About Gayathri
Gayathri Shukla is a dynamic, thought-provoking speaker who inspires individuals to rise to their personal and collective potential. She is the Founder of a social enterprise, Campfire Kinship, where she masterfully harnesses the power of storytelling to help diverse teams discover their unique strengths while building inclusive cultures.
Gayathri is known for her keen ability to see issues from different perspectives and unearth creative solutions for business leaders and professionals. Having lived in 3 countries by the age of 15, and travelling extensively to many others, Gayathri Shukla has developed a deeply personal sense of global citizenship and interconnectedness. A Professional Engineer with over 17 years of experience in the energy sector, Gayathri started her career in Fort McMurray, Alberta. As one of the few Indo-Canadian women working in an industrial environment, she honed the practice of navigating diversity early on. She stood out not only for her exceptional technical contributions but also for re-inventing her skills multiple times throughout her career. After building hands-on experience in her technology discipline, Gayathri Shukla pivoted into project management and led the schedule integration efforts for Fort Hills, a $17B greenfield oil sands facility. The safe and timely start-up of this facility was seen as an industry first.
Gayathri also obtained an Executive MBA program at Queen’s University, while simultaneously balancing her duties as a full-time employee and a parent of young kids. In her MBA project, Gayathri Shukla focused on how to unleash innovation by tapping into the wisdom of stakeholders’ lived experiences and stories. This work was recognized at executive levels and informed the creation of a new transformation department. As a result, she spearheaded digital strategy and innovation programs within this department for the Mining workforce.
Gayathri most recently served currently a Fellow for Financial and Economic Inclusion at the Public Policy Forum where she designed a storytelling process for youth in Canada to share their experiences related to financial and economic inclusion, to support the development of policy solutions. She also hosts a podcast on radio station CJSW 90.9 called Hearth 2 Heart. She was awarded two grants in 2021, one for a video storytelling project called Unlikely Friends to build empathy amongst differences, and the second for the publication of a bestselling book, Landed, Transformative Stories of Canadian Immigrant Women. This project was nominated twice for the Calgary Awards (Community Award in 2022 and Arts Award in 2023), and the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal which Gayathri received in 2023.
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