By our reporter
MISSISSAUGA: She is young. She is super smart. And she is a multitasker who has mastered the art of wearing multiple hats with aplomb.
Shivani Sharma-Gupta is your new-age HR professional. Ultra chic. Uber ambitious. And an overachiever.
A reiki practioner, she is a spiritualist and energy healer as well. And a trained musician in Indian classical music to boot.
A busy mother with three kids, she full-time helms HR affairs at two big corporate groups – the Crown Group of Hotels and the Mississauga-based legal firm Prudent Law.
In fact, the Crown Group of Hotels owes its origins to this young woman.

“In 2013, I bought my first-ever hotel – Quality Hotel in Burlington – for Shivani to run it as its general manager. And she turned my first hospitality venture into a huge success story, winning us the Gold Award from Choice Hotels in the very first year. Had she sunk my 10 million dollars, it would have been the end of the road for me in the hospitality business. I am proud of what Shivani did,” beams her father Kuldeep Sharma.
Indeed, Shivani has turned out to be her father’s lucky mascot.
Because buoyed by her success in his very first hotel venture, Sharma took the plunge into the hospitality business.
“Shivani’s success gave me the business direction and in 2014 we bought our second hotel – Courtyard Marriott in Brampton. In fact, we bought this hotel just two weeks before her wedding on August 9, 2014. Half the hotel was booked for our guests for one week. They came from over a dozen countries and they had a blast – music, non-stop band, bell boys, drinks, limousines and what not. I have not done such heavy booking my entire life. Brampton Mayor Susan Fennel, who came for the wedding, said: ‘How lucky you’re Mr Sharma to marry your daughter from the best hotel in Brampton!’ It was such a memorable experience for us and our guests,” remembers Sharma.

Shivani was working with a Mississauga-based HR firm when she took up the challenge her dad threw at her.
“I was doing great in my job and hiring for high-level executive positions, including chartered accountants, when I left it to join the family business. I felt very excited to take on this new challenge and new responsibility,” smiles Shivani, sitting in the corporate offices of the Crown Group of Hotels in Mississauga.
Calling herself a people’s person, she says, “I started my journey in the hotel business by first getting to know all the employees. I became their best friend as we tried to understand their job roles – the housekeeping, the front desk, the cooking, etc. By becoming their best friend, I was able to relate to them before becoming their boss.”
This worked.
“Considering the huge responsibility I was given to run Quality Hotel in Burlington, I had no option but to prove myself. I knew that success was the only answer and my every single decision was geared towards achieving that goal,” she says forcefully.
And Shivani delivered.

Not only did she turn the family’s first hotel venture into a huge success, but she also skilfully moulded her disparate group of employees into a super-duper bunch.
“Look, you are as good as your employees. That’s my guiding business philosophy. I think all my decisions worked out in the end.”
She says her father, who had once run the largest security business in India, was always there for her during her maiden year in the business.
“My father and I are very similar in the way that we both are very strong personalities. That’s why he handed me the job, saying: `You handle it alone. If you need help, I am there for you.’ I did go back and forth whenever I needed any help from him. So he was very much in the background.”

Though HR is her soft spot, she says, running a full business was a different ball game altogether.
“I learnt a few valuable lessons in my first year as a business head. I learnt to never underestimate anybody because they can prove you wrong. The employees were also judging me because of my age. It became a challenge for me to prove them wrong…that age is just a number.”

Indeed, her first year at the helm was a deep learning curve for Shivani.
One cardinal rule of running a successful business that she learnt in her very first year was: never allow anything to create negative vibes at your workplace.
“No matter how hard your day is, never let it show on your face because it matters to people who are coming to work for you. Since I am a very spiritual person, I know that energy gets quickly transferred. Optimism and positivity should be your mantra all the time,” she opines.
After scripting her family’s first business success story, Shivani decided to tie the knot with her long-term boyfriend Devesh Gupta in August 2014.
“Devesh and I had been family friends since 2002. We started dating in 2011 and got married in 2014 because we thought it was the right time for it. Our marriage took place just days after we bought Courtyard Marriott in Brampton. Apart from running the first hotel, I also got involved in overseeing the business portfolio at Courtyard Marriott,” she says.

“Just after our marriage, Prudent Law was formed right and I got busy helping Devesh with hiring lawyers and strategy plans on how to excel as a law firm.”
Today, she does all hirings for senior-level positions for both Prudent Law and the the Crown Group of Hotels which has a portfolio of four hotels and three golf clubs.
Shivani thinks her family business environment prepared her for business. “But I think it is mostly hard work. And some element of luck.”
And she never fails to thank her father for always encouraging her to follow her heart.
“He has been an involved dad since we were kids. He encouraged me to pursue music and I became part of Sangam Kala Group in Delhi. I was good enough in music that I was chosen to go on Doordarshan to sing as part of the group as well as solo. He has been a very supportive and loving father. He always says: `Follow your heart.’ He is an easy-going person, never imposing anything on anyone.”
Listing her father’s qualities which made him a super achiever, Shivani says, “He is the most optimistic and positive person you will ever meet. He sees only optimism in every scenario – which I really admire. Look, there are two types of people – you can either be happy about something or sad about it. But my dad focuses only on the positive. Isn’t that the most admirable thing about a person?”

