Name: Alex Cullen
Job title: Commercial & marketing director
Company: Soil Association Certification
What was your first job? Admin and eventually events promo work for a wine distributor. We spent several summers camping at agricultural shows handing out samples, talking with people about what they liked and selling wine.
What’s been your worst job interview? I thought I’d totally flunked my final-stage M&S interview, and stopped myself halfway through a gibbering answer to say ‘sorry I just really want this job’. I still cringe thinking about it over a decade later and can’t believe I got the job!
What was the first music single you bought? Fugees – No Woman, No Cry.
How do you describe your job to your friends? Part of an environmental charity, we certify businesses to standards that are here to change the world – across food, farming, forestry and land use.
“I get such a kick out of hearing [farmers’] motivations to be organic and the impact they have in the world”
What is the most rewarding part of your job? Working with thousands of passionate organic businesses and farmers. I get such a kick out of hearing their motivation to be organic and the impact they have in the world.
What is the least rewarding part? Seeing up close how tough it is for farmers. Not many in the food industry are that involved with sourcing, and there’s so much knowledge and support needed for famers to make more nature-friendly switches and respond to the changing climate, let alone earn a living from it.
What is your motto in life? Eat more vegetables.
If you were allowed one dream perk, what would it be? Teleporting between meetings, I spend too much time driving.
Do you have any phobias? Cockroaches, hiding under the fridge.
If you could change one thing in grocery, what would it be? We’re stuck in a model where the biggest marketing budgets, brands and profits are in the most polluting, processed and unhealthy food.
What if the system flipped for the most sustainable and healthy food to have that kind of leverage?
What luxury would you have on a desert island? Booja-Booja ice cream – all the flavours please.
What animal most reflects your personality? A wild bee. I like being busy, buzzy and you’ll find more of me on organic farms!
What’s your favourite film and why? The Hitman’s Bodyguard. It’s just bonkers escapism.
Read more for Organic September:
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Organic dairy sales plummet in wake of cost of living crisis
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Organic trends 2024: Can organic find its hero?
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Organic sector ‘desperate for clarity’ on costly post-Brexit import requirements
What has been the most embarrassing moment in your life? Nothing I can admit publicly!
Which celebrity would you most like to work with and why? Beyoncé has an organic meal delivery brand, Lizzo recently launched an organic underwear brand, so we just need Taylor Swift on board to complete the trinity!
What would your death row meal be? Chicken noodle soup, and I’ll take several hours cooking it myself with Abel & Cole organic chicken carcasses (bargain £3.85 for two) – so many micronutrients and collagen to take into the next life and turn over a new leaf.
Interested in finding out more about food & drink careers? Check out GrocerJobs for the latest vacancies
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