“I grew up always loving science, outdoors and the environment, so I chose to major in atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UCLA,” said Jennifer Chase, who joined CPG Radar earlier this year as director of business development.
However, Chase said she found the role repetitive and realized she was more drawn to the idea of creating healthier food products and left her role at NOAA to become a registered dietitian.
After attending graduate school in Utah, Chase landed a job there at a nutraceutical company. “And I loved it. It was super fun, fast paced, learning constantly, everything about it was perfect,” she said.
Chase cited risk taking as a big part of her success, including the transition from government work to the nutraceutical space.
“It was scary to go from a solid government job where everyone there was counting down to their retirement to ‘I’m not even sure if I’ll have a job type of situation,’ but it’s turned out so rewarding and so much better for my life,” she said. “Then, just even within the same industry, switching from product development into technical sales—totally different skill set. And now even new opportunities I’ve moved into more of a startup."
Today at CPG Radar, Chase leverages AI-driven clinical and market intelligence to help brands and ingredient companies discover white spaces, accelerate innovation and make more data-backed decisions.
“[CPG Radar was] only six months old when I joined, and we’re building a platform from the ground up,” she said. “I’m helping build out the dream program that I would have wanted to have and wish I could have had both in product development and in sales.”
