Her Story
About Tanuja
I started my journey in design school, studying product design across three continents - beginning in India, then moving to Italy where I completed my undergraduate at Instituto Design, and finally earning my master's in industrial design from NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. This global education gave me a unique mix of design thinking that has shaped my career choices. I began in packaging and packaging automation in 2012 at WestRock (previously MeadWestvaco), where I constantly pivoted into roles that seemed uncomfortable at first but became comfortable as I grew into them. I transitioned from design into a data analyst role for a niche team, spending two years handling big data and business strategy - areas designers typically don't focus on. From there, Milgaard recruited me as a packaging manager to establish their first packaging department and automate packaging in-line for a 100-year-old company that had no packaging SMEs. Amazon then recruited me as a Senior Product Manager Tech to launch their COVID-19 at-home test kit, where I led the physical-digital connection of the product from customer delivery through lab processing and test results. I launched this critical product in the US in 3 months and the UK in 6 months, even traveling to test sites while six months pregnant because I felt compelled to understand the process. After maternity leave, I worked on pill pack automation before joining Walmart three years ago in my current senior manager role. Now I lead all automation for ambient products coming into Walmart, working directly with suppliers, industry partners, and automation vendors to ensure products flow through faster without damages. I've made it through STEM, non-STEM, STEM, non-STEM at this point, and I want people to know that someone with a non-STEM background who is actually a designer by profession can lead automation and can do it really well.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tanuja
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received came from my manager Mel Sorter when I was transitioning from an SME to setting up a packaging department at Milgaard. I was constantly asking him questions and seeking reviews, and he told me: if you're not looking for answers, don't ask the question. That was pretty meaningful and helped me pivot from an individual contributor to a leader. I realized I didn't need to ask all 10 questions - I could just ask the one important question and figure out the remaining 9 myself. I was very used to a corporate environment where I wasn't leading, so I constantly felt the need to get agreement across the room on every decision I made. But in that role leading a team and department, I learned to ask the more important questions and get approvals on what matters, and leave the smaller tactical questions or two-way questions that I could deal with myself. That confidence came from his advice to just ask questions where you want answers and not to worry about the others.
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