In our new series of interviews, we look into the value of women’s representation in the business world, at a top management level. Carrie Jones-Barber, Dawn Foods CEO, has graciously agreed to be the first to share her experience and beliefs driving one of the biggest companies in the business.
Mihu: What are your thoughts on the glass ceiling in the workforce, particularly in the baking industry? And what should feminism stand for, in this perspective?
Carrie Jones-Barber: While considerable progress has been made since I started my career in the food industry, there is still more work to be done. For businesses, it is critical that opportunities are available for women to succeed. We must not let assumptions about women – or anyone for that matter – dictate how our teams and business evolve. More women, more people of color and more employees with diverse backgrounds lead to different perspectives that fuel innovation and inspirational solutions for companies and customers.
Mihu: What personal experiences do you share with other women in the industry?
Jones-Barber: The primary observation is simple – we need to have more women in our industry. We must look for opportunities to engage with women earlier in education systems and share what a great career path the baking industry can provide. The opportunities in the baking industry are endless: from business ownership to manufacturing, logistics, marketing, eCommerce, distribution and food science. We must do a better job of getting the word out and engaging with talented women.
Mihu: And what are the takeaways from that experience that have guided you to move forward throughout your career?
Jones-Barber: As a CEO, I must be involved in the industry and community as a whole. I must lead and show by example through interaction and participation in school and industry events, networking opportunities and more. I enjoy speaking with students at culinary or business schools that are looking for insight into industries that can provide a fulfilling career. The baking industry is a great career choice for women and one I love being involved in.
Mihu: What career advice do you share with your daughter Samantha (and young women starting their careers), drawing from that?
Jones-Barber: Firstly, ensure that what you pick for your career is something you are passionate about and do not be concerned if your career changes over time. We all change, but if you are passionate about what you do, it will not seem like work. Even on the bad days or in the difficult times, passion gives you the positive perspective to know that you will get through whatever challenge you are facing and get back to doing what you love. However, it must be said that sometimes you must take on other roles that might not be quite so fun, as long as your long-term career path still brings you to something that you are passionate about.
Secondly, set goals. These can range from long-term, three-to-five years or even one-year goals. Doing this will give you confidence in the choices you make both personally and professionally.
Thirdly, women need to ask for what they want. Do not wait for your manager or another leader to offer the next opportunity to you, because that might not happen. You must be an advocate for yourself and go after what you want in your career.
Mihu: Why did you choose the baking industry? What did it mean growing with the 100-year-old family business that determined you to join it and now lead it?
Jones-Barber: I was extremely fortunate as I knew around 12-years-old that I wanted to do what my dad did. With Dawn being a family business, I had the opportunity to watch my dad, my uncles and my grandfather at the office and in the factory. We would attend conferences together, and on family trips, we always visited local bakeries. All these experiences piqued my interest in the baking industry. Equally important, I saw how much they loved what they did – taking great care of team members, partnering with customers, and of course, eating our delicious bakery products!
Mihu: What values define Dawn Foods and what are the values guiding your leadership?
Jones-Barber: At Dawn, our values have never changed; we live them everyday. Everyone at Dawn must believe in not only what we do, but how we do it. It sets us apart and is one of our competitive advantages. Our values are Relationships, Optimism, Integrity, Passion and Progress. These values are supported by what we call our Circle of Excellence, which embodies our commitments to our wonderful people, our fantastic products, and taking great care of our customers.
The Dawn Difference, as we call it, is palpable, and we talk about our culture anytime we have gatherings of our team members to reinforce our values, our Circle of Excellence and our mission and vision. I cannot do it alone, a group of leaders cannot do it alone, everyone in the organization must believe and live and embrace this way of working every day.
My dad taught me early on about the value of relationships in this business, with our team members, customers, partners and suppliers. He also taught me that I have a choice in how I want to face the world and how I want to react to challenges. I choose to be optimistic about life and business. Integrity is one of Dawn’s most important values to me – I must trust the people I work with and each of our individual skills to make great decisions for our team members, our customers and for Dawn.
Mihu: What difficult decisions have you had to make at the company since you became CEO in 2006, and what are some of your favorites?
Jones-Barber: Without a doubt, the most difficult decisions all came with the global pandemic. The world changed in an instant, and everything we knew about business had to change with it. There was not just one decision to be made, but many decisions with no experience to build upon, just the knowledge we had of our business, our trust in each other and our agility. Team member safety was our priority. We came together across all functions, created work teams for every situation we needed to address, and created processes and systems for managing our teams and our business. As we did this, restrictions and regulations around the world were dynamic, so we had to get accustomed to quickly making decisions and changing them as new information became available and new regulations rolled out. We learned how to communicate at faster speeds than ever before. Each role in our organization had to learn new ways of working that have shaped our lives and our business for the future.
When I think about what I love most about my job, it is connecting with our customers and our team members. I am passionate about supporting our team and their ambitions to grow in their careers. When I witness someone on our team overcome a challenge, learn a new skill, or close a sale with a customer they have been prospecting, I feel immensely proud. When I speak with our customers and hear them talk about the solutions, partnership and support they receive from our team to help them open their first location, get their products into a new store, or introduce a new product, again, I feel an incredible amount of pride. My daughter, Samantha, recently joined me and members of our team as we visited customers in Chicago. It was such a joy to see her engage with our team and customers.
