“Ever since I was a small child, I would make magazines and write stories and things like that. But I didn’t necessarily connect it to marketing or communications in a business sense until I was older and in the workforce,” the VP of marketing & member experience at CRN said.
Before joining the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), Powers recalled a project that she refers to as “providence at work” for her final project in undergrad, in the form of a resume.
“My resume was a bottle of supplements called ‘Vitamin G,’ which was like a dual [reference to] Gretchen and graphics. And my graphics would just bring this vitality to the client’s work. And so I had fun with it at the time.”
Eventually in 1999, Vitamin G joined CRN as a communications coordinator. At that time, Annette Dickinson, PhD, was one of the scientists on the CRN team. Powers recalled how Dickinson, as a founding member and former president of CRN, impacted her experience of women in leadership during a time when it wasn’t so common.
“I think many of us working for her at that time took a lot in, in terms of the inclusivity she fostered, the desire to help everyone learn and the openness to the range of ideas among her staff people is what I think really created a great environment for the time that she was there and I learned a lot from working with her.”
This year, CRN and Radicle Science will honor the memory of Dickinson with their Trailblazer award to shine a light on professionals who are disrupting the status quo, breaking new ground and helping lead the industry forward through innovation, advocacy, and mentorship, much like Dickinson.
Powers also shared her enthusiasm for the growth of Women in Nutraceuticals (WIN) and the collaborative opportunities it offers through CRN.
“For me personally, there is a certain synergy with WIN and just the people that I knew already that are part of it, and then the new people I’ve met from engaging in the summit earlier this year,” she said.
“I learn from my daughter, she’s a woman. I would [also] learn from my son if I had a son, but there’s something special about things like certain lifestyles that feel very much in the realm of being a woman in today’s world, it’s just so nice to have that relatability also in the context of some professional things. So just a really special convergence.”
