Meet Trupti Cessna, a Product Manager at Indigo Ag.

TRANSCRIPT:

ARUNA: I am the recruiter here at Climate People joined by our wonderful Natalie, who is our marketing lead here. Trupti, thank you so much for working with Climate People and allowing us to find you a position here with one of our clients. So thank you so much.

I remember talking to you in some way, shape or form. You were already connected to the climate — you had been working with an ag-tech company of sorts. So at what point did you think that you know, it was important to move to a more climate agnostic company or climate-friendly company? What was the turning point for you? What was the point where you thought, okay, I have to find something more compelling in the industry?

TRUPTI: Yeah. So for me, I think it was like maybe five or eight years ago, I kind of said to myself, you're gonna have to start working for a mission-driven company. Farming, food, and climate have always been a topic of conversation in our household, to the point where we're thinking about getting solar panels, and we always talk about the ocean and the reefs and the impact of climate on that, which is heartbreaking for us. We're constantly asking ourselves, “Hey, how can we make a difference?” Recycling more, reducing our plastic by 25% as a household, has been quite hard, but we're trying to do our part. For me, it was really important to take this passion and also put it behind a job. So when you go to work, it doesn't feel like work. It feels like you're coming into work and you're doing something really impactful. Even how big or how small it is. It's like your goal in life is to walk away, leaving this place a little bit better, if you can, and that's really important to me. And if I can do that personally and professionally, wow, I'm winning.

ARUNA: This opportunity that we presented to you came and went, you wanted to work for a climate-friendly company and you wanted to make an impact. But at the same time what I liked about you, is you were not ready to compromise on the kind of job that you wanted to take and you knew the kind of impact that you could make. So, the job profile also was very important to you along with working for a climate-friendly company. So how was your experience working with Climate People and how did you think you were able to turn around and say, okay, I have to talk about this? So tell us about your experience with Climate People and how this all came through in the end.

TRUPTI: Yes, you're right. I did go back and forth. And for me, initially, I was hung up on probably something that was not really important to be hung up on. To be totally honest, it was a little bit of a lateral move for me. And then when I kind of took a step back — at which I think we had some great conversations — you're the one who was like my guidance counselor in every aspect of the way, and you gave me some really great advice and just said look at the holistic view of this entire opportunity, not just this one little siloed piece. Then, I talked to my husband and he's like, not only do you get excited about the product, think of this as an opportunity to also completely grow in the company itself because there is a growth opportunity.

For me, it was really, really important to have a company that was solving a really cool and fun product. I know that I'm going to be challenged there. So that's for sure.

ARUNA: Now, you've touched upon your experience working with Climate People but what advice would you have for candidates that are looking for jobs within the industry? What is your recommendation for candidates that are watching your video?

TRUPTI: Yeah, I mean, I think it's really important to make sure that you truly believe in the mission and the vision of the company you work for. There were two aspects why I contacted you: I wanted to make sure that you were also aligning yourself with the right industry, and I wanted to find the right companies that align with my professional beliefs. I think that's really important to really look into the vision of the company, the direction of the company, the culture of the company, those are really, really important. And when you find those things, I think everything else kind of aligns and comes. So far, in the last two or three jobs that I've had, I truly believed in the mission and the vision, and the culture of the company. And those were the three companies that I truly excelled at and was extremely happy with. One was the company that I work for right now, the prior was helping small businesses grow. So that was a big passion of mine. I truly believe that you should go where you truly believe in the vision and the culture.

ARUNA: You want to tell us about where you're going?

TRUPTI: Yeah, I'm going to Indigo Ag as a Product Manager.

ARUNA: As a product manager, yeah. Exciting.

TRUPTI:  When you're interviewing you can feel the connection. When I interviewed at Indigo Ag I believe it was four or five people. With every one of them, I felt it was a very interesting dialogue between us. We were having conversations back and forth. You could feel that connection and then you walked out of there going, oh, wow, I can work with these people. Like these guys are passionate, you know? And so, you can automatically feel it.

ARUNA: All right. What we take pride in is our 1% to the planet that we contribute. So did you decide where you want us to contribute?

NATALIE: We have the Honnold Foundation and Soul Fire Farm.

TRUPTI: I will go with Soul Fire Farm.

I'm gonna have to say big kudos to you. Thank you, thank you for not only listening to what I really wanted, and being patient with me, because I know there were times when we were going back and forth and you were really patient with me and you guided me and you took the time to talk to me. So, I appreciate that.

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