Payal Kadakia

Some Lesser Known Facts About Payal Kadakia

• Does Payal Kadakia smoke?: Not known

• Does Payal Kadakia drink alcohol?: Yes 

• She looks at her mom as a source of inspiration for her. In an interview, she quoted “My mum was the dominant figure in my family and having a strong female person around me was super-influential in my life. Nothing fazed my mum. If there was a problem, she would be like, ‘Here’s what we’re doing to fix it.’ That’s the same perseverance and determination that I know I have.”

• She has been a dancing since she was three years old. She is a world-class dancer and got the idea of founding ClassPass when she couldn’t find a ballet class to drop into after work one day.

• After completing her graduation, she worked at Bain & Company as a Senior Associate Consultant. She worked there until 2008. She then joined Warner Music Group as an Associate Director.

• In 2009, she opened The Sa Dance Company, where she served as the Artistic Director at the studio. The credit of a large part of the success of dance companies at the studio goes to her.

• The studio focuses on Indian Dance, as well as classical, Bollywood, jazz, ballet, contemporary dance, and more.

• ClassPass was launched by Payal in 2011, it is based on the foundation of Classivity. Classivity was her first project idea that she found to be unsuccessful due to limitations like abuse of promotion codes and very fewer subscribers.

• ClassPass charges users a monthly fee that varies by location and the number of classes desired. Members also enjoy the ability to stream classes over a smartphone or computer, and access to free events like group runs and community yoga sessions.

• She stepped down as chief executive of ClassPass and assuming the role of executive chairman. “I wanted to make sure I was spending my time innovating and creating and taking ClassPass to the next level,” she says.

• Her company now offers classes in over 2,500 studios in 28 cities and received over 40 million dollars in funding in 2015.

• Despite having a busy life, she still commits herself to dancing three times a week by having access to any of the ClassPass studios located in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and more.

• She and Nick (her husband) had planned to go to Greece but Nick took her to Paris instead and proposed to her in front of Eiffel tower. She said yes. 

• She performed with her husband on her wedding day.

• She especially came to India to shop for her wedding and bought herself a Sabyasachi’s dress. 

• Forbes included Kadakia among eight women entrepreneurs on the rise, and Fortune named her to its 40 Under 40 list.

• She is a very good friend of American Actress Melanie Chandra.