By: Sabrina Poland, Marketing & Communications Assistant, PMMI

At the 2018 PMMI Annual Meeting, ten emerging leaders were honored with On the Rise Awards, an inaugural program honoring young professionals for their leadership potential and daily efforts in the packaging and processing industry. Half of the award winners consisted of young women – and two of these women are sisters, who experienced very different journeys before ending up in the same industry.

The Barrieau sisters’ path to the packaging industry was anything but predictable. Both Lisa and Gina grew up as ballet dancers but took different paths as they chose careers. Lisa’s passion for dance landed her a job as a professional ballet dancer. During her seven-year professional dancing career, she performed with Milwaukee Ballet, Minnesota Ballet and Atlanta Ballet Company. She continued dancing professionally until she discovered other passions – customer service and customer satisfaction. From there she began at Felins in a customer service role and soon fell in love with the world of packaging and wanted to continue to explore different aspects of the industry. Lisa is currently the banding sales manager for the food industry at Felins. In this role, she manages all aspects of business development, marketing, application solution and sales.

Gina, on the other hand, attended Butler University, studying marketing and international business. After college, Gina started a career at SMC Corporation and has enjoyed learning the business-to-business industry and making a difference in the organization. Graduating first from SMC’s Sales Academy program, Gina was chosen as the only trainee in an 18-person class to move into the Global Accounts program. In her current role as Global Account Manager, Gina is responsible for coordination of Coca-Cola, one the largest beverage manufacturers in the world. Gina’s organization and attention to detail when working with large customers have allowed SMC to grow presence within the market.

These emerging leaders hope to stay involved with PMMI and manufacturing in the future. The Barrieau sisters are a great example of gaining a more diverse workforce in packaging and processing. Although there are challenges that come with joining a male-dominated industry, there is also a large opportunity for growth. For Lisa, the way to overcome these challenges was to fearlessly ask questions and do daily research. In addition to research and understanding customer perspectives at the plant level, Gina found that getting proper training has allowed her to get up-to-speed and make an impact in the workforce. Staying up-to-date on industry trends has helped both women feel more confident in their roles especially when speaking with customers.

Regardless of previous backgrounds, the packaging industry has many opportunities available for those who are passionate to learn and grow. With the fresh image that emerging leaders like Gina and Lisa are bringing to the industry, many changes are possible for the future of packaging and processing.