Creative and Analytic Balance

The teaching experience likely comes full circle when a professor gets to write an article featuring a former student. This is exactly what happened for VSB Professor Charles Taylor, PhD, the John A. Murphy Professor of Marketing, when he wrote an article in Forbes about the startup snack food company, SNACKLINS. He highlighted the bold rebranding efforts of the budding company, overseen by his former student and SNACKLINS Brand Marketing Manager, Tess Cimini ’14 VSB. 

After studying Marketing and Finance at Villanova, Cimini worked at PepsiCo before making the jump to SNACKLINS. Excited to create a big impact at a new company, Cimini joined the startup as it was beginning to carve out space in the competitive snack food market. She saw the potential in the brand and was ready to take on the creative challenge of marketing for a niche product using a smaller set of resources. SNACKLINS makes low-calorie, vegan snack crisps and the company was even featured on Shark Tank when founder Samy Kobrosly made a deal with Mark Cuban. Cimini has worked to align the branding with the spirit of the company. Head to the SNACKLINS website and you will find bold colors, a fun mouth-shaped logo, and encouragement to “eat the whole bag” as the snack has fewer calories and sugar than a typical chip. 

She credits the VSB curriculum with helping her develop both creative and analytical skills, providing a framework to approach any problem. She first gained experience tackling a real-world marketing challenge through the Competitive Effectiveness course. She transferred these skills to her career, which made her a more competitive employee. 

She advises current VSB students to take the time to cultivate their interests and align those interests with a career. A business degree can be taken in a number of different directions, and students should think about the path that will be a great fit for them.