Name: Cait McNamara
Age: 27
Job title: Social & community manager
Company & location: Piccolo, London
Education: BA World Languages and MSc Food Business & Innovation, both at University College Cork
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I definitely changed my mind a lot, I remember wanting to be everything from a fashion designer to a vet.
Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? Short answer, I really love food!
Long answer, I fell into marketing because I wanted a career that allowed me to be creative, and doing that within an industry I was already interested in felt like the perfect combination.
“Every experience teaches you something, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time”
Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): I’m responsible for everything Piccolo puts out from a content standpoint, from social to newsletter and creator partnerships, all with the aim of growing and engaging our community of parents.
What does a typical day look like for you? Every day is different, but a typical day involves a lot of brainstorming, writing and briefing. I’m always on the lookout for content ideas and creators we can partner with, so I spend entirely too much time scrolling (you don’t want to see my screen time).
Tell us how you went about applying for your job: After messaging our head of marketing about the role on LinkedIn (can you tell I was keen?), we had a quick screening call.
Then I was given a short task to complete, which I presented back to her a week or so later. Lastly, I came back in for a final interview with our creative director.
What’s the best part about working for a food & drink company? Working in food & drink, especially within challenger brands, I’ve always found that people are really passionate. Whether it be about the product, the brand or the customer, people in the industry tend to really care about what we’re doing, and that makes it a really enjoyable industry to work in.
And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? I think people often underestimate just how broad the food & drink industry is. When you say you work in food, people often assume you’re working directly with the product, but there are so many different career paths - from marketing and innovation to supply chain, buying, sustainability and everything in between.
What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? Your first job doesn’t have to be your dream job. I definitely took the long road to where I am now – doing a full 180 from translation to marketing after my undergrad, and hopping from B2B to agency to challenger brand – but I wouldn’t change it. Every experience teaches you something, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time.
What’s your ultimate career dream? I always find this question a really hard one. Ultimately, I would love to work for myself, but working closely with founders has really given me an insight into what that takes. So for now, I’m still focused on learning and figuring out what that looks like.
No comments yet