Episode Transcript
00:00 Lindsey Wagaman: Earlier in the spring semester, I was flown out to LA to go to the Global Cold Chain alliance conference there and there were 10 Walton students that were able to go and we were all members of WISE or ASCA. And so there we were able to network with other industry professionals from the US and Canada, and meet a lot more people and really learn about the cold chain industry.
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00:33 Brian Fugate: We are here at the Kraft Heinz Demonstration Kitchen, here with Lindsey Wagaman. Lindsey is a double major in supply chain management and marketing at the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Lindsey is a business development intern here this summer with Kraft Heinz. So, Lindsey, I'm curious could you tell us a little bit about what you're doing this summer?
00:55 Lindsey Wagaman: Yeah, definitely. So my internship is project-based. So throughout the summer, I'm working here with the retail team, targeting micro-events here in the area. So these are things like sporting events, rivalry games, festivals, carnivals, just sort of other smaller-scale different events that are going on and working with them to develop different strategies and campaigns that we can do with that.
01:17 Brian Fugate: So Lindsey given that we're here in this demonstration kitchen, I remember you telling something about a project that you... Could you tell us more about that?
01:25 Lindsey Wagaman: Yeah, definitely, so just in my first week here, one of the really cool things we did was have a ketchup taste test, so it was a blind taste test with different types of ketchup different brands that we have and then our competitors as well. And then we also had different specialty ketchups along with different kinds of French fries and tater tots that we were able to test and then rank based on what we thought of them with taste texture appearance kind of everything to get a better idea for the different products that we have versus our competitors.
01:55 Brian Fugate: So, Lindsey, could you tell us a little bit about your favorite classes at the Walton College?
02:00 Lindsey Wagaman: Yeah, so, supply chain management, project development, and new product design is my favorite class that I have taken so far. I took that last semester actually, before going into this summer and throughout that semester, we worked on a project that a company came in and pitched to us at the beginning of the semester, and we were able to go through different research and development phases of the project to eventually come back and present to them our final idea on Demo Day.
02:24 Brian Fugate: That's interesting, so I heard a rumor that you have an obsession about a Corn Nuts Twitter account.
02:32 Lindsey Wagaman: Oh my gosh.
02:32 Brian Fugate: Can you tell us a little bit about that?
02:34 Lindsey Wagaman: Yes, so I have Corn Nuts notifications on on Twitter. It's one of Kraft Heinz's brands that we have here and Corn Nuts just has one of the funniest Twitters, I've ever seen. Every time I get a notification, I laugh at it, and I just really love just kind of the different strategies the brands are taking to reach out to the younger audience and really connect with people on social media.
02:55 Brian Fugate: So, Lindsey, you've just started your internship, and so you only been able to get into a few things but so far, how's your experience been? And can you tell us a little bit more about it?
03:04 Lindsey Wagaman: Yeah, it's been really good so far. Some of the things that we've been doing that I haven't had experienced them before are utilizing software like retailing and that's something that is really important here. Kraft Heinz is a really data-driven company, so we're really focusing on pulling different metrics and using that putting it into Excel and making pivot tables, just kind of different things just to be able to see what our consumers are buying where trends are headed and just other factors that are influencing shopper behavior.
03:30 Brian Fugate: Interesting, so I've got another question for you. So Lindsey, what inspires you?
03:35 Lindsey Wagaman: Something that really inspires me is innovation. I really believe in the mindset of continuous improvement, and I think that's true for both myself and my work. And so whenever I was interviewing, I knew I wanted to work at a company that was doing a lot with innovation and I've been able to see a lot of the different aspects that go into that here at Kraft Heinz kinda learn more about the different product cycles that it goes through, and the different meetings that people have to benchmark their progress throughout and just their success with the new products.
04:02 Brian Fugate: So Lindsey knowing you, I know you're a goal-driven and so you've likely set out some goals for this summer, could you tell us about those?
04:09 Lindsey Wagaman: One of my main goals is to get better in Excel because Kraft Heinz is so data-driven and just the business industry as a whole is becoming such a data-driven industry I think it's really important to be able to be very proficient in Excel and just be able to utilize the different aspects that are part of it. So that's something that I'm really working on now and hoping to gain a lot more experience in throughout my internship.
