''If dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough!''
- Ellen Johnson Sirlea –
I am Eline Janssen, 35 years old and working as a strategist at Fresh Forward since November. So it's high time to give some background on what I have been up to in the past 10 years of work.
After a combination between psychology and business administration, I first spread my commercial wings at Unilever in 2014, before moving on to Nestle. In these nearly 10 years, I have been fortunate to have operated within a wide range of functions, brands and market landscapes; from sales to marketing and from (product) innovation to strategy within categories such as chocolate, coffee, baby food and food.
One of the best projects at Nestle FOOD was the 'Innovation Accelerator' in Switzerland, a pressure cooker in which we and an international team had to have launched a product within six months. On day one it was not yet known whether this product should be square, round, sweet or salty, but after six months there was a sold-out range of 'on the go meals' on the shelves in Germany, UK and the Netherlands. This journey was full of learnings, but the most important was that every interaction, every brand and every market dynamic offers an opportunity to grow; you just have to be open to discovering it.
That curiosity led me to London last year where I worked for TikTok. Here I found myself at the forefront of an innovative thinking world where the speed of change was the norm. It was an environment that demanded constant adaptation, creativity and the ability to move quickly within the walls of "Inspire Creativity and Bring Joy.
The experience at TikTok reinforced my belief in thinking big and innovative further strengthened and also I now realize even more how crucial it is - in a world that is constantly evolving - to keep learning, adapting and embracing new ideas. Especially if you want to be ready for the future.
Fortunately, I can use my 'big and innovative thinking-egg' now also lost daily at Fresh Forward and I hope, as an ACCELERATOR, the next level of your brand or organization to improve and accelerate. I look forward to the new trajectories we will hopefully tackle together in 2024!
Let's dream the next-level of your brand or organization!
