PLEASANTON, CA - The future of retail is a moving target—changing as today’s consumer evolves rapidly, but also parrying to ward off weather, market conditions, and the uncertainty perpetuated by COVID. With all that we have to face, authentic leadership is more important than ever, a belief fostered by the Fresh Produce and Floral Council’s recent retail panel at its January luncheon.

Being in that room at The Club at Castlewood in Pleasanton, California, felt like a gift. Some of the stories came from strength and vulnerability, so much so that I hesitated at the breadth and depth of what this article would share. So, I choose to let much remain as individual gifts to those exclusively at the event. But, believe me, their leadership advice alone has left me with much food for thought.

As the cool California rain stopped for a brief period that day, Master of Ceremonies and Category Merchant for Raley’sFPFC’s Myisha Nathaniel introduced Sonya Constable, Vice President of Produce at Sprouts Farmers Market; Kendra Doyel, Vice President of Merchandising at Fred Meyer; and Faith Garrard, Senior Director of Fresh at Raley’s, allowing each speaker to introduce themselves and their current positions.

Each was also asked to say a few words about leadership, setting the tone for the conversation ahead and drawing in the room with quiet adoration.

“If I could share my leadership statement, it would be to always stay authentic to yourself, relentlessly focus on your customer every single day, and constantly refuse to succeed alone,” Kendra shared.

Sonya opened up the conversation further by sharing her beliefs about leadership and how to enter that space.

“It’s really about when you show up as yourself, you give your team a safe space to show up as themselves, and that’s a really important place to be,” she shared.

To round out the panel introductions, Faith paused before sharing words from one of her mentors.

“He really instilled in me that if you want to grow…you must play chess, not checkers,” Faith said, adding how, as she has grown in her role, being strategic and having foresight is so critical because just doing day-to-day actions is simply not enough.

To frame the discussion further, Myisha provided context for the retail landscape today, noting the numerous challenges and opportunities facing operators, from inflation, deflation, and high turnover to a lack of experience coming into their stores and consumer preferences shifting over time—especially coming out of COVID-19. Each panelist shared their background, emphasizing the unique journey that brought them here.

Kendra came from pharmacy, moving through different roles before making her way to merchandising and marketing at Ralphs. Fred Meyer has been her home for the last year and a half now. Leadership taught Kendra that pharmacy has a huge role to play in fresh produce. In Kendra’s mind, marrying the two will provide better health solutions and elevate the presence and impact.

Sonya began her career at Mervyn’s department stores in Northern California, starting in planning analytics. As she moved her way up through the finance side of things, she had a mentor who stopped her and said she needed to start to diversify her talent, pushing her to go into merchandising.

“I wasn’t a product person; I was a numbers person,” Sonya said. “What I learned, taking that step, is to do something that scared me, and I learned to do something that forced me to think differently and think bigger.”

Sonya went from running Mervyn’s kids department to buying men’s pants before moving over to Pottery Barn Kids, where she learned another incredible insight.

“You have to create a moment for a consumer,” she expressed, explaining that whether they are viewing Pottery Barn in person, in a catalog, or on a website, you must inspire them to do a behavior. They must see themselves in the experience.

This insight has followed her through her journey, even when she jumped into the pet industry.

Sonya joined Sprouts about two years ago, starting in bulk before moving into fresh produce. With the onset of COVID still fresh, Sonya needed to ground herself in the consumer that was changing, shopping differently, and fearful of new things. Leaning on the decades of experience on her team, they changed how Sprouts existed in the bulk category.

Faith started as a customer service rep at Superior Farms before moving into bigger roles, one of which helped her develop a relationship with Raley’s. She aligned with the company’s mission and purpose, making the move to the retailer easy. She started as the Category Manager for beef and pork before taking on many projects that preceded her role in fresh.

“I really think that having a purpose-driven company can change how people work. That’s my job, to make sure that we all still feel like we have a purpose even when times get tough,” Faith said.

I hesitantly begin to wrap this piece, knowing that we have only scratched the surface of this discussion, but with the faith that we will all hear more of these leaders’ stories soon.

I leave you with this exchange between Myisha and Sonya:

Myisha asked what leaders who lead people from many diverse backgrounds should be thinking to ensure they’re not only being their authentic selves, but also helping others and team members be their authentic selves.

Sonya took us back to when she started her career. She was not only a woman of color working in business, but also a teen mom, which made Sonya feel like she needed to “age up” to avoid people questioning how young she was when she had her daughter. Sonya wanted to make sure people saw her talent and weren’t focused on her age.

“I think now that I am in a leadership position, diversity is important to our teams because of the fact that everybody thinks differently. When you’ve got multiple people in the room who are thinking differently, it makes you better. You create better business; you ask different questions,” Sonya expressed. “As leaders, we have to be intentional about the way we bring diversity into our teams because we all have unintentional biases. And it’s not just about diversity from a color standpoint or from a gender standpoint...I have to be intentional every time I step into the room as a leader to ensure that I’m hearing every voice in there, hearing everybody’s value they bring to the table; that I’m justifying every single question they bring because what it does is it makes me better as a human. It makes my business better and it makes my team stronger.”

Thank you to the FPFC for the wonderful afternoon, and to the retailers who shared their stories and experiences.