LadyDrinks Houston: Meet Tanu Grewal, VP, Marketing, AlEn USA

Tanu Grewal has made a 15 year career as a brand marketer. Like many of the women attending the LadyDrinks High Tea in Houston September 21st at the Hotel Granduca, Tanu is someone who enjoys coaching and mentoring those coming up in their careers behind her.

She remembers growing up in India with a progressive father. She moved to the US to attend graduate school at Rice University. But not before a brief stint in Delhi where she remembers being peppered with questions since she had struck out on her town as a single girl, securing housing for herself and working late hours in the hospitality industry. “They didn’t know what to do with me,” says Grewal, laughing.

As many immigrants to the United States can relate, visa issues constrained the opportunities Grewal could leverage when she graduated from Rice. She went to work for Whirlpool in a small town in Michigan. She was there through the Maytag acquisition, and wore so many hats as the deal was forged, that she became an invaluable asset to the company. Years later, she was part of the repositioning of the legacy brand as a tech savvy, smart home appliance maker.

Today, she is at a company called AlEn USA, which she calls the ‘Procter and Gamble of Mexico.’ The company is privately held, but is currently focused on it’s expansion into the US market with multiple challenger brands. She heads up consumer insights, product development, product launch, and omni-channel marketing communications. For example, she helped the company leverage the eco friendly product trend with the launch of the “Art of Green”, offering green products at a more accessible price point.