Employee Spotlight: Janine Lin
We know that creating a more sustainable world will take all of us. And everyone on the Perfect Day team plays a crucial part in helping us achieve this goal.
Janine Lin joined Perfect Day two and a half years ago and is the Director of Protein Discovery. She is passionate about the potential of our protein and using the power of technology to create a brighter future for all. Janine leads her team with a “Think big, do it different.” mindset, she encourages innovation, ideas, and creativity from all members on her team.
What’s your name and role? How long have you been at Perfect Day?
My name is Janine Lin. I am the Director of Protein Discovery in the Discovery organization. I have been with Perfect day for almost 2.5 years.
What interests have you been able to pursue here?
I have always been curious about the potential of our protein product. Early on, I was able to research and propose different usages for our whey protein. I am also passionate about developing a technology platform to broaden the speed and potential of product development. I was able to contribute to that effort as well.
How have you been supported to follow your curiosity?
Some of our values are Think Big, Do it Different. I think this tells us that fundamentally Perfect Day always encourages us to be innovative and don’t simply follow a path.
The Perfect Day culture allows, from my perspective, for your ideas to never be shut down. In my department, we are tasked with discovering the next product opportunities. Our leaders and colleagues are always curious about ideas, and they ask follow-up questions to better help us shape our ideas. Our leaders allow us to pursue our ideas, but they also follow up.
Whenever the results are not what we had originally expected, we seldom shy away from those moments. Instead, we take it as an opportunity to think what does it mean, what does the result teaches us, and what can we do with the knowledge. Sometimes we are better off after the unexpected results because it opens doors for other opportunities.
In what ways have you grown at Perfect Day (professionally and/or personally)?
I am drawn to things that are outside of my expertise. Therefore, I have grown professionally from the exposure I have had to other areas such as marketing and commercial. We have these company-wide talks where each team will talk about an accomplishment from their areas but also the challenges they have faced. It’s very interesting to learn about these other areas and how they approach and engage new customers, or how they frame our products so they can be educational and honest to customers. The Food Technology industry is such a hot area right now, so to be in the middle of it is just great fun.
I also aspire to be a better leader. On this front, I am glad that our leaders are very accessible, and they always find time to meet with me and explain their decisions with me. This way it helps me understand the reasoning behind it.
Can you tell us about your work philosophy and how you find new ways to challenge yourself?
I think people are the greatest assets of a company. Therefore, if we are going to do great things, we need to start by making sure people are taken care of and they are motivated to do their best. At Perfect Day, we have great scientists. It’s important to give them room to apply their knowledge and provide challenges where they need it. My job is to ask questions from my perspective so that we make sure our approaches are geared toward business-relevant goals.
I also believe in providing support for the scientists. If there are tools and infrastructure that can help them worry less about other non-productive things, then we should do our best to provide such support.
To challenge myself, I often think about not settling for what we have. Even with routine workflows or the way we use resources, there must be better ways of doing it. What is that, and can we find new ways to do it? Even if it will take a while to develop, if it will have a great impact, then it would be worth the time to develop new ways.
Another way is to keep an open mind. As a scientist, because we are critical thinkers and we are thorough about things, a lot of times I found myself wanting to say “no, that’s not possible, because of this and that”. But now I try to hold back such thoughts and instead think about how we can make it work. Especially for mission-critical things, let’s make it work, instead of thinking of hundreds of things that may not work. Sometimes we are surprised that we do reach an unattainable goal, but that’s because we approached it right.
Where do you find inspiration at work?
Everywhere. The people surrounding me. How do they approach the problems that are presented to them. How do they make a decision when all of the answers are not on the table? How do we take on newer challenges so we can make an impact for a better tomorrow? It’s a very interesting and fast-paced field right now, so it’s a lot of fun to be in this field right now.
I am also inspired by the purpose of our company, to make a kinder and greener world. What I do has a profound impact on the world — this makes me excited to do my job.
We’d love to hear your thoughts!
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