Brenda Smith
Coca-Cola
Mableton, GA USA
"That’s a part of the journey—trying to figure out what things actually make you happy and work with your whole life."
Career Roadmap
Brenda's work combines: Business, Food, and Accomplishing Goals
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
When choosing your post-secondary path, pick something that you're interested in but know that you have the ability to change paths if it ends up not being right. There's no rule that says you must know exactly what you're going to do for the rest of your life. As you build opportunities and experience new things, you're bound to change your trajectory a bit. Trying all of the things you can and gaining as many experiences as possible will help you figure out what's best for you.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Mechanical Engineering
Southern University
Graduate Degree
Finance and Operations Management
Tulane University
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
I grew up in Louisiana—I was an only child and spent a lot of time with my father and uncles tinkering with things and figuring out how they operate.
2.
I graduated from Southern University with a degree in mechanical engineering.
3.
I started my career as an engineer for an oil company that I had previously completed an internship with while in college.
4.
After a few years, I went to graduate school and earned my MBA in finance and operations management from Tulane University.
5.
I transitioned into the finance industry and took a job as a financial analysis manager for American Airlines—I found that I really enjoyed operations, project management, and commercialization.
6.
I got the opportunity to join Coca-Cola in a management rotation program, through which I got to experience many different parts of the business.
7.
When I eventually landed a project management role in innovation, my career really took off and I started to move upwards in the company.
8.
I have since spent over 20 years with Coca-Cola and currently work as the Vice President of Category Commercialization.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I should be moving up faster than this. Why am I still at this level? It's taking me too long to progress.
How I responded:
There was a time in my career when I starting doubting the amount of time it was taking for me to get a promotion. I felt like I had been at the manager level for so long and I wasn't moving up the corporate ladder as quickly as I should have been. Someone gave me an opportunity to take on a development assignment. I learned a lot and out of that came a leadership role. If you take time to reflect, you'll see that the things you think are setbacks are actually opportunities to learn and grow.