Spark the Future: Mars Food & Nutrition’s Global VP of R&D leverages her passion for science to capture opportunities for consumers
By Karina Zimerfeld, Mars Food & Nutrition Global Vice President of R&D
I like to say that I was born a scientist. As long as I can recall, my life was about STEM – from dissecting worms in a treehouse with friends and exploring the woods with my biologist father to building a vast LEGO city that took up the entire floor of our house. My spark for science stemmed from my innate curiosity to understand the environment around me. I collected stones from every place I visited, then cataloged them and tried to understand how their composition made them different. I was fascinated by how things work, why events happen in nature and fixing things that were broken.
I was fortunate to grow up in a household where my parents fostered my curiosity and encouraged me to pursue my dreams – they fostered my belief that anything I set my mind to was possible. That turned out to be engineering – a career that involves creative solutions to problems and the application of scientific principles to build or improve things. After exploring multiple engineering disciplines, I decided on food engineering, a perfect blend of science and technology that complemented my love of food and cooking. I’ve now spent 30 years studying and working in this field.
When I joined Mars, I quickly realized the extent of the business’ investment in science and the way in which it’s embedded in our culture. At Mars, we think about the future in terms of generations, not just years, so we look further ahead than other companies do to guide our work. Creating a sense of responsibility for the future enables us to be centered in science and to make decisions that will help ensure a better world for generations to come.
For example, the Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), which investigates the benefits of cocoa flavanols on cardiovascular health, is a demonstration of our belief in and commitment to science. It required a significant amount of vision, patience and discipline, coupled with creativity and an entrepreneurial mindset. Together, those elements enabled us to provide insights about the impact of cocoa flavanols on health, nutrition and healthy aging. Projects like this that use science to benefit society don’t happen everywhere and must be a priority to create the world we want tomorrow.
The truth is, scientific discovery and problem solving are difficult. Take that as a challenge. After all, your potential is as large as your willingness to dedicate yourself to something. Forget the image in your head of what you think a scientist or engineer should be, and be true to yourself. Fight the inclination to change who you are to fit in. Your superpowers are what make you unique, and losing sight of who you are will extinguish the spark inside of you to pursue your passion and make a difference.
