Himanshi Matta

What I do

Clear communication, built for scale.

I help founders and organisations think through how they are perceived and plan for the risks that come with scale. My work tends to start a level below the message. I look at the systems a communications team relies on, where they hold and where they are likely to give way, so that the right structure is in place well before the pressure arrives.This often includes strategic communications, leadership messaging, reputation management and narrative development.

Advisory

Reputation and Narrative Review

A structured look at how your organisation is currently perceived across media, stakeholders, and customers. I identify gaps between what you are doing and what people understand about you.

Why this matters now: Earned media has become the foundation of search visibility. As AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity synthesise information, over 89% of their cited sources trace back to reputable earned media. What is written about you shapes how you are found.

Advisory

Founder and Leadership Communication

I help founders and leaders speak with clarity, credibility, and a steadier kind of confidence. Part strategist, part sounding board, and now and then the person in the room asking, "Are we sure we want to say that?"

Why it matters: According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 81% of people say they need to trust a brand before they will buy from it. Increasingly, that trust is influenced by what leaders say, do, and stand for.

Execution

Stakeholder and Media Strategy

Identifying the right people to reach, the right channels to use, and the right messages for each audience. I help organisations build relationships with journalists and sector voices who carry your story further than advertising can.

Why it matters: 65% of a company's market value is linked to its reputation, according to research by Weber Shandwick.

Execution

Campaign and Issue Framing

We are in an age of cultural whistleblowing. People call out organisations whose actions don't match their words. I help organisations frame issues from sustainability, and regulation to public health and social impact in ways that build understanding rather than defensiveness.

Why it matters: Nearly 80% of consumers globally say they are willing to boycott a brand based on its country of origin, values, or perceived political position.

Advisory

Risk and Crisis Preparedness

I help leadership teams understand their reputational vulnerabilities and prepare for difficult questions before they become public moments.

What is at stake

A founder of a consumer brand gives an interview at a growth milestone. One poorly framed answer on supply chain practices circulates on social media. Within 48 hours, two journalists are filing requests and an investor asks for a call. Without a prepared position, every response creates a new problem. Reputation risk is rarely dramatic at the start. It compounds.

Execution

ESG and Sustainability Narrative

For brands with genuine environmental or social commitments that are not yet visible, or at risk of being dismissed. I help translate real practice into credible communication for investors, consumers, and media.

Some of my work

Where I have worked and what shifted.

Oxfam India

India, National

Getting inequality into India's budget debate and public discourse.

In 2016, economic debates in India focused on poverty and growth. Structural inequality had little traction. Instead of borrowing messaging about billionaires from global campaigns, we rooted the conversation in Indian fiscal choices: education spending, health budgets, tax policy. I aligned communications with the national budget cycle and cultivated voices among sector leaders who could carry the argument further than Oxfam could. Over time, inequality began appearing more consistently in pre-budget commentary and political reporting.

What changed

Parliamentary and media voices began citing inequality data in budget discussions. The framing shifted from charity language to fiscal accountability.

Oxfam International and IPPF

APAC, 9 Countries

Communicating through operational constraints in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bangladesh.

As regional communications lead across nine countries, I worked in environments where what we said publicly had direct consequences for staff on the ground. During the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and military restrictions on aid in Myanmar, every external statement had to be weighed against operational continuity and staff safety. I helped teams maintain donor confidence and international visibility without creating risk for people working in those contexts.

What changed

Organisations maintained operational presence and donor relationships through active crises, without compromising staff safety through public communications.

Oxfam Asia

Asia, 8 Markets

Building a regional climate finance campaign that could work across very different political contexts.

I led the Make Climate Finance Work for Asia campaign across eight markets, overseeing strategy, execution and regional budgets. I helped design a shared regional architecture, framing the issue through debt risk, public finance and fairness, linked to local experiences of extreme weather, that allowed country teams to participate without confronting their own governments directly. Country teams adapted messaging where possible; the shared frame kept things coherent.

What changed

A coordinated Asia voice in global climate finance negotiations. Country teams could engage domestic audiences without direct political confrontation.

The Sunrise Project

Japan and Europe

Questioning the energy security framing around LNG in Japan, a politically difficult argument to make directly.

I developed an LNG communications strategy for the network, delivered within six months. In Japan, LNG was positioned as critical to energy security after Fukushima. Arguing against it on environmental grounds alone was not viable. Working with Friends of the Earth Japan, we identified that significant volumes of LNG imports were being resold on international markets, which opened a different line of questioning focused on financial risk and public accountability rather than environmental opposition.

What changed

The LNG resale issue began appearing in Japanese media. A new narrative frame gave domestic advocates a more viable public position.

How I work

My Process.

Every engagement starts with a conversation. Here is how most work develops.

Understand first

I listen before I advise. Most reputational problems are symptoms of something else: a trust gap, an unclear story, a credibility mismatch. I try to name the real problem before recommending anything.

Look at what exists

A quick review of how your organisation communicates today, what is working, what is not, and where the gaps are between what you do and what people understand about you.

Shape the story

Building or sharpening the core narrative: what you stand for, who you are talking to, how each audience should hear it. Something your team can actually use.

Support over time

Checking in as things develop. Reviewing what goes out before it goes public. Helping you navigate moments that were not in the plan.

Who I work with

The people I do my best work with.

I work with people who believe in storytelling, value judgement and respect critical insights.

Founders scaling up

Entrepreneurs at a stage where investors, media, or regulators are paying attention and who want to sound credible and confident. Not just what to say, but how to say it consistently across every touchpoint.

Climate and sustainability brands

Businesses with genuine environmental or social commitments who want to make those commitments legible and trusted, without overclaiming. Organic food, clean energy, sustainable products.

Nonprofits and social organisations

Organisations doing important work that is not reaching the right people. Drawing on my experience at Oxfam and similar institutions, I help nonprofits communicate their impact in ways that build trust with donors, partners, and the public.

Corporate communication and industry teams

In-house teams and people across industry working through a bottleneck or a moment of pressure. I spend time identifying where things are getting stuck, whether that is a message that is not landing or a team steadying itself through a difficult moment when the pressure is high and the timing is tight.

About

I grew up in New Delhi. My father worked in the intelligence services, and I grew up watching people come to him for advice on decisions with consequences they could not fully see. That experience of thinking carefully before speaking has stayed with me.

I started my career as a journalist, reporting on courts, institutions, and political movements in India. Journalism taught me to ask uncomfortable questions and to look for what was missing from the official version.

Over the past fifteen years I have worked in communications, first at Oxfam India, then regionally at Oxfam International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation across nine Asian countries, and most recently at The Sunrise Project, where I worked on energy policy narrative in Japan and Europe.

Much of that work was in politically sensitive environments where what we said publicly had real operational consequences. That has shaped how I think about risk, timing, and the difference between visibility and trust.

2025

Sr. Global Communications Campaigner, Communications

The Sunrise Project
2023–25

South & East Asia Communication & Media Lead

Oxfam Asia
2020–23

Regional Communications Manager, APAC

International Planned Parenthood Federation
2016–20

Media Relations Lead

Oxfam India, New Delhi
2014–16

Media Officer

Amnesty International, New Delhi
2010–14

Journalist

India, institutions, courts, politics

Good businesses deserve clarity and trust.

Clear communication, built for scale.

Where I have worked and what shifted.

My Process.

The people I do my best work with.

Himanshi Matta