Jones family photo (from left to right): Ron Jones, Miles Jones, Carrie Jones-Barber, Sam Jones, Sarah Richmond, Aaron Jones
Mihu: Where does Dawn Foods draw inspiration for innovation?
Jones-Barber: At Dawn, our innovation is focused on solutions that truly matter to our customers. Our innovations come to life in many ways. We partner with our customers and listen to them to understand the challenges and opportunities they have. Our commercial and technical teams work closely with research and development to understand what will make the biggest impact with our customers, and how we can innovate and provide solutions to grow their business.
We have inspiration studios around the globe where customers visit and work side-by-side with our teams to test out new products and ideate on new flavors. Some recent examples of this include an extension of our cake mix flavors and brioche donut mix in the United States and our sourdough donut mix, which is available in North America and Europe.
Innovation can also be market-driven. One of the trends we have seen for the past few years is the demand for vegan products. We have an extensive vegan line in North America and Europe that delivers on this consumer need for our customers. It provides opportunities for our customers to reach new customers and for incremental sales.
Mihu: How is the role of women working in the bakery field evolving?
Jones-Barber: I am excited to see that women are filling more roles within the industry, but there is room for even more growth. At Dawn, we have some incredible women leaders, and I am committed to providing even more opportunities for women to grow at Dawn. We are currently working on a Women’s Leadership Development Program to provide women at Dawn with resources and clear paths to grow into larger leadership roles. We currently have women leading our marketing efforts as vice president and senior vice president in our Europe & AMEAP and North America regions; our national accounts team and supply chain team in North America are both led by women senior vice presidents; and we have additional women in vice president roles in finance, and people (human resources).
I look forward to adding even more women and diverse team members at every level at Dawn and I encourage other leaders to do the same. Embracing different perspectives and cultures makes us stronger, both as an internal team and as a partner to our customers.
Mihu: How did COVID-19 impact working women in particular? What support systems are emerging that have been shown to work?
Jones-Barber: Talking with our own leadership team and leaders from other organizations, the pandemic disproportionately impacted more women than men around the globe. In fact, a recent McKinsey study found that 23% of working women considered leaving the workforce in 2020.
While progress has been made in business, many women continue to be the primary caregivers in their families, whether it is for their own children, a family member, spouse or friend. Under normal circumstances, it’s challenging to find balance with all the responsibilities people have. One bright spot has been the openness, at every level, to talk about the challenges we all face. I think we have seen empathy demonstrated more than ever before. It has been eye-opening for many people to recognize we are all just doing our best to take care of ourselves and our families.
For women, progress has been made, but companies need to think about how they can support women through Employee Assistance Programs and wellbeing benefits. We must ensure that we as leaders lead with empathy and flexibility to help our teams and their families. We need to check in with each other and take time to listen and ask what we can do to help.
Mihu: How do you see women’s presence in the industry now, particularly in top management? What career support is available for women compared to 10 years ago, and what additional steps do you think need to be claimed?
Jones-Barber: Significant progress has been made in recent years, however, I would love to see more women in leadership roles. For instance, a 2020 McKinsey study found that about 21% of C-suite roles were held by women and less than 30% of vice president, senior vice president and C-suite roles were held by women. Across industries, these numbers must change. In the baking industry specifically, leadership needs to be more representative of the baking profession. In the United States, 62% of bakers are female. I want to see leadership better reflect these numbers globally.
I am thankful there is a lot more career support available for women now than there was 10 years ago. Networking and mentorship are critical for any person looking to grow in their career. Now, people no longer have to go through a formal program to gain knowledge or to learn – there are so many online courses, seminars and conferences available to support your future career. Companies should provide these opportunities and support their teams through continuous learning to help them gain experience and confidence to elevate to the next level.
Mihu: Can you share some examples you have experienced of solidarity among women in the industry?
Jones-Barber: The Society of Bakery Women in the United States is a great organization for women in our industry. It brings women together for events to network, learn from each other and hear from featured speakers about elevating our own leadership skills. Transparent discussions are so valuable. I was lucky to speak at one event and I loved the questions I got during and after my presentation. I continue to invest in this program and build relationships across our industry with the students that attended as well.
Another example is specific to Dawn. This past March for International Women’s Day, we hosted an internal panel of female leaders from Dawn, where they openly spoke about the challenges they have overcome and their advice for the next generation of women leaders. I am proud of our team, I am proud of our progress and I am proud to say that women are not slowing down anytime soon.
Mihu: How do you view dedicated networking organizations? And how does Dawn Foods support the Society of Bakery Women (SBW)?
Jones-Barber: Dedicated networking organizations are crucial to the development and empowerment of people at every stage of their careers. I am a proud member of the Society of Bakery Women, which offers incredible resources to women in the industry. The American Bakers Association is another great organization that provides opportunities for people to learn, network and grow. Just before the pandemic last year, I had the honor of sharing my advice with other women in the industry at a Society of Bakery Women breakfast in Chicago. The more we can network and create opportunities for women to connect, the better off we’ll be.
Mihu: What will the industry narrative focus on over the next years?
Jones-Barber: As a woman and CEO, I am hopeful for what the future holds for diversity, equity and inclusion. I am glad more people are paying attention to DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, ed.) and putting it at the forefront of their internal and external decision-making. We need to keep pushing to make things better for everyone in an authentic and transparent way that welcomes all people to the table – and welcomes them to pull up a chair if one isn’t there.
Mihu: Thank you for an insightful conversation!
