I caught up with Monica Sangani Gupta, one of CitySaheli’s co-founders, to find out more:

1. How did you come up with the idea to start CitySaheli?
We are two close college friends that both worked for largest investment banks that failed – Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. When each bank failed, it sort of shook up the way we saw things and we decided we wanted to do something different.

We wanted to provide a service that wasn’t already out there. After living in NYC for over ten years, we realized that we were often see as go-to resources. From wedding advice to work advice or planning a birthday party, we always had an abundance of valuable information.

The South Asian community thrives on referrals and relies on advice from one other and we realized there wasn’t very much out there for South Asian women like ourselves. And it came to us: we decided to take the many ideas we would typically share with friends and use the Internet to share this information with thousands of women like ourselves.

In addition to providing information, the website’s mission is to provide a platform for its readers to discuss and share ideas, particularly those relevant to South Asian women.

2. Describe CitySaheli in your own words.
CitySaheli’s literal translation is city girlfriend. Saheli (pronounced sa-hail-ē) means girlfriend in Hindi and we thought the name typifies what the site strives to be: an online “urban girlfriend.” CitySaheli is an online publication that talks about fashion, careers, events, wedding, health and beauty for South Asian women. The site allows readers to sign up for daily newsletter across all the categories. .

3. What differentiates CitySaheli from other women’s sites?
CitySaheli’s spin is the site provides a South Asian twist, and appropriately so since it is primarily targeted toward the South Asian woman and those interested in South Asian culture. CitySaheli currently provides information in five distinct categories: Hip & Happening, Lookin’ Good, I Do, 9 to 5 and Chit Chat.

The website includes, for example, information on karaoke bars with Hindi music, the latest South Asian art gallery exhibitions, the benefits of yoga and ayurvedic treatments, and planning a South Asian wedding.

4. What are some of the features offered by the site?
The site offers a daily newsletter as well as a chat room where women can share ideas. Since the site is primarily targeting the NY area population, there are also events that CitySaheli organizes. We also periodically provide promotions for our readers on certain services and products, and hope to provide even more in the future.

5. Do you have a favorite feature on the site? If so, what is it?
Our favorite feature is the wealth of information that has become available on the site. We love how the site isn’t just about weddings or about the newest beauty cream, but rather it’s a combination of so much more. My business partner and I did a lot of research on what our target demographic wanted to hear about and we listened. With any online publication it’s crucial that you provide your readers valuable information and it’s what we pride ourselves on.

We want the site to be a community where South Asian women share ideas, and as the sight grows, we expect more women will contribute. It’s become a great resource for South Asian women.

6. How has CitySaheli been received in the South Asian community?
We have received an overwhelmingly positive response from the South Asian community. It’s great getting emails from friends, or women we don’t know personally, saying how much they enjoy CitySaheli. It is great knowing that you are providing valuable information to your readers. We also have had a positive response from those who would like to contribute to the site. There are so many ideas that we can implement through this platform and we are glad that the community has received it so well.

7. What is the most interesting or funniest feedback you’ve gotten about the site?
We had a male reader ask why we can’t include men as well!

8. What are your future plans for CitySaheli (that you are comfortable disclosing)?
A section for new and expecting mothers is launching this week. CitySaheli Baby will be a great platform for women who are interested in ideas for their baby and advice with a South Asian twist. We are planning to launch in other metropolitan areas within the United States, United Kingdom and India.

Below is a quick look at the site:

PepsiWeInspire is part of one of Pepsi’s larger campaigns, according to Lauren Scott, senior manager of multicultural marketing:

Scott said the push is a natural offshoot of Pepsi’s overarching optimism message featured in its “Refresh Everything” push. “What we wanted to capture is the strength, joy and wisdom of the African-American market. Particularly in these tough times, this group can look around every day and find optimism,” she said.

via Pepsi Program Targets African-American Moms.

This new site, as well as others from American Airlines and the NBA, highlights a trend among companies to target multicultural segments using social media as part of larger marketing campaigns. This allows multicultural marketing to be operate across media platforms while also remaining adaptable to changes in the marketplace.

After weighing the costs of an ad blitz in traditional media, Unilever opted for a stealthy digital campaign to generate buzz, establish the product’s credibility and encourage Chinese women to give Pond’s Age Miracle a try.

via Marketing: Unilever Dips Into Social Media in Asia – Global News – Advertising Age.

With such a sizeable online population in China (Netpop estimates that over 40 million Chinese use social media heavily), Unilever was taking a big risk. They reached out to testers on popular Chinese beauty blogs and waited for the results, knowing (as with all social media) that negative feedback could have a quick and decisive impact on the brand. All this in a market where Pond’s was competing against other global brands like Procter & Gamble’s Olay, as well as L’Oreal, and Clinique.

Unilever’s strategy paid off: Pond’s Age Miracle cream became a big hit, drawing attention from other Unilever offices around Asia. In several of these other Asian countries, Unilever has effectively leveraged social media like Facebook fan pages and YouTube to its advantage—this was reportedly their first social media campaign in China. With some social media marketing already under way, Unilever seems primed to develop successful social media campaigns to reach women in other parts of Asia.

But is Unilever open to leveraging social media to reach multicultural women—women of African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American descent—here in the United States? Women of color are now 30% of the U.S. female population and spent $1 trillion in 2008. Rather than define women generally for major product rollouts, consumer product companies like Unilever might increase their brand awareness and loyalty by making a relatively small investment into social media campaigns that target multicultural women.