Influential Woman · Food Service Distribution Software

Julie Cole

Senior Vice President Distributor Solutions, Meal Ticket

Dover, NH

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Member IFDA (International Food Service Distribution) Member IFMA (International Food Service Manufacturers Association)

Her Story

About Julie

I work with food service distributors to help them build their business through our software platform at Meal Ticket, where I've been for a little over 12 years. Our software helps food service distributors manage the complexities in their relationships with suppliers and customers around performance reporting, rebate management, marketing, and more. I'm in charge of partnerships, so I constantly reach out to and speak with different groups who we could potentially partner with to help distributors - whether it's an association that distributors are members of, whether it's a like-minded software solution, or anybody out there where some type of partnership with Meal Ticket could enhance our distributors' lives and their ability to build business. I also spend a lot of time working with our customers, with our sales team, and with our customer success team on evangelizing the product and speaking to all the different things that our products can do to enhance our customers' business. What really makes me able to do what I do today is my hands-on industry experience. I worked with a food service distributor for 12 years doing all of the things that our customers are trying to do, so being in the trenches really shaped my ability to understand and address their pain points. The role I'm in right now is a brand new role to the organization that we only created about 3 months ago, and it's basically my dream job. It was created because of my industry experience and my ability to speak to our customers about their pain points and really help them be better.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Julie

01What do you attribute your success to?

I am a Christian, and God gave me everything I have, so that is it. He gave me tools to work hard, and ambition, and all of these things. At the end of the day, it's not about me, it's about taking the tools that I have been given and using them to their best capability that I possibly can. I wake up every day with a sense of I gotta make the most of everything that I have today.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The best career advice I ever received was about surrounding myself with great people. I had a leader, not with this particular company now, but previously, who said the best sign of a great leader is to be surrounded by great people. Sometimes people get intimidated by that, or feel like they don't want anyone to be better than them, but surround yourself with great people, and you will be successful.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I don't believe that a woman should think of herself as a woman when she goes out to do her business. She should just go out and be the best person that she can possibly be, because at the end of the day, I think that we are judged - for anyone who is smart enough to do so - on your productivity and what you bring to the table, regardless of if you're a man, a woman, white, Black, it doesn't really matter. So just don't hold tight to, or come out as, woman first. It's about being the very best person that you can be first, and at that point, it won't really matter. If you are a true contributor, and you're achieving great things, it won't matter that you're a woman. It won't matter any of these things about you - your school, your background, your whatever, none of that will matter. The results are what are going to guide your success.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I would say change - rapid change. Whether it be just the way that the industry is changing, the technologies are changing, everything is changing. We've got economics, it's just a tornado right now of change. I think that is requiring an industry that hasn't always moved quickly to move much quicker than they ever have. So the biggest challenge and opportunity is to be quick and manage the change efficiently, and adjust appropriately to market conditions and that type of thing.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

My reputation is everything to me, so I'm always completely transparent and honest with people. I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror, and I need to never be afraid to see somebody who I've spoken with. Integrity - that's the right word. That goes across the board in everything that I do, and every relationship I have, whether it's work, personal, whatever. Integrity is the key to everything.

Keep Exploring