Meena O'Mahony

Meena O’Mahony’s relationship with food began long before it became professional. From the age of twelve, she cooked regularly for extended family gatherings of up to forty people in Mauritius. It was never about obligation—it was love, creativity, and connection. Her talent showed early. She studied Food and Nutrition at A-levels and ranked fifth nationwide. Yet cultural expectations shaped her decisions. In Mauritius, being a female chef was not considered a stable or respected profession, and her father encouraged her to explore other paths.

When Meena received a university scholarship to study in Singapore, she made a pragmatic choice. While Food Science aligned with her passion, Life Sciences offered broader career optionality at a time when the sector was booming. She chose flexibility over specialization, believing it would give her more room to grow. Academically, she did well. Professionally, however, she quickly realized that laboratory work did not energize her. What excited her was application—connecting ideas, people, and outcomes.

Her first real break came at Mecomb, a life sciences distributor under Sime Darby, where she moved into a sales and marketing role. Without formal business training, Meena relied on preparation, curiosity, and discipline. She studied customers, competitors, and market dynamics closely, translating insights into clear recommendations for management. Her work stood out. She was invited to present strategic perspectives to senior leaders and received internal recognition—early validation that her strengths lay at the intersection of science, communication, and commercial thinking.

As principals began bypassing distributors and going direct to market, Meena reassessed her trajectory. She briefly returned to the lab as a research assistant, hoping to reconnect with her technical roots. The experience clarified what she already sensed: research, while important, was not where she thrived. Rather than persist out of inertia, she chose to pause and invest in herself.

Meena enrolled in an MBA program and used the time before the program to experiment entrepreneurially. She founded Cookie Academy, a home-based baking venture where she managed everything—from product development and branding to website creation and digital marketing. The experience was formative. It taught her about focus, scalability, and the realities of running a business alone. During her MBA, she gravitated strongly toward marketing and graduated as the top student in her marketing specialization. For the first time, her interests, abilities, and confidence fully aligned.

After completing her MBA, Meena joined Johnson & Johnson (J&J), where her marketing career took shape. Starting in a contract role, she steadily expanded her scope across local, regional, and digital marketing responsibilities. J&J exposed her to structured brand building, matrix organizations, and cross-cultural collaboration. She navigated restructurings and shifting priorities while continuing to deliver results. Just as importantly, she invested deeply in relationships. Even during career breaks for motherhood, she maintained strong professional ties—connections that later enabled her to re-enter the organization smoothly.

She later moved to Mundipharma in a more flexible marketing role before returning to J&J, further strengthening her regional experience and confidence as a brand leader. By this stage, Meena had developed a clear sense of who she was professionally: a marketer who combined analytical rigor with empathy, cultural fluency, and execution discipline.

From 2022 to 2025, Meena took on a regional role with Glanbia, leading marketing for Optimum Nutrition across six Southeast Asian markets. She managed a multimillion-dollar budget and translated global brand strategies into locally relevant campaigns. Her work spanned full-funnel marketing—digital, PR, ecommerce, community engagement, and partnerships—anchored in consumer insights rather than slogans.

She led regional campaigns such as Unlock More You and New Year, New You, adapted initiatives around cultural moments like Ramadan and Lunar New Year, and expanded on-ground engagement through partnerships with fitness communities and certified coaches. Beyond campaigns, the experience reinforced her belief that marketing, when done well, can influence healthier behaviors and everyday choices—not just brand awareness.

After Glanbia, Meena transitioned into her current phase as a Marketing Consultant, in her own agency, Stellar Bee, advising organizations on brand strategy, go-to-market execution, and growth initiatives. The move reflects a long-running theme in her career: choosing alignment over linear progression, and impact over titles.

Meena’s journey is not defined by a single leap, but by a series of deliberate recalibrations. From food to life sciences, from lab to marketing, from corporate leadership to consulting, she has consistently chosen paths that matched her strengths and values. Her story is a reminder that fulfilling careers are not built by rigid plans, but by thoughtful choices, self-awareness, and the courage to evolve meaningfully across life stages.