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Rachel Bigby and Lauren Roadman are alumnae of CESR's Certificate in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy course. They recently sat down with CESR to discuss their careers, their hopes and insights for the ESG landscape, and their vision for the Certificate in ESG Strategy alumni group. 

CESR: What is your career background, and what do you do for work now?

Lauren: I started my career in nonprofits. I worked for a small cancer research foundation, but that foundation has a really impactful global footprint, so it was really exciting to start my career there. I got to see what the nonprofit world of hats looks like. I still sit on the board of the organization because I love it so much and couldn’t let it go. When I transitioned out of nonprofits, I went to Breckenridge Brewery, where I had previously worked part-time in the restaurant. I went to them and pitched a job – they had another position that was open, which I applied to, but I told them what I wanted to do in addition to that. That’s how I created the community engagement piece of my career and leveraged that experience into what I do now at Ball.  I work at Ball Corporation – located in Westminster – and sit on a global community relations team with one other teammate. I oversee global community relations programs, and our internal benevity benefit program as well as community partnerships that align with various different teams. We really are a tiny and mighty community relations team.

It is really important to know that people in this field are really passionate about what they do. I’ve always held people as the most important factor of the world. Companies can’t operate without employees, employees can’t operate and live without jobs. Together we have to figure out this balance of how companies can benefit people and benefit the world, whether it’s through environmental action, or through corporate philanthropy and their programs that directly benefit the population where they live and operate. 

Rachel: I’ve worked in the sustainability field for over 13 years now. Since my first introduction to permaculture design and farming in New Zealand in 2008, I’ve always been interested in the human dimensions of sustainability work; as humans,  we’re the centerpiece of everything – we’ve created our current climate change reality, and we’re the only ones that can change our course. 
I began my career working in the local, wild, and sustainable food systems world. As the first employee at a San Francisco startup, our mission was to connect people to the story behind their food and the bounty of wild and edible landscapes all around them.  This role opened my world up to the possibilities of the nexus of food and sustainability. 

After completing my Master’s degree in Sustainable Development at a small international school, I worked for an Oregon municipality where I led the Sustainability Program for three years. This role taught me the essential skills needed to be an in-house sustainability professional. This experience propelled me into my next role managing sustainability partnerships, building our ESG career development office, and supporting students in their own sustainability careers at CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Masters of the Environment (MENV) graduate program, the program which ultimately connected me to the Certificate in ESG Strategy program. What I learned from both the Certificate of ESG Strategy program and working at CU �鶹ӰԺ was that I really missed doing the work, and my ultimate goal became getting back to being a practitioner rather than working with people peripherally on capstone projects and all of these really incredible projects that have a direct influence on community and companies. I started a side hustle to build my consulting experience and soon after was hired at Tetra Tech, a 25,000-person engineering consulting firm, where I was brought on to build their ESG consulting practice for one part of the company. This was an incredible leadership experience that taught me how to hone my skills in influencing, project management, efficiency, and sustainable project delivery. 

For many years, I have wanted to get back to the food industry and could not be more thrilled to have joined the Frutura team in August as their Senior Sustainability Manager for US operations. Frutura is a vertically integrated holding company that provides six fruit commodities 365 days a year. My role includes leading our B Corp Certification efforts for our US portfolio, building our Responsible Supply Chain Program, and leading our corporate sustainability work in the US. We have the incredible opportunity to lead and support the fresh produce industry towards a more sustainable future as we hopefully become the largest fruit company to become B Corp Certified. For the first time, I truly feel like I am exactly where I am meant to be in my career and that’s an amazing feeling.

"The biggest advice Rachel and I give to people whenever we talk to alumni who are on this journey is that we [as industry professionals] are creating the field now. As they go on the journey of trying to build a career in CSR, a lot of companies are figuring it out as we are too."

-says Lauren Roadman

CESR: You are both alumni of the Certificate in ESG Strategy/CSR course. How has your participation in this course impacted your career?

Rachel: The Certificate of ESG Strategy course served as a pivot point for me. It both reignited my desire to move back into a practitioner role, and it expanded my knowledge and network across a wide variety of topics and skill areas under the wide ESG umbrella. I have been involved with the program since taking the course, and that’s because it supported my career goals at the time I needed it most. I want to continue to inspire and support others to do the same.

Lauren: I think the course was really impactful to my career for a lot of different reasons, but you'll probably hear the throughline in all my responses is the community it's created. To what we were just saying in our last question is that there are many different paths you can take in terms of the field you go into field, whether it's within a sustainability-focused, corporate philanthropy, volunteerism, and even government relations, but there are also a lot of different paths you could take in terms of how that job is created.

