Kunika Rathore
Hello, I am Kunika Rathore and I am the CEO and Founder of The Unknowns Agency.
I have had years of experience in the marketing and advertising industry with organizations like Hogarth and Ogilvy, while also serving some of the renowned Fortune 100 and 500 brands like Apple, Bose, Emirates, Unilever, Google, and others. I am a mentor at organizations like Entrepreneurship Research and Incubation Centre (Delhi University), FICCI theGreater50 initiative, IIT- Guwahati (E-cell), The Brood Incubator, and B.incube Bilaspur Incubation Center (an Indian government backed organization).
I have been a mental health advocate for years and have helped people with their day-to-day basic mental issues with my experiences. On this journey, I've mentored 10+ startups and 100+ students with career and mental issues in the past year. I also run a podcast to help people with their basic mental day-to-day issues on The KunikaRathore Show.
I started a fellowship program called “The Purpose Project” through people who are just getting started with their careers but are clueless about where to start, can receive guidance and learn from subject matter experts who are doing or working in different industries every day.
As a speaker, I have shared my learnings and my journey at events organized by many international and national institutions like TEDx, AIESEC, Delhi University, IIT, NSUT, KIIT, JIMS, and DTU. I have also shared my story and have been interviewed in various magazines including Youth Ki Awaaz, Startups Magazine UK, Databird Journal, Valiant CEO Magazine, and news channels like Newsbreak, Jio News, Startupnewsfyi, and Dailyhunt. I have been awarded as Digital Woman Award 2021 by SheThePeople TV, CEO of the year 2020 by CEO Weekly Magazine and India 5000 Women's Achiever Awards 2022.
Tell us all about your company. What services do you offer?
The Unknowns Agency is a Noida-headquartered creative, digital and business transformation company I founded in 2018. We strongly believe that it is our job as agency partners to be able to help brands converge all mediums with a futuristic combination of creativity and technology. Having said that, we offer holistic solutions that include digital content, search engine optimization (SEO), technology, design, video production, photography, media planning and buying, influencer management, and PR. We strive to shape and mould your uniqueness into an identity that can reach and connect with the people you call your audience.
Our immensely talented and hardworking team leverages every possible medium to connect you with the right audience and to ensure that your brand’s name brings a smile to your patrons’ faces. Our team of creative geniuses and advertising experts has served renowned Fortune 100 and 500 brands. Our work is innovative and thought-provoking, and more importantly, it is driven by our thirst for creativity and our zeal for connecting people across cultural and social boundaries.
Armed with buckets of energy and an unmatched creative vision, our supremely gifted team of experienced geniuses helps global brands build intimate relationships with people across cultures, languages, and geographies. We believe that the world is a global neighbourhood, and we strive to create content that lets people experience the charm and diversity of cultures, music, art and dance forms across countries and regions. At Unknowns, we believe our experience is our credibility.
How did you get the idea or concept for your company? What was your mission at the outset?
I started The Unknowns Agency with the idea of creating two ways of communication/interaction, where consumers can interact, connect, or talk with brands to learn and share their experiences to help them improve for the better (with the help of technology and creativity). The future of marketing is Experiential Marketing, that’s where we are moving towards. We will be the world’s first only experiential marketing agency by the end of 2022.
Growing up, did you always intend to start your own company/organization?
I was a professional dancer for 10 great years and that’s what I always wanted to pursue. Dance is not just an art for me - it’s my passion. While taking care of the website and marketing requirements for my dance company, I got this job opportunity at Hogarth (a WPP company) as a Software Engineer which I never wanted to take. However, I never said no to any opportunity, and like many others, my family wanted me to have a stable career. So I attended the interview, got selected, and that’s where my journey in this industry began. Leaving dance was a very big deal for me so I made a promise to myself that I would do the job for 6 months and if it did not feel fine to me, I would return to dance; and if I chose this [industry], then I was not going to do a 9-5 the whole of my life. I would learn and then start my own agency. Well, interestingly enough, after 6 months I was in love with this!
What is the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome?
Hard times are a vital part of entrepreneurship from the very beginning, and for me, there were plenty of them including us being new as a company, I being a woman, and also being young - that made it a ‘perfect’ trio. Whenever I entered any room for business, people used to look at me before they listened to me but I was well prepared for all of it. I made sure that once they listened to me, they would end up talking about my skills, knowledge, or what I could bring to the table.
What's your definition of success?
To me, success is doing what you love doing every single day of your life. For me, it is being able to share my learnings and experiences with people who might need it at some point in time. You see, there is always going to be someone who would be standing at the same place where I once did and would be looking for the answers to a lot of questions that I too had in mind once. I never had anyone to guide me but I have to make sure they have me.
What advice would you give to a woman starting out in your industry or starting her own company/organization?
You being a woman is a power in itself but you need to find what you have that can turn it into a superpower. When you're working with a team, be a people person, and treat your people (i.e. employees, colleagues) like your family. If you have a good team, then you have a growing business.
Describe yourself in ONE word. Visionary
Complete this sentence: "To be a girl or woman today is..." a power in itself. You need to know what is in you that you wish to pursue and then turn it into your superpower. Solutions will always be there, you just need to be able to see them with patience.