The Queen Bey has brought a dealmaker on board.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s Parkwood Ventures has hired Janki Lalani Gandhi as managing director, overseeing investments, finance and strategy.
Gandhi was most recently a managing director in Goldman Sachs’ Cross Markets and Consumer Retail Groups, focusing on beauty and fashion. Before that, she helped build investment banking firm Lincoln International’s presence in fashion and spent better than a decade cutting deals at The Sage Group.
“I have spent my entire career working with talented creative founders and entrepreneurs and this opportunity takes it to the next level,” Gandhi said. “I am excited to join the team at Parkwood Ventures and contribute my experience and skill set to an innovative company with a proven track record for unmatched talent and global success.”
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Founded in 2013, Parkwood Ventures is the corporate wing of Beyoncé’s creative company, Parkwood Entertainment, and manages the entrepreneur’s investments and business development.
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Gandhi’s arrival brings some more industry and business savvy into Beyoncé’s orbit just as the multihyphenate seems especially focused on the fashion industry, wearing the famed Tiffany diamond in a yearlong campaign with husband Jay-Z that is expected to help modernize the Tiffany & Co. brand, now owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
And Beyoncé’s Adidas x Ivy Park collection has also been very active, most recently teaming with Peloton for a capsule collection that will be released next week. In August, she also introduced the Ivy Park Rodeo collection celebrating the overlooked history of Black cowboys and cowgirls.
While celebrity has long been a selling point in fashion, the business of Beyoncé has far transcended her roots in music. She is not just well known, but a force to be reckoned with — from the red carpet to her own brand to her marketing savvy and draw.
While many businesses are out looking for opportunities, Beyoncé faces the happier problem of choosing which opportunities to pursue.
And in that, she now has some high-powered help in Gandhi. While her background is in mergers and acquisitions, it’s not clear if the appointment signals more willingness to wheel and deal, but the potential is there.
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