Leaders

Prerna Sharma: Brand Building, Business Thinking and Creative Entrepreneurial Leadership

Prerna Sharma
Founder, PS&CO Brand Marketing Consultancy

Marketing sits at the intersection of consumer behaviour, storytelling, technology, and commercial priorities. Prerna Sharma’s entrepreneurial journey has been shaped by experience across these areas, from brand marketing at Godrej Properties to communications and branding for a D2C food-tech start-up in Singapore. These experiences eventually led her to establish ps&co Brand Marketing Consultancy in Singapore in 2021.

Her academic background in literature and marketing developed her interest in language, human behaviour, storytelling, and business, while her corporate experience showed her how closely brand strategy must connect with commercial objectives. Her move to Singapore further broadened her perspective, as she worked in a start-up environment that demanded agility and hands-on decision-making.

In 2020, Prerna began consulting independently. What started during the pandemic evolved into a consultancy built around strategy, storytelling, aesthetic intelligence and business thinking. Let’s hear more from her in this one on one interaction.

Your experience spans strategy, consumer behaviour, storytelling, and brand building. How have these experiences shaped the way you approach opportunities and create value for clients?

I look at a brand as a complete ecosystem rather than through one marketing function. Having worked on the brand side before founding ps&co, I understand that a marketing brief usually sits within larger business objectives, stakeholder expectations, commercial pressures, and consumer needs.

At ps&co, we begin by identifying the core business challenge or communication gap, then determine the strategy to address it effectively - be it through storytelling, design or experiences.

Working across premium and luxury categories has also made me realise me that perception is built through consistency, attention to detail, and a strong point of view. We consider both points of parity and points of difference. The challenge is to understand category codes without reproducing them predictably, so a brand feels relevant and credible without becoming interchangeable.

Prerna sharma blends strategic thinking, creative storytelling and entrepreneurial discipline to build brands that create lasting business value

What have been the defining milestones in ps&co’s journey, and what have they taught you about building a sustainable consultancy?

One of the earliest validations was winning work beyond my immediate professional network, particularly across Southeast Asia. As our engagements expanded across Singapore, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the United States, our mandates grew from individual assignments into broader brand, creative, content, media, and experiential partnerships.

The most meaningful milestone has been repeat work and complex or retainer mandates. A new mandate is exciting and indicates interest a long-term relationship indicates trust.

Building the consultancy has also made me realise me that creative ability alone does not create a sustainable business. Pricing discipline, dependable delivery, strong service standards, capable people, and protecting quality are equally important.

How do you evaluate opportunities and manage risk while keeping your decisions aligned with ps&co’s long-term vision?

Entrepreneurship rarely provides complete information, so I look for sufficient clarity rather than absolute certainty. I evaluate opportunities through strategic alignment, value potential, and opportunity cost.

Beyond revenue, I consider whether a mandate can deepen our expertise, strengthen or build an important relationship, expand our credibility, or allow us to deliver substantive work. Opportunity cost matters because a boutique consultancy has finite senior attention and creative capacity. An attractive opportunity may still not be a relevant one if it compromises existing relationships or takes the business away from its intended direction.

Our ambition is to grow as a best-in-class Brand Marketing Consultancy in the categories we understand and care about, while retaining the quality of thought, service, and involvement that underpin our relationships.

How has your leadership style evolved as ps&co has grown, and what principles guide the way you lead your team?

In the early years, many decisions I took were instinctive, why a thought felt superficial, why an idea did not answer the brief, or why an execution was technically correct but emotionally unconvincing. As the team grew, I realised that expecting people to reproduce an instinct without its context was neither fair nor scalable.

My role has therefore shifted from personally driving every outcome to making the thinking behind our standards more visible. I provide context, frameworks, feedback, and exposure so people can develop their own discernment and understand not only what works, but why.

I expect the team to be thoughtful practitioners who question a brief, anticipate consequences, and explain their choices rather than simply execute. My philosophy is high standards with high support—giving people clarity and challenge while creating the trust to experiment and make considered decisions.

What are your priorities for ps&co’s next chapter, and what kind of impact do you hope to create as a woman entrepreneur?

The next chapter is about strengthening ps&co as a best-in-class Brand Marketing Consultancy, building new client relationships, deepening our strategic capabilities, and taking on more complex mandates across luxury, lifestyle, real estate, and hospitality while retaining the attentiveness of a boutique consultancy.

I would like us to be known for creative thinking, an understanding of the client’s business, and the standards of our service. Relationships are central to that. Responsiveness, reliability, and remaining invested in an outcome are part of good work, not separate from it.

Internally, I strive to build a consultancy where people are thinkers rather than merely executors, and where ambition and excellence coexist with curiosity and humanity. Becoming a mother to two daughters has made this aspiration more personal. I want them to see that a woman can be ambitious and present, and can lead with high standards as well as warmth. That balance is part of the business and leadership model I hope to build.

Prerna Sharma, Founder, PS&CO Brand Marketing Consultancy

Prerna Sharma is the Founder of ps&co Brand Marketing Consultancy in Singapore. With experience across brand marketing, communications, storytelling, and entrepreneurship, she works across luxury, lifestyle, real estate, and hospitality, combining strategic and creative thinking with a strong focus on client relationships and multidisciplinary teams.