Name: Charlotte Collins
Age: 28
Job title: Pukka brand manager UKI
Company & location: Lipton Teas & Infusions UK, London office
Education: BA (Hons) History at University of Birmingham
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I never had a set career path from a young age, but as I progressed through secondary school and being a bit of a bookworm, I found that I really enjoyed the arts subjects – especially history and English. So that naturally led me to do A-levels in English, history and psychology.
I had a few inspiring career sessions in my English A-level classes where they showcased careers in media, marketing and communications, which initially sparked my interest.
Why did you decide to pursue a career in food and drink? Other than being a big foodie?!… My first job after my marketing placement at university was as an account exec at a food and drink PR, marketing & creative agency. I thoroughly enjoyed working on a range of food and drinks brands and knew that I wanted to stay in the industry.
“Being an avid tea drinker and also being genuinely passionate about and a huge fan of Pukka’s products makes my job really rewarding”
Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two) As brand manager, my scope really does cover a broad range of areas. Everything from brand comms, brand partnerships, to experiential events, PR and social media, to developing new products and packaging design.
Tell us how you went about applying for your job: After working agency side, I went client/brand side at a well-known gyms chain, working in their marketing team for a couple of years. Part of my job was working on their food and drink marketing for the on-site cafés, and I knew I wanted to get back into the F&B industry. I was determined to work for a larger fmcg company as the next step in my career and so begun my job search.
What’s the best part about working for a food and drink company? Whenever I tell people I work for Lipton Teas & Infusions, they nearly always say ‘wow you work in tea, that’s so cool!’ and I have to agree with them, it is!
Being an avid tea drinker and also being genuinely passionate about and a huge fan of Pukka’s products makes my job really rewarding. Building, shaping, and bringing exciting campaigns and new products to life, whilst working alongside a fantastic team of people both in our UKI and global team, is something really special.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food and drink? I think people who don’t work in food and drink or fmcg tend to be a bit confused as to what exactly we do all day! People may think that marketing in particular spend their time on endless food and drink tours, creating the odd social post and that’s it! The reality is really quite different, and less glamorous.
When I first joined Lipton Teas & Infusions I very quickly learned just how much goes into creating, manufacturing, and marketing a food and drink product.
What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the industry? One learning that I have had is that you don’t have to necessarily take the conventional route of university, work experience/ internships, then into applying to jobs. There are now many more options starting as early as GCSEs, from technical courses to apprenticeships, that provide on-the-job training blended with study.
I have also worked with colleagues who have started out in foodservice and hospitality, then moved across to work on food and drinks brands on agency side. The world really is your oyster and if you are passionate, work hard and put yourself out there for opportunities, you are setting yourself up to go far.
What’s your ultimate career dream? I’d like to be a brand lead and manage a team. As a people person, I get a lot of my energy from those around me and working with others, as well as mentoring and line managing.
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