Name: Sabrina Mallick Peterson
Age: 35
Job Title and Description: Co-Founder & CEO Pure Growth Organic
College Name/Major: Princeton University, AB Politics
Website: PureGrowthOrganic.com
Instagram Handle: @puregrowthorganic
What does your current job entail? Is there such a thing as a typical day?
Sabrina Peterson: The days are hectic and require a lot of energy and focus. Some days are more product focused, where we’re trying new samples, tweaking recipes. Other days are spent deep diving into the numbers, figuring out ways to improve margin and rethinking budget allocations. Others are managing partner relationships from studios to sourcing relationships. And some are marketing and sales focused where we think of how to best reach and delight our customer digitally and also at retail. I touch every inch of the business, which I love but it can be mentally exhausting as well.
What is the best part of your job?
SP: My team. They are bright, honest, curious and just decent good people you want in your lifeboat.
What was your first entry-level job in your field and how did you get it?
SP: Analyst, Fixed Income at Citigroup. Fall of my senior year, I started interviewing at the last minute with the financial firms recruiting on campus. I got two offers and chose Citigroup.
What words of wisdom do you find most valuable?
SP: “Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.”
What is one mistake you made along the way and what did you learn from it?
SP: To fight harder for the things you really believe in. I’ve assumed people have known better because they’ve been louder and more blindly confident in their choices or have had more tangential experience than I do––turns out stupidity can also be loud, blindly confident and experienced.
What has been the most surreal moment of your career thus far?
SP: Walking into retail and seeing a product (that was merely an idea not too long ago) sitting on the shelves next to brands I admire.
What do you look for when considering hiring someone?
SP: Grit, humility, stamina, humor, curiosity, honesty––that can’t be learned on the job. Everything else can.
What advice would you give to a 20-something with similar aspirations?
SP: Work for people with integrity that genuinely look out for you and don’t have something to prove, and/or work somewhere where you can learn a lot or have the opportunity to teach yourself. When you stop learning, or if you don’t see a future you’re excited about, it’s time to move on. I have had phenomenal mentors and advisors throughout the majority of my career. And lastly, when I wake up three weeks in a row not excited about what I’m doing or who I’m doing it with, I know it’s time to move on. Knowing when to leave is as important as knowing when to dive in.
What’s the one thing that’s stood out to you the most in a resume?
SP: People taking entrepreneurial risks, people solid enough to stick at the same firm be continually promoted.