India: iThrive, a functional medicine company, has onboarded Saloni Kulkarni, former head of Client Services at iThrive, onto their Board of Directors. Her new position is not just a feather in her cap, but it also reiterates the mission of iThrive to bring women into leadership and strategic management positions.
Saloni began her association with iThrive in June 2021 when she joined as a Functional Nutritionist after completing her Bachelor’s in Nutrition from SNDT Women’s University and Master’s in Nutrition and Dietetics from Symbiosis International University. With time, she went from working directly with clients to directing Client Services.
Her appointment to the Board illustrates the increasing importance of women professionals in determining the future of nutrition and wellness, while proving that expert skills will result in leadership and business development. After this appointment, iThrive’s Board is now 100% women-led, thus putting women in the center of high-level decision-making.
Saloni Kulkarni, Board Director at iThrive, said, “My experience at iThrive has been a process of learning, undertaking different responsibilities, and developing myself. My career as a Functional Nutritionist started here, and I have a passion for helping people improve their health with the use of food and lifestyle. During this time, I have gradually taken on bigger responsibilities and participated in the development of the organization. It is both a big honour and huge responsibility for me to join the Board. I want to show that women in nutrition can build a successful career – from gaining practical skills to achieving leadership positions.”
iThrive’s Founder and CEO, Mugdha Pradhan, added, “For me, Saloni’s career trajectory is especially significant because it shows what a woman can achieve when she is given a chance to unfold her potential as a leader and business innovator.
Traditionally, becoming a director or going up the corporate ladder, for women, despite all the glass ceilings all across the world, was usually reserved for women who’ve done their MBAs. Saloni is someone who is a deep specialist in the area of functional nutrition and she has the skills and the aptitude for governance and helping steer a company’s growth. She does that without the MBA to create that space for someone in the field of nutrition; that is something that I’m really proud of.
From the time I started iThrive, I’ve always wanted iThrive to be a place where women get similar growth as they would in the traditional, let’s say, IT, in NBFC, or in the consulting sector because if you look at nutrition as a career, corporate growth was never a possibility in most places. Usually nutritionists join hospitals (clinical dieticians) or become independent practitioners or if they do choose to work in large nutrition companies, when people are hired for managerial, governance, or administrative roles, it’s people (mostly men) from business schools.
To me, Saloni’s growth is a signal that I want to send out to the world of nutrition: this field also allows you to grow and climb the so-called corporate ladder if you are good at it. I’m very, very proud of how far she’s come and what this means for her.
The fact that our Board is represented only by women is a milestone achievement, and we hope that this case can encourage more women to pursue leadership positions in the nutrition and wellness sphere.”
Saloni will continue to contribute to iThrive’s strategic direction, with a focus on strengthening its functional nutrition practice, advancing the role of nutrition professionals and supporting the organisation’s growth in the evolving functional nutrition ecosystem.
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