between the science of sleep and the realities of the sleep industry.
Neil launched an international non-profit organization while studying at Brown University. Prior to founding Casper, he designed bacteria and worked on robotics at NASA, where he co-authored three patents. In 2014, Neil left medical school to launch Casper Mattress.
Rupy Aujla
In his role as a food lover and clinician, Rupy Aujla tries to inject colour and a passion for flavour into healthy ingredients that are otherwise limp and lifeless. Aujla draws upon his heritage steeped in rich spices and cultural diversity to create food his patients and colleagues will get excited about eating. The pleasure of recipe creation is an art he is humbled to be able to practice. Marrying it with food that promotes longevity and wellbeing is a revolution for a physician.
Aujla keeps a blog and an Instagram account to show how eating healthy eating can be delicious and exciting even with a hectic lifestyle.
Anu Duggal
Anu Duggal is the Founding Partner of Female Founders Fund, an early-stage fund investing in technology companies started by women. Through the Fund, Anu has invested in some of the quickest growing female-led start-ups including: Eloquii, WayUp, Minibar, Tala, Zola, Primary, Ringly, Thrive Global, and more. She has been praised for her impact in diversifying venture capital, and has been distinguished on Business Insider’s “Ultimate List of Female Startup Investors,” and “Top 4 Venture Firms Investing in Women”. She has earned distinction in the venture industry as a recurring judge for TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield, and in 2016 was awarded as “Woman of Distinction” by the NCCWL. Anu began her tech career as a co-founder of Exclusively.in, a private sale e-commerce company backed by Accel & Tiger which was acquired by Myntra in 2012. She is a Board Observer for ELOQUII (backed by Greycroft & Acton) and a Board Member at The Rubin Museum of Art. She holds an MBA from London Business School and has been an active political fundraiser for both the Obama 2012 campaign and as Finance Chair for Reshma Saujani’s Public Advocate Race in 2014.
