While we all learn the necessity of studying history – to avoid the risk of our worst moments repeating themselves – most people rarely sit with history long enough to uncover its gems along with its warnings. The secrets of history are as inspiring as they are deep, for those who know how to uncover the mysteries.
One of the most effective ways to learn history is to experience it. How does one experience history? Through travel, of course. There is nothing quite like seeing a historical artifact or location up close and personal.
One could certainly read about the grandeur of the Sistine Chapel or the spectacle that was the Colosseum, however, it pales in comparison to the experience of looking up Michelangelo's sprawling ceiling fresco or laying eyes on the ruins where gladiators once fought lions.
Thankfully, as society is almost three years removed from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, international travel is opening up again. As people increasingly feel safe and healthy, they are anxious to get back into the world to experience new places, people, and activities.
Embodying the intersection of the artistic spirit, modern entrepreneurialism, and worldly tastes, Sourabh Sharma is a man of many talents. With deep-seated experience in travel, digital marketing, food, fashion, apparel, perfume, and journalism Sharma is more than just an entrepreneur and CMO.
Simply put, the young visionary is a modern Renaissance man. With an effortless knack for transforming his interests into businesses that fund his endeavors and fuel his passions, Sharma is a new-age C-Suite Executive.
Entrepreneurs rarely reach the pinnacle of an industry and have time to enjoy themselves. By contrast, Sharma only works in fields that speak to his heart -- always finding a way to enjoy himself and to learn.
Nothing represents this more than Sharma’s recent travel-based collaborations. While Sharma has always been a travel aficionado, his travel collaboration bookings went through the roof when the pandemic started to slow down and hospitality brands wanted to entice people to start travelling again.
Working with many major hospitality and designer brands, Sharma has found a unique niche in collaborating with companies that have a sense of historical import. Partnering with legendary brands enables Sharma to tap into his love of history and luxury to create authentically eccentric content that is never stale and always true to his soif de vivre.
For example, while staying in luxury hotels, Sharma brilliantly puts his whimsical lifestyle on display allowing content consumers to see a way of being to aspire towards.
Styling his outfits and conduct to resemble the environment that he is in, or to contrast them to create a mini-movie plot of sorts, Sharma seamlessly infuses his passion for history, literature, architecture, and art into his content.
Recently, Sharma worked with the Palazzo Versace in Dubai due to its unparalleled grandeur and connection to the historic fashion brand.
His partnership with the Kempinski Grand Hotel Les Bains was favoured due to his fascination for a building built in 1864, in a luscious destination of St Mortiz, which became famous for its 3000 year old mineral spring discovery.
Staying at Sina Villa Medici Hotel in Florence for Pitti Uomo paid homage to Medici history, with a 19th-century historic building, a reformed monastery! Similarly one of his favourite collaborations was with the Excelsior Hotel Gallia in Milan, which boasts underground passageways used during the World War to escape to the transportation hub and a newly renovated interior resembling the inside of a gemstone. The contrast here epitomizes Sharma’s oxymoronic style of sorts, where he marries a deep love for history with the maximalism of modernity.
In Paris, Sharma partnered with the Bowmann Hotel because he was fascinated with their psychedelic pool that reminded him of a spaceship as well as its tribute to the terraces of Paris that his favourite cartoon character from Ratatouille would bounce about. Interestingly, Sharma even worked with a newer destination resort in Switzerland, the 7132 Hotel, because it was explicitly focused on incorporating architectural history into the experience.
Located in the middle of nowhere with little to no cellphone reception, the hotel consists of an obscenely large resort where each room is particularly crafted by a different architect so that no two rooms are alike. Beyond the hotel’s eclectic style, the resort featured a massive healing spa with 16 different pools. Sharma was struck by the curious combination of historical and modern styles in the middle of the wild, where a waltz into the nearby village would likely be met by a Swiss werewolf.
Complementing his work with 5-star hotels, Sharma has collaborated with prestigious jewelry brands like Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel. Sharma specifically collaborated with YSL on bringing historic jewelry to the forefront of fashion. Sharma worked with Chanel on their new initiative to revive several of their older collections as well as some more avant-garde work with upcycled Chanel pieces. True to his obsession with peculiarity, Sharma also did a shoot with a crocodile necklace adorned by Penelope Cruz and other legends. Blending his love of history, hotels, and jewelry, Sharma paired his stay at the Sanderson hotel in London with a set of looks functioning as an homage to the British colonial era time with a twist -- featuring tank tops and big chunky necklaces.
Sharma contemplates his love of history and its intersection with his work, “I like everything to have a bit of history, a bit of a story. I find the pace of life so rushed today that I often crave and look to incorporate the nuance of yesteryear. I get this from evocative reads of the works of, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, and Dante.”
Sharma has a decided distaste for trending content structures used by popular influencers like daily vlogs, ‘get ready with me’ segments, and more. Sharma’s love of narrative storytelling, luxury and prestigious items, and historical gravity is palpable in his delightfully unpredictable yet informative content. Never repeating format, engaging in tricks to optimize engagement, nor clamoring to hop on to trends, Sharma’s content intricately tells a story that consumers emotionally resonate with. Sharma’s collaborations are a much-needed breath of fresh air from the oversaturation of gimmicky, short-form, lowest-common-denominator content.
Speaking to the particular character of his collaborations, and his personality, Sharma waxes lyrical, “So I think my thing, if I were to distill it down, is that I am an odd combination of very creative and very analytical tendencies – very much so like a mad scientist. But also, I think, whimsy just describes it well. It is like a Neverland meets Wonderland, a macabre universe kind of living. I am the love child of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.”
While these collaborations can be seen as a type of influencer marketing, especially considering Sharma’s legit influential social media presence, the term does not do justice to Sharma’s entrepreneurial savvy, chimerical sensibilities, and natural approach.
As cultured as Sharma is, he is a highly technical and effective digital marketer leveraging keywords, past searches, and target psychographics. Putting his money where his mouth is, Sharma is expertly able to demonstrate how his content reliably drives sales for the brands he partners with by offering to amplify content to secure bookings, drive conversion, and impact bottom lines.
While many social media personalities can certainly garner likes and create conversation, Sharma is in a class of his own regarding the return on investment for influencer collaborations. Sharma leverages his trusted brand, which has been expertly cultivated over the years and is not easily duplicated, as well as an audience base that is pre-disposed to purchasing luxury products, services, and experiences to maximize the results of his collaborations and partnerships.
Sharma drives revenue. Interestingly enough, the Palazzo Versace Dubai as well as the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills specifically confided in Sharma that countless people arrived there and spent thousands of dollars simply because they saw Sharma’s content on Instagram in particular.
Several high-profile artists and entrepreneurs have confided that they planned their trips to Switzerland and New York based on his knowledge and social media suggestions, the latter of which made him start his travel site Dot & Pin. Sharma’s ability to help brands convert content into well-paying repeat customers is truly remarkable.
As Sourabh Sharma consistently displays an ability to drive revenue to these luxury brands, we expect many more historic collaborations and insightful unearthings of life from another era from the young Renaissance man.
