Exit interview: Teejae Sonza reflects on 26 years at Coca-Cola and her next chapter

Sari-sari stores, factory floors and regional boardrooms have all shaped Teejae Sonza’s approach to marketing - one grounded in the belief that creativity only matters when it meets consumer reality and moves the business.

Now stepping away from The Coca-Cola Company after more than 26 years, Sonza (pictured), most recently senior marketing director leading the Coca-Cola Trademark business across ASEAN and the South Pacific, leaves behind a career spanning operations, revenue growth, commercial strategy, brand building and regional leadership.

Her next chapter remains deliberately open. But the principles that have guided her career are clear: make marketing useful, balance timeless brand truths with cultural relevance, and build businesses and teams that can thrive beyond any one leader.

Don't miss: Coca-Cola veteran Teejae Sonza concludes a 26-year tenure

From sari-sari stores to the boardroom

Sonza began her career in operations, working with sari-sari stores, wholesalers and route sales personnel. Seeing the realities of the point of sale first-hand gave her a grounding that would later influence how she approached marketing.

“Marketing is as practical as it is magical,” she told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, acknowledging the women researchers who had shaped her thinking in the early stages of her career.

She later became revenue growth manager, helping introduce the discipline to Asia after studying its framework in Latin America. The experience gave her a stronger understanding of the financial side of marketing.

That became particularly important when she took on Coca-Cola’s non-carbonated portfolio. Sonza built the business case for water to become a second engine of growth, working with factory teams and examining plant P&Ls rather than relying solely on brand strategy.

The business subsequently rationalised SKUs, consolidated brand lines and optimised manufacturing assets, nearly doubling portfolio profitability within a year.

“Boardroom courage isn’t just about painting an inspiring vision - marketers do that easily. Boardroom courage requires backing that vision with detailed financial and operational plans, otherwise it’s just bravado.”

Scale the idea, not the execution

Her regional experience also shaped her view of how global brands should operate across cultures.

What works everywhere is a universal human truth linked to an enduring brand value; what works locally is the cultural dialect in which you express it.

She points to Powerade ION4 in the Philippines, where global work provided inspiration but local activations were built around everyday fitness, community and local ambassadors.

The same principle applied to Coca-Cola Foodmarks. While the platform began as a prototype in Bangkok and could be scaled regionally, its expression differed across markets.

“The framework was regional; the soul was completely local, enriched by the teams immersed in the markets.”

For Sonza, this requires listening to consumers, trade partners and local teams - and being willing to be proven wrong.

“Working across markets taught me humility. I have been proven wrong many times, and that has been the best education.”

Marketing should serve, not simply persuade

Perhaps the biggest evolution in Sonza’s thinking has been her belief that marketing itself should be a form of service.

Earlier in her career, she viewed service largely through CSR initiatives, including women’s economic empowerment, disaster relief, youth sports and nutrition partnerships. She later came to see service as something embedded in the product, experience and business model itself.

“Over time I realised that marketing as a service is not just CSR; it’s the job of marketing itself.”

That could mean better pack sizes that fit the cash flow of a small store owner, easier-to-open packaging for ageing consumers, improved distribution that saves a busy person time on an errand, or products that deliver genuine utility.

Creativity without clear commercial impact is self-indulgence, and that’s not what we’re here for.

She expects AI and data to accelerate this shift, allowing brands to deliver more personalised and useful experiences.

“The future of brand building is less about persuasion and more about being useful, meaningful, or entertaining. And the brands that will win will be the ones people know they can rely on, not just admire.”

Building brands - and people - that last

Sonza compares timelessness to a song’s melody and emotional core, while timeliness is how that core is refreshed through new arrangements, contexts and interpretations.

She used to advocate a 70-20-10 approach: 70% on proven strategies, 20% on reinvention and experimentation rooted in existing strengths, and 10% on entirely new ideas. Successful experiments should gradually move into the larger buckets, continuously refreshing the core.

The same thinking extends to audience participation, where she argues that brands should protect the elements that make them distinctive while giving people the freedom to reinterpret and culturally reinvent them.

Sonza’s measure of success is ultimately longevity. Of the work she is proudest of, including the transformation of Coca-Cola’s water business, the Reborn sustainability platform and Coke Studio Philippines, she asks two questions: did it move the business, and did it leave something people could continue using after she moved on?

That same philosophy applies to leadership.

“My approach is simple: build leaders who outlast me.”

She favours diverse teams, clear decision rights and room for people to fail safely, while treating employees as partners with a voice in decision-making.

“That mix of accountability, psychological safety, practical learning, and a sense of fun and belonging creates people who can run the business without me,” Sonza said. “And seeing people I once led step into senior, regional and global roles is easily the most gratifying reward of my career.”

What comes next?

For now, Sonza is stepping back to recharge and reflect. She has been spending time with family, travelling, tending to her durian farm, completing a digital leadership certificate from Wharton and preparing for a 275km walking pilgrimage along the Atlantic coast of Portugal and Spain.

“I cannot operate in high gear forever.”

The pause has also broadened her thinking about what comes next. Executive marketing leadership remains one possibility, alongside broader enterprise management, advisory work or something entirely unexpected.

“I still love brands and marketing is in my blood, but when I look back at the work that gave me the most energy, it wasn’t necessarily tied to a function or title. It was the challenge of building something: a business, a brand, a platform, a team, a process, a new capability - and then seeing it grow.”

A year from now, Sonza hopes to be able to say one thing about the decision ahead: “I chose well.”

From AI-powered marketing and the friction economy to retention-led growth, DMA Philippines 2026 on 29 September in Manila will bring together marketers to tackle the opportunities and challenges shaping the next phase of digital transformation.

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