OHEIB 7th Annual Student Meet & Greet
The 7th Annual OHEIB Student Meet & Greet was held on January 30th, 2008 at Ryerson University. Approximately 55 students from Ryerson and Guelph University attended. This large turnout was thanks to Melanie Stanton – OHEIB’s Ryerson Student rep and Beth Haliburton for promoting the event. Many thanks also to Heather Lush and Phyllis Kelloway from the School of Nutrition for their help in securing a lecture room when large number of registrants called for a last minute change of venue from Oakham House to the Rogers Building, Ryerson University.
Kathleen Mackintosh introduced the speakers and welcomed all present at the 2008 Meet & Greet.
Allison Jorgens is currently the Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs Manager at A&P. A graduate of the University of PEI, Allison’s entry into the food industry started as a summer student working at Kraft Canada in consumer response. Upon graduation, she went on to work at Pet Value in animal nutrition and worked on labels of pet foods. From here followed a position as a consultant working with importers of specialty foods ensuring that their labels were compliant with CFIA regulations. This role enabled her to travel extensively and more importantly allowed her to create a niche for herself in labelling and regulatory affairs.
Allison then pursued chef’s training at Geroge Brown College and opened her own company The Gourmet Palate that specialized in cooking for people with dietary restrictions. Although an injury led her to sell her business, she continues to be a part of it by working as a nutritional consultant to the chef who currently runs The Gourmet Palate.
Currently Allison works at the A&P with privale label products and is involved in quality testing and sensory evaluation. Her advice to students is to look at every opportunity as a potential for learning and to join associations such as OHEIB because it offers tremendous networking possibilities.
Bruce Thompson worked as a professional chef with over two decades of experience when he decided to switch gears and study food & nutrition at Ryerson University. He shared his experiences as a mature student who admits that there “are advantages to not having a career path mapped out for yourself ” because it allows one to be open to new and exciting possibilities. His experiences post graduation was first to apply for every job available and then waiting by the phone to hear back from prospective employers. This led to several interviews during which porcess he was able to hone his interview skills and improve his resume. His advice to students is to volunteer whereever the opportunity arises - food and consumer shows, trade shows, to network and to join associations. He emphasized the importance of keeping in touch with professors after graduation and told students “take heart, it will all come together, eventually.”
Caroline Dewar works at Nestlé Canada as Manager of Food & Nutrition Insights and Interaction. She has a background in Radio & TV Arts and then went on to study Food & Nutrition. Caroline mentioned that every job that she has had has been through OHEIB.
Her first job was at Kraft Canada. She stressed the importance of taking every opportunity that arises – even if it is a contract job or a temporary position filling in a maternity leave. One of her jobs was sensory testing that she did not particularly enjoy but it provided her the experience that led to future jobs. She stresses that “confidence is key”, that although Kraft initially turned her down for a position she was able to convince them of her abilities and it lead to a job. Her next role was filling in a maternity leave at the Beef Information Centre that eventually led to a full time position. She encourages students to be curious and to keep an open mind.
She is involved in the Stouffer’s group of products and is the health and wellness communicator. Her words of wisdom to students – “A ‘can do’ spirit is vital. Education is a given but enthusiasm is what gives you the edge.”
Michelle McAdoo is the Associate Manager at Kraft Kitchens and a Ryerson graduate. She has worked at Kraft for several years, starting in a contract position and has worked on products such as Jello, Baker’s chocolate and Cool Whip as a recipe developer and a product developer.. She has travelled extensively learning about food and consumers. Michelle has worked on the Kraft magazine and also on the website.
She stressed the importance of students knowing their strengths as well as areas that need development. Michelle encouraged students to bring examples of their work as visual props when they go to interviews. She also mentioned the importance of sending thank-you notes following an interview which she says is rarely done but much appreciated. Two upcoming fields she mentioned that nutrition graduates may pursue are -Tracking trends and nutrition and marketing. Like all the speakers of the evening Michelle too mentioned the importance of volunteering, networking and belonging to associations such as OHEIB, OHEA, THEA.