Inspiration: Kimberly Cooper

By Daphne E. Atkinson 

January 2010

Maintaining healthy and beautiful skin has long been a priority for Kimberly Cooper. Realizing that she shared this mission with many other women, Cooper channeled her passion for a simple solution to healthy skin into her dream job. Now an “intrapreneur,” Cooper leads a groundbreaking small business at Nestlé USA as chief beauty officer for GLOWELLETM. Overseeing this innovative product line she says grew from “the need for a beauty nutrition solution for myself and other women like me.”

Cooper notes that “my career has always taken unexpected twists. I seek opportunities that give me new experiences, new challenges and fulfillment.” After graduating from Howard University, Cooper chose a stint as a Weinermobile driver and spokesperson for Oscar Mayer as her gateway into brand management at Kraft Foods, Inc. While working in marketing at Kraft, she realized a MBA would be essential to expanding her opportunities and impact. It was “my next career step, and The Consortium made it possible,” she remembers.

As a Consortium Fellow, Cooper recalls The Consortium’s Orientation Program as a defining moment in her experience with the organization. There, she met sponsoring company representatives, seeing firsthand the level of commitment corporations made to diversity. Best of all, she leveraged the opportunities for exposure. Cooper recalls the intense, one-on-one time that she was able to spend with senior executives and her realization that the companies involved with The Consortium were fully committed to all it represents. She says, “As I spent time with these executives, they helped me see, as they shared insights about their own career paths, that progression doesn’t always have to be strictly linear and it’s okay to take risks.”

The Consortium networking opportunities also provided her with her initial introduction to Nestlé. After completing her MBA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cooper worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., to acquire branding and marketing experience beyond the food industry. Throughout the following years, Cooper kept close watch on the Nestlé team, catching up with them at national conferences. Her persistence paid off. A human resources professional contacted her about an open position to work on a new product launch. Cooper felt that the opportunity was tailor-made. “I have always had a passion for new products and building businesses from the ground up.”