Aline Santos Farhat is one of the most famous marketers in the world. Spending almost her entire career at Unilever, she has risen through the ranks to become executive vice-president for global marketing, overseeing marketing capability and corporate brand. She is also the company’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, a platform she has used to attempt to rid advertising of gender stereotyping. In this frank interview, she discusses: • What an early entrepreneurial endeavour taught her about work-life balance • How to cope with the increasing demand for specialist knowledge • Why face-to-face contact is key to customer insight • Why diversity is the “mother of creativity”