International Women’s Day at Taylor Farms: First-Hand Perspectives
In honor of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we honor the many women who drive Taylor Farms to be a leader in the industry and who are an integral part of every aspect of our organization. We consider our employees our Taylor Farms family and supporting each other in career growth and in living our company values is something we always strive to do.
What better way to honor these women than to ask them for their own perspectives on growing in their careers, mentorship for women, and their experiences with Taylor Farms? Read on for stories from our fabulous team.
How does Taylor Farms reflect your personal values or support your personal goals?
Taylor Farms is an organization built on hard work, integrity, and respect, and those values shine through for many of the women on our team. Working for a company that provides a platform for personal growth is a major factor internally. Melissa Quintero, Procurement Analyst for the Deli Division says, “At Taylor Farms we are motivated to grow in our areas of expertise, learn from other teams and divisions that we do not interact with daily, and overall are pushed to continue learning about our business and industry at large. I aim to be a lifelong learner and Taylor Farms fosters the environment to continually develop as a professional.”
In addition, Taylor Farms’ very mission is to help our customers maintain and healthy lifestyle. In today’s world where that gets harder and harder, this basic goal resonates with many of the women we spoke with. Amanda Knauff, Sales Director Canada, says, “We work very hard to provide the people of North America with fun healthy options and with that hard work, we also make sure we encourage each other to live a healthy personal life.”
What factors impact a woman’s ability to lead others?
When it comes to being an effective woman in leadership, the women we spoke with emphasized balancing empathy and connection with the ability to make impactful decisions and continually grow in their roles. When women bring a level of authenticity, passion, and enthusiasm to their jobs, we all benefit and can feed off of that. “Staying true to yourself creates an opportunity to share and relate to others while leading by example in your everyday actions,” says Jennifer Watts, Vice President of Business Development.
Amanda Knauff remarks: “Women are great decision-makers, empathetic leaders, and can take on multiple tasks at once. We need diverse leadership to challenge perspectives and drive creative solutions as a team.” We couldn’t agree more!
What advice do you have for young women embarking on their careers or their college life?
For those who are starting out in their careers—or really anyone who could use a jolt of wise advice—these are the gems from the women of Taylor Farms:
- Make it a priority in your life to set up time to learn from others. You will accelerate fastest by building strong relationships with people in various departments and with that knowledge use it to self-reflect on how you can add value to a company.
- Being reliable, hardworking and a team player are key factors that help to lay the groundwork for a successful career.
- Network! You may be surprised by how many people you connect with that are genuinely interested in helping you professionally or personally. All it takes is one person thinking of your name when an opportunity comes up that is fit for you!
- Your career should be a journey. Be open to twists and turns in your path as you never know where they will lead you. Work hard and take the opportunity to dive in and learn as much as you can early in your career. Take risks, volunteer to try new things, and offer to help. Where you start will certainly not be where you end up but be sure to have some fun along the way!
What’s special about Taylor Farms?
Something that comes through from our women employees is their desire to pass along the support they’ve received to others. “I hope to ensure other women feel the same encouragement from me and truly believe the sky is the limit if you are willing to put the work in.” While Melissa Quintero adds that Taylor Farms has “a network of supportive women who build other women up, giving credit where it is due, habitually reminding each other when they are doing a great job.”
If you or anyone you know is considering a career in food services, Taylor Farms is not your typical employer. Our aggressive growth and innovation across multiple business segments provide great opportunities for career growth. Couple that with a culture of developing leaders and mentors, and we have something to be very proud of.
When asked what about Taylor Farm’s culture makes a difference to them, one respondent said, “We are encouraged to attend leadership development events, find mentorship opportunities, but most importantly, are trusted to lead and make decisions that drive the network forward.”
We’re proud to share these perspectives from women in the Taylor Farms team and to publicly thank all of the hard work and dedication they give to our organization.