Meet Kate Hebel, MS, RD, who specializes in nutrition communications, meshing the science of dietetics with creative applications that reach people on a super large scale. She builds brand campaigns, works with dietetic influencers, and plans events and conferences. There is a lot of fun and diversity in her job and she gets to work with iconic brands on a daily basis. Check out her exciting dietetic career. - Sarah

What attracted you to the field of nutrition and dietetics?
It combines my passion for food and science with my desire to help people. I’ve always looked up to my aunt who’s also a dietitian.

Your Job Title?
Associate Manager, Nutrition CommunicationsPepsiCo Foods North America (Quaker and Frito-Lay)

Company you are with now?
PepsiCo, Inc., which includes The Quaker Oats Company and Frito-Lay

Websites:

https://www.quakeroats.com/healthcareprofessionals

https://www.fritolay.com/

Describe a typical (or not so typical) day-in-the-work-life for you?
I help set our nutrition storytelling strategy and lead the healthcare professional programming across Quaker and Frito-Lay brands. While every day is different, my work typically spans a few core areas — building brand campaigns/public relations, developing digital content, engaging strategic partners, driving employee engagement and planning events/conferences. For example, if one of our brands is launching a new product, my team creates a public relations campaign to support it. This includes raising awareness by alerting the media and often partnering with nutrition influencers or celebrities to encourage people to try the product.

I also devote a lot of time to creating educational materials and resources to help dietitians learn and share our products’ nutrition research, as well as recipes and culinary tips and tricks. In addition to handouts and tip sheets, these resources also include webinars and newsletters for partner organizations and dietetic practice groups. Throughout this work, I collaborate closely with my teammates across the various disciplines in brand marketing, consumer relations, health & nutrition sciences and our communications agencies to ensure the information is both accurate and helpful. I also support our internal nutrition education programs to help drive employee engagement.

We’re currently planning a virtual event to educate health and wellness media about Bare Snacks, a line of fruits and coconuts baked into crunchy chips and Off the Eaten Path, a line of snacks made with real veggies like peas and chickpeas. For this event, I’m working with one of our agencies to coordinate an RD speaker and the presentation topic. We also recently hosted a cook-along with a talented pair of dietitians who illustrated the many ways to cook with Quaker Oats and Grits, so we are now measuring the impact. While our health professional activities are online for now, I look forward to leading our booth and nutrition education strategy when we return to in-person sessions. In the meantime, I connect with health professionals through our virtual activities and communication channels, such as Oats Digest.

How did you get your current job in dietetics?

The summer between graduating college and starting my dietetic internship (DI) program I did a summer internship with a trade organization. It was there that I saw the various roles RDs could have in business, which inspired me to go on to complete a master’s degree in nutrition communications at Tufts. I loved how communications allowed me to mesh the science of dietetics with creative applications and reach people at scale. After spending 5 years at an agency getting a broad array of public relations experiences across trade organizations, CPG companies, retail and fast casual restaurants, I wanted to find a portfolio of brands to deep dive into and become a subject matter expert on, as well as learn more about the business side of the food industry. This led me to PepsiCo – a company that is home to iconic brands I grew up on and still enjoy eating. I’ve been supporting Quaker for about three years now and just started supporting Frito-Lay brands this year. I appreciate the value PepsiCo places on my nutrition expertise.

What skills were you born with and what skills have you learned along the way?
I have always been a multi-tasker and data-driven, and these skills are essential in my current role, working on a number of projects across different brands and being able to show results and ROI (return on investment). I’ve always loved to write and always crave learning more, so I’m lucky that I am able to do both. Some skills I’ve learned along the way are how to be more flexible and better manage change, creative problem solving (and to always have a Plan B and C!) and being more confident in voicing my POV.

What advice do you have for others wanting to be just as successful and fulfilled as you?
The world of nutrition offers so many different opportunities, so my advice is to find your niche that allows you to feel fulfilled and enjoy the work that you’re doing every day. By engaging with people in different areas and learning about what they do, doors may open that you didn’t know were available to you. If there is someone with a job that sounds interesting to you, reach out to them to learn more about how they got there and what advice they have for you. We are lucky that the nutrition community is so open to helping students and fellow professionals looking to make a change or advance in their career!

If you could be paid for your job with something other than a paycheck, what
would it be?
I would ask to be paid in travel rewards, so I can continue to visit new places and learn about different cultures and foods.