What has fascinated me about this industry all the years that I have been a part of it, is the incredible volume of movement that goes on behind the scenes to get that can, that book, or that box onto the sales floor at retail. To ensure that happens every single day, there are many people that pull together to make it possible. Men and women who work in backrooms, in back offices, and on the floor during the day and overnight, every night. Our people are doing the work of redesigning, resetting, rehauling, and rejuvenating retail environments. In the last few years, all this work at grocery was (and is) considered essential to serving the communities and families. These people, getting it done, are truly the unsung heroes in the grocery industry.
So, when Progressive Grocer, an industry institution, commits to spotlighting women leaders in the grocery industry year after year, we are not only happy to participate but dive into the process fully. Top Women in Grocery or more affectionately known by its acronym, TWIG, is in its 17th year of celebrating Women in Grocery!:
“The Top Women in Grocery program began more than 17 years ago as a way to spotlight women in the North American food retail and grocery industries who have blazed a trail in their enterprises. TWIG is the food retail industry’s longest-running program recognizing and celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of thousands of women at all levels in the industry. So much work remains to be done in terms of achieving balance when it comes to gender equity, inclusivity, and diversity in the food retail industry. To further that work, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 Top Women in Grocery awards program is now accepting nominations of those women who serve as role models for a new generation.”
SAS Retail Services nominated Women from all different areas of our company: Operations, business intelligence, human resources, talent attraction, training and development, and marketing.
We’ve highlighted a few of our nominees’ insights:
“It’s my team’s responsibility to understand what’s changing in the retail marketplace, the changing needs, and our strategy and our approach to act on those changes. We have been doing a lot of AB testing and I’m encouraging my own team to say, hey, I’ve got an idea, let’s try it out, let’s see if we can better your ROI, and let’s see if we can make a bigger impact at retail. I also want to be able to show numerically to our clients that we do make an impact…”
Kayla – VP of Client Services on her drive in supporting our clients
“This is a passionate group of people that work really, really hard to deliver results to the clients that they support and that translates in every meeting, every call, every e-mail, the energy you know around that is… you just feel it. And I think that is what gives me the motivation to want to do good for the people that pour their hearts and soul into SAS, out in the field.”
Shannon – Director, HR Retail Business Partner on her passion for supporting our teams in the field
“You start to see your work paying off. However small we started, we are making a change for the company and that’s really important to me. I love the diversity we have. I love that we have all these ERGs for everyone. Everything that we’re doing as a company to make it a better workplace sometimes makes me cry because it makes me really proud. It makes me really proud to work for SAS and be a part of it.”
Kim – Director of Operations, and her thoughts on the strides we’ve made in support of our Associates.
“I just love that I’m building a team and I’ve built a team that can share ideas, is not afraid to speak out, and they can really run this business the way it needs to be run, so they do. …There’s always a little bit of stress in what we do because we’re dealing with millions of dollars. We’re dealing with budgets; we’re dealing with clients’ needs. And you know as well as I do, there are ups and downs in any business, but. I have a solid team that supports me. They won’t let me fail and I absolutely won’t let them fail.”
Lori – Director of Operations, on her team and the legacy she is creating
“I think that it is important that we look inside our company and the talent that we have to develop that talent. It is crucial. You will see larger retention and less turnover when we are working towards developing our own. People that have started as merchandisers and now they are in the RVP (Regional Vice-President) role. It’s amazing.”
Janelle – HR Business Partner and her thoughts on developing our Associates and promoting from within.
SAS is honored to have such amazing women, who think in different ways, drive change and make things possible. Thank you to our TWIG nominees for all that they do. Thank you to our Associates who took the time to nominate them.
We are honored to announce this year’s TWIG honorees, our highest number yet, a tribute to all our amazing female Associates! They are revealed in the video below.
Look for more on our social channels as we continue to celebrate our fantastic TWIG winners through these next few weeks.
For more information about Progressive Grocer’s TWIG.
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