Career planning is important, but be open to new experiences

Editor’s Note: As Kellogg prepares to separate into two companies at the end of 2023 – Kellanova, a global snacking company and WK Kellogg Co, a North American cereal company – The Kellanova Latin America Global Business Services team has a number of open roles for entry-level finance professionals. These challenging roles give people an opportunity to work across our global company and build their careers with a leading employer in Latin America. Daniela Del-Aguila, featured below, started her Kellanova career in just this way.

My Story

I always wanted to be an economist, but I never envisioned doing so in the private sector. I thought I would work in academia or government. Yet, now, after almost eight years at Kellogg (now transitioning to Kellanova), I’m putting the economic concepts I learned in university to work every day.

Right now, I am responsible for the pricing of our current portfolio in Mexico. We also develop pricing strategies for new foods, or what we at Kellanova now call “innovations.” Lately, with all the recent inflationary pressures in Latin America and around the world, we’ve been exceptionally busy.

But this isn’t where I started. I’ve had nine increasingly responsible roles at Kellogg that began when I first joined the Global Business Services (GBS) Finance team working in Internal Control. It gave me the opportunity to understand the company and its global scope, learn about our processes and see how our cross-functional teams work together. I also met a lot of people and built relationships that continue today. Plus, I received specific training in finance that was instrumental to my career growth.

Training Others

Following this experience, I took an assignment learning and training others in Six Sigma concepts, and was selected for an international rotation at our North American GBS operation in Grand Rapids, Michigan (where I experienced my first real winter and met my soon-to-be husband!) and did some work in Shopper Marketing.

One of the things I like most about working at Kellanova is our relationship-based culture. For example, some of my first managers are still my mentors. I continue to go to them for valuable career advice many years after we worked together. I also appreciate that we work as multi-functional teams across our business. It’s a really energizing environment.

 

Some Advice

If I could offer any advice to someone considering beginning their career at Kellanova – or even to my younger self – I’d say be courageous. It’s one of our values because we want people who are curious, who want to learn and help our company succeed. If this is you, your career possibilities are endless.

Yes, I’ve always had a career plan, like my original goal to be an economist, but I’ve also found that Kellanova continues to offer me experiences I never envisioned that make the path even better. I hope to see you beginning your Kellanova career on our GBS team!