MAM
Aarti Yadav joins Sodexo India as communications lead
The former journalist, who spent more than seven years handling brand PR for Tata Consumer Products, brings a food-industry thread and a newsroom instinct to the global food services and facilities management leader
MUMBAI: Same plate, different kitchen. Aarti Yadav has moved from the shelf to the table, leaving Tata Consumer Products for Sodexo India, where she has begun a new chapter as communications lead. It may look like a leap across industries, but she sees a common thread running through both: food.
Yadav explains the link neatly. One company brought trusted brands into homes, the other creates impactful food experiences every day in workplaces, healthcare institutions, schools and beyond. She is excited to shape strategic and meaningful narratives, strengthen India communications for the group, and contribute to the legacy of a global leader in food services and facilities management. For her, the opportunity to tell stories that connect purpose, people and impact is what makes communications so rewarding.
A communicator with a newsroom past
Yadav describes herself as a communications professional with news history. Her expertise lies in the business of FMCG, lifestyle and entertainment communications. Building brand reputation, sustaining conversations through integrated public relations strategies, and blending media, influencer engagement and social media are, in her words, a pivotal part of her profile. Her past as a journalist, she says, helps her manage corporate and consumer media relations seamlessly.
Seven years at Tata Consumer
Her most recent role was in brand public relations at Tata Consumer Products, from August 2019 to September 2026, a stint of seven years and two months. There she led brand consumer PR, crisis management, advocacy, media relations and influencers for a broad portfolio: Tata Tea (national and regional blends), Tata Salt (national, regional and premium variants), Tata Sampann (spices, pulses, staples and ready-to-cook), Tetley Green Tea, Tata Coffee, Nourishco (Himalayan waters and beverages), Tata Soulfull (millet-based products), the digital-first direct-to-consumer brands Simply Better and Sonnets coffee, and Organic India.
That is a remarkable range, from everyday staples to premium and new-age brands, and it required skills in both building reputation and protecting it.
The agency years
Before that, she was senior manager at Publicis Groupe in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region from April 2016 to July 2019, a period of three years and four months. A public relations and communications manager with a keen interest in consumer and entertainment PR, she served as communications manager on clients including P&G, Marico, Cipla, Godrej, Parag Foods Pvt Ltd and Kottaram Agro Foods Pvt Ltd.
The newsroom years
Her roots are in television news. From December 2014 to March 2016 she was a senior correspondent at Times Network, in the Times Now editorial team, covering major news breaks on the entertainment and lifestyle beat, with on-field reporting and complete pre- and post-production.
From October 2012 to November 2014 she was a news correspondent at NewsX (Direct News Private Limited), covering major news breaks, lives and interviews on the entertainment and general beat, and anchoring special shows for the channel. Interviewing Indian film industry and international celebrities was an integral part of the job, which helped build her people and media skills, and a go-getter attitude for delivering fast-paced outcomes in difficult circumstances.
Before that, from June 2011 to September 2012, she was lifestyle correspondent at Associated Broadcasting Co. Pvt Ltd (TV9), for the weekly show ‘Night Out’, extensively covering page 3 parties and the thriving lifestyle of Mumbai with dynamic, youth-centric content. Her journey began at NewsX as a news reporter from September 2009 to June 2010, her first-hand exposure to the field of journalism.
The road from newsroom to boardroom
Few communications professionals have walked this path: reporter, anchor, agency manager and in-house brand voice. It gives Yadav an unusual advantage. She knows what a journalist wants because she has been one, and she knows what a brand needs because she has spent years building them. At Sodexo India, where the stories range from workplaces to hospitals to schools, that dual view should prove valuable.
On a personal note, Yadav says her career seems to continue to revolve around food, from telling stories about what is on the shelf to what is on the plate. The journey, she says, remains deliciously consistent.
