Akhil Backliwal
Akhil founded Career Ahead in 2020 and leads its editorial direction across print and digital. He also serves as a board advisor to several international chambers.
Est. July 2020 · Print & Digital · Quarterly
About
About
Career Ahead
A career and leadership magazine in which most stories are told by the people who lived them.
Latest issueJuly 2026 · Josh Powell
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
A note from the Editor-in-Chief
“The most useful career advice comes from people who have already walked the road.”
I started Career Ahead in July 2020 with one idea: the most useful career advice comes from people who have already walked the road. It doesn’t come from a list of tips. It comes from someone telling you what they tried, what went wrong, and what they would do differently. That is what “Learn from Experience” means to us.
Akhil Backliwal
July
2020First issue published
2020First issue published
4×A year: January, April, July and October
25Issues published to date
Their
wordsMost magazine stories are written by the people who lived them
wordsMost magazine stories are written by the people who lived them
The magazine
Career advice, in the first person.
Career Ahead Magazine is a career and leadership title, published in print and online. We publish four issues a year, in January, April, July and October. Our first issue came out in July 2020, and every issue since then is in our Digital Editions.
About 90% of the articles and cover stories in the magazine are written by the people featured in them, about their own careers. They write about real decisions, setbacks and turning points, in their own words. The Career Ahead team writes the rest.
- Studentsdeciding what to study and where to begin.
- Professionalswho want to grow, change direction or lead.
- Entrepreneursbuilding something of their own.
- Educationistspreparing the next generation for work.
The archive
25 issues, one idea.
Every quarter since July 2020, a new cover and a new story told first-hand. Select any cover to open that issue, or browse them all in the Digital Editions.
Browse all 25 issues
Where it all began
July 2020
Issue No. 1 · Stephen Page
“Who Wants to be an Entrepreneur?”
“So my answer to “Who wants to be an entrepreneur?” would be EVERYONE.”Read the first issue →
July 2020
October 2020
January 2021
April 2021
July 2021
October 2021
January 2022
April 2022
July 2022
October 2022
January 2023
April 2023
July 2023
October 2023
January 2024
April 2024
July 2024
October 2024
January 2025
April 2025
July 2025
October 2025
January 2026
April 2026
July 2026July 2020July 2026
On the cover
Notable contributors
A few of the people who have shared their stories on the cover of Career Ahead.
Amitabh Kant
Innovating for India: A Life in Public Service
India’s G20 Sherpa from 2022 to 2025 and CEO of NITI Aayog from 2016 to 2022.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul
A Judge’s Journey
Judge of the Supreme Court of India from 2017 to 2023, and former Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
Keith Krach
Transformational Leadership Through the Power of Trust
Former US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, and former Chairman and CEO of DocuSign.
Lord Karan Bilimoria
Cover story
Founder of Cobra Beer, crossbench member of the House of Lords and CBI President from 2020 to 2022.
Roopa Kudva
A Journey Without a Master Plan
Managing Director and CEO of CRISIL from 2007 to 2015, then a partner at Omidyar Network leading its India investments.
Dr Arvind Lal
An Accidental Entrepreneur
Padma Shri awardee (2009) and chairman of Dr Lal PathLabs, the diagnostics company he has led since 1977.
Kaiane Aldorino
A Story of Reinvention
Miss World 2009, the first winner from Gibraltar, and Mayor of Gibraltar from 2017 to 2019.
Josh Powell
Success Beyond the Finish Line
Two-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, in 2009 and 2010.
Editorial standards
How we work
Stories written by contributors
When a featured person writes their own story, we edit it for clarity and check the facts. The story and the voice stay theirs.
Stories written by our team
Our editors research, write and edit the rest of the magazine, including interviews and features.
Sponsored content
Paid content is labelled “Sponsored”, so you always know when a piece has been paid for.
AI-assisted news
Some news reports on our website are prepared with the help of AI tools. These reports are labelled as AI-assisted, and an editor reviews them.
Corrections
If you find an error in anything we publish, email support@careeraheadonline.com with a link to the article and what needs fixing. We will acknowledge your message within 24 hours and resolve it within 14 days.
Grievance Officer
Ria Pal, Manager, is our Grievance Officer. Complaints can be sent to support@careeraheadonline.com.
The masthead
Leadership
Pooja Backliwal
Pooja runs the magazine’s day-to-day editorial work. Before Career Ahead, she held leadership roles in precision engineering, ran ventures in the jewellery industry and worked with Ernst & Young.
Daksha Shanker Jaidka
Daksha leads Career Ahead’s research and executive profiles. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Delhi University and further qualifications from the United Kingdom.
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Open the archive →- General enquiries
- info@careeraheadonline.com
- Reader support and corrections
- support@careeraheadonline.com
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- sales@careerahead.in
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- articles@careerahead.in
- Subscriptions
- subscribe@careerahead.in
Career Ahead is published by AheadGlobal Media (OPC) Pvt. Ltd., 206 BMC House, N1 Connaught Place, New Delhi 110001, India. You can also reach us through our Contact page.