About Kena

As a storyteller and spoken word artist, Kena’s videos have garnered over 25 million views on social media, earning her a reputation as one of the most beloved corporate storytellers in the country. She lends her expertise to various corporations and business schools, including the IIMs. Kena has been featured on renowned platforms such as Jashn-e-Rekhta, All India Radio, Tape A Tale (12 stories, 10M+ views), Kommune, Spill Poetry, Repertwahr Theatre Festival, Indian Storytellers Healing Network, CRY, and at the embassies of Ireland, Hungary, and Denmark.

As an author, she writes stories, poetry, and HR/OB narratives. She was a columnist for the Huffington Post and has contributed several articles to The Times of India, Cox & Kings, and Hindustan Times, while her personal blog has garnered over 200,000 views. After winning the Times of India ‘Write India Season-1’ and ‘Season 3’ short story campaigns, her stories were published in the anthology by TOI Books. She has co-contributed to the books Twilight’s Children, A Jar Full of Memories, and 20 Authors, 20 Stories. Her debut novel and poetry anthologies are currently works in progress.

In her capacity as an author and storyteller, Kena has been invited to speak at some of the country’s most prominent literary forums, such as the Times Lit Fest (2016-2022), Lucknow Literature Festival (2015-2017), Delhi Lit Fest (2020-2023), Pune International Lit Fest, Bhopal Literature Festival, Gurgaon Literature Festival, Shimla International Literature Festival, Lit-O-Fest Mumbai, Delhi Book Fair (2020-2023), and Women’s Writer Fest (2019-2022).

Kena has also moderated celebrity sessions at leading literary festivals and forums with prominent figures such as Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Zeenat Aman, Shabana Azmi, Kabir Bedi, Piyush Mishra, Zeeshan Ayyub, Ashwin Sanghi, S. Y. Qureshi, Dr. Kumar Vishwas, Smriti Irani, Shubha Mudgal, and many others.

With a deep commitment to feminism and humanism, Kena is a passionate advocate for normalizing mental health discussions. Her performative poetry pieces have received worldwide attention. She co-curated Asia’s first Feminist Poetry Festival for She The People in 2020 and 2021, a groundbreaking event that united poets from across the globe. Her 52-episode show on YouTube and Instagram, titled “Kyu with Kena,” which challenges patriarchy, has received rave reviews. Kena also conducts motivational talks and has long been involved in special projects for CRY India, the youth of the Slam Out Loud community, Girl Rising, and Girl Talk.

As an HR professional, Kena has over 20 years of experience, during which she has handled all key employee-related portfolios at one of India’s leading power companies, in areas such as staffing, employee benefits, performance management, industrial relations, and organizational development. She has implemented large-scale HR initiatives, including research, OD, and strategic management.

As a corporate storyteller:
► She has conducted numerous sessions, reaching over 100,000 participants, including at prestigious B-schools such as IIM Lucknow and IIM Shillong.
► Recognized for her corporate storytelling skills, she has conducted workshops for organizations like Power Grid (PGCIL), BHEL, RITES, GAIL, OIL, ONGC, IOCL, Nokia, Airtel, Maruti, NIPM, ICAI, and Microsoft.

Kena is a three-time TEDx speaker and has been invited to deliver keynote addresses at various forums, including FICCI FLO, Airtel, RITES Limited, Mercedes-Benz, National HRD, NIPM, SHRM, and numerous business schools.