Kellogg Food & Agribusiness Club (kFAB) | Tovala - Azim Damani

Please introduce yourself - why did you decide to pursue an internship in the food & ag business?

Hi, I'm Azim Damani, a 2nd year in the 2Y program. I'm from Atlanta, GA, and before Kellogg, I was working in Customer Success at Justworks in New York. I've always been passionate about food (primarily restaurants) and when I was thinking about my summer, I wanted to do something I cared about and was excited about, and was not optimizing for a return offer. Unfortunately, my desire to intern at a restaurant group was thwarted by COVID's impact on the restaurant industry, so I pivoted to food-focused companies and landed on Tovala (who I was a happy customer of).

How did you approach the internship recruiting process? Did you know that you wanted to intern within food & ag?

I started having conversations early on in the year, and checked in regularly to determine what roles might be available at my target restaurant groups, and how the industry was doing on the whole. As it became clear that I wouldn't be able to work for a restaurant group, I started talking to startups through a combination of cold and warm outreach and found a role at Tovala I was excited about.

Please briefly describe your summer internship.

This summer, I was at Tovala working on the menu team, primarily on innovation and new offerings, but I also helped with ideation of new menu items (and tasting). My primary project involved scoping a new project where Tovala would allow existing customers to purchase proteins to season themselves and to cook in their Tovala ovens, in addition to their regular meals. I spent the first part of my internship on research and on compiling a presentation that I gave to the leadership team in order to secure approval for the project.

I spent the rest of the internship executing the project with the help of basically every team at the company, and was very happy with the results.

To what degree did your internship provide you with a good understanding of the industry and function?

My function was technically "Menu Innovation" but effectively, I served as a PM on the Menu team and helped close out a few existing projects and owned the project I mentioned previously. I learned a lot about working as a PM at a startup, despite that not being what I was looking for, and learned a lot both about the meal kit industry, and about the Chicago startup ecosystem.

To what degree did your internship provide you the opportunity to develop new skills, knowledge, or a relevant network within the company?

I was able to develop skills related to working cross-functionally, developing effective presentations, managing stakeholders, and effective writing. Additionally, I met some really great people. My pre-Kellogg network is concentrated in the New York tech ecosystem, and it's nice to now have meaningful connections in Chicago, should I decide to stay here after school.

Did your internship experience influence or change your post-Kellogg career goals?

When I came to Kellogg, I planned to join an early-stage startup after school, and that hasn't changed. I really enjoyed my time at Tovala, but my passion lies in the earlier stages of a company. They are hiring a PM on the Menu team, however, and the person who ends up in that role will likely own the things I owned over the summer (and more); I'd highly recommend looking into it if you're interested.

What advice would you give current students seeking positions in the food & ag industry?

If you're optimizing for working in the industry, know what roles you're interested in and what roles aren't right for you. The companies you find fascinating might not have the exact role you're looking for, so you have to determine if the role/company trade-off is worth it for you.