Kat Fernandez, President of the Food Tech Club, interviews me at their UC Davis student meeting. Had a blast recording this live and great to give advice that I hope students find useful.
Enjoy this Sunny Sunday episode. It’s very lighthearted.
Show Notes
Mandy Jain Episode
Kat Fernandez
What Would You Want to Know as Freshman?: What food science actually is. Food scientists make food and feed the world
What would you do if you were back as a freshman in college?: Do less. Instead of doing a dozen things, I would have focused on a few things
Product Development Competition: Be aware of what’s trending such as probiotics, plant proteins, upcycled products, sustainable packaging. Ask for help whenever possible, especially ingredient-wise
I’m taking a marketing class, how do I be different?:
Blue Ocean Strategy Advice: You need a little red in the blue. Make a great product, and target a group with a lot of money. People can brag about the car
Boca burger vs Beyond Meat
Make a product that’s really good and market it in a very specific way
The 10x rule
Magic Spoon sells out
What would you wish you’d learn in college?: Humility. School inherently teaches you not to fail. You can’t change it, but you can be a part of implementing cool things. After college, you might
Why Does Your Food Job Rock?: I love being creative, but you might not be like me.
What do you say to the haters?: I have no haters online. But it’s very hard to have everyone like you at work.
How do you navigate workplace tribes? Be friends with people diagonally. That’s higher-ups in different departments
Alton Brown
5:3 ratio flour to water
Sourdough Bread
Clean Meat
If you want to be an entrepenuer, be in companies that you have to know everything
Claire Saffitz
Oat Milk Yogurt
Nugget
How much money will you get as a food scientist?: 50-70k starting out. In 5 years, you can make $100k in California