Cheri Wolf Olerud
Who would guess that growing up on a beef and grain farm in the middle of North America would propel me into a perfect-for-me career years later? All I knew was how much fun it was to explore the farm and play with my ten brothers and sisters.
I enjoyed helping Mom with the cooking and baking. It seemed that the last meal wasn’t completely eaten before we were planning the next one. And I loved knowing the names of the grains and the type of cattle my Dad raised for the grain and beef harvest.
I picked a college in the farthest-away corner of my population 420 home town for my first two years of college, NDSCS, in Wahpeton. Liberal Arts seemed like a good major while I sorted out my interests, jobs, etc. I remember wandering around the friendly campus, wondering what I was doing there and how hard it was to decide a final major and career.
While at NDSCS, I met the love of my life, Steve Olerud. It was a fast romance and we got married after two years of college. (I don’t recommend this for everyone, but it’s worked out for us. Steve continues to be a caring, supportive husband and stay-at-home Dad for our three kids: Christian, 18; Carlon, 16; and Ruby, 11).
I started in Dietetics at NDSU. A first experience was a food recall from a nursing home patient and a nutrition profile. I’d never been in a nursing home, it wasn’t my best experience, plus Chemistry was too hard, so I got out of Dietetics and into Food and Education. At the same time, a design professor noticed during his put-together-a-collage-on-what-interests-you class that I just loved food, all my pictures had food in them.
While at NDSU, I took every food and nutrition class offered. The teachers inspired me and I loved all of them: Lorissa Sheldon, Nancy Gress, Betty Braaten, Susan Crockett and Katherine Staples. Edna Holm inspired by exploration skills and I loved playing with barley and other grains in the Food Experimentation class.
I worked at the NDSU Wheat and Oats lab with wheat and oat breeders, Dr. Glenn Smith and Dr. Mike McMullen and I loved every minute of planning, harvesting and counting the yield; that’s when I discovered my love for grains and research.
During my junior year at college, I toured the Betty Crocker Kitchens. That’s when I decided, “That’s where I want to work.” But first I had to finish school.While at college, I found my way to the General Nutrition Research lab and pilot plant. I loved developing recipes and new products using oils, nuts, nut butters, seeds and my love, grains. My four years with GNC were terrific background and great learning – still, I kept thinking about General Mills. I contacted Marcia Copeland, BCK Test Kitchen Director for Advice. She suggested I take a Marketing class and finish my Sciences, so I completed Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry.
All of a sudden, General Mills called me; they’d retrieved my resume’ from their files when they had a test kitchen opening, I spent an entire day interviewing and the rest is history.
Today, 25 years later, I still pinch myself as I leave GM every evening. It’s a wonderful place to work, with terrific, caring and very professional people and is a perfect fit with my personality. So much of what we’re doing at GM and in the Betty Crocker Kitchens is state of the art and many other companies look to us as the leaders.
Because I love variety, I’ve been happy to have had different jobs within the same company that reflect my interest and the food, nutrition, health and other skills I’ve learned. I’ve been a test kitchen home economist, Product Group Supervisor, Business Unit Planner (liaison between BC Kitchens and Marketing), I’ve also been a Sensory Scientist and in Product Development at the Technical Center.
Now I write the Betty Crocker Health cookbooks. Each of these cookbooks has been a dissertation in itself, a tremendous amount of planning, research, writing and editing has gone into each one: Healthy Heart, Cookbook for Women, Diabetes, Win at Weight Loss, Whole Grains. I am the spokeswoman for the health cookbooks, do radio and TV interviews, demonstrating recipes and talking about how to cut fat and reduce calories in the kitchen. I also edit the health magazines.
Another part of my assignment is Big G cereals, Yoplait Yogurt and 8th Continent soy milk, advising them of consumer and food trends, recipe development and new product ideas.
My passion for health has lead me to the GM Wellness Committee, the Fitness Committee and other company-led health initiatives, all great and wonderful learning.
My career has been fun and fulfilling (and it’s not over). It’s also been a lot of hard work, being in the right place at the right time and has evolved over the years, step by step.
Good luck to any students who may be contemplating what they love, I’m glad I found mine. I put in all the extra details for your benefit, in case you may be facing some of the same decisions I was only a few short years ago. Contact me if you’d like.
Cheri Wolf Olerud is a Sr. Cookbook Editor with General Mills, Inc. Her e-mail address is cheri.olerud@genmills.com