The biggest advice Rachel and I give to people whenever we talk to alumni who are on this journey is that we [as industry professionals] are creating the field now. As they go on the journey of trying to build a career in CSR, a lot of companies are figuring it out as we are too.

So going back to the impact that the Certificate of ESG Strategy has had on me: one, the education piece and learning about the different facets of CSR and how you can find a niche role within it, but then also the community. Rachel and I saw the value early on and continue to see the value in the alumni network through this group. We're able to leverage knowledge and experience and brainstorm on programming and successes and to honestly discuss the hurdles that we all face because it's a new field and because companies are dipping their feet in and developing these teams and programs as we're coming into this industry. In addition to being a professional network, we've also developed close personal relationships as the first and maybe second generation of CSR and ESG professionals.

CESR: What are your goals and vision for the future in creating the Certificate in ESG Strategy/CSR alumni group? 

Lauren: Honestly to continue the amazing experiences that we've already had. In our field, no matter what role you're in, you have to be flexible and have the ability to adapt as social expectations change, as policy changes… CSR and ESG is not concrete. It's definitely flexible in terms of what the world and the community needs. The vision that I have for this group is that we'll continue to flex to meet the needs and meet the desires of what the alumni network wants, whether the alumni want more networking opportunities or education, or something else. A lot of us work on tiny and mighty teams; Rachel is a team of one, overseeing a whole global operation of fruit sustainability and I'm on a global team of 2 and I know many people who are on teams exactly our size for companies of the same, if not larger, employee base. Having this network is a great professional resource and sounding board. I envision that community piece being the core value of the future of this group.

Rachel: I'm definitely in agreement on all of that. I think of the network as being the classroom beyond the classroom. The class time itself was so incredibly valuable – that's where we get the inspiration, the formal education, and some of the network, but the community that's built and the skills that grow and evolve afterwards are so important because that’s where the rubber meets the road and we turn theory into practice. Overall, the network is for information and skill sharing. Coming back to what Lauren said about this being an ever-evolving field – panel discussions and skills workshops are super important for that – it can be hard to manage trends that are ever-evolving, whether you are new to the industry or have been around for a long time. 

"We've all been in a place where it feels like we're never going to get where we want to be or we keep hitting the same wall and we keep just like having to break through the obstacles to get there. For me, there's nothing more rewarding than being able to mentor and support other people that have been in that position and saying, “I have been there, and I know you will get through this.”

- says Rachel Bigby

CESR: What have you been able to take away from/get out of leading the alumni group?

Lauren: When I was trying to transition into a more full time CSR role, I was connected to a mentor  who spent months sitting down with me and coaching me on how to advocate for myself. In general, not everybody is great at speaking highly of themselves and particularly women usually have a harder time with it, so I spent a lot of time talking to her about how to talk about my strengths and how I could make myself “sellable” on paper. Her mentorship really helped me get to where I am in terms of  how I operate, how I work, and the strength and the confidence that I bring day to day into my job. One of the biggest takeaways I have is being able to meet with alumni who are looking for advice and being able to share some of what she taught me with other people – especially women – in the industry and help people grow in their career. It has been incredibly valuable to have an outlet to share the support that I've gotten and pay it forward.

Rachel: When you look around the room – whether in the certificate program, any of the happy hours, or other events, it is 90 plus percent women. There's something really special about that. CSR and ESG roles are really dynamic roles that cross so many departments and functional areas in an entire organization. Knowing the hurdles that we face as women, it's really amazing to be part of a group that has a very strong female focus. We've all been in a place where it feels like we're never going to get where we want to be or we keep hitting the same wall and we keep just like having to break through the obstacles to get there. For me, there's nothing more rewarding than being able to mentor and support other people that have been in that position and saying, “I have been there, and I know you will get through this.” That brings me a ton of joy and at the end of the conversations that Lauren and I have had, there's always such appreciation for how helpful the conversations have been. Getting into that feedback loop of sharing and always saying yes to those conversations is the best thing that we can do in terms of the larger CESG and CSR community.

"Gen Z is completely unapologetic about what they want and what they demand and I love that. That’s what we need."

- says Rachel Bigby

CESR: What are some sustainability trends that you are excited about right now?

Lauren: For many years, sustainability has been growing as a field, and there has been a question of what that looks like for companies, how they should hold themselves accountable and how the consumer wants them to be held accountable. With that, it's been really hard to benchmark companies against each other because there has never really been a standard of the data points and metrics that companies need to be tracking in terms of things like their carbon footprint. The B Corp does that, but it's not very common, especially for larger companies, to get B Corp certification. Having new regulations – which are overwhelming but very exciting – create that standard for every company to meet with data points they have to report on. From a consumer standpoint, knowing how you're evaluating a company and being able to understand that because it's all the same across the board is really exciting for the sustainability world. 

