"Still Building. Still Not Done." — A Conversation with Chandni Kapadia on Reinvention, Leadership, and Finding Bigger Rooms
GLS University is celebrating its centennial, and Dr. Kapadia is clear-eyed about what that means.
There's a particular kind of person who doesn't wait for the world to be ready for them. Dr. Chandni Kapadia, Executive Director of GLS University, is exactly that. When India Today sat down with her for an exclusive conversation, what we expected was an accomplished administrator. What we got was something far more interesting — a woman who is still mid-sentence, still building, and wonderfully unwilling to be put in a box.
A tour of GLS University: Built with Emotion, Not Just Bricks -
India Today visits GLS University — and discovers that a hundred years of legacy looks nothing like you'd expect.
Before the interview even began, Dr. Chandni Kapadia gave us a tour. Not the PR kind. This one felt personal — almost like being shown around someone's home.
GLS University's campus doesn't feel institutional. It feels alive. Robots navigated us through corridors as students walked past, unbothered — technology here isn't a showpiece, it's just how things work. A small mandir sits tucked into the campus at the entrance itself, unhurried and serene. The library is colour-coded and full of light — less archive, more invitation. The moot court is sharp and serious, just as a replica of the high court. The classrooms are equipped with latest technology, wired for a generation that learns differently.
The Girl Who Just Went -
She was sixteen when she left India for Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. A city that doesn't care who you are until you make it care. By her own admission, that teenager was braver than she gives herself credit for.
"If I had known every challenge that was coming, I might have hesitated. But I didn't know, so I just went."
At home, the expectations were clear — stay close, stay safe, follow a certain path. She wasn't trying to rebel. She just believed there was a bigger world out there and wanted to see it. That quiet stubbornness, it turns out, never quite left her.
One-Dimensional Was Never the Plan -
What followed was a career most people would struggle to explain in a single breath. Law. Fashion. Global brand consulting. Calvin Klein. Burberry. Accessorize. Boardroom tables across continents. And then she walked away from all of it and chose education.
"At some point, what you've built for yourself stops being enough," she said simply. The ROI in education isn't a quarterly number — it's a student who walks out of GLS and does something that matters. She called it a different kind of success. Then, with a small smile, a more addictive one.
The Forbes Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs of India followed. So did the Times Women Icon award. When we asked if the recognition still surprises her, her answer was characteristically grounded: "Awards are really mirrors. They reflect back what your community sees in you. When I look at them now, I don't see trophies — I see the people who believed in me at various stages."
The Weight of a Hundred Years -
GLS University is celebrating its centennial, and Dr. Kapadia is clear-eyed about what that means. You're not managing a university, she says — you're stewarding a legacy. The centennial, in her view, isn't a celebration of the past. It's a declaration of the next hundred years. "What does GLS look like in 2050? In 2075? That's the question I wake up with."
What she's most proud of isn't rankings or infrastructure. It's the culture of thinking. "We're building individuals who question, not just comply."
On Leadership and the Hardest Unlearning
She disagrees with one leadership belief in particular: that leaders must always have answers. Clarity of thought is what actually matters, she argues — not a catalogue of ready-made responses.
Has she been underestimated? Without hesitation — yes. Even by subordinates, despite being their boss. But she's never treated it as an insult. "It's actually an advantage. When people underestimate you, that's when you surprise them."
Her biggest unlearning, though, stayed with us longest. Early in her career, there was a quiet pressure to be palatable. To soften decisions. To make the room comfortable before making it think. At some point, she had to sit with a harder truth: "You can be liked and forgotten, or respected and remembered. I chose the second."
The Voice Behind the Mic
Alongside everything else, Dr. Kapadia hosts Decoded, a conversation series she describes as "not a formula — it's a feeling." Lately, she's also started speaking in her own voice: about love, Gen Z, AI, what technology is doing to human connection. Where is that coming from?
"Restlessness, honestly. I kept asking everyone else the uncomfortable questions and staying safely behind the mic myself. At some point that felt dishonest."
Before rapid fire, we asked if there's a version of her that just sits quietly, doing nothing. She laughed — genuinely — and said yes. Her four legged baby, Zoey, has seen that version. Nobody else has.
She is that woman who shows up — for her students, for women in corners that cameras don't reach, for the voiceless; who cannot speak for themselves. "The purest form of trust," she told us later, "is from someone who cannot speak and yet chooses you completely. How do you receive that and not feel responsible for the world's voiceless?"
Link for the website of GLS University –
https://www.glsuniversity.ac.in/">https://www.glsuniversity.ac.in/
Youtube Channel of Decoded-
https://youtube.com/@chandnikapadia_decodedwithme?si=DK5qsER8GF8Wfid-
Instagram of Dr. Chandni Kapadia-
https://www.instagram.com/chandnikapadia_?igsh=NDc5YjlpcWhzMHMy
Linkedin Dr. Chandni Kapadia -
Disclaimer: The material, content, and/or information contained within this impact feature are published strictly for advertorial purposes. T.V. Today Network Limited hereby disclaims any and all responsibility, representation, or endorsement with respect to the accuracy, reliability, or quality of the products and/or services featured or promoted herein. Viewers or consumers are strongly advised to conduct their own due diligence and make independent inquiries before relying on or making any decisions based on the information or claims presented in the impact feature. Any reliance placed on such content is strictly at the individual’s own discretion and risk.
