Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Making People Feel Heard

For Priyanka Chopra Jonas – who has starred in Bollywood and Hollywood films, founded Purple Pebble Pictures, penned a memoir and invested in hot startups like Olipop – creativity and storytelling matter now more than ever. 

‘Stories are one of those things that you can follow back to the beginning of civilisation’, said Chopra Jonas, who has been included in both TIME’s 100 Most Influential People and Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women. ‘They take us away from the automation around us right now – they are what make us human’. 

At Indeed FutureWorks 2025, Chopra Jonas chatted with Indeed Chief Marketing Officer James Whitemore about her mindset as an actor, producer and entrepreneur – and what it takes to build teams and communities where fresh, inspired thinking has room to thrive. 

Here are four key principles that Chopra Jonas shared with the crowd in New Orleans. 

Do not be afraid to rewrite the script. 

Chopra Jonas recalled growing up in a military family and attending nearly a dozen schools. It was not always easy, but her father gave her a piece of advice: Embrace the opportunity. 

‘He told me, ‘You have the ability to better yourself. You have the ability to evolve. You have the ability to be whoever you want to be when you take that step into a new place’,’ she said. ‘And that just gave me some sort of a superpower, and I have used that so much in my career’. 

In the words of the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, she said, you have to ‘Be like water’. 

‘If you are put in a glass, you become the shape of a glass’, Chopra Jonas said. ‘If you are a river, you become torrential. The ocean? You can have mighty powers. But you are still water. I try to really think about that when I think about evolution. It has to be honest and authentic to you, but at the same time, you have got to just be able to adjust to be the best version of yourself’.

Embrace storytelling. It moves people to act. 

An actor and producer who has earned three Academy Award nominations, Chopra Jonas understands how storytelling can move an audience. ‘Everything is a story’, she said. ‘They are such an important part of the human fabric, whether it is building your story and the trajectory of your career, where you want to go, what your priorities are – that is your story’. 

The same principles also apply to a company trying to convey its mission to its audience. ‘What are the pillars of your company? What do you stand for? I feel like the companies and brands that are most successful have such a singular story’, she said. Do not confuse the audience by saying too much. The consumer already has too many options. ‘Have clarity and focus on what your story really is’. 

“Having a workspace where people look out for each other, where they feel looked out for, where people feel heard. I think that is the dream."

- Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Learn from failure and carve a new path. 

‘As I grow older, I feel like success and failure are the yin and yang of each other. They go together’, she told the crowd. ‘It is what you do after your failure that will define success’. 

And what did Chopra Jonas do after her own (perceived) failures? Bring it back to basics. Embrace the little wins. “I feel like the only way to maintain your sanity and some sort of control over what you are doing is taking baby steps,” she said. ‘And, you know, having your larger goal in mind, but being meticulous about it. That is always worked for me’.

Pause. Reflect. Support your team. 

Chopra Jonas has come to realise how important it is to make space to grow creatively. ‘When you get stuck in a rut, when you are not having new conversations, when you are not moving forward – that is when you recognise that it is time to pause, step away from it, walk away, go have a cup of coffee and then come back and look at it with fresh eyes’, she said. 

Much of this guidance can be implemented systematically from within an organisational structure and outlook. ‘It is built from the top down – it is in the ethos’, she said. ‘Having a workspace where people look out for each other, where they feel looked out for, where people feel heard. I think that is the dream’, she said. 

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