Ad Land’s Young Guns: Aishwarya Chhetri, Marketing Director, Glutaweis

With a rich experience in the cosmetic industry for over a decade, Aishwarya Chhetri is currently Marketing Director at Glutaweis, the scientific skincare luxury brand. Started in April 2021, she spearheads the department overlooking growth & consumer marketing and business strategies in her role.

Under Chhetri’s leadership and support, the team successfully onboarded the brand on various marketplaces such as Tata Cliq, Nykaa and Purplle in 2021. Along with setting up the marketing department, she also set up the consumer and trade channel as well as the community vertical. She also made a valuable contribution towards the sales revenue growth as compared to the previous calendar year.

She has also worked with brands such as Chambor Geneva, My Glamm, Lakme Lever - Hindustan Unilever Limited, Jean Claude Beguine and Condenast India.

What particular skill sets do you think you bring to the table?

I don’t have your conventional MBA education; which meant I had to learn things ground-up. Work hard, make mistakes and get experience on the field. Skills can be learnt along the way, as long as you have the right attitude. And I have always had a growth mindset – ready to try something new and challenge what you did in your last job, last project or last month even. And every D2C brand needs to re-invent the wheel, ever-so-often. Glutaweis has had to operate within the status quo of unicorns, legacy brands, investment funded beauty start-ups and establish itself in the skincare diaspora of the subcontinent. It’s being able to do so with a growth mindset. A good product is like the good attitude. Innovation and success are by-products.

Over time, the multitude of experiences across functions in the various companies I worked at, award  me a unique insight into cross-function applications, pre-empt dependencies and have a very solution-driven approach. They give me a vantage point from where I can analyse situations from a more holistic point of view. It helps to have a collaborative environment and mentors and management that support you in your efforts. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is the most important requisite for a brand or any professional to succeed.

However, the most important skill set by far is ‘Listening’. Being a good listener, I am able to come up with new ideas, optimise strategies, identify road-blocks and ascertain as a good negotiator. As a marketing professional, you have to listen to your customers, what are they really seeking right now? As a leader, you need to learn to listen to your team, why are they thinking what they are thinking? As a peer you need to listen to your colleagues, how can you collaborate with them? And as an employee, you need to listen to your employer – who are they and what are their goals? As a brand, you need to listen to your customers – how can you help them? That’s how at Glutaweis, we have built an exhaustive customer service support system with complimentary skin-expert consultations for anyone who is seeking help with regards to their skincare. Listening to customers, we are able to innovate in our services and truly deliver effective, visible results.

How did you join your current organisation?

When Glutaweis sought me out, I was excited by the proposition of working with a young brand. From the word get-go, I believed the products had a great value-proposition, being the first luxury Glutathione skincare brand in the market, it was ahead of the curve. What further helped in sealing the decision was meeting with the Co-founders – Khayl Reis and Kas Lalani. The duo had a fresh and open mind towards conducting business. Passionate about truly developing a great product, they had worked on getting the formula for three products – a cleanser, cream and serum for 8 years! And that shows, when Kas is geeking out on ingredients and formulations ever so often in meeting rooms, and we are left with one too many search tabs open! Dynamism is the nature of the market, but it is also the need. Therefore, an open mind is fundamental. And I thought the brand’s DNA had that.

Icons in this field you look up to and how they have influenced you and your work?

I have had some key influences, but not necessarily all from the field. Seth Godin is a heavy-weight in my list of influences. His inputs are grounding and they go back to the fundamentals. Make a good product. Keep at it. And find your Minimum Viable Audience. MVA is perhaps the golden rule that defines who we are and what we do at Glutaweis. He says, “When you seek to engage with everyone, you rarely delight anyone. And if you’re not the irreplaceable, essential, one-of-a-kind changemaker, you never get a chance to engage with the market.” The Glutaweis Glutathione Radiance Range is scientific skincare that delivers visible results in 21 days, that’s meant for people looking for optimal Skin Health. Our products do the talking, when people who have used our products testify to it.

Having been a student of psychology, I have always found looking at consumer behaviour beyond trends, rather a key criterion for marketing. And having come across Dan Ariely, a stalwart in Behavioural Economics was a real treat – an eye-opener! It helps me and my team, design customer-centric communications and also build meaningful collaborations.

What are the five most productive things that you do in your everyday routine?

  1. Waking up and greeting the Sun – Looking at the Sun in the morning, has helped me increase focus and concentration. Also, helps me feel awake sooner. It has been studied that light releases neuro-chemicals that activate the CNS system. (Google Search for Andrew Huberman)
  2. Working out – I always make it a point to chalk in a workout for a minimum of 30 minutes. Most days I like going running. Working out in the mornings keeps me in a healthy state of adrenaline and dopamine – through the day. I feel more active and happier.
  3. Meditating – This has been an important addition over the past two years. Mindfulness is the best gift you can offer anyone or to anything you care about. This has helped especially on stressful days or the parts of the day when I struggled to focus because I am feeling restless. It has helped me have better conversations with people as I am more aware and pro-actively listening, instead of getting lost in thoughts.
  4. Drinking one vegetable juice a day – It’s the best way to feed your skin some micro nutrients. And it’s just something I do as a way of showing respect to my body.
  5. Skin-care – Call it a work hazard, but as I have grown older, I find that good skin matters to me. And that means a clean and glowing skin. Having said that, I am not someone who can spend 20 minutes on it. So, I need something convenient, and which saves me time. The Glutaweis Glutathione Radiance Cleanser has been my number one over the past year! It comes with this gentle-exfoliating bristle, which massages your face as I am applying it. I love those 10 minutes that I spend in the morning. The Radiance Serum has been a new addition over the winters, as my skin dries up more. I make it a point to do this little routine every morning and night.

Do you think a career in this field is a viable one in the long term?

Yes, absolutely! And the scope of specialisations is plenty and growing as we speak. The caveat being, that you are willing to adapt, learn and educate yourself continuously. You don’t ever come to a stage where you say – ‘Yeah. Now I know everything there is to know’. There is something new to learn every day, and with more enterprises coming up, start-ups that are levelling the playing-field, marketing and sales is an exciting career, depending on what you make of it!

What does it take to succeed in a career?

Punch above your weight! Tobi Lutke, founder of Shopify, talks about his ‘Box Theory’, and simply put it means you have to keep gunning for something bigger than yourself and grow out of your comfort zone. Do difficult, uncomfortable things.

Practice. Practice every day. You get hired because you are an expert. And an expert goes to work every single day. So, get into the discipline to constantly upgrade and learn from experts.  In a field like marketing and growing landscape of D2C brands, you will find yourself becoming redundant, if you don’t keep yourself updated.

What would be your advice to youngsters planning to enter this industry?

Keep a beginner’s mindset. Be willing to make mistakes. Often, when we are young, we are in a hurry to get somewhere soon. Education and technology has made it possible for anyone to become a CEO. But there is nothing that can beat the gut you develop only with experience. And that CEO surrounds himself with experience or learns from them.

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

With Glutaweis going into global markets, helming its operations!  A sub-4 marathoner wouldn’t hurt either!

Is there any organisation that you would like to work with in the future?

I think I am already working with a brand and organisation of the future!

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