2022 Star Women in Grocery winner Alex Fitzgerald (Q&A)

Alex Fitzgerald

Customer Sales Executive, Walmart

Hershey Canada

 

How did you get into the grocery/CPG business?

For most of my childhood, my mom worked in CPG with Nabisco Brands. I loved how people lit up when she talked about her work, how excited they were to tell her about their favourite item or nostalgic memory. It’s a business that can elevate everyday moments into special occasions. After trying out a few industries during university, I realized I wanted to get back into the world of much loved (and delicious) brands and landed a role at Hershey as a field sales representative. Since then, I’ve had several roles in sales, insights, e-commerce and marketing.

What are you known for at work?

I think every colleague knows me for my positive energy, big smile and ability to make my teams laugh, even in the face of tough challenges. Being able to bring levity and lightness into serious conversations keeps the energy high, the situation in context, and the focus on the next step.

What are some of your greatest career achievements thus far?

Some of my greatest achievements have come when I’ve been able to leverage my learnings from different business units to unlock growth. In 2019, I was a founding member of Hershey’s e-commerce team, and in the driver’s seat for the explosive growth online shopping saw in 2020. Every day I needed to make rapid decisions that impacted both short-term execution and long-term strategy, and it was both my past sales and retail experience that allowed me to see the challenge end-to-end and make those decisions decisively. In my most recent role as a marketing manager, I used learnings from key account and insights roles to create impactful tools for our sales team and to refine our touch points along the shopper journey.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Everything we do is a work in progress. We don’t need to be perfect right away—we have room to grow, to change and adapt as the world and our goals change. All you need to do is get started.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

I lead the Canadian chapter of NextUp, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to advance women in business. It’s been instrumental in my personal learning, network building and development as a leader, providing opportunities I wouldn’t have had at a junior level in my career.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I am incredibly grateful that my Hershey leaders nominated me and honoured to have been chosen with such a talented and driven cohort of women. Thank you for all those who invested the time and energy in raising us up.

Click here for the full list of 2022 Star Women in Grocery award winners.