From corporate boards to entrepreneurial ventures, women marketing leaders continue to break barriers, challenge norms, and create meaningful change in their respective industries. According to the reports, the growth of women entrepreneurs in India has seen 18.3 percent over the last five years; the figure was still below the global average of 23.3 percent. Marketing has long been considered a male bastion, seeing many men at the helm, but women are increasingly charting their way to the top. Women business leaders in India are dominating the field of marketing. That means women leaders wield incredible power in shaping how customers and even the wider culture view the products and services their organizations offer. Here are the top five women marketing leaders redefining the marketing sector in India.
Anuja Mishra, Honasa Consumer
Anuja Mishra, EVP and chief marketing officer of Honasa Consumer (Mamaearth, The Derma Co, BBlunt, and Aqualogica), is a seasoned business leader and marketer with over two decades of experience. She has a track record of transforming both leader and challenger brands and is passionate about innovation. Anuja is a marketing expert, avid athlete, and adventure sports enthusiast. She started her career with Reckitt Benckiser and went on to work across Nestle, Hewitt Associates, PepsiCo, and Godrej Consumer Products.
As Nestle's National account manager, Mishra led the national retail chain in India. She was responsible for developing and executing operational and marketing strategies for demand creation and was responsible for influential revitalization across India. As Head of Innovation, Energy, and Hydration at Pepsico, she previously led India's beverage innovation strategy in line with the demands of global and regional portfolio transformation across the Hydration category.
She led the launch of the 'Sting' to facilitate Pepsico's entry into the energy drinks segment of India. She has also led the launch and complete marketing combination of Aquafina's vitamin Splash Pepsico's foray into value-added hydration. She was part of a marketing leadership team that led the innovation team to develop portfolio strategies and execute groundbreaking product innovations.
Roshni Das, Intel
Roshni Das, general manager, of marketing and Partner Scale-APAC and Japan at Intel is implementing strategic initiatives that drive Intel's marketing efforts in the APAC region, increase Intel's brand awareness by 40 percent, and position Intel as a leader in the semiconductor industry. She organized Intel's groundbreaking Tech Tales series, which attracted a worldwide audience and millions of YouTube views alone.
Corporate sales and product management at Standard Chartered Bank, credit card and financial products portfolio management, several leading consumer brands at Lowe Lintas (Inter Public Group) Das conducts multi-stakeholder management and business strategy and planning. She has a keen creative eye and audience understanding, develops an integrated market strategy and develops business strategies.
Minakshi Handa, ITC
Meenakshi Handa, Vice President-Marketing-fragrances, skincare, consumer insights D2C at ITC Ltd (Personal Care) leads the market with great marketing strategies. Handa's customer-centric marketing and D2C's wave-leading initiatives in ITC Personal Care have helped drive consumer engagement and growth for her brand online.
She started her career at Hindustan Unilever Ltd and led the marketing activities of Bru Coffee as a brand manager. She posts that she has joined Mariko, who has led various brands such as Parachute, Nihar, and Safora, where her marquee stint is in Safora. She was Head of Marketing for Hair Care and Hair Innovation at Marico and started her innings as Head-Innovations and Personal Care at ITC Personal Care in 2019.
Shilpi Kapoor, Airtel Payments Bank
Shilpi Kapoor, Chief Marketing Officer at Airtel Payments Bank, boasts a rich 20-year journey in brand management, sales, and marketing, with her outstanding contributions to well-known brands. Kapoor's expertise spans strategic brand management, internal and external communications, digital marketing, media planning, campaign execution, and consumer research. He has a legacy of pioneering marketing initiatives. She started her career at the UB Group and has worked with Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Balti Airtel Limited, Godfrey Phillips India, Group Renault, and American Express. Previously, she was Director of Marketing and Business Insights at GMS JAPA region, where Kapoor focused on digital channels and partnerships.
Kapoor developed a brand strategy and communication focused on connecting buyers and sellers through digital and traditional marketing approaches while adjusting the application. She managed the end-to-end process of merchant onboarding, marketing campaigns, business strategies, and activation targets.
Anurita Chopra, Haleon India
Anurita Chopra, Chief Marketing Officer, Haleon India, boasts more than two decades of illustrious experience in consumer marketing. Anurita has worked with Hindustan Unilever, Pepsico, Nokia India, Philips India, and GSK Consumer Healthcare India to define categories across a consistently diverse sector with a robust background in consumer insights, media use, and cross-functional collaboration. She has a great experience. Chopra is a consumer marketing specialist with over 22 years of category and business leadership across leading brands such as Sensodyne, Philips, Nokia, KurKure (PepsiCo), and Bru (HUL).
She led a high-growth, high-profit business across oral health and personal care and created, launched, and grew the power brand through a disruptive strategy that challenged the norms of the category, and became her category definer. Chopra received multiple external and internal evaluations of innovation, creative excellence, and impact at forums such as Cannes, AdClub, and Emvies.
Chopra has extensive experience in creating digital community building, social media, apps, ground programs, celebrity endorsements, massive sponsorships, retail-wide marketing channels, and leveraging consumer insights.