Food marketing student’s enthusiasm leads to early career successes

KALAMAZOO, Mich.— “I’m excited to work in an industry that is always changing, but is never going out of style,” says Western Michigan University senior Leena Shrum. The food marketing student from Woodhaven, Michigan, is gathering a store of resources for her future through her academic opportunities at the Haworth College of Business. 

With big goals for her career, Shrum is curating a successful portfolio of experience with WMU Haworth’s help.

“I would not be in the position that I am without the help of the WMU Haworth Communication Center. I worked with the center’s staff to revamp my resume and make useful changes to my LinkedIn presence. Similarly, the Student Professional Readiness Series motivated me to get involved, further improve my professional skills and map out my personal goals. The Zhang Career Center has also been essential to my achievements, as they’ve offered me career readiness programming and peer-to-peer mentoring to help put my plans into action.”

Using the support from WMU Haworth, Shrum gained invaluable internship experience through her work as a sales and marketing intern at Acosta.

“I was responsible for multiple different projects during my time at Acosta. I got to work with the business insights team to interpret data and create PowerPoints for the business managers to better communicate data to their clients. I also worked with the omnichannel team to make content for the Meijer website. My biggest project was with the sales team where I had the opportunity to be a part of a category review and present at Meijer headquarters.”

Over the summer, Shrum was a participant in the Food Marketing in Ireland study abroad trip. “I learned so much about the culture and business, from food and drink to pharmaceutical regulations,” she says. “We visited a few companies where we had the opportunity to learn about their innovation processes. Going abroad taught me so much about being a global citizen and expanded my perspective. This was an incredible experience, and I hope to study abroad again before graduation!”

Shrum has been active in student organizations such as the Food Marketing Association, the Women’s Business Network, and the Business Technology Network where she serves as the marketing director. The connections she’s made have given her a feeling of belonging and a place to grow. With that in mind, she shares some advice with her business peers.

“Never be the first person to tell yourself no. What I mean by that is to try everything, get involved and take advantage of all the opportunities presented to you. Allow yourself to experiment and change your mind too! College is about understanding who you are, so try everything, give yourself grace, and never stop learning! “

Learn more about food marketing at WMU. 

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