Our annual GRAZIA Game Changers initiative celebrates bold ambition and fearless innovation. These are the people reshaping industries, communities, and culture—one daring move at a time.
Ahead, get to know Ash Shri. As the founder of Ahimsa Sanctuary, a vegan restaurant and holistic wellness space, Ash is redefining the rules of wellness and health culture by breaking them, one at a time.
What inspired you to pursue this path?
I recognised a quiet absence of spaces where people could simply exist, soften, and feel held—spaces that centred wellness not as a trend, but as a way of living. Five years ago, conversations around mental health still felt hushed and almost taboo. I wanted to shift that. This intention became deeply personal when I lost someone to mental health. It changed the way I saw everything: how silently people can struggle, how much goes unseen, and how urgently we need spaces where people feel safe enough to be honest, or even just to be.
Food was the first thing I questioned deeply. I felt frustrated by the noise of health culture: the misleading labels, the diet narratives, the constant external rules. It didn’t feel honest. So I returned to what felt true to me—learning from my roots in Ayurveda, a traditional Indian system of medicine that honours individuality. It teaches that there is no one way to care for the body, only a deeper listening to what each person needs.
Yoga, too, was never just physical for me. It has always been a spiritual and mindful practice, a way to come back to self, and to regulate, notice, and soften. Somewhere along the way, a simple but profound realisation emerged: so many people are carrying so much, quietly. Beneath expectations, labels, and judgment, there is a shared depth of suffering that often goes unseen.
Creating a space that gently dissolves those layers, even for a moment, became the intention— a space where people can feel safe, unmasked, and supported. Where care is not performative, but lived. Where community is built not on perfection, but on presence. That is all I ever wanted to create.
Your work has reshaped the landscape of the F&B and wellness industries. What motivated you to challenge the status quo?
I feel that both F&B and wellness spaces are often missing something essential. Nourishing food is often framed as restrictive, while wellness spaces can feel intimidating or exclusive, as though you have to fit a certain mould to belong. I wanted to shift that perception.
For me, caring for the body is not about discipline or perfection. It is about listening, slowing down, and choosing nourishment that feels good and sustainable. The same goes for mental health. Creating a space where people can come as they are, without pressure to perform or to ‘be well’, felt deeply important.
Being plant-based is also not always the easiest path. It is often misunderstood, judged, or seen as limiting. But for me, it has always come from a place of love for animals, for the environment, and for a more conscious way of living. That love has always felt more important than fitting into a mould or making decisions purely for profit. By bringing together plant-based, Ayurvedic-inspired food and a gentle, inclusive approach to yoga, we aim to offer something softer—a space supporting both physical and emotional well-being, without rigidity or expectation. In essence, something real and raw where people can feel safe.
At the heart of it, I believe in being “human first”. That belief shapes how we hold our space, our team, and our community. It is also a constant practice of integrity: of living in alignment with what we share, and embodying the care we speak about. This space is not about perfection. It is about presence, compassion, and creating room for people to simply be.
For me, caring for the body is not about discipline or perfection. It is about listening, slowing down, and choosing nourishment that feels good and sustainable.
Have you ever faced a moment of self-doubt? How did you push past it?
There have been so many moments of self-doubt! Running the business human-first also meant that it was a very emotional space to be working in, and managing people is not always the easiest. In those moments, I come back to our original intention: creating a space rooted in care. Not just for our community, but for ourselves as well. That also means recognising when to rest, when to slow down, and when to ask for support.
Mental resilience, for me, isn’t about pushing through; it’s about staying connected to why we started, and allowing that to guide us forward.
What does success mean to you, and has that definition evolved over time?
It’s about whether people feel at ease when they walk into one of our spaces. Whether they can take a moment to breathe, to nourish themselves, to feel less alone. If someone leaves feeling a little more grounded, a little more cared for in their body and in their mind, that feels like success. It’s less about scale and more about depth, presence, and the quality of care we’re able to offer. Now, success also means survival—being able to sustain the space and keep going.
What’s a system, standard, or stereotype you hope to completely rewrite?
We hope to rewrite the idea that wellness is exclusive, aesthetic-driven, or only accessible to certain people. Wellness, to us, is deeply personal and ever-changing. It includes rest, nourishment, movement, and mental well-being. It doesn’t have to look a certain way. We’re also passionate about reclaiming third spaces: places that aren’t transactional, but rooted in community and care. Spaces where people can exist without needing to achieve anything. That feels especially important in fast-paced cities, where it’s easy to feel disconnected from ourselves and others.
What’s next for you? How do you plan to keep changing the game?
Right now, we’re focused on deepening what we’ve already built, and on creating more opportunities for people to slow down, connect, and care for themselves. This includes expanding our workshops, especially surrounding Ayurvedic cooking and mindful living. It also entails curating more community-centred experiences that support both mental and physical well-being on a larger scale. I hope to continue assuring women that being emotional in business is not only good—it’s necessary, and it’s human. Lastly, I hope to hold more space for all the space holders. We want to continue holding space in a way that feels intentional and grounded: growing, but not at the expense of care. If anything, the goal is to keep softening, to keep listening, and to keep creating a space where people feel at home in their bodies and in themselves.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photography Joel Low
Creative Direction Kelly Hsu
Styling Marisa Xin
Hair Sveta Klyn/The Suburbs Studio, using Goldwell
Makeup Kat Zhang/ The Suburbs Studio, using Armani Beauty
Producer Cheryl Lai-Lim
Photography assistant Eddie Teo
Fashion assistant Nur Hazwani
