‘Don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t do something, especially yourself’ – Devon Gholam [Interview]

Her career has touched on product development, applications, technical sales, and technical writing at various companies like the Kellogg Company, Ganeden Biotech (now part of the Kerry Group), and Roquette America.

You’re a ‘scientific storyteller’ at Step Change Innovations. What do you enjoy most about your role?

“Learning about new ingredients and trends is easily my favourite part of my job, outside of working with an amazing team who are truly like family to me. Most of our team does not have a scientific background, so I am always finding creative ways to translate the important aspects of active ingredients to our team so we can effectively parlay that information B2B and B2C. They say one of the best ways to learn is to teach, and I am quite fortunate to do that on a daily basis.

“However, what I really do goes far beyond just telling the story of ingredients – I’m also validating them for their use in applications and that there is suitable science to substantiate claims. I work to understand how new and emerging ingredients fit within current consumer demand so we can stay ahead of the trends and even start new trends.

“Being able to select ingredients that truly offer value and benefits to consumers is very important to me and not a responsibility I take lightly.”

You studied chemistry at university, as well as computer science and mathematics, before going on to gain a PhD in food science. What has your experience been as a woman studying and working in these (often male-dominated) fields? Has anything changed over the course of your career?

“I have vivid memories of being only one of five women in one of my computer science classes. We often would make eye contact and smile in silent encouragement of one another. Thankfully this was an anomaly in my career, which largely has seen an equal distribution of genders in scientific roles, although leadership and management were very much male-dominated. In graduate school, my lab was entirely female when I started, very much a scientific sisterhood of support and camaraderie that empowered me.

“Over my career, I have seen more women in power at food companies. Most notably, Indra Nooyi became CEO of PepsiCo when I was early in my professional journey. However, we still have a long way to go to truly hit gender parity. I’m happy to contribute to that goal in my role at Step Change and hope we can shatter glass ceilings for millions of female scientists who will come after me.”

You have worked at a range of companies, working for big names like Kellogg Company and Roquette America, and in a variety of roles, from research and product development to sales. What are the biggest challenges women in our industry face?

“Equal representation in leadership and opportunities to grow are the most pressing issues I see, although our industry has come a long way to address both. I was a stay-at-home mum for the first few years of my son’s life, so I never had to balance pumping and breastfeeding with a busy work schedule. Yet these stories are all too common.

“There are still many from previous generations in positions of power who don’t appreciate women for all the hats we wear, who think that women don’t have ambitions if they are a mum, or think those without families are more likely to work long hours and travel on a whim. I’m grateful to have a flexible environment where I can work from home as needed, have time and space to be an attentive mother, and still be trusted at the upper echelons of leadership with important decisions and projects.

“However, this is not the norm, and we have a lot of work to do to get to a point where we don’t make assumptions about women and place artificial limits on their greatness and potential.”

You have been vocal about women’s health, specifically your experiences of perimenopause. What are the biggest obstacles to normalising female health experiences, in your opinion?

“The only way we will be able to normalise experiences like menopause is to be open about them, which is why I’ve become so outspoken. Society currently has more empathy and understanding of mental illnesses because of the bravery of people speaking out – we need to do the same with perimenopause, pregnancy, miscarriage, and abortion.

“Thankfully, organisations are beginning to prioritise women’s health – I was fortunate to speak on the topic recently as part of an amazing panel at SupplySide West last month. And slowly we are seeing the industry respond with products formulated for women going through menopause.

“If organisations keep bringing awareness to all the life cycles of a woman, if we can encourage more women to go into the sciences and conduct clinical trials where women are equally represented, our collective voices will be so deafening the world can’t help but take notice.

“However, vocalising our experiences is only half the battle – we can’t normalise these experiences if we aren’t heard. It is very important for all genders to hear us and understand the struggles we face as a very natural part of our lives. Recently, someone mansplained menopause to me after already learning I was in perimenopause!

“They also tried to justify conducting clinical trials only on postmenopausal women because perimenopause is not as clearly defined (it is a diagnosis of exclusion and the experience varies from woman to woman). I challenged them to do a study on perimenopausal women – if we don’t actually perform clinical trials on women at different life stages, we won’t have data to inform choices and select options that provide the most benefit and relief.

“This speaks to a greater problem of needing more women in STEM fields to lead the research in addition to striving for equal representation in clinical studies.”

You are a member of Women in Nutraceuticals. Why are networks like these important?

“Women in Nutraceuticals is a fantastic group working towards gender parity in the C-suite of the nutraceutical industry, but it isn’t just women – all genders are working together to make this a reality within this organisation. A woman makes progress and achieves her goals in this world because another woman came before her to make a few cracks in the glass ceiling.

“By coming together in numbers, providing resources for women looking to grow in industry or transition from one role to another, mentoring one another, we can be the hammer that shatters the glass for everyone coming after us.”

What would you say to a young woman looking to follow in your footsteps?

“Don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t do something, especially yourself! Keep learning, support others, find others to support you, ask questions, speak up, and make this world a better place in a way speaks to your soul and is meaningful to you.”