As a child of Indian immigrants, growing up in Connecticut, Sarita Bhatt learned to live in two worlds, developing what she calls a bicultural, global lens. "I was an American from 9 to 5, and an Indian from 5 to 9," she said.
She also inherited a love of technology from her nuclear-engineer dad, who brought home a personal computer when Ms. Bhatt was 8. The programming languages Basic and MS-DOS became her bridge between cultures, and got her thinking "how technology changes human behavior," she said.
Being a global early adopter worked in her favor. In her first job, as a U.S. government telecom policy specialist, she trotted around the world negotiating international access to the Internet and helping American communications giants enter new markets. Nowadays, she helps global brands such as Hershey's and Unilever craft targeted marketing strategies.
"You can't create a TV spot or a Web ad without understanding who you're talking to," Ms. Bhatt said. Her grasp of the transnational new world of social media helps Havas Worldwide?”which last year made her the company's first director of global strategy?”win business.
The marketing firm, formerly Euro RSCG, is the largest unit of Havas, a publicly traded Paris-based holding company, that had 2013 revenue of $2.4 billion.
"Sarita understands that the digital world is the real world," said Chief Strategy Officer Tim Maleeny. "Something our digitally self-conscious industry should have figured out a long time ago."