Rachel: There are two big shifts that we're seeing right now. One is the shift in the regulatory landscape. Sustainability is a compliance requirement,  whether that's in the EU, Australia, California, or eventually at the US federal government level, we’re seeing a monumental global shift. We also have a consolidation of ESG standards and best practices that's happening at the same time. The regulatory piece is both very exciting and also challenging in particular for global companies such as Frutura, who are operating all over the world where the requirements differ. 

We’re also seeing the Gen Z population pushing their sustainability and social equity agenda through their power as consumers. They are demanding that products and services take a triple bottom line approach to business that we have never seen before. Millennials teed that up, but Gen Z is just elevating it to a new level.

CESR: What gives you hope in the arena of sustainability work?

Lauren: I am going to go back to what Rachel mentioned about Gen Z for this question. I'm so excited for Gen Z to be in the workforce because, to Rachel's exact point, I think Millennials, we had these big ideas and we have a lot of hope and a lot of drive and with the way the world is, it just wasn't ready for us. I'm so excited to see what Gen Z does. I work for a company that makes aluminum products and while we're a B2B company, we make a product that B2C companies use and it's really exciting to see the consumer driving the expectations. To see consumers choosing sustainable aluminum products and to see consumers choosing something that they know can be recycled, I'm very hopeful for the future. Companies will adjust as they see fit and if a consumer wants a sustainable product, then they'll get there.

Rachel: Gen Z is completely unapologetic about what they want and what they demand and I love that. That’s what we need. The other thing that gives me hope is innovation. We can look at where we are at in terms of carbon dioxide parts per million in the atmosphere and we know we're well above where we need to be, and we're hitting the guardrail and all of that, but what we can never truly account for is innovation. That gives me hope in terms of us making serious strides towards where we need to be with the climate emergency. 

"It is really important to understand how CSR and ESG roll up to the overall business strategy and how it benefits the business, the community, and the environment but also how it aligns with how your business operates. If we all focused on the same three things, so much would get left to the wayside, and so developing the ability to strategize is also a great tool for any potential future professional in this field."

- says Lauren Roadman

CESR: Do you have any advice for students who are looking to pursue a career in sustainability?

Lauren: I would say be flexible. The field is not only still developing, but it changes drastically every few months as the social and political environment develops as well. Be flexible in positions and seek out companies that have a sustainable mindset and while an ESG position may not be fully created at a company,  I think most companies are on their way there. If it's a company that seems like they could really leverage an ESG position one day, how do you get your foot in the door and create that position?

Also, it is important to be flexible in the types of roles you are seeking. If I were to compare 10 different job descriptions, the job descriptions could be the exact same for 10 companies and all 10 titles could  be different. I think being flexible and not expecting a title, but expecting an experience, because the title can come later, is my advice.

Rachel: I would say one of my biggest pieces of advice I have is to not seek perfection. Sustainability is an evolving field and we're constantly learning and realizing that best practice standards are changing as we gather new information. Keep doing the work and we'll continue to improve over time.
Also, similar to what Lauren said, advocate for yourself, whether in your current role or to get that next role that you want. And always make sure your title evolves with your work – this is a great lever that should not go untapped. 

The last thing I'll say is something that I experience daily in my current role, which is to learn to demonstrate the business case for why to pursue a particular action or direction. What's the associated savings? What’s the return on investment? Take a holistic approach when building the case that equally considers people, planet, and bottom line. For me, this is something I've learned moving away from local government, academia, and startups and being in the corporate world. Not everyone is going to have the same motivation to do the work – maybe it's just the financial or risk mitigation aspects that are the primary driver. Always, always know your audience and pitch your case directly to them based on their unique perspective and interests. 

Lauren: I'll actually add to that. Making the business case is huge, if people don't understand what CSR is or what the roles are, they have a very generalized view that it's just kind of “over here.” This person's just giving out money, or this person's just trying to buy things to make the company more sustainable, but really there's a whole strategy behind it. It is really important to understand how CSR and ESG roll up to the overall business strategy and how it benefits the business, the community, and the environment but also how it aligns with how your business operates. If we all focused on the same three things, so much would get left to the wayside, and so developing the ability to strategize is also a great tool for any potential future professional in this field. 

Interested in the Certificate in ESG Strategy?

• The program is currently enrolling for the Spring 2024 semester!
• Learn more about alumni, faculty, and guest speakers by exploring other articles about sustainable business executive programs at Leeds.