An appetite for the unknown: Kavitha Krishnamurthy reflects on her career path from tennis pro to leading Non-Alcohol at Diageo North America

I started my career as a professional tennis player. After graduating from Princeton, where I was an NCAA player, I decided to turn pro. I travelled the world competing in tournaments and spent weeks on the road before coming home. I loved competitive tennis, and after several years on the tour, I knew it was time for a change: I pursued a Master’s degree at Oxford and an MBA at INSEAD. Upon graduating from INSEAD, I was fortunate to receive an opportunity at an iconic, global consumer products company. While there, I worked in a variety of commercial roles both with the Bottler and the parent company, in Canada and the US — Channel Strategy, Commercial Leadership, Revenue Growth Management, and finally, in Strategic Planning & Performance Intelligence. After eight years working on amazing brands and building lifelong friendships, an incredible opportunity arose on the Revenue Growth Management team at Diageo. I joined Diageo in Toronto, Canada in December of 2019 as a Revenue Growth Management Director.

In November of 2022 I started a new role as General Manager of Diageo’s Non-Alcohol Business for North America. I am very passionate about the Non-Alc space and there is collective excitement about the future of this category. Non-Alc is rapidly growing as consumers seek beverage options that meet their lifestyles, are elevated and distinct. Seedlip fulfils that mindful consumption need and I am proud to work on a brand that offers choice and inherently promotes positive drinking.

What I love most about this role, besides the amazing team I get to work with, is that no two days are the same! The Non-Alc division has a special entrepreneurial spirit to it; we are relatively nascent and are laying a foundation for future expansion.

Prior to this role, I was fortunate enough to assume a secondment position as the Commercial Director for the Open States. I believe that role was pivotal in my career journey. It was the first time at Diageo that I was exposed to key markets in our US business, gained an understanding of our distributor partners and collaborated with our Performance Management and Advanced Analytics teams. The secondment opportunities at Diageo offer unmatched learning opportunities, and l have enormously benefitted from it.

Prior to the secondment, my Diageo experience had been focused on the Canadian market where I was the Revenue Growth Management Director. My 3 and a half years at Diageo have offered many diverse learning opportunities to partner with exceptional colleagues and grow my understanding of our Spirits and Non-Alcohol businesses across North America.

I hope I am thriving in my career! I do think what has served me well is a flexibility to adapt to different cultures and environments. Underpinning this, I think, is an appetite for the unknown – whether it be assuming new assignments, changing functions, or moving geographically. There is so much knowledge and diversity of experience at Diageo that every day brings an opportunity for professional development.

Of course, the people of any organization are the heartbeat of its culture. And the people at Diageo are accomplished, globally minded and entrepreneurial. I will also say that people at Diageo are incredibly friendly! You can never underestimate the importance of working with inclusive and generous people – and our teammates are just that. I think these are the traits that fuel our culture.

Additionally, Diageo’s policies regarding paid parental leave, our Spirit of Progress goals, and opportunities for both global and local secondments are just a few of the ways in which the company’s culture comes to life.

The best reason to consider a career with Diageo’s Non-Alcohol Business is because of it’s incredibly talented and passionate team. The team’s commitment to growing Diageo’s Non-Alcohol business and offering choice to consumers is truly inspiring. And the team brings such a rich and diverse set of experiences to their roles, be it directly from Seedlip, other parts of Diageo, or other companies and industries.

Our work is nimble and fast paced as we are accelerating to capitalize on category growth-- and as such, there are plenty of learning opportunities in Non-Alc. For example, our work spans several different functional areas, including E-commerce, Brand & Customer Marketing, Finance, Commercial Operations, Brands in Culture and more! Additionally, our business covers both the US and Canada, which I find particularly exciting as both markets present substantial growth opportunities for Non-Alc.

We are also doing important work in the space of sustainability through our 1% For The Planet membership. 1% of our global annual revenue supports grassroots environmental charities, such as the Ron Finley Project. We are honored to partner with Ron Finley, who teaches communities how to transform food deserts into food sanctuaries. Our Founder, Ben Branson, is also deeply committed to nature—as Ben says, “Seedlip is nature distilled in a bottle”. Nature is inherent to Seedlip, and Ben and Ron’s inspiring work in this space underscores our collective commitment to doing our part to preserve it.

You will be amazed by what you can learn if you listen.

It’s hard to pick just one! My three favorites are the Eastside, the Eliza and our newest mass serve, the Seedlip Spritz. They are easy to make, delicious and refreshing! The Seedlip website has a library of cocktail ideas to try out.