Leading with Purpose: Soelvi Grana Slotte on growing a career and heritage brands at Mondelēz Norway & Denmark

Monday, September 15, 2025

Let’s start with your journey. You’ve been with Mondelēz International for many years in various roles - what has kept you inspired to grow your career here?

Mondelēz is truly a company with amazing resources. I’d say I’ve almost grown up here, having spent 18 years in many different roles. That’s what’s so great about working here—there are so many opportunities if you’re open to growth, willing to stretch yourself, and think outside the box.

You can grow locally, internationally, and across different functions. Just because you start in one area doesn’t mean you’re locked into that path. There are many different career routes available, and that has given me the chance to explore various parts of the organization over the years, take on new challenges, and keep learning.

You recently took on the role of Marketing Director for Denmark and Norway. What has that transition taught you about leadership — and about yourself?

That’s a great question. When you take on a role like this, you need to be very mindful of how you manage it—understanding the role you play and the impact it has on the rest of the organization. It’s a significant responsibility: for people, for business, and for the brands.

That responsibility requires careful balance. The bigger the responsibility, the more important it becomes to maintain a broad overview and give complete trust to your team to work on every detail. You have to trust your people and empower them to take ownership and make sound decisions.

This becomes much easier when you work with such great teams and talented individuals. You truly feel that you can delegate effectively, grow together, and achieve amazing things as a team.

What makes Mondelēz International a uniquely exciting place to work in marketing?

Mondelēz is an exciting place for marketers because it truly offers the best of both worlds—you have the global side with its structure, systems, processes, expertise, and strategic focus, while at the same time, you have local brands that people in Norway genuinely love.

That combination is incredibly inspiring. You can bring global learnings and apply them in ways that resonate locally. Working with brands like Freia, which holds a strong position and has a rich history dating back to 1889, is truly motivating.

It’s a brand we take very seriously. But at the same time, it’s chocolate—so we try not to take ourselves too seriously either.

In your experience, what kind of support and development opportunities can marketers—and especially women in leadership — expect at Mondelēz?

Honestly, I have never experienced gender being an issue at Mondelēz in the Nordics. If you do a good job, the opportunities are there for everyone, and that’s what truly matters.

Gender hasn’t really played a role, and we see many female leaders in the Nordics, which is great. We’re fortunate to live in a region that offers a better balance and more flexibility than many others, making it easier to create fair opportunities for everyone.

Inclusion is something we take very seriously.

Mondelēz is home to some of Norway’s most iconic brands. How does it feel to work with brands like Freia and Kvikk Lunsj that are deeply embedded in Norwegian culture?

It’s incredibly meaningful because these are brands that everyone in Norway has some connection to. When people find out where you work, they immediately light up and say things like, “Oh, do you think you could bring back this flavour?” or “I want my apricot back!”

There’s always a strong sense of engagement, which is amazing. A brand like Freia has been part of the cultural fabric for so many years—it’s a real source of inspiration for us. But it also comes with responsibility. It’s almost like we’re managing a small national treasure, and we need to do right by it.

We have to respect its history and all the people who’ve helped build it into what it is today.

Work – life balance and well-being are top priorities for talents today. How is that supported in your day-to-day at Mondelēz Norway?

We’re flexible and offer the option to work from home when needed. Our offices are centrally located in Oslo, making it easy for our teams to commute, and we also provide parking for those who drive.

We trust that people will get their work done — that’s what we focus on. Flexibility is key.

That project really gave me confidence in myself, and the organization gained confidence in me too. One thing led to another, and now — 18 years later — I’m the Marketing Director for Norway and Denmark.

And it all started with a walk through the factory.

Finally, what’s something about working at Mondelēz Norway that might surprise people?

I think people might assume that since Mondelēz is such a large, global company, a small brand like Freia in little Norway wouldn’t matter much. But that’s not true.

Freia means much more than people might expect — it plays a bigger role in the organization than you’d think from the outside. That makes the work feel meaningful and challenging in the best way.

There’s also a strong sense of heritage — cultural heritage — and a legacy of putting people at the center of how we operate and grow together.