Humans of Grovara: Alyssia Portee, Senior Product Marketing Manager
If anyone represents Grovara’s global spirit, it’s Senior Product Marketing Manager Alyssia Portee.
She majored in Public Relations with minors in Spanish and International Relations while at the University of Florida and after graduating in 2010, she moved to Hong Kong to intern with Bali-based luxury jewelry brand John Hardy, staying for three years and moving with the company to Bangkok. She then returned to the U.S. and earned her MBA at Indiana University Bloomington.
She has settled in the Lakeview East neighborhood of Chicago and began her role with Grovara on April 1 — no fooling. Her work involves providing the tools that help Grovara’s sales and brands teams change global commerce.
FAVORITE MARKETPLACE PRODUCT
I love the Mamma Chia beverages. I love their taste and their unique chia seed texture. Something about it is so tasty and smooth and soothing!
GUIDING GROVARA’S MESSAGE
After business school, I worked as a tech consultant before starting at Grovara, but my professional gut is consumer marketing focused. My current role employs a lot of the skills I developed in both types of experiences. In consulting you learn to work and adapt quickly and to be efficient. As a tech consultant I gained a wide understanding of the tech world and how it is unique from other sectors. My consumer marketing and PR experience gave me a great foundation in understanding how to write, devise strategies, and develop them.
DREAMS DO COME TRUE
I was born in Detroit where my father was born and raised. My family moved to Orlando when I was about 6. And yes, I did go to Disney World all the time.
GOOD EATS
I’m not cool or sophisticated enough to call myself a foodie. But I absolutely love to try new foods, restaurants, all of it! There are also two different ice cream shops and a grilled cheese restaurant within a half block of my apartment, so that’s nice.
ON BRAND
In business school and at John Hardy, I learned the value and importance of having a strong brand position. I also learned how to do the proper research to develop a brand positioning strategy and to remember to think about your customer, stakeholders and consumers first.
ON MISSION
I see marketplace efficiencies as highly important to a strong local and global economy and based on my personal values, I see small, mid-sized and independent businesses as essential to developing an equitable and diverse community. Grovara supports the global growth of these types of businesses by creating the tools for them to develop their opportunities.