School of Business alum Kayla Humel ’18 is an Analyst at Keurig Dr Pepper, for the Coffee Commercialization team, focused on getting products to the shelves efficiently by being the liaison between brand, supply planning, sales, and many other functions. As the analyst, Humel supports the team by producing sales reports that inform their decisions.
“It’s amazing to see the commercialization process from start to finish and the final result of your work on a shelf at Target or in an Amazon listing!” says Humel.
Humel held a few internships during her time at Simmons, including two internships at PUMA, where she was later hired as a Marketing Planning Coordinator. Now, she is pursuing her Master’s in Business Analytics at Suffolk University while working full time at Keurig. While the work is fast-paced, she appreciates the clear path of promotion within the company.
“In my first few months, Keurig sent me to trainings to become certified by the Specialty Coffee Association, welcomed me onto the committee for the Network of Executive Women, and supported my graduate studies,” Humel states. “This is a really exciting company to be a part of because there are opportunities for education, improvement, and growth — I just need to look for them.”
Humel credits her time at Simmons for making her an effective communicator. “There was a huge push to always be networking, no matter where you were or who you were talking to. I always had my LinkedIn and resume up-to-date and took every opportunity to grab coffee with anyone who had 30 minutes to talk to me about their career.”
While at Simmons, Humel joined the Network of Executive Women through the Management Liaison, and was paired with a mentor who worked at Keurig. They maintained their connection, and two years later her mentor recommended her for her current position.
“Now working on a cross-functional team, I have had to use a lot of those same networking skills to effectively communicate with people across all functions to get the work done,” explains Humel.
Balancing work and studies is no easy feat; Humel shares advice for students that she received from a co-worker at Keurig: “Make sure that you have an activity or hobby that you do for yourself on a regular basis, whether it’s running, going to the movies once a month, or even just getting your nails done,” she says. “Doing that for yourself will help you keep a level head during such a hectic time.”