Sustainability alum turns food waste into a career

May 8, 2013

When Natalie Fleming was in high school, she first learned about sustainability in one of her courses. Back then, many cities were implementing plastic bag bans, and that caught Fleming’s attention. How could plastic bags be so detrimental to the environment? And how does a city organize around a ban? Fleming decided to explore this and more at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability.

After studying food systems and waste management, Fleming graduated from the School of Sustainability in 2012 with a bachelor of arts. Her interests in cleaning up the planet led to her current position as district sales manager for a small Utah startup called EcoScraps. Natalie Fleming with brown hair wearing green apron holding compost bag Download Full Image

“EcoScraps collects produce waste from grocery stores, farms, food banks, basically anywhere that has food that has gone bad before selling,” Fleming says. “We pick it up and make organic gardening products like garden soil and plant food.”

Fleming joined the EcoScraps team a month after graduating. Living in the San Francisco Bay area, Fleming is able to work remotely for the company. As the district sales manager, she hires, trains, and oversees employees who are responsible for representing EcoScraps at its distributors like The Home Depot and Lowe’s. Her training of EcoScraps and distributor employees provides the right education to increase the company’s sales. Right now, Fleming manages a team of 15 part- and full-time representatives in addition to finding new distributors.

However, she says her favorite part of the job is working for a small company that is still making its way into the sustainable business market.

“EcoScraps is still an underdog, but we have the opportunity and time to improve the company,” she says. “Our products are along the Miracle-Gros of the world. It’s really exciting to be able to attract customers to such a new, innovative product and encourage more sustainable consumption.”

Fleming attributes her job skills to the group projects and leadership roles she engaged in while at the School of Sustainability.

“During the group projects, we partnered with real-world organizations, and these partnerships taught me how to work in a team and how to be a leader,” Fleming says. “The skills I learned like problem solving really stuck with me and set me apart from the average person.”

Certainly, Fleming’s involvement as a campus representative for SustainU, the sustainability director of ASU’s 2011 Undie Run, and the director of engagement for ASU’s Campus Student Sustainability Initiatives gave her the leadership experience she needed to manage EcoScraps employees.

“I have found that it is important to have a knowledge base of sustainability, as well as being able to handle yourself and manage your time effectively,” she says.

While EcoScraps is Fleming’s first job after college, she says that she doesn’t know exactly where her path will take her next.

“Even when you get your first job out of college, you may not know exactly what you want to do,” she says. “I know what I care about and I know that sustainability will always be built into my career. I am always going to follow that.”

Fleming says she learned about EcoScraps from an acquaintance. Even though the company wasn’t hiring, Fleming took a chance and sent the EcoScraps creators an email telling them how enthusiastic she is about sustainability and why she would be a great fit at the company.

And graduating students should do the same.

“Tell everyone you meet how excited you are to graduate and how much you love sustainability,” Fleming says. “Let them know you’re on a job hunt. Share your interest with people and you never know where that connection is going to come from. It will help you get your foot in the door.”

Radio show offers a taste of Italy from Downtown Phoenix

A pair of journalism students are brushing up on their Italian, honing their broadcasting skills and globalizing their education thanks to a new internship offered through the School of International Letters and Cultures.

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Radio show offers a taste of Italy from Downtown Phoenix

May 8, 2013

Two students from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication are brushing up on their Italian, honing their broadcasting skills and globalizing their education thanks to a new internship offered through the School of International Letters and Cultures at ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

Jesus Yanez-Reyes and McCall Hoerz have combined their love for Italian with their professional interest in broadcasting through an internship sponsored by The Italian Language Program in collaboration with KASC (The Blaze) AM radio station, where they host “Buongiorno Italia.” Download Full Image

Broadcast from the Cronkite School building at 555 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, the show is the brainchild of Antonella Dell’Anna, an Italian instructor for the School of International Letters and Cultures.

“I wanted to create something for students that made them think and look beyond the textbooks and classroom,” Dell’Anna said. “When you understand Italian people, the land, their customs, what’s important to them, then students truly comprehend the language.”

“Buongiorno Italia” is a half-hour show dedicated to Italian news, culture, and music. Interview subjects include Italian officials, transplants and community residents who live in the Phoenix Metropolitan area as well as ASU students who have traveled to Italy.

Phoenix native Yanez-Reyes says he originally enrolled at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff where he wanted to major in hospitality. He changed his mind a semester later when he wanted to pursue journalism. He says he knows now he made the right choice and the internship has given him confidence in several areas, including language, culture, geography and critical thinking.

“We scour a lot of Italian newspapers and websites and have to translate the words into English and then present it in our own words to our audience,” Yanez-Reyes said. “This exercise forces us to not only know and understand the language but what’s important to the people. The newspaper level of their language is different than the level we’re at in the classroom, which forces us to learn other words.”

Yanez-Reyes said through research and first-hand interviews, there are some major differences between Americans and Italians.

“Italians aren’t as focused on work as Americans are, and they look at their quality of life in terms of meaningful social interaction rather than money. Food is a big part of their culture. It’s a way to show hospitality and an opportunity to interact with one another,” Yanez-Reyes said. “Italians say they cherish their ability to walk out onto the street and to have a conversation with someone, even a complete stranger, and have a meaningful conversation.”

Hoerz, a freshman, who hails from Wauwatosa, Wisc., said she contemplated the University of Southern California Los Angeles, University of Southern California and the University of Miami, Fla., but ASU had always been her top choice.

“I knew ASU had the best program for what I wanted to do and in the end, it was a very easy choice,” Hoerz said. She added the internship not only gives her valuable insight into the Italian culture but much needed experience behind the microphone.

“Because I am a journalism major, one of my classes required me to go on the Blaze and read items live on the air. My first time was nerve-wracking and I was not very good,” Hoerz said. “Now that I’ve been on the air for almost an entire semester, I’ve got the jitters out of the way. This is also an experience I can put on my resume and say I did it live on the air, and I now have the clips to prove it.”

“Buongiorno Italia” is broadcast at 9 a.m. on Wednesdays from September to December and February to May every semester. Listen for the show on station 1330 AM or online at www.blazeradioonline.com.

The Italian Language Program at the Downtown campus in collaboration with KASC, is currently accepting internship applications for fall 2013 to fill two 1-3 credit internships (ITA484). To apply email a resume and cover letter to antonella.dellanna@asu.edu before June 15, 2013.