Women in Insights Forum – quarterly Newsletter
Member Spotlight!
Jodi Schwartz
Director of Strategic Insights, B&G Foods
- What inspired you to pursue a career in insights, and what keeps you passionate about the work today?
I’m a market research nepo baby, so my after school job in high school started out with me as a teenager working in the mailroom at Millward Brown and quickly evolved into presenting copy-test results at Lever House (taking the train and wearing my mom’s suits with the big shoulder pads). But it never felt like a career to me until I went client side and was given the opportunity to focus on strategy and innovation and be what I like to call the true manager of the brand, but without having to worry about the P&L. I stay passionate in my career because what is better than a business role where you get to be creative and problem solve and generally just get to make people’s lives better.
- How have you seen the role of women evolve in the insights industry over the years?
Not specific to insights, but business in general – when I first started working it was rare to see women in charge. Those that had to either not have or had to hide their families to achieve success. Today women leaders are better for being human and having lives outside of work; it makes us more empathetic and stronger as leaders. And for CPG insights specifically, we can intuit more about primary grocery shoppers as likely we still take on the majority of household mental load.
- What skills or mindsets do you believe are most critical for success in this field, regardless of gender?
Don’t be afraid to hypothesize based on the world around you. You can prove or disprove later, but often the big idea will come from making small observed connections.
Also start referring to yourself as a strategist. Market researchers give you the numbers, Insights professionals tell you what those numbers mean, but it is the Strategist who can tell you what you need to go and do with this knowledge.
- What were your biggest takeaways from the Personal Branding & Visibility session?
We may be whip smart as marketers and insights professionals, but so often we forget to market ourselves. It’s more than okay to showcase our contributions both to further our companies and to further our own careers.