Chandrika Tandon is a globally recognized business leader, GRAMMY® -winning artist, and humanitarian. Her stated mission is to elevate human happiness through music and education – working on the dual prongs of emotional and economic well-being.
Her passion for fostering emotional well-being is focused on emanating love, joy, and transcendence through her music and artistry. As The New York Times wrote, Chandrika traveled an “unlikely path to become an internationally recognized Indian singer.” At the height of her business career, she reevaluated her life and definitions of success, reformulating her business life to intentionally include music, service, and meditation.
Since 2005, Chandrika has released eleven albums (including two 3-volume sets), ten under her non-profit label Soul Chants Music – Soul Ecstasy, Ammu’s Treasures, Shivoham – The Quest, Soul March, Soul Mantra, GRAMMY®-nominated Soul Call in the Contemporary World Music category, and GRAMMY®-winning Triveni in the Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album category. Her music draws on ancient Vedic chants that have sound healing impact and melds it with Indian classical music, and has attracted a wide cult following. She has conducted numerous benefit concerts on world stages to sold-out audiences, including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Nassau Coliseum, Times Square, premier European venues, and Washington DC’s National Mall for hundreds of thousands of attendees of the World Culture Festival. She has been named the Young People’s Chorus of New York City’s 2024-2025 Artist in Residence.
Chandrika’s economic well-being efforts are focused on higher education – in particular STEM – where she brings to bear her considerable business experience as one of the earliest and youngest partners of McKinsey & Company, and founder and Chair of her advisory firm, Tandon Capital Associates. She chairs the Board of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, named after her family’s generous gift. This school has been a transformation success story, with a steady rankings climb, and proudly offers enhanced access to first-generation and women students. NYU Tandon is involved in world-class groundbreaking research in areas like cybersecurity and wireless. Chandrika is a Trustee of New York University, Chair of NYU’s Global Council, and a Trustee of NYU Langone Health. She is a Harold Acton Fellow at NYU and a Sterling Fellow at Yale, where she serves on the President’s Council on International Activities. She is the founder and patron of Madras Christian College’s Boyd-Tandon School of Business, and her Foundation has established faculty Chairs at Yale and Harvard Universities. Chandrika is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Investment Committee and serves as a Governor of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Chandrika has received numerous awards, including the Gallatin Medal, NYUʼs highest honor, the Walter Nichols Medal for leadership and integrity, and the Polytechnic Medal recognizing her contribution to science and engineering. She was inducted into the Horatio Alger Society of Distinguished Americans and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AMACAD), and has received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and The Town Hall’s Friend of the Arts Award.
She was recently honored with the the Voice Foundation’s Voice Education Research Awareness Award, the ASCAP Foundation’s Champion Award, the Denyce Grave’s Foundation Game Changer Award, Ban-Ki Moon Award for Women’s Empowerment, Maharishi International University’s Maharishi Award for the Area of Celebrations and Fulfillment, and the South Asian Council for Social Services’ Music for Healing Award.
Chandrika was named the inaugural Distinguished Alumnus of both the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) and Madras Christian College (MCC), her two alma maters. She has also supported senior and community centers in several Hindu temples in New York.
She has also been profiled in print, on radio, and television including in CNBCʼs The Brave Ones series, the book Indian Genius by Meenakshi Ahamed, and the book From the Minds of Jazz Musicians, Volume II by David Schroeder.
