At KitchenAid, Priyanka Rathore has exposed gender bias in the restaurant industry, helped empower female chefs and boosted women-owned restaurants—all while making the brand more relevant to a younger generation.

Rathore is the marketer behind the Whirlpool-owned culinary brand’s provocative Hulu documentary “A Woman’s Place,” which shone a light on the barriers and challenges facing women in professional kitchens. Inspired by the statistic that women make up 50% of culinary school graduates but only 7% of executive chefs, the purpose-driven campaign has also included a mentorship program for female chefs through the James Beard Foundation. In 2021 Rathore evolved it further via a partnership with Yelp, using first-party data to geotarget food enthusiasts and encourage them to support local women-owned restaurants in the pandemic.

While the campaign has boosted brand consideration, Rathore, 39, said she fought hard to get it approved internally at "conservative, Midwestern" Whirlpool, particularly as the film didn’t even feature the KitchenAid product.

But Rathore knows how to fight her corner; after moving to the U.S. from her native India (where she had worked for L’Oréal), she faced the challenges of being “an immigrant, a single mother, a person of color and a woman.” She learned resilience and rebooted her career via an MBA at Notre Dame University before landing the role at Whirlpool in 2017. “I was able to discover who I am,” she said.

If you could have dinner with one person, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

Gautam Buddha, because he tried to understand the deeper meaning of life through self-analysis. His learnings are very practical and relevant for all times and ages.

What are the top two social media sites you use on a regular basis?

LinkedIn and YouTube.

What’s currently on your bedside reading list?

“Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda.

What was the last show you binge-watched?

“14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible.”

At what age do you hope to retire?

Never. I would like to stay active and keep giving back.