Meet Anjula Acharia, Priyanka Chopra Jonas' manager - the woman behind PeeCee's success in the West
Much of the credit for Priyanka Chopra Jonas' international success goes to Anjula Acharia. Let's know more about her.
We've always heard about how managers play a crucial role in a celebrity's life. But, having a manager who one depends on for their valuable insight on just about everything and one who turns around your career completely, is truly a blessing. When Anjula Acharia was dissuaded from singing Priyanka Chopra, she followed her instinct and went on to make a deal with PeeCee. And we know that went.
From becoming the first South Asian to lead an American network drama series, first Bollywood star to ever reach Hollywood's upper echelons to becoming the first Indian woman to feature on the cover of American Vogue in 2018, Priyanka's career sky-rocketed. And much of the credit for Priyanka's international success goes to Anjula Acharia. Let's know more about her.
Investor of the Year at Vogue Women of The Year 2021, Anjula Acharia owns A-Series Investments -- a company whose portfolio includes many female-funded businesses like Bumble, ClassPass, Yumi among others. Anjula manages actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas and is an executive producer on Evil Eye, a horror series on Amazon Prime Video. The bio on her LinkedIn reads as , "An entrepreneur, philanthropist, pop-culture enthusiast and Angel Investor/ Advisor." Anjula was recently named on Billboard's 'International Power Players' List. Anjula advises an array of companies in the consumer internet space and is an earl stage investor with many of them including some mentioned above.
In 2007 Anjula Acharia co-founded Desi Hits!, a media company backed by Jimmy Iovine (Interscope/BeatsByDre founder), and introduced artists like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears to emerging global markets, especially India. Returning the favour to America, Anjula signed with actress Priyanka Chopra and helped her foray into the West. She's been managing Priyanka Chopra for many years now.
Yes, she's the woman behind Priyanka Chopra's success in the West. From convincing her to make inroads into the West, helping her sign her first deal with ABC to advising her to invest in Bumble India, Anjula has been the brains behind Priyanka Chopra -- the global sensation.
Anjula had been warned not to waste her time on Priyanka Chopra. While talking to Forbes, Anjula had said, "I remember when I first signed Priyanka, there were a lot of people, particularly in India, who were so negative. I was at this dinner, at my friend Manish Goyal's house in New York, with some prominent people from the Hindi film industry and they were just so negative about her. They were like, 'She is never going to work, I don't know why you are wasting your time', blah blah." “I remember feeling really hurt actually, at the time. I remember being like, 'Am I wasting my time?' But this is where your self-belief comes in. It seemed like a crazy dream, right, to bring somebody from India to Hollywood? But I got to tell you, when I look in Priyanka's eyes, I just believe. Priyanka is just undeniable, she is a disruptor," she added. And we all know how that story ended, don't we?
"When I first went to India and asked Priyanka to take this leap of faith with me and my partner, Jimmy Iovine, I had a very strong instinct that if anyone could do this It would be her – I’ve learned to trust my instincts over time and ignore the noise around them. Jimmy explained that he had received similar criticism when he signed Eminem; that gave me a lot of confidence in following my intuition," Anjula Acharia had told Harper's Bazaar in an interview when questioned why did she sign with Priyanka Chopra after being dissuaded to collaborate with her.
During an interview with Harper's Bazaar, while speaking about working with Priyanka Chopra and managing her, Anjula had said she's doesn't like being called her manager. that's because they are more like business partners/collaborators. "Priyanka and I share a very unique relationship – I actually don’t like calling myself her manager because we really operate more like business partners," Anjula had said.
If one goes through Priyanka Chopra's Instagram timeline, you'll definitely chance upon a few photos of her with her manager Anjula Acharia who she addresses as her friend. In fact, vice versa too! On many occasions including birthdays and anniversaries, Priyanka and Anjula have both taken to their respective social media handles to convey how much their unique bond of friendship means to them. For the unversed, Anjula is not just a celebrity manager to Priyanka but has also collaborated with the international icon on several projects as a producer.