3 ingredients for career success

Keniah Robinson, Food Safety and Quality Transformation Director, has built an inspiring career at PepsiCo. Since starting as a Reliability Supply Chain Associate more than a decade ago, she’s played a key role in strengthening food safety standards, led teams through complex challenges and embraced new opportunities that took her out of her comfort zone.

When asked to reflect on her career and the opportunities she’s found, Keniah points to three important lessons she learned on the job that have had the biggest impact. Here are the experiences, lessons and actions that she says made her the person and leader she is today.

Growth doesn’t happen when you’re comfortable

Keniah has built a career on embracing challenges and pushing her own boundaries. She didn’t just wait for opportunities — she sought them out, even when they took her beyond her comfort zone. From transitioning into quality management to helping a global SAP implementation, each move reinforced a key lesson: Real growth comes from taking on new challenges with confidence.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever felt 100% ready for the next step,” Keniah admits. “But I had the desire to grow, and the encouragement of those around me helped me see what more I could do.”

Her journey began at Frito-Lay on the maintenance and engineering team. When she applied for a quality role — initially just to gain feedback on how to advance her career — she landed the job. That experience opened the door to a range of opportunities at PepsiCo, and she was eager to learn more. “My mentors taught me to learn as much as I could about different functions, so I explored processing and packaging, which led to a new opportunity in North Carolina.”

After working in North Carolina, Keniah took on a leadership role in quality at the Vancouver, Washington, facility. While she was prepared to continue on that track, an opportunity to gain operations experience shifted her path once again.

PepsiCo’s culture of daring for better and fostering growth played a crucial role in Keniah’s development. By stepping into different functions, Keniah strengthened her confidence, expanded her expertise and gained leadership experience that continues to shape her career.

Supporting others is a measure of success

Keniah attributes much of her success in her career to the support and encouragement of her family and her peers. That’s why she prioritizes mentoring PepsiCo associates and creating environments where others can thrive, too.

“If it weren’t for people in my life encouraging me, I wouldn’t be where I am,” she says. “That’s why I always want to pay it forward.”

She’s learned that leadership isn’t about personal achievements — it’s about empowering those around her to reach their potential. Part of what drives her now is seeing that “light bulb moment” in others when they’re learning or growing. “When I lead a team, my focus is on their development,” Keniah says. “I love when they learn a new skill or when they move on to their next role, because seeing who they become is important to me.”
For her, lifting others up — even if just with words of affirmation during daily interactions — strengthens the entire organization. “When we work together, when we communicate well, when we support and protect each other even when we fail, there’s really nothing we can’t achieve.”

Always act with integrity

Early in her PepsiCo career, Keniah encountered a pivotal moment that shaped her leadership philosophy. While working at a facility in Virginia, she and her team faced a challenge that prompted them to take a closer look at the facility processes.

But it wasn’t the way Keniah and her team resolved the issue that made the biggest impression — it was the way that accountability and transparency transformed the situation into a meaningful learning experience. When the time came to discuss what had happened, one associate stepped forward, choosing to openly share his experience with his peers.

“We knew it would be a teachable moment — not only in trust but in accountability — for this well-respected associate to take ownership and guide others on how to prevent similar challenges in the future,” says Keniah. “It reinforced the importance of helping teams truly understand why our processes matter.”

Keniah saw firsthand the power of integrity. The experience reinforced a key leadership principle: Mistakes don’t define a person — how a person responds to them does.

At PepsiCo, success isn’t just about advancing — it’s about learning, adapting and helping others along the way. Whether you’re looking to enhance your professional skills or lead teams across exciting projects, you just may find the best opportunity to expand your experience and ignite your passion.

Explore PepsiCo career opportunities at pepsicojobs.com.

PepsiCo is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Race/Color/National Origin/Age/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Disability/Protected Veteran