Celebrating Our Last 4 Years

As I prepare for my new adventure, I’ve been reflecting on my incredible 4-year journey at i-Health, and the words that keep coming to mind are “grateful” and “proud”.

What I’m most proud of from the past four years are the people of i-Health. It’s not just the immense talent we’ve brought in, but the growth each of us has experienced, myself included. Over the last 4 years, I’ve evolved a huge amount, and I’m proud of the team we’ve become. I’ve learned so much from my time at iHealth, and I’m deeply grateful for the opportunities you gave me to collaborate and I’m proud of the journeys we’ve taken our brands on together. Has there been mistakes along the way? Absolutely. But we made them with the best of intentions and with a spirit of care, learning from them and applying those lessons to future decisions that turned out well. I remember standing on the stage at the Mohegan Sun for our first Annual Event looking at the army of i-Healthers who spoke with such passion and had such joy spending time together as a family- I will always look back at that moment with a huge amount of pride and joy, especially in the tradition we have now started.

I am exceptionally grateful to have had the opportunity to work for a company and with brands that are so personal to me. As many of you know, I came to DSM-Firmenich 6 years ago with a desire to make a difference—to contribute to causes rather than just products. Never, did I expect to be so lucky, to work on brands that truly became a very personal part of my life. Beyond my children, Karim and Laila, who are daily users of Culturelle, and my husband, Olli, and I, who became daily users of Ovega, I have experienced how close to home this work really is. During my father’s kidney transplant journey, his doctors gave him Culturelle, and I can’t even describe the pride I felt when, this year, I was there with him, and the nurse pulled out the familiar yellow stick from the tray and explained how it should be mixed into his drink. That moment—seeing the product we worked on being used by my own father—is something I am so grateful to have gotten the chance to see and will carry with me forever.

As I think about the advice I want to leave with the team, it’s simple: You know our consumers, customers, and brands better than anyone in the industry. While we all evolve in our decision-making, it’s important to pause and recheck our first thoughts/decisions/recommendations. More often than not, our initial instincts are not far off, so please pause for a moment to check the historian in you. The biggest thing I’ve learnt about myself on this journey is how I am a pretty curious person and when I ask the right questions (not just a question), I can help bridge difference and understanding. So, my goal in my new job is to ask questions ( a lot of them and drive a culture of “crawl, crawl, walk, run” by creating small achievable goals.

Dear i-Healthers: Thank you for your patience and your kindness with me.   I treasure every interaction I had with each of you, I and will cherish our lessons and achievements dearly. You’ve gained huge fans in my family, and I will always be a passionate advocate for you and our brands. Please don’t be a stranger—reach out and let me know how you and our brands are doing.

Kind Regards,