{"id":2372,"date":"2019-08-20T09:28:06","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T13:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=2372"},"modified":"2019-08-16T09:35:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T13:35:57","slug":"making-social-consciousness-digestible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2019\/08\/20\/making-social-consciousness-digestible\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Social Consciousness Digestible"},"content":{"rendered":"

Avocados: Americans can\u2019t get enough, and Mexicans are paying the price, from organized theft to deforestation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Most people don\u2019t think about where avocados come from, but Rebecca Gildiner \u201909 has to, as the impact strategy manager at Sir Kensington\u2019s. Avocado oil mayonnaise is one of the condiment company\u2019s biggest sellers, in addition to its other non-GMO products like classic ketchup, spicy brown mustard, and Fabanaise (vegan mayonnaise).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI work closely with our head of supply chain and our head of product to identify certain high-risk ingredients and how we can build more values and standards into our sourcing,\u201d Gildiner says.<\/span><\/p>\n

With most of their key ingredients, Sir Kensington\u2019s has a direct relationship with its suppliers. But avocado oil is one of the more challenging ingredients because its long supply chain involves farmers all across Mexico, making traceability difficult. Last year, Gildiner traveled there to meet industry experts and learn about better options, including fair trade and certification that the oil isn\u2019t coming from avocados grown in cleared forests. <\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond the popular pitted fruit, Gildiner keeps her eye on all aspects of the company\u2019s commitment to social consciousness. \u201cI touch anything that is related to our social and environmental impact,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is our responsibility to have awareness of what our impacts are and to mitigate and manage those the best we can.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That includes collaborating with their packaging expert on sustainability efforts, such as using post-consumer recycled materials, and helping with awareness campaigns like the \u201chow to recycle\u201d information on their bottles. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the year and a half since Gildiner has been with Sir Kensington\u2019s, she\u2019s also helped the company earn and manage its B Corp certification, which the nonprofit B Lab defines as \u201cbusinesses that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because goodness shines from the inside out, Sir Kensington\u2019s employees take sustainability training \u2014 a two-hour deep dive into global food systems, which Gildiner developed. She also oversees the employee volunteer program and has been looped into the company\u2019s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI need to be an internal advocate and champion in everything we do,\u201d Gildiner says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While at Colgate, the double neuroscience<\/a> and women\u2019s studies<\/a> major delved into the topics of eating disorders and cultural relationships with food. She traveled to New Zealand after graduation to explore commercial agriculture and work on farms. <\/span><\/p>\n

Back in the states, Gildiner spent three years running educational programs for a healthy meal provider to New York City schools. \u201cI started to become frustrated with how much burden was being put on consumers, especially low-income consumers, to make decisions that were best for their health and the environment,\u201d Gildiner says. \u201cI wanted to understand how better to make systems change and put more responsibility on the producers.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

So, she entered Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies to earn a master\u2019s with a focus on food systems and corporate responsibility. While in the program, Gildiner interned with IKEA food services in Sweden, helping them write their global health and sustainability strategy. \u201cIt was an incredible experience to work at such an innovation-minded multinational corporation,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now at Sir Kensington\u2019s, as she oversees every facet of the company\u2019s impact internally and externally, Gildiner calls herself a generalist. \u201cI need to have a strong foundational knowledge of all the things I am working within and a strong compass for the direction I want the company to go in,\u201d she says. \u201cI like to say I know a little bit more than a little bit about a lot of things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Gildiner \u201909, impact strategy manager at Sir Kensington\u2019s, leads the condiment company’s socially conscious mission. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[276,61],"coauthors":[388],"class_list":["post-2372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-business","tag-food"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-Cg","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/barisonzi.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2372"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2419,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions\/2419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2372"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}