Her Story
About Jessica
Jessica Bauer serves as Division Cheese Specialist at Kroger in Michigan, a role she describes as her favorite, where she focuses on specialty cheese products, customer education, and connecting people through food experiences. She began her career at Kroger as her first job over 13 years ago and has built her expertise there while also engaging with Murray's Cheese through television spots and training programs. Bauer earned a degree and certificate in healthcare administration from Oakland Community College and pursued studies at U of M Flint before the pandemic interrupted her plans. She has completed the American Cheese Society exam and Murray's Red Jacket program. She participates in Kroger's Women's ARG and Pride ARG, attributing her success to an inner drive inspired by influential women leaders in her field.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jessica
01What do you attribute your success to?
My inner drive. I've always wanted to do more. I've seen so many influential women within my career at Kroger. Just in their own right, those women were just like the air that they held. I was just so in awe by it, like seeing a woman who handled herself so well in a male-dominated industry. I just always wanted to be successful in my own right way.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You never really know where you're gonna end up. Everything is fixable, and that if you have the inner drive and the motivation to be something or to do something, that it comes from within you, and that nothing in this world can stop you from like achieving what you deem as success. It's not what others place on you, it's what you feel within your own self.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Bridging the gap for people who are a little intimidated by specialty items and foods. Teaching people all of the great things you can do with the items that we carry. Sometimes people will see like cheese boards and they look so fancy and they don't know where to start. My team can really help that and just build a new skill set of like how to whip up a cheese board or good food.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
We try to lead every day with kindness. It is the best way to start any conversation, any interaction is always kindness and knowing that like people are going through things that sometimes like we are the only like nice thing somebody can say to somebody. Like you could be having a really crappy day but having somebody just like talk to you and just like being nice and polite can really go a long way.
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