279: Career Conversations: The secret to becoming a flavourist

<div>What's the secret to having a successful career as a flavourist? Marie Wright, Chief Global Flavourist at food processing corporation <a href="https://www.adm.com/">ADM</a>, says it's all about passion.<br> <br> </div> <div>In this episode of the Career Conversations series, she reveals all to Elisa Roche about how she rose through the ranks to become one of the best flavourists in the world.<br> <br> </div> <div>And, although she says there are many elements to forging a successful career, passion, grit, and a desire to keep learning will get you a long way: "It's important that you don't ever get to a position where you say I'm there now, I don't need to learn anymore."<br> <br> </div> <div>Marie's job involves helping brands to create new flavours from scratch, or recreating complicated flavours that excite the senses. But how do you go about doing that? <br> <br> </div> <div>She says a good analogy for her job is a perfumer, creating <a href="https://foodmatterslive.com/discover/podcast/the-history-of-taste-and-flavour/">tastes and flavours</a> for food.<br> <br> </div> <div>She grew up in the UK, now lives in America, and was influenced by her Turkish father and Italian mother's cooking. All of which stood her in good stead for the career she chose.<br> <br> </div> <div>"I didn't grow up in a traditional way from a food perspective," she says. "I feel very lucky."<br> <br> </div> <div>And being a flavourist isn't the sort of thing you can pick up overnight. In fact, you can't really study to become a flavourist in the conventional way, you need to go through years of training on the job.<br> <br> </div> <div>ADM runs a mentoring programme and it takes seven years to complete. Luckily for us, Marie founded the programme and gives us some top tips on what she looks for in potential candidates.<br> <br> </div> <div>Listen to the full episode to find out what Marie thinks makes a good leader, <a href="https://foodmatterslive.com/discover/podcast/sustainability-food-jobs-from-the-arts-to-science/">w