Gazal Maheshwari has joined Madison World as Vice President, marking a significant shift in her career from the publisher side of the media industry to the agency side. She announced the move on LinkedIn, describing it as an opportunity to view the same industry from “a whole new perspective.”
Maheshwari joins Madison World after an extensive career with JioStar and Disney Star, spanning more than 17 years across television, sports, entertainment and digital media. Most recently, she served as Senior Director, LCS Digital Sales at JioHotstar, where she managed digital sales for the FMCG, beverages and alcobev categories.
Her career has included leadership and sales roles across some of the country's major sports and entertainment properties. During her more than 13 years with Disney Star, she worked across Star Sports and Star Jalsha & Jalsha Movies, handling advertising sales for properties including the IPL, ICC World Cup, Premier League and Wimbledon. She began her career at Star India in 2009 as a sales and marketing management trainee and also spent time at Altruist Technologies before returning to Star.
Reflecting on her new role, Maheshwari said the move to the agency side allows her to bring her experience of the past 17-plus years into a different context, challenge some of her existing perspectives and explore new ways of thinking about the media ecosystem.
Her LinkedIn announcement received several congratulatory messages from industry peers. One comment recalled her coordination during the 2023 MAK Lubricants Cricket World Cup campaign, involving BPCL, Star Sports and JioHotstar, while others wished her well for the transition to Madison World.
The move gives Madison World an executive with extensive experience on the media-owner side, particularly across sports, entertainment and digital sales. For Maheshwari, it marks the beginning of a new professional chapter—bringing her understanding of publishers, advertisers and media businesses to the agency environment.
As she put it, the move represents “same industry, different side of the table”, a shift that brings a new lens to an industry she has spent more than 17 years navigating.