Her Story
About Nia
I'm a Business Product Owner at Mondelez International, the company behind brands like Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz, Sour Patch, and Clif Bar. I work with the perfect store team in our sales organization, focusing on sales strategy and embedding AI into our operations. What I'm working on impacts our entire North America sales organization of about 7,000 people. I partner with our customer business teams, category leadership teams, and retail teams to gather input, create strategy, and then deploy it to our sales teams. It's more of an internal-facing role where I'm equipping our teams with the best insights and information so they can go to retailers like Walmart, Sam's Club, and Costco. I've been with Mondelez for seven and a half years across different roles in sales and marketing. In previous roles, I directly called on customers like Sam's Club in Arkansas, Costco in Seattle, and Albertsons, presenting our plans directly to retailers. Beyond my day-to-day responsibilities, I'm really involved in our employee resource groups. I'm a co-lead for our African Ancestry Council and heavily involved in Women at Mondelez. We have 9 employee resource groups in North America, and I'm involved in 3 of them in different leadership and mentor capacities. Creating these spaces for our employees outside of their day-to-day job is probably my biggest accomplishment. These groups provide a safe space for people to just be who they are, especially for new employees finding their way.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Nia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say my support system. I have a very supportive family, very supportive fiance, and also very supportive friends. My circle keeps me going. I would also say, honestly, even some of the people that I work with. I've had probably 6 to 8 bosses here at Mondelez, and they've all been a champion of my career. Even ones that I've left, I still talk to. The relationships I've built at work are so important. I have some really motivational coworkers, coworkers turned friends as well. My bosses, people I work with, as well as my family, they keep me going.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is just being authentic. It sounds corny, but I think that was something really important. After 8 years in, I can tell when leaders are leading authentically and when they have the corporate facade on. Obviously, being professional is important, but just being who you are and not being afraid to walk into a room and be professional, but be you. That's what matters.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The first thing that came to my mind was be bold. I think a lot of times, especially depending on the situation, you might be in a room and you might be the only female, you might be the only minority, you might be in an uncomfortable situation. I always joke and say the dads and grandpas run sales, but I think just be bold. If you have an idea, speak on it. If you have input, don't be afraid to ask questions. That's probably the biggest thing I would say.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say, just across the board, it's the trends that are happening right now. Everything is so expensive. Food is expensive, gas is expensive, folks are cash-strapped. The economy makes the industry tough. But there's also a huge change happening in general. I might be a little biased, but AI is changing the way we do things at work and the way we do things at home. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it's definitely influencing people to think differently. We have to think differently, work differently. Between the economy and the emerging technology, it really keeps not only folks in this industry on their toes, but I think everyone on their toes.
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