College degree leads to food marketing career

The College's Food and Consumer Management degree course has helped one ex-student to land her dream job in the marketing department of a food product development and production company.

Naomi Jago, from Plymouth, was initially unsure whether to study on a marketing or food-based programme, but decided studying at UCB would be the best choice to prepare her for her chosen career.

Following her graduation, she had the opportunity to gain a years' experience in marketing at Witwood Food Products - then after nine months her Marketing Assistant role was made permanent. Her work involves collecting and processing market research, working with other departments on new product launches, helping to develop new ideas and managing the firm's corporate branding.

Naomi said: "I knew I wanted to work in marketing, specifically in the food industry, but I didn’t know whether to do a marketing or food course.

"When I got here I structured the course to get in as much marketing as possible, where there were optional modules, and I also did my dissertation on food branding. Now, I couldn’t do my job without the food aspects of what I studied, so it has worked out really well for me."

Naomi has now been working at Witwoods for 15 months, and enjoys the variety her job brings.

She said: "The diversity of my role means that no two days are ever the same - I am out on the road as often as working in the office. The pace at Witwoods is very fast-moving and the autonomy of my role makes excellent organisation a fundamental skill.

"I enjoy working within the industry as food remains my passion and I get great satisfaction from finding out about the new things going on in food and keeping up to date with trends."