But more than anything else, she says, her father is the ultimate family man.
“Despite being deeply involved with his professional life and running his businesses, he always kept his family first. Can you say this about many men? No. I love this thing about him.”
Does she see any flaws in him?
“No,” she retorts.
But after a brief pause, she adds, “Well, yeah…like my father…he is the one who keeps saying that we both are very similar…we both are the same person but just in two different bodies. He is such a firm believer of that…I wish that he sees the softer side of me…he only sees me as a very strong person.”
Anything she missed while growing up?

“You know we were a business family in India and we were surrounded by security guards all the time. We went to the park, and there was a security guard following us. We went to school, and there was a security guard following us. That freedom was not there while growing up – which had nothing to do with my father. But we were blessed and privileged to have everything.”
Considering their circumstances, she says, immigrating to Canada was the best decision made by her family.
“I am glad that my dad made that decision. I don’t think he asked us because we were young, but mom was not very happy.”
How does she handle two different businesses – hotels and the law firm?
“No matter what business it is, at the end of the day the same strategy applies. Any business is only successful if it has a solid strategy behind it,” she replies.
What is the crux of that business strategy?
“Having the right people for the right job is the most important part of any business strategy. Hotels and law are both service-based businesses, they are not product-based businesses.”
She says she regularly visit all their properties. “Just recently I was in Nova Scotia visiting the teams at the hotels and two golf courses.”

Being spiritual has helped her in family and corporate life, says Shivani.
“Being spiritual means the way you live, the way you think and the way you do things,” she says by way of explanation.
A qualified reiki master with degrees from India and Canada, she is also a practising energy healer.
“I believe in energy and I also believe that everything happens for a reason. I am a reiki practitioner because I qualified as a reiki master. I took this course in India when I was 16 and have been practising it since then.”
Is she religious?
“I am religious, but I won’t say that I do puja everyday. I have a temple in our house and am teaching the same principles to my kids to follow Hinduism. It’s not like that we read the Gita, the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. It is just believing in God.”
Any businessman or businesswoman she admires?

“I admire Sudha Murthy who was given the Global Indian Award by the Canada-India Foundation last year. She is such a simple and humble person. With all the success she has, she is very down to earth and true to herself. I look up to her. I also like former PepsiCo CEO Indira Nooyi, I love the way she articulates herself, her confidence.”
Hobbies?
“I do enjoy sports. I play badminton. I play tennis. Golf sometime.”
And her mantra for relaxation?
“My relaxing time is the last thirty minutes just before I go to bed. That’s the only time I get to relax. But, you know what, I have incorporated relaxing time as part of my daily routine – whether it is drinking my tea for ten minutes, whether it is going for my walk with my kids, whether it is driving to work. Which works out perfectly for me.”
Big on travel, she says visiting new places around the world each year is the ultimate way to unwind, heal and recharge.
“We have travelled to more than 15 countries in the last 10 years. I absolutely love Italy. Greece is another favourite place. We were just in France during the Olympics to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary.”
Biking is also one of her passions. “I like to bike 10 to 15 kilometres…”
But her ruling passion is to stay abreast of what is happening in the world of the hospitality business.
“I am involved in various hotel conferences that happen every year. Running a business is a daily learning curve, and the best way to learn is to see what is happening out there in the real world and being in touch with business peers.”
Looking to the future, she says, “Our goal is to buy way more properties and one day flag-shipping our own Crown Group of Hotels logo on our properties, multiplying golf courses and opening multiple offices of Prudent Law throughout Canada.”

Anything she wish could be different?
“No. Life is all about balance. It is the key to happiness.”
And Shivani is a firm believer in destiny.
“Everybody’s destiny in life is already written. How it unfolds is just a matter of time. Everything is written there, so there is no point in fretting or being upset about things.”
Pivoting the conversation to her family, she says her mother Poonam Sharma is the pillar of their family.
“She is the most giving, selfless mother I could have ever wished for. I have always been very close to her and till date she is my best friend. I share everything with her. She has always supported me whatever I wanted to do. She has a calm presence in our family and that calm presence balances out everything in our family.”
And she calls her brother Sameer, three years her junior, a constant in her life.
“We are very close to each other. I am a call away and if I call him, he will show up. Once my little brother is now a married man. He has guided our business very well. My father, mom, brother, my husband and kids define my family.”
And defining herself, she says, “I am an independent, spiritual person who has the privilege of having work-life balance while enjoying the corporate culture and the family fun.”
As the conversation nears the end, Shivani says, “My short-term goal is to maintain balance because my children are very young. Being with them and aware of what is happening at our businesses as well is my simple, short-term goal.”

And her long-term goal?
“One day I would like to open my own business which has a Shivani Gupta logo/flag on it…”
Like?
“I would like to pursue my passion for design – whether it is our home, or the law office or the hotels. I have helped design our hotels and Prudent Law office.”
Chips in her father, “Like me, Shivani is very result-oriented. She has accomplished everything she has set out to do.”
Indeed.
Like father, like daughter.
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