Monika Shergill, Netflix India's content VP, is ContentAsia's Woman to Watch for today because... she's at the head of a movement that we view as having done more to put premium Indian content on global screens than anything ever. With budget to back up grand ideas.

Earlier this month, Shergill unveiled Netflix's largest slate for India ever, with 41 titles across a broad span of genres, styles, languages and voices, all within India's new Digital Media Ethics Code that fences in the playgrounds streaming platforms have had such a good time exploring.

Netflix hasn't said exactly how much, but if 2021 is the biggest slate ever for India, and they say they spent US$400m in 2019/2020...

Shergill says she has "always been motivated by the power of stories to inspire and transform us as people".

"I grew up in a small place where stories in books and movies were my window to the world and they inspired me to become a journalist and a storyteller," she adds, quoting poet Muriel Rukeyzer – ‘The universe is made of stories, not atoms" – before saying:"What could be more motivating than to live that every single day of my life through my amazing job at Netflix."

Here's what else she said in answer to the other two questions we've asked women across Asia's content industry:

What would you like people to say about you when you are not in the room? 

"I would like people to say that, ‘She makes a difference’- by listening, by adding a perspective that could be missing or by constantly challenging myself, my teams and creators to tell defining stories that can bring more joy and comfort to our audiences.

Are you now where you thought you would be when you were 20?

20 years ago I never imagined an incredible job like this could exist where you could tell great stories from your country and your culture and make the world enjoy them at one go and in so many languages! So in that sense this is far beyond my expectations. Technology and storytelling have come together in the most transformative way to touch human lives and Netflix is at the heart of that experience. I feel lucky to have the best entertainment job in the world and the goal and responsibility is to tell the best Indian stories that will make Netflix India the service of choice for every Indian."

💥 ContentAsia's Women to Watch 2021 series asks women from across Asia's content industry to talk about what motivates them, what they would like people to say or think about them when they’re not in the room, & whether they are now where they thought they would be when they were 20.