Diya Chopra-Malik: Bridging Creativity and Capital to Champion Transformative Content
Growing up across the U.S., Delhi, and Singapore, Diya Chopra-Malik always felt like a global citizen. This multicultural upbringing, paired with international schooling, ignited in her a deep appreciation for stories that challenge stereotypes and reflect diverse perspectives. Even before high school, she knew she wanted to shape narratives in the media and entertainment world.
At Cornell University, she majored in Communications with a concentration in Media Studies. But it wasn’t just in the classroom where Diya thrived—her leadership and creativity came alive across a wide range of extracurriculars. She co-founded Tamasha, an inclusive Bollywood fusion dance club that continues to thrive across undergrad and MBA cohorts at Cornell. As marketing chair for the Society for India and a business analyst with the Society for Women in Business, she honed her skills in storytelling, cultural outreach, and strategy. She also supported local gender equity efforts through the Smart is Strong Foundation, deepening her commitment to inclusion.
Her professional journey has been both intentional and richly layered. During the COVID lockdown, Diya interned with KKR’s Asian Media Fund, supporting the managing director on strategic initiatives, such as portfolio management and debt restructuring. This early experience provided her with a unique view into how private equity intersects with media and sparked her interest in long-term media investment.
After graduating, she joined Warner Bros. Discovery in New York as a Client Success Associate, where she managed digital advertising campaigns and collaborated with internal sales and planning teams to drive revenue growth for major entertainment clients. This gave her an understanding of client relationships, monetization models, and the dynamics of digital distribution.
Seeking a more creative role closer to content, she moved to Mumbai in 2024 to join Amazon Prime Video in the PR and Communications team, where she worked on launch campaigns for key original series and films, developed audience engagement strategies, and tracked promotional performance using data analytics. Her standout contribution at Amazon was with Maitri, the company’s DEI initiative, which aimed at creating a safe, inclusive workplace for women across the industry.
When her Amazon role ended in December 2024, Diya returned to KKR to support a content consolidation project—a strategic initiative focused on streamlining content investments and aligning them with long-term monetization and social impact goals. This experience dovetailed with her long-term vision: to build a media aggregator platform in Asia that acquires companies producing transformative, women-centric content, similar to what Candle Media has done in the U.S.
To bridge the gap between creative ambition and business execution, Diya applied to business schools in 2024. With focused introspection and support from Admissions Gateway, she earned admits from Kellogg ($20,000 scholarship), Duke Fuqua ($100,000 Forté Fellow scholarship), and Cornell Johnson ($80,000 Forté Fellow scholarship).
Diya’s story reflects a rare blend of storytelling instinct, business acumen, and unflinching commitment to impact. Through her MBA at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, she hopes to build the operational expertise and strategic foundation needed to redefine how meaningful content is funded, created, and distributed across Asia.
To read more such stories of folks who got into their dream business schools to pursue their lifelong passion, check out our success stories.
