No, it’s doubtful you have but the now sales director at Asahi UK, Dhati Holohan has done so and counts this as a low point in her fast-moving career.
Holohan began working for Asahi UK in her current role at the start of 2025 but had previously been with Diageo for more than six years and, before that, at Reckitt Benckiser since 2010 moving from Sydney, Australia, to the UK during that six-year spell.
Holohan recalls that low point: “The low light of my career would probably be writing down individual barcodes for all the grocery products stocked in discounter customers to create a data-led view of pricing and product range.
“All the highlights I remember all have to do with people, building something great and winning together – I’m lucky to have made lifelong friends through work and while I am numbers driven, the bits you remember are the connections you make, the difference you make to people’s lives, and the difference they make to yours.”
Asahi UK owns plenty of beer brands such as Fuller’s London Pride, Dark Star, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Asahi Super Dry, Meantime and Cornish Orchards.
But this was a world away from Holohan’s early career when she worked in film and television for six years before pivoting to FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods with a master’s degree in business, majoring in strategic management and marketing.
She joined Reckitt Benckiser – owner of hygiene and health brands – in 2010 on its sales and marketing graduate programme in Sydney, Australia and adds a lattice career followed with alternating front-line account management roles with back-of-house sales roles in commercial strategy, planning and category & channel development.
She moved to the UK with Reckitt then looking for continued learning and professional development, joined Diageo in 2018, beginning this journey at Australian beverage retailer BWS.
Her six years at Diageo saw her cover on-trade field sales, revenue growth and grocery and is now continuing the sector path with Asahi UK as sales director UK&I.
Need to thrive
“Tricky!” is how she describes balancing her work and family lives. “I don’t think of it as striving to achieve a work-life balance, I think of it more as different parts of my life where I give and get very different things, both of which I need to thrive and be my full self.
“One needs to set boundaries that work for you – having ‘red lines’ that are non-negotiable for both work and family – things you won’t compromise on.
“Flexibility is a key part of it too – I travel a fair bit for work and can work late hours at times which eats into family life but I also make sure I log off and show up for things that mean a lot to me and my daughter eg, class assemblies, pick up on Fridays and bedtime more often than not.
“My biggest recommendation to anyone balancing the two is to be present wherever you are – so commit fully when in work mode and switch off when not – no sneaky email checking when you’re with family.”
Early in her career, she always thought the most senior people knew the most or were subject matter experts with all the answers, Holohan admits.
She continues: “I’ve found that, in reality, it is often those closest to the front line who are the true real-time experts in the customer, category, channel, etc.
“Where senior leadership plays the key role is in asking the right questions, putting just the right amount of challenge into the room and thinking beyond today into the future – eg, how to set strategic direction, empower the team and then enable them to deliver performance.
Holohan states she wishes she had started her career in FMCG sooner – and moved into hospitality sooner.
‘Always-on’ coaching programme
“Working in consumer healthcare and cleaning categories taught me a lot,” she says, “but lacks the brand passion, connection with category, and meaning in the lives of consumers that beer, wines and spirits has.”
She talks about the things she takes from her personal life into her work role.
“Being a mum is a great ‘always-on’ coaching programme. It teaches me every day to stay calm under pressure, to actively listen, to flex my style to suit the context, to choose when to step in versus when to step back, and to celebrate progress, not just outcomes.
“I certainly learn through practising (and through failure) every day. The other thing I do is use my down time in ways that expose me to different ways of thinking – talking with friends about their experiences, podcasts, books, even TikTok can be a great source of new ideas and thinking.”
She defines excellent leadership by her own experiences and what has inspired and motivated her in the past, adding her aspirations are for her teams to feel seen and heard, to feel inspired behind a clear strategic direction and to be supported and set up for success.
Her advice for a young person wanting to reach her heights are threefold.
She explains: “First, be curious – try to broaden your understanding beyond your role and understand the organisation and its key stakeholders.
“Second – put your hand up for opportunities to do different things and further your learning.
“And third, play to your strengths – discover that overlap of what you love doing and where it adds value to the business and hone that into a superpower.”
