Her Story
About Amanda
Amanda Cohen is a Sales Director at PepsiCo, currently leading a team of nine key account managers on the Gatorade and warehouse beverages team. She oversees retailers across the country in the grocery, distributor, and athletic channels, including accounts such as Publix, Harris Teeter, and Food Lion. Cohen joined PepsiCo after an internship at Kroger and has held three sales director positions, with nearly two years in her current role. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2016 with a Bachelor's of Science in Finance and a minor in Marketing. Cohen has earned PepsiCo's Chairman's Ring award twice, in 2020 while on the Quaker team and in 2024 on the Pepsi beverages team. She was previously a member of NextUp and remains involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters and the YMCA of Camp Humingo. Cohen attributes her success to her mother and values family and work-life balance highly, especially as a young mom navigating travel demands in her role.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Amanda
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say probably my mom. My parents got divorced, and my mom was basically a single mom raising me and my sister for a few years before she got remarried, and my biological father didn't pay child support or anything like that, and we never had to move from our house. My mom was a vice president throughout her career, she traveled a lot. She made a lot of sacrifices, and as a kid I didn't understand it, but looking back I see it now. I've always wanted to have a legacy just like hers.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I had a boss who would tell me that 99% of the time my tenacity and my willingness to win will get me where I want to go. But sometimes there's that 1% where you have to use caution because I'm a very tight Type A bulldog salesperson. And he was right, it was when I was young in my career I was a little rough around the edges. So I always remember, okay, am I in that 1% right now, or am I in the 99%?
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Not be afraid to be who you are. I have a very unique personality and there are just some things about me that have made me who I am and have made me be very successful. Growing up in my career I was a little rough around the edges. I had some good advice to help me to figure out how to smooth that out but I never moved away from who I was. So always stay true to your authentic self. PepsiCo has allowed me to be my authentic self which is great but not all companies do.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Work-life balance especially as a young mom. When my daughter was less than a year old and I was in this new job I had to travel a lot. I remember being with coworkers and I was breastfeeding and I would get pulled over every time I went through the airport for my pumps and if I had milk with me. It was always very uncomfortable because while we've come a long way still not there's still this perception or uncomfortable especially I travel a lot with men.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Family. I've recently run into a situation where I've made a decision that I don't want to move because I am very happy being close to my family now that I have a child. That's something that's really hard as an executive in a big organization because you gotta move you gotta move up fast and you gotta move all over the country. I made a decision that I'm okay I'm not gonna do that.
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