There's a particular kind of person who doesn't wait for the world to be ready for them. Dr. Chandni Kapadia, Executive Director of GLS University, is exactly that. When India Today sat down with her for an exclusive conversation, what we expected was an accomplished administrator. What we got was something far more interesting — a woman who is still mid-sentence, still building, and wonderfully unwilling to be put in a box.
A tour of GLS University: Built with Emotion, Not Just Bricks -
India Today visits GLS University — and discovers that a hundred years of legacy looks nothing like you'd expect.
Before the interview even began, Dr. Chandni Kapadia gave us a tour. Not the PR kind. This one felt personal — almost like being shown around someone's home.
GLS University's campus doesn't feel institutional. It feels alive. Robots navigated us through corridors as students walked past, unbothered — technology here isn't a showpiece, it's just how things work. A small mandir sits tucked into the campus at the entrance itself, unhurried and serene. The library is colour-coded and full of light — less archive, more invitation. The moot court is sharp and serious, just as a replica of the high court. The classrooms are equipped with latest technology, wired for a generation that learns differently.
The Girl Who Just Went -
She was sixteen when she left India for Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. A city that doesn't care who you are until you make it care. By her own admission, that teenager was braver than she gives herself credit for.
"If I had known every challenge that was coming, I might have hesitated. But I didn't know, so I just went."
At home, the expectations were clear — stay close, stay safe, follow a certain path. She wasn't trying to rebel. She just believed there was a bigger world out there and wanted to see it. That quiet stubbornness, it turns out, never quite left her.
One-Dimensional Was Never the Plan -
What followed was a career most people would struggle to explain in a single breath. Law. Fashion. Global brand consulting. Calvin Klein. Burberry. Accessorize. Boardroom tables across continents. And then she walked away from all of it and chose education.
"At some point, what you've built for yourself stops being enough," she said simply. The ROI in education isn't a quarterly number — it's a student who walks out of GLS and does something that matters. She called it a different kind of success. Then, with a small smile, a more addictive one.
The Forbes Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs of India followed. So did the Times Women Icon award. When we asked if the recognition still surprises her, her answer was characteristically grounded: "Awards are really mirrors. They reflect back what your community sees in you. When I look at them now, I don't see trophies — I see the people who believed in me at various stages."
The Weight of a Hundred Years -
GLS University is celebrating its centennial, and Dr. Kapadia is clear-eyed about what that means. You're not managing a university, she says — you're stewarding a legacy. The centennial, in her view, isn't a celebration of the past. It's a declaration of the next hundred years. "What does GLS look like in 2050? In 2075? That's the question I wake up with."
What she's most proud of isn't rankings or infrastructure. It's the culture of thinking. "We're building individuals who question, not just comply."
On Leadership and the Hardest Unlearning
She disagrees with one leadership belief in particular: that leaders must always have answers. Clarity of thought is what actually matters, she argues — not a catalogue of ready-made responses.
Has she been underestimated? Without hesitation — yes. Even by subordinates, despite being their boss. But she's never treated it as an insult. "It's actually an advantage. When people underestimate you, that's when you surprise them."
Her biggest unlearning, though, stayed with us longest. Early in her career, there was a quiet pressure to be palatable. To soften decisions. To make the room comfortable before making it think. At some point, she had to sit with a harder truth: "You can be liked and forgotten, or respected and remembered. I chose the second."
The Voice Behind the Mic
Alongside everything else, Dr. Kapadia hosts Decoded, a conversation series she describes as "not a formula — it's a feeling." Lately, she's also started speaking in her own voice: about love, Gen Z, AI, what technology is doing to human connection. Where is that coming from?
"Restlessness, honestly. I kept asking everyone else the uncomfortable questions and staying safely behind the mic myself. At some point that felt dishonest."
Before rapid fire, we asked if there's a version of her that just sits quietly, doing nothing. She laughed — genuinely — and said yes. Her four legged baby, Zoey, has seen that version. Nobody else has.
She is that woman who shows up — for her students, for women in corners that cameras don't reach, for the voiceless; who cannot speak for themselves. "The purest form of trust," she told us later, "is from someone who cannot speak and yet chooses you completely. How do you receive that and not feel responsible for the world's voiceless?"
Link for the website of GLS University –
https://www.glsuniversity.ac.in/">https://www.glsuniversity.ac.in/
Youtube Channel of Decoded-
https://youtube.com/@chandnikapadia_decodedwithme?si=DK5qsER8GF8Wfid-
Instagram of Dr. Chandni Kapadia-
https://www.instagram.com/chandnikapadia_?igsh=NDc5YjlpcWhzMHMy
Linkedin Dr. Chandni Kapadia -
Disclaimer: The material, content, and/or information contained within this impact feature are published strictly for advertorial purposes. T.V. Today Network Limited hereby disclaims any and all responsibility, representation, or endorsement with respect to the accuracy, reliability, or quality of the products and/or services featured or promoted herein. Viewers or consumers are strongly advised to conduct their own due diligence and make independent inquiries before relying on or making any decisions based on the information or claims presented in the impact feature. Any reliance placed on such content is strictly at the individual’s own discretion and risk.
