2026 Star Women in Grocery Award Winner Danielle Jacobs (Q&A)
Danielle Jacobs
Senior Team Leader, Team Member Services Business Partner (Human Resources Director)
Whole Foods Market
How did you get your start in the grocery business?
I started in the grocery business in 1997 as a cashier at a conventional grocery store while I was in high school in northern British Columbia. There, I also learned how to work in the bakery and grocery departments, and gained leadership skills within the customer service department. In the early 2000s, I relocated to the lower mainland to attend university. When awareness was raised about hydrogenated oils in many of our food products, I learned about a small grocery chain called Capers Community Market (owned by Wild Oats, at the time). I started shopping there for my groceries because of their commitment to natural, organic and local products. In 2005, I figured out I should be working there and I never looked back! I joined Capers in 2005 as a cashier where I continued to develop my customer service skills and honed my leadership style. In 2007, Wild Oats was purchased by Whole Foods Market, and it was around this time I moved from the customer service team to the administration team. I learned everything I know about human resources from Whole Foods Market. I joined the HR team (or as we call it, team member services, or TMS) in 2008 and I have been part of the amazing TMS team ever since!
What keeps you passionate about your work?
There are three things that keep me passionate about work. First: I could not work 20-plus years at a company whose values did not match my own. Whole Foods Market’s purpose to “nourish people and the planet” is something I live every day. The way my team works in partnership with our operations team creates an amazing environment for customers to shop, for our team members to work and a place where we provide our communities with the highest quality products to support our vendors and suppliers from all over the world. Second: my team inspires me constantly. I am extremely fortunate to lead a team with the highest level of dedication and integrity—a group of individuals committed to developing the best leaders and team members, and who make every day not just educational but also fun! Third: we provide opportunities for folks to learn new skills. Whether they take those skills and move up within our organization or if they leave us and take those skills with them for the rest of their lives, we create an environment where our team members can flourish.
What is a career challenge you've faced and how did you overcome it?
One of the biggest career challenges I faced was moving from a store I had been at for eight years to a new location. I was terrified to lose the relationships and trust I had established at that first location, but realized if I didn’t get uncomfortable—by doing a hard thing and applying to a new site—I wouldn’t be able to continue to grow. I realized the skills I had developed would ensure my success in a new place and it made it easier from that point to apply for other new sites and new positions.
Best career advice you've received?
When I applied for my first leadership position in the TMS team, I was not successful in that application and received some tough feedback. Feedback can be a metaphorical ugly sweater, one that you throw to the back of your closet and never look at again–but I was advised that it’s important to remember that feedback always comes from a place of care (no one gives someone a sweater if they don’t care about them!). If you keep that in mind, even the hardest feedback to hear can incite you to reach new levels in your career. I’m proud to say I used the tough feedback to spur me forward and I’ve been a leader within the TMS team since 2019.
How would you describe your leadership style?
I’ve been lucky to learn about leadership from many wonderful and skilled female leaders, and they have all shaped my leadership style. These female leaders taught me the importance of a collaborative and supportive approach where individual perspective is balanced with a desire for a fair and consistent outcome. I always appreciated when my leaders asked me what I thought we should do (and why!), rather than tell me what I should do. This helped me feel empowered and allowed me to develop important critical thinking skills—this is especially important because we work in a field where things are usually very gray! This is something I hope I mirror with my team members. It’s also important to me that I lead by earning trust—doing what I say I’ll do, when I say I’ll do it by—and by giving trust.
Your best day on the job?
One of my most cherished Whole Foods Market memories is a trip we took to help one of our farmers with their garlic harvest. We had team members from each of our stores head to Cawston, B.C., where we worked on the farm for two days. It was hard work and it was some of the most rewarding work of my life! It was incredible going out to the fields at 5 a.m. before the sun came over the mountain and kneeling into the cold dirt to pull those perfect bulbs from the earth. Being able to see exactly where our products come from and to support a supplier that we greatly admired was something I will never forget! Doing it with a group of team members made it all that much more meaningful.
How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
Outside of work I like to stay active. Luckily, being a runner who lives in Vancouver makes staying active easy! Over the past two years, I’ve also become obsessed with tennis. If you don’t see me running around the Seawall or in Stanley Park, you’ll see me running after tennis balls on one of the community tennis courts.
What is a fun fact about you?
I’ve been vegan for 20-plus years. That was back before there were so many great alternative products, too!
Click here for the full list of 2026 Star Women in Grocery Award winners.