Susan Sokirko
Brooklyn,NY
Summary
Senior Innovation and Brand Strategy Director turned independent recruiter, passionate about professional matchmaking and adept at establishing lasting connections.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
Work History
Independent Recruiter
Self-employeed
01.2022 - Current
- Partner with creative agencies, business consultancies, research firms and consumer brands to provide a thoughtfully curated approach to talent acquisition.
- Establish strong relationships with clients to understand their staffing needs, provide tailored recruitment solutions and function as an enthusiastic ambassador of their brand, business or organization.
- Manage the full recruitment lifecycle, including strategy development, candidate sourcing and assessment, interview process, stakeholder communication and decision management.
- Build and maintain trusted relationships with candidates to ensure a high-quality experience throughout the interview process.
Senior Director, Innovation & Brand Strategy
Consumer Dynamics
03.2021 - 01.2022
- Framed opportunity for a multinational CPG company to play within the plant-based food arena in a more meaningful way.
- Identified new positioning and product innovation road map for a gluten-reduced beer brand to guide expansion into a broader wellness space.
- Generated five winning new product ideas for a global laundry care brand's three year pipeline.
- Created category overview of current and emerging trends within snacking, illuminating multiple pathways for a global juice and kid snacks company to expand into healthy snacking.
- Designed and facilitated product innovation workshops.
- Generated $500,000+ (individual) in new business revenue.
Director, Insights, Innovation & Brand Strategy
Consumer Eyes
06.2004 - 03.2021
- Designed methodologies and led hundreds of innovation and brand strategy projects partnering with Fortune 500 clients across all major CPG categories, including Food & Beverage, AlcoBev, Beauty, Oral Care, Consumer Healthcare.
- Defined consumer target for brands through ethnographic research, ensuring consumer voice center throughout all business decisions.
- Created new positionings for legacy brands helping to reverse decline and reinvigorate brand interest.
- Conducted a deep dive into plant-based food trends for Mondelez International, identifying insights and opportunities that led to the launches of Dirt Kitchen Snacks (2019), CaPao (2019), and acquisition of HU Products (2021).
- Directed, produced and facilitated a food trends summit for Danone, including 200 attendees across 9 countries, 17 experts, 16 trend tours and 66 consumer interviews.
- Developed multiple strategic breakthrough innovation pipelines to drive growth across Rich Products' consumer brand portfolios (including FarmRich and SeaPak) and global foodservice businesses (bakery, desserts, beverages, culinary solutions).
- Generated 15 winning product concepts for NatureSweet, leading to the launches of D'vines (2020), Cherubs and Constellation To Go (2022), and D'vines Medley (2024).
- Directed an evolution of intimacy project, leading to a refreshed brand vision for Johnson & Johnson's K-Y brand and launch of Yours & Mine (2009).
- Led a wound care project for Johnson & Johnson, identifying the lack of skin tone diversity in the first-aid aisle in 2004, laying the groundwork for the eventual launch of Band-Aid Brand OURTONE (2021).
- Mentored junior staff through hands-on training in qualitative research, innovation strategy, project management and client relationship building.
- Generated $400K+ in repeat business revenue annually.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Psychology
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NYSkills
- Project Management
- Communication (written, verbal)
- Strategic Thinking
- Relationship Building
- Ability to attract passive candidates
- Bringing humanity to all interactions
Timeline
Independent Recruiter
Self-employeed
01.2022 - Current
Senior Director, Innovation & Brand Strategy
Consumer Dynamics
03.2021 - 01.2022
Director, Insights, Innovation & Brand Strategy
Consumer Eyes
06.2004 - 03.2021
Bachelor of Arts - Psychology
Binghamton University