Essity, a company that welcomes fresh ideas and gives everyone the chance to be seen and heard

Tia Harris works as an Assortment Manager for Essity, a world leader in health and hygiene. Her offices are based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

- I’m responsible for the medical compression therapy and orthopedic product portfolios for North America. I actually started with Essity when they were still BSN Medical, six years ago. I started as a Product Manager for Phlebology and then became a Senior Marketing Manager. When the US did its formal integration to the Essity umbrella, I applied for the Assortment Manager role. I took on additional therapeutic areas, I got to grow the size of my product manager team and I now work alongside global colleagues more than I did in my previous role.

I’ve been in the traditional side of marketing as well as the digital and I’ve been in product management for a while. I have a genuine love for it; it’s a strong, strategic and creative part of marketing. You need to always be asking the question why: why is your portfolio performing well or not so well? In addition, you need to have a view of the competition and know the entire landscape of your portfolio. Creatively, you have to tell this story in a compelling way and develop a solid plan that gets accepted as an idea and then eventually roll that idea out into an actual product.

Tia has had this current role for three years, and no two days are ever the same.

- In the role of product management, I have a team of five that work on the day-to-day, but because the team is still new I’m hands on with them. I want to help them grow, develop and learn their product portfolio. The day-to-day could be working with my team or collaborating on long term projects where we might be having North American working session meetings on how to bring the product to market. We work with teams to understand why their portfolio might be performing a certain way compared to the competition, as well as the tactical tasks you have to maintain like pricing and quality discussions and cross references for sales reps. It constantly shifts, but that’s the exciting part of being a product manager.

One of Tia’s best things about working at Essity, is really being able to make things her own.

- This is a very large organization, and sometimes it can become about ‘checking a box’ because it’s so well established. But at Essity, you really get the opportunity to make things your own, and your ideas are extremely welcomed. I really got a voice into what the blueprint is for the future, especially when Essity was established out of BSN Medical a few years ago.

If someone was considering joining Essity, Tia would ask them what they want for themselves before anything else.

- I always make sure they know Essity is not about ‘checking a box’, but rather about being able to grow and have your voice heard. If you want to deliver impact and rise to the occasion, then this is the place for you. With all the leaders in my region, their doors are always open and you get a lot of exposure throughout the company.

Writer: Gabriel Akal

Name: Tia Harris
Title: Assortment Manager
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Go TarHeels!!!
My favorite innovation: The airplane – Not just because it was born in North Carolina, but how it allows us to connect to each other all over the world. I love to travel and it would be so limited without an airplane! I think that’s why I am attracted to a Global company