Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been blogging about some of the many women at Frito-Lay who are blazing new trails in business, including the unique challenges they face and how they're overcoming them. Today, I'd like to introduce you to Cindi Evans, Zone Sales Business Manager in Texas.
Years ago, when I would attend Frito-Lay sales meetings, women were noticeably absent from the crowd of salesmen. But that trend has changed over the last few years, thanks in part to the leadership of people like Cindi Evans, Zone Sales Business Manager and Frito-Lay trailblazer, and the progress that both our Sales and Recruiting teams have made in attracting and retaining women in the sales organization.
Five years ago, after graduating from college, Cindi joined Frito-Lay as a District Sales Leader designate -- the managers for our front-line route sales representatives who deliver, sell and merchandise our products in stores. At the time, she was the only female District Sales Leader in Houston, and as part of her on-the-job training, she spent her first year at Frito-Lay working as a route salesperson.
As background, Frito-Lay’s more than 18,000 route sales representatives (RSRs) are in stores near you every day, talking to store managers and merchandising products on shelves and in display areas. Being an RSR can be a very rewarding job, but it's also a very physical job, which my sore muscles could attest to the day after going on a route ride with one of our salesmen earlier in my career.
"When I joined the company, there was a bit of a stigma that women couldn't do the route sales job because it's hard work," Cindi told me. "In fact, there was one store manager on my route who wouldn't accept deliveries from me. But my manager, our Zone Sales Leader, didn’t hesitate in supporting me -– he even called the store manager, worked things out with him, and I continued my work as the store’s Frito-Lay representative. After that phone call, the issue was resolved."
Cindi progressed through the sales management ranks and has been working as a Zone Business Manager, interacting with all the District Sales teams in her zone and working on budgets and sales forecasts, supporting safety initiatives and handling personnel responsibilities. And recently, she was promoted and will be leaving Houston to move to Los Angeles to take on the Zone Sales Leader designate role -– an impressive sales management and leadership milestone to achieve at Frito-Lay.
"An important thing for me as a woman in the business world has been having strong women mentors and role models. I was fortunate to work with two strong female leaders when I came to Frito-Lay, and both have provided both professional and personal advice during my career here. And, over the last five years, I've seen a positive change as more women have joined Frito-Lay sales. The network is so much stronger now."
Cindi is the third Trailblazer that I've profiled in Snack Chat, and I’ve seen a couple of common themes among our trailblazing women:
- Progress is being made in the recruiting, retaining and promoting of women -– both at Frito-Lay and in business in general;
- It’s critical to have positive female mentors and role models working in all functions of and organization –- especially in jobs that are traditionally male-dominated.
Next week on Snack Chat, we'll continue to explore the role and success of women trailblazers at Frito-Lay, through the eyes and voice (it will be an audio podcast) of Kelly Sepcic, Vice President of FLNA Innovation and a trailblazer who joined the company just two ago. Who are the women trailblazers that you admire?
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