While growing up in Baltimore, interactive marketing executive Harshal Sisodia said that his career plans didn’t always click with his parents.
“In Indian-American society, your parents have a certain mind-set of what it takes to be successful: being a doctor or engineer,” said Sisodia, known as “Harsh” to his friends and family. “But I was creative since I was born. My parents supported it in a certain respect, but never supported it as a career.”
After high school, he gave college a try for a half-semester, but he was more interested in working as a DJ and as a producer for some local music labels. Sisodia’s creative side and career path didn’t really come together until 1998 when he attended the University of Maryland’s Y2K Chancellor’s Certification Program, a programming class that focused on the problems of computers handling the switch to the 2000 date change. It was there that he learned the Web design skills that he would translate into a career in interactive marketing.
After jobs that took him to Washington, D.C., and New York, Sisodia came to Los Angeles in 2006. He now works as an executive producer for Superfad and is leading the Culver City firm’s move into the interactive marketing sector, including guiding the development of KB24.com, a Web site for Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” said Sisodia, who has previously worked on other sportscentric sites. He points to his work on Nike Gridiron, a football-focused interactive section at Nike.com, while at R/GA in New York as a career highlight. The section won several 2005 advertising awards and honors.
The industry awards on his mantle after only a 10-year career show he made the right choice.
“It was a no-win situation with my parents, but they continued to support me,” Sisodia said, looking back at his family’s pressure to pursue a more traditional job. “They just wanted me to be happy and
successful.”
Sisodia lives in Marina del Rey with his wife, Komal. In his spare time, he likes to play basketball and video games.
