overview
Before coming to True, Aarthi worked at a start-up focusing on personalisation and data transparency within the beauty and personal care industry. With extensive experience teaching students from diverse backgrounds, Aarthi is keen to continue helping young people to gain access to careers they may not have explored yet. She holds a variety of interests from understanding the psychology behind consumer behaviours to music and languages, and is constantly looking for opportunities to learn more.
meet Aarthi
Why did you choose True?
Coming from an economics background, everything I was interested in revolved around consumers. I wanted to work in the retail and consumer sector to gain exposure to enterprise clients - but I didn't want to miss out on exposure to early-stage companies after my previous experience in a start-up. Let's just say True provides the perfect combination of the two!
How would you describe your job to a five-year-old?
I help large companies get better at what they're doing so we can all experience and buy better things.
What do you love most — and least — about your job?
I love the mix of working with partners and founders of early-stage companies. With partners, you get into the depths of a business, and understand how to use innovation to help them evolve. In retail and consumer, the strategic areas we focus on make me much more aware of the world around me and what my experience is as a consumer. With founders, you get to meet these brilliant, entrepreneurial minds who are at the forefront of innovation — that knowledge, creativity, and excitement is contagious. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough hours in the day to keep track of all the innovation out there. It always bugs me that there are some diamond companies hiding somewhere and I haven’t met them yet! Equally, being more aware of different themes in retail and consumer means that I can no longer shop in the same way without thinking deeply about what I’m experiencing — it’s an occupational hazard.
Name an idea or company that reimagined a business or industry — one you wish you’d thought of.
Airbnb. The concept of it is simple — connecting homeowners in an online marketplace with travellers. Travellers can find gems in various locations, where hotels might not be around or might charge extortionate prices if they are, cook their own food if they want to, and homeowners can get additional income from a property they already own. Airbnb has disrupted the hotel industry and will continue to do so. It’s a shame I didn't think of the idea before.
Which person or people helped shape and inspire who you are today?
The person I am today has evolved over time from all the different interactions and experiences I've had with people. The female figures in my life have definitely been a big part of that, from my mum and sister, to Charlotte and Jo (the co-founders I worked with at EVRELAB). These women have taught me a lot about resilience and ambition, acting as a catalyst for the aspirations and attitude I have today.
true cv
Aarthi’s expertise at True:
Aarthi has worked across a wide variety of projects for our consumer and retail Partners, including:
Walgreens
TJX
7-Eleven
John Lewis
Waitrose
M&S
Primark
True stories featuring Aarthi
News
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health works with True to find future-fit technologies and services
Johnson & Johnson has chosen to work with True to run its LaunchPad process, using its own international network of startups and investors to identify and filter market-leading solutions capable of adding value to one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies.
News
Walgreens launches search for innovation through new collaboration with True
Walgreens, America’s best-loved pharmacy, health and beauty company, today announced two innovation challenges in collaboration with True, as part of its ongoing mission to offer the best variety of accessible omnichannel services and products for its customer-base.
relevant people
Archie Mason
Director, Innovation
“Archie is the glue that holds our innovation business together. Utterly dependable, driven and passionate about True, Archie’s work on developing our real estate partners in particular has opened up a whole new platform for True to develop in the coming years.”
