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'I tell my kids mama has to go to office': Shloka Ambani gets candid on career, ambition and motherhood
In a rare podcast appearance, Shloka Ambani shares her commitment to volunteerism through ConnectFor, balancing her role as a mother and a social entrepreneur.
In a rare interview on influencer and entrepreneur Masoom Minawala’s podcast, Shloka Mehta, daughter-in-law of Mukesh Ambani, opened up about balancing career, ambition, and motherhood.
Shloka Mehta spoke candidly about her journey as the co-founder of ConnectFor, a platform that aims to bridge the gap between volunteers and nonprofits in India.
“I take a lot of pride in telling my kids that like mama has to go to office, you go to school, we're all doing things to make ourselves better,” Shloka said, adding that it has deepened her sense of purpose. “You're creating something that someone who you're fully invested in is going to be influenced by. I think that's the best legacy that you can leave behind for your kids.”
Shloka Mehta's dream for her children, and for all the young ones around her, is simple but powerful, “They need to know that all careers are okay… It’s okay to do something that may take a while, may seem like a slow start, but you just have to go every day and believe that you're building something of value.”
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What is ConnectFor
As ConnectFor celebrates 10 years, Shloka and co-founder Maniti Shah reflected on their decade-long journey. “ConnectFor essentially is like a shaadi.com but for volunteering,” Shloka explained. “We just decided to be that bridge that initially was to connect people who wanted to volunteer with nonprofits that needed it.”
From that basic idea, ConnectFor has grown to become a full-fledged engagement solution, working with over 1 lakh volunteers, more than 1,000 nonprofits, and saving NGOs over ₹21 crore through volunteer efforts. The platform has clocked 4.18 lakh hours of volunteering and now partners with 120 corporates and over 150 student groups across India.
Shloka also spoke about systemic gaps in India’s social sector. “The social sector is not getting the credit it deserves,” she said. “It’s a vicious cycle, if you don’t have access to funding, you don’t get good talent; and without talent, it’s hard to meet your goals or make a real impact.”
She questioned the decision-making processes at the policy level, particularly the lack of consultation with grassroots organisations. “Who are we solving for? What is informing the decisions we make?” she asked, citing the example of well-intentioned but poorly maintained school toilets. “There was no one to maintain them or educate girls on menstrual hygiene. So the problem just came back.”
For Shloka Mehta, working in the social sector has always been a calling. After studying anthropology at Princeton and law at LSE, she returned to Mumbai in 2014 and began working in the education space. “The stark disparity in terms of opportunity really got to me,” she said.
How it all began
She teamed up with lifelong friend Maniti, who came from a background in biomedical science and consulting. Tired of corporate life, Maniti reached out to Shloka Mehta in search of something more meaningful, and ended up co-founding ConnectFor. “The idea of building something new is really exciting for me,” she said.
Both founders emphasized that while social work may not pay well, it offers something equally valuable: purpose. “To work in the sector, you have to be largely intrinsically motivated,” Shloka Mehta said. At ConnectFor, intention often outweighs qualification, and many team members rise from interns to full-time roles.
They also pride themselves on running the platform with professional rigour. “We look at ROI too,” Shloka said. “But it’s a return on time. Every hour of volunteering is measured, audited, and assessed.”
From whiteboard dreams to large-scale school adoption projects like Artshala and government partnerships in places like Gadchiroli, the duo says their North Star keeps evolving, but the mission remains: to enable and empower India’s social sector.
Shloka Mehta married Akash Ambani, the eldest son of Mukesh Ambani, in a grand ceremony in March 2019. The couple, who were childhood friends and later college sweethearts, now have two children. Their first child, a son named Prithvi Akash Ambani, was born in December 2020. In May 2023, they welcomed their second child, a daughter named Veda.
(Also Read: Shloka Mehta gives rare interview inside Antilia, recalls phone call that inspired her)
