My current role is marketing director for Kidfresh, which is a better-for-you frozen food brand in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space. We sell kids’ favorite recipes, but with better ingredients and hidden veggies in every bite, so think mac and cheese with hidden pureed carrots or chicken nuggets with hidden pureed cauliflower.

Every day is pretty different. It’s an emerging brand, so we’re a small team—the whole company is about 10 people. I’m a marketing team of one, so I have my hands in a lot of different things, anything from developing a new project to conducting research to talking to our consumers, digital marketing, PR. It runs the full gamut.

The Penn experience is such a special thing. It’s really at the root of all that I feel I’ve been able to achieve.

I’ve worked for food brands my whole career and I love it. You create a product that you can give to people, and it really enhances their life. My job is very rewarding: We offer good, healthy food that kids eat and parents feel good about. I talk to parents every day about how our products make their lives easier.

I arrived at Penn knowing that I wanted to work in food in some capacity, but I didn’t know how. I thought maybe I wanted to be a chef or a restaurant owner, so I worked as a reservationist at the restaurant Pod, which was really cool. I took some classes at the restaurant school up the street. I majored in Communication to learn about marketing and communication. And I used my summers to dabble in different aspects of the food world, like an internship doing food writing. After graduating, I moved to New York and got my master’s in Food Management. But my journey really started at Penn.

I’ve always been so incredibly grateful for my time there and what it’s afforded me, all of the networking and support that Penn has provided. And my friends from Penn are still some of my closest friends. The Penn experience is such a special thing. It’s really at the root of all that I feel I’ve been able to achieve. To people just starting out, I’d say at the beginning of your career, it’s invaluable to focus on your passion, to do everything you can to home in on what it is that you love about that passion. Don’t shy away from opportunities because ultimately, there is no wasted experience. — March 1, 2024 • Photo by Brooke Sietinsons