My name is Alyssa Raine, and I am the group vice president of customer marketing platforms at Walgreens. I was born in Chicago, but grew up mostly internationally. Although it was tough to be the new kid (10 times!), I very much appreciate that I got to live in and experience vastly different cultures before I was an adult and before there were the digital tools to explore international countries, norms and traditions. I am also naturally a shy person, so being the new kid forced me to get out of my shell and figure out how to make friends. It is probably one of the reasons I value relationships so much – I’ve experienced how hard they are to make and how easy they are to break.
I absolutely love my job. I lead the customer marketing platforms team, which includes Mass Personalization, myWalgreens, MarTech and Customer Experience. We are very focused on our customers and patients and how we can deliver the best possible personalized experience through our digital channels. We also look at how we can deliver exceptional personalized experiences in our physical stores in partnership with our store team members, and how we can unlock the power of our pharmacists at scale. I have been at Walgreens for three years, and am constantly floored by the knowledge of our pharmacists and how much they care about the people they help. I also love how we are leveraging cutting-edge, high-powered technology to build the customer and patient experience in partnership with IT, and how we are really focusing on how we can best take care of our patients and customers and their very personal data in partnership with our privacy office.
COVID-19 has clearly changed almost everything in terms of how we live our lives and how our customers and patients live their lives. We are zeroed in on the changing needs of our customers and patients and the dynamics of the marketplace. I have such heart for our team members who have been absolute heroes through this entire global pandemic. We are used to facing into difficult circumstances – just think about how our team members, pharmacists and corporate team members serve our communities during natural disasters – but the global pandemic has forced us to take it to the next level.
In a typical day I wake up early, usually before 5 a.m. I work out for an hour, which is one of my favorite hours of the day, the quiet hour before everyone is up and moving. I then check on my kids (I have three) to see how they are doing, and get ready for work. My workspace for the day varies between our headquarters in Deerfield, Ill., our Old Post Office location in downtown Chicago and my home office. I love seeing people in Deerfield, love our new amazing space downtown and appreciate getting to have CNBC on mute on my office TV when I’m working from home (plus I get more kid hugs throughout the day). Luckily it is super easy to get to a Walgreens regardless of where I am working. Stopping in a Walgreens and getting something for my family or me, while chatting with team members or getting advice from a pharmacist, is always wonderful.
I absolutely love to read. Books can immediately transport you to a different world or teach you a new skill set. I tend to read three books at a time – one business book (to help me be better at my job), one parenting book (to help me be a better mom) and one British literature book (to help me decompress). As many people at Walgreens know, I love to geek out on the latest books people are enjoying. Another favorite hobby is a good meal out at a good restaurant with good company – and a good view is a nice bonus. Luckily there are so many options across Chicagoland and so many different types of cuisine to choose from.
I am incredibly thankful for my team and our business partners – which is a good thing because we spend a lot of time together! I love when we brainstorm the next phase of our work, and I love when we review progress. We talk about what is going really well and when something didn’t go great, and we learn from it in a way that makes us better moving forward.
I try to have dinner with my kids and husband in the evening, which has certainly been easier the past 15 months. We either go “oldest to youngest” or “youngest to oldest” and talk about something that we enjoyed that day or if there is something we are struggling with. It is my daily checkpoint with my kids and husband so I can make sure everyone is OK or identify where we may need to do something to help someone. I enjoy cuddling with my kids in the evening, sharing a laugh and going to bed relatively early so I can have a good day the next day. When I am traveling, I love spending time with team members and partners after a day of visiting stores or working in meetings. It is a great way to get to know each other better and plan next steps in our work together. It is such a joy to get to work on impactful initiatives that really help support our communities and work toward health equity, and I am thankful that it’s how I get to spend my day every single day.
