Women’s History Month: ‘She is PepsiCo’ Spotlights Women in Manufacturing & Operations

Gaby M. Rojas on Mar 17, 2023

The She is PepsiCo campaign includes 28 personalized delivery trucks for frontline employees, including Patricia Gloria, a Warehouse Forklift Driver based in Carlson, Calif.

PepsiCo Beverages North America launched the company’s She Is PepsiCo campaign, which aims to celebrate and empower women, showcase their transformative abilities, and help recruit even more into frontline roles.

The program honors 28 associates from 20 different cities across the U.S. and Canada who exemplify leadership and dedication to their teams and communities. Each She is PepsiCo honoree will be celebrated with a personalized delivery truck wrap that shows the women in their work setting. These highly visible delivery trucks that normally carry images of brands such as Pepsi, MTN DEW, and Gatorade, will now feature the faces of the women honorees across North America as the trucks carry products along regular business routes. The PepsiCo fleet makes up one of the company’s most valuable, and widely seen marketing assets and is an effective vehicle for quickly and broadly raising awareness about career opportunities for women.

Representation Matters

Beginning in 2022, PepsiCo invested in a multi-market TV and digital advertising campaign featuring females in frontline careers, which drove a double-digit increase in frontline women hires, most notably in warehouse loaders. One example includes TV commercials that are now running in the Greater Los Angeles area, Chicago, Orlando and Connecticut featuring three women from PBNA — Kanisha Hall, a delivery supervisor, Jasmine James, a driver, and Ashley Allen, a warehouse lead. These commercials are part of a broader strategy to recruit more women into the workforce.

“Representation matters. Women need to see themselves in roles to understand the doors that are open for them,” says Andrea Ferrara, chief human resources officer for PepsiCo Beverages North America. “As leaders, we are committed to applying the same rigor and care to the employee experience at the frontline as we are at all levels of the organization.”

She is PepsiCo is a reflection of PepsiCo’s DEI mantra, A Space to Be You – a commitment to foster a diverse workforce by creating a collaborative, equitable, and inclusive space where everyone, regardless of what we look like, where we come from, or whom we love, has a voice. This mantra extends to PepsiCo’s business partners and the communities it serves and helps drive the company’s progress toward its DEI goals: to achieve gender parity in management roles, maintain pay equity, and help uplift historically marginalized communities around the world.

Women in 45,000-Strong Frontline Workforce

PBNA’s frontline is the lifeblood of the organization and plays a vital role in making, moving and selling products.

“Women play a valuable role in PepsiCo’s frontline and the opportunity for them to continue to power our supply chain is an opportunity for both PepsiCo and the communities we serve,” says Karen Jordan, PBNA chief supply chain officer. “History has shown us that women have the ability to transform industries and so it’s exciting to see progress and to be able to recognize these women across North America on our trucks, one of our most widely seen assets.”

Meet the Honorees

This year’s honorees include truck drivers, warehouse staff, and quality technicians and their trucks will be on the roads in cities from Los Angeles to Albany. Four of the honorees have worked at PepsiCo for more than 10 years, with one individual working over 35 years within Pepsi production. Here are what a few of the honorees had to say when asked how they feel about this recognition:

Full-Service Vending Driver Jolene Hermann from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, said, “I am paving the path for women to work in what has typically been men’s work. I have seen more women come into this profession and am empowered by the fact that women are realizing that they can do the work just as well.”
Manufacturing Operator Lisa Little from Cheverly, Maryland, said, “I am one of the only female forklift operators and I am proud to make a difference and have an impact on future women frontline workers.”
GEO Box Driver Brittany Williams from Mesquite, Texas, said, “I truly feel like anything that a man can do, a woman can do! It’s an honor to be a frontline female worker in such a male-dominant industry and I will continue to lead and set an example for women.”
Machine Operator Jovita Jimenez from Urbandale, Iowa, said, “Si se puede, yes, we can. Women can do the same jobs that men can do. There are no limits.”

Along with this campaign and PepsiCo’s dedication to supportive benefits and policies, the company offers several programs that help advance and support women at all career stages and has long-standing processes for ensuring pay equity across all employee groups.