Meet Priya Nair the first woman to lead Hindustan Unilever
Some journeys don’t start with a spotlight.
They begin with a notebook, a curious mind, and a voice inside that says,
“Keep going.”
That’s how Priya Nair began, a girl from Mumbai with big dreams, quiet confidence, and a strong belief in learning.
And now? She’s making history.
On August 1, 2025, Priya Nair will become the first woman CEO and Managing Director of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a company known in almost every Indian home.
Early days of learning:
Priya studied Commerce at Sydenham College, where she learned about numbers, accounts, and business.
Then she did her MBA in Marketing from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management in Pune. That step brought her closer to the world of brands and markets.
But the learning didn’t stop there.
Years later, she went to Harvard Business School for a leadership course, pushed by her mother, who always told her:
“You should never stop learning.”
That one sentence became her life’s guiding rule.
Climbing the ladder at HUL:
In 1995, Priya joined HUL as a management trainee, her first job.
She didn’t start with big decisions. Her first role was in consumer insights, where she studied how people think, shop, and live. She believed that selling a product wasn’t enough, one had to understand people first.
Over time, she worked on famous brands like Dove, Rin, and Comfort. From sales to marketing, from home care to personal care, she took on many roles and slowly built a strong name for herself.
In 2014, she became Executive Director of Home Care, a big role. She helped improve the business and made it more sustainable and ready for the future.
In 2022, Priya moved to London as the Global Chief Marketing Officer for Unilever’s Beauty & Wellbeing business.
This gave her a global view of business, but she stayed connected to her Indian roots.
Soon, she became part of Unilever’s top leadership team, working with experienced leaders like Nitin Paranjpe and Rohit Jawa.
With her mix of global thinking and local understanding, she became the perfect choice to lead HUL into the future.
Now, in 2025, Priya will take over from Rohit Jawa, who led HUL through tough economic times and helped it grow again.
With this move, Priya becomes a symbol of change.
Her two simple leadership rules:
If you ask Priya what helped her grow, she shares two powerful ideas:
- Find your purpose. It gives you strength during hard times.
- Stay curious and keep learning. Because what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow.
She calls it “learning agility”, being ready to learn, unlearn, and grow again.
Her work spoke loudly:
One of Priya’s most famous projects was ‘Kan Khajura Tesan’, a mobile radio campaign for rural India. People could give a missed call and listen to free entertainment.
The idea was a hit, and won 3 Gold Lions at Cannes in 2014, one of the world’s biggest advertising awards.
In her Home Care role, she didn’t just focus on sales. She made the products and business more eco-friendly and prepared for the future.
<p>The post Meet Priya Nair the first woman to lead Hindustan Unilever first appeared on Hello Entrepreneurs.</p>