04:30 Brian Fugate: So as you think about those goals, what are some of the challenges you think you're gonna run into?
04:33 Lindsey Wagaman: Well, definitely one of my biggest challenges right now is learning the lingo and the language of the CPG industry. There are a lot of different abbreviations that we use on spreadsheets and in reports and documents and it really is like learning a new language. So that's been something that I've been working to get better at just kinda throughout the internship so far and just with practice on different things we've been doing and being able to dive into those spreadsheets and learn more.
04:58 Brian Fugate: So Lindsey, imagine you're sitting around talking to several junior Supply Chain Management majors where you were last year, what advice would you give them?
05:07 Lindsey Wagaman: My advice to younger students is definitely that right now is the perfect time to just be curious, it's really the time for you to take advantage of many opportunities as you can and just really gain as much experience as you can because that's what's really gonna help you become a more well-rounded student, and then really help you in your business career as well.
05:22 Brian Fugate: I think that's great advice and you've done that, you've taken advantage of a lot of different experiences. In fact, I know you by a different name and it's L3. Can you tell us a little about why do you have the nickname L3?
05:36 Lindsey Wagaman: Oh my gosh. So L3 is the nickname that I've been dubbed through my co-workers and it stands for Lindsey the LinkedIn legend, which is so embarrassing when you think about it, but people call me that because I've just really been active on LinkedIn, for about the past year now, just engaging with other people, adding new people that I meet and posting about the different things I'm taking advantage of in the Walton College or just sort of different opportunities that I've been able to take advantage of in the area here.
06:00 Brian Fugate: So tell us a little bit, so you're a Supply Chain major and I know you love Supply Chain Management, yet you are very active on LinkedIn and over the last year, you worked with Modthink could you tell us a little bit about that and probably... Do you see any value in being a supply chain manager and having that background as well?
06:00 Lindsey Wagaman: Yeah, definitely. I think that marketing and supply chain management are really complementary of each other and I really do think that the experiences that I've had while working at Modthink have helped me just become a better business major and young professional in the area, sort of working to network with other people, or kind of just get my name out there with different things that I'm doing and talk about the different advantages that there are to going to events here in the area, and I think that's been really beneficial working here as well, because I was able to meet a lot of the people before I came here, just by connecting with them on LinkedIn and being able to have that relationship before I got started here.
06:00 Brian Fugate: And you definitely have a passion for LinkedIn, we all see it out in social media, and I think it's fantastic. I've learned a lot from you actually. So I wanna change gears a little bit and ask you why did you ever decide to choose supply chain management? What about it interest you?
07:09 Lindsey Wagaman: Well, I actually didn't know what supply chain management was before coming into college. I knew that there were different things that happened obviously with the product life cycle and transportation, but I had never really taken a second to think about it. So after my intro to supply chain management class in the middle of that, I just really liked what I was doing, and I really like about supply chain is how it's like a puzzle and there are different ways to piece it together and figure out how different things can work and just the cause and effect relationship of how one thing can really impact the rest of the process.
07:42 Brian Fugate: Very interesting, and you said earlier that you took... Your advice to students is to take advantage of all the opportunities and the experiences. You've done so many different things. One thing I know you've been involved in is WISE, the student club. Can you tell us a little bit about that and what it is?
08:00 Lindsey Wagaman: Yeah, so WISE is Women Impacting Supply Excellence and there's also the Arkansas Supply Chain Association and both of those are really good, like RSOs, so clubs that students can get involved in to meet other students within their majors and be able to go to things like guest speakers or different events. Like earlier in the spring semester, I was flown out to LA to go to the Global Cold Chain alliance conference there and there were 10 Walton students that were able to go and we are all members of WISE or ASCA. And so there we were able to network with other industry professionals from the US and Canada, and meet a lot more people and really learn about the cold chain industry.
08:35 Brian Fugate: So Lindsey, we've really enjoyed being in this demonstration kitchen. Could you show us where you work and the rest of the building?
08:41 Lindsey Wagaman: Yeah, let's go.
