Pallavi Sharda is an Australian actress, cultural entrepreneur and public voice whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, diplomacy and social change.
Through the lens of cultural intelligence, Pallavi threads together the particular and the universal, moving between the personal and the geopolitical with the ease of someone who has spent a lifetime navigating both.
Pallavi does not argue for cultural diplomacy, she is proof of its existence.
WHAT PALLAVI SPEAKS ON
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Pallavi’s social justice instinct threads together both the particular and the universal. She uses her platform and voice to advocate for underrepresented communities.
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Pallavi has delivered keynotes across the Australia–India Leadership Dialogue, AsiaLink, ACMI, VIVID Sydney as well as HRAFF, Google, Herbert Smith Freehills, and MIPCOM.
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Pallavi has spent her life moving across the personal and the geopolitical with the ease of someone who has spent a lifetime navigating both.
“I had to make the choice: to be a woman in India or a brown woman in the world.”
— Pallavi Sharda on
The Imperfects Podcast
ADVOCACY
Witchery White Shirt Campaign
As an ambassador of the Witchery White Shirt Campaign, Pallavi has actively been part of raising awareness and funding for
ovarian cancer research.
World Vision — 1000 Voices
for 1000 Girls
Along with several distinguished Australian female leaders, Pallavi continues to raise awareness about slavery and the fast fashion industry.
eKutir: Community Leadership
Pallavi works with eKutir to empower rural communities in India through sustainable entrepreneurship and grassroots innovation.
KEYNOTES
Goddess: Power, Glamour, Rebellion
Pallavi contributed to a program alongside the legendary Geena Davis, exploring mythology, representation and cultural identity. As well as the power of storytelling in shaping how women are seen on screen.
Intercultural Expertise in Corporate Structures
Delivered to Google’s leadership team in Los Angeles, Pallavi highlighted the need for intercultural expertise within corporate structures, drawing on her experience navigating five screen markets.
Australia–India Leadership:
On Culture & Geopolitics
Pallavi addressed the power of culture and technology as connective tissue between the two nations — drawing on her experience as a transnational artist to highlight cultural diplomacy as soft power.
“The word ‘diversity’ still serves to ‘Other’ people. It still creates an ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ in the narrative of how we conceive of ourselves
as a community.”
— Pallavi Sharda in Vogue Australia
IN CONVERSATION
Charles Darwin Foundation — Galápagos
Pallavi met an international delegation at the Galápagos Islands with scientists from the Charles Darwin Foundation to discuss conservation, community and long-term ecological stewardship.
Women, Sport & Cultural Representation
Take Her Lead Foundation, founded by Isa Guha, invited Pallavi to join a panel bringing together the threads of storytelling, sport and South Asian representation in Australian public life.
ASRC: World Refugee Day Telethon
Pallavi is a regular volunteer with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne and has been part of fundraising efforts to help refugees get access to livelihoods and shelter.
VIVID SYDNEY — In Conversation
At VIVID Sydney’s Ideas program, alongside the late Brian Walsh, Leah Purcell and Marta Dusseldorp, Pallavi spoke on how stories enhance engagement and empathy among Australian audiences, contributing to nuanced inter-cultural life.
On Women in Capital Finance in Asia
Pallavi was invited to be part of a panel by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills to discuss how women navigate capital finance in the region, the intersection of gender, culture and professional identity when it comes to investments and raising capital.
A Case for On-Screen Representation
Representing the ABC at MIPCOM in Cannes, Pallavi distilled the cultural and audience impact of her on-screen characters. Shee addressed how representation in global screen content shapes identity.
LISTEN IN
India Now — with Marc Fennell
Pallavi joins Marc Fennell and Indian High Commissioner Manpreet Vohra to examine the many Indias, Bollywood as a vehicle for soft power in international diplomacy and and what cultural storytelling means for the Australia–India relationship.
One Plus One with Courtney Act
In conversation with Courtney Act, Pallavi peels back the layers of her double life — and what it means to finally feel grounded as an artist on home soil.
The Imperfects - “WHERE WE BELONG”
Pallavi opens up about identity, belonging, cultural navigation and a career move which meant choosing between racism and misogyny— a masterclass in vulnerability, humour and permission to take up space.