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Osnaživanje, stil i inspiracija spajaju se u svakom izdanju našeg magazina.
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May 5, 2026
It took just one appearance at the Met Gala for Mona Patel, a successful entrepreneur, to become an overnight sensation. Once a mystery, Patel is now a recognizable face, breaking stereotypes.
When she first appeared at the Met Gala two years ago, she instantly became an Instagram hit. Her style and delicate butterfly dress by Iris Van Herpen flooded social media: Who is this mysterious woman? It turned out that this beautiful, previously little-known figure holds a Harvard education and an impressive entrepreneurial career — and enough style to outshine fashion icons on their own turf.
She repeated that success this year. Her Dolce & Gabbana gown, inspired by the Mona Lisa and the broader work of Leonardo da Vinci, was a perfect interpretation of the Met Gala theme, “Fashion is Art.”
Born in Vadodara, in the Indian state of Gujarat, Mona Patel was not predestined to become a highly successful serial entrepreneur with a business portfolio worth over $100 million and a place on prestigious Forbes lists of the richest women. Her ventures include RadXai and MonaLisa Properties. Still, this Indian-born entrepreneur has founded as many as eight companies across healthcare, technology, and real estate — building not just businesses, but an entire system.
Mona carefully controls her personal narrative, but she does not hide the fact that by the age of 22 she already had a clear goal: to create a life on her own terms. At 22, she moved to the United States to pursue her studies, and just a few years later settled in Dallas with the intention of staying. She earned an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and also attended Harvard Business School.
She founded her first company, a luxury real estate agency she still runs today, just three years after arriving in the U.S. After meeting her husband, Chintan Desai, a respected radiologist, she shifted her focus to healthcare. Together, they launched TeliradX, a telemedicine company providing professional radiology interpretation services.
Although Dr. Desai was satisfied with his career, Patel asked him the same question she always asks herself when starting a new venture: How can you scale and evolve what you do? That simple question led to the creation of RadXai, a company whose core product is AI software designed to significantly improve the accuracy of radiological results.
So how did she end up at the Met Gala? Mona is a fashion enthusiast who created the philanthropic initiative Couture For Cause. This nonprofit merges her passion for fashion with her commitment to giving back by auctioning exclusive couture pieces — often from her personal collection — to raise funds for various charitable causes. Thanks to her efforts, around 4,000 girls have gained access to better education — something that certainly did not go unnoticed by Anna Wintour.
