Leadership Talks in Hospitality | Delhi 2026
Hospitality has always been an industry built on performance. Leadership within it, however, is built on structure. Who designs systems. Who allocates resources. Who ultimately defines culture.
Women Raise the Bar was conceived to interrogate these questions.
For its Delhi edition, presented during India Bartender Week 2026, Women Raise the Bar, the CSR initiative of MONIN India, partnered with The Ada Coleman Project to convene a focused roundtable on leadership architecture within hospitality. A social enterprise working with a global network of over 150 women and non-binary hospitality professionals, The Ada Coleman Project delivers education, mentorship and international collaborations designed to advance visibility, equality and opportunity across the industry. Within this context, the discussion in Delhi moved deliberately beyond representation, examining the systems that shape ownership, mentorship and long-term sustainability.
The session was moderated by Kaitlin Wilkes.
Recognized among the Bar World 100 Most Influential Figures by Drinks International, Kaitlin operates at the intersection of brand strategy, advocacy and education. As co-founder of The Ada Coleman Project, she has worked to institutionalize support systems for women and non-binary professionals across the drinks industry. In Delhi, she guides a dialogue designed not for symbolism, but for substance.
Joining her:
Sarah Dawn Mars
A bar owner turned systems strategist, Sarah co-founded one of New Zealand’s most awarded cocktail bars before shifting her focus to operational frameworks and sustainable profitability. Through her consultancy and the Overproof platform, she challenges hospitality to rethink how success is built and measured.
Gauri Devidayal
Director and co-founder of Food Matters Group, Gauri established The Table in Mumbai and expanded the portfolio with Mag St., Kaspers, Loud Mouth and The Table Farm. Her work positions hospitality as cultural infrastructure, where business, identity and community intersect.
Vanshika Wadhwa
Vanshika is the Creative Head & Director at House of Fio and Co-founder of Kaméi. She has helped shape Fio’s growth into experience-led concepts across brand direction and concept development. She co-founded Kaméi, a premium East Asian dining destination.
Ezra Star
Owner of Mostly Harmless, Hong Kong’s pioneering farm-to-glass and alcohol-free bar, as well as Call Me Al and Artifact (HK), Ezra builds concept-driven venues rooted in identity and values. A trained bartender, chef and consultant with international bar-development experience, she was named No.61 on Drinks International’s Bar World 100 Most Influential Figures, demonstrating how creative conviction can coexist with commercial discipline.
Angeline Tan
Co-founder of Three X Co and Kuala Lumpur Cocktail Week, Angeline operates at the intersection of operational excellence and regional industry building. Her work underscores the importance of mentorship, collaboration and long-term ecosystem thinking.
What emerged from this convergence was a clear redefinition of leadership.
Leadership in hospitality is no longer positional. It is operational. Authority is derived from proximity to the work, from an understanding of service, cost structures and team dynamics. Leaders who remain connected to these fundamentals build trust, and trust remains the most durable form of currency within the industry.
This shift reinforces a broader reality. Hospitality is, at its core, a people business. Concepts may define an experience, but teams determine whether it endures. Leadership therefore lies less in control and more in enablement, in creating environments where individuals are aligned with a vision and empowered to carry it forward.
At the same time, the discussion underscored the limits of creativity without structure. Sustainable businesses are built on financial discipline, on clarity of unit economics, cost control and profitability. These are not constraints on creativity, but the conditions that allow it to exist over time.
Relevance, too, is being redefined. In an increasingly globalized industry, differentiation does not come from replication of international trends, but from the strength of local identity. The most compelling venues operate at global standards while remaining rooted in a clear sense of place. Authenticity, in this context, becomes a strategic advantage.
Equally important is the role of community. Strong bar ecosystems are built through collaboration, mentorship and knowledge sharing. Growth is collective, and the success of individual venues is increasingly tied to the strength of the networks around them.
Yet access to these opportunities remains uneven. Women in hospitality continue to navigate structural barriers that shape who is able to lead and build. Visibility alone does not address these challenges. What is required is infrastructure, in the form of mentorship, networks and access to opportunity. This is where initiatives such as Women Raise the Bar operate with intent.
The roundtable ultimately examined what the next phase of hospitality will demand from its leaders. Not visibility, but consistency. Not expansion, but sustainability. Not individual recognition, but the ability to build systems, teams and businesses that endure.
Because representation opens doors. Structure is what keeps them open.
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