CARLSBAD, CA - When Carrie Mack begins to share her experiences, the energy in the room shifts—gentle, attentive, expectant. Ever humble, Carrie would likely downplay this truth, but it’s exactly why she belongs in spaces where women gather to grow, learn, and lift one another higher. As Co-Chair for the Women’s Fresh Perspectives Conference (WFPC) and Senior Sourcing Manager, Apples and Pears at Walmart, Carrie has the rare privilege of both leading and participating in this coveted annual event. And each year, she especially looks forward to welcoming those attending for the very first time.
“If you’re new to the Women’s Fresh Perspectives, my biggest piece of advice is simple: PARTICIPATE!” Carrie begins. “You are there because your company chose to invest in you. Let that sink in for a minute. Someone sees your potential. Someone believes you’re worth developing. That’s not small, so don’t treat it like it is. Introduce yourself. Ask the question. Sit at a table with people you don’t know yet. This industry runs on relationships—real ones. Authentic, transparent, human connections. And those don’t start on LinkedIn. They start with a conversation over coffee, a shared story, a ‘tell me more about that.’”
It can be hard to enter a space like this, one where competitors, customers, and many unknowns may cause someone to hesitate at participating, but let me say, those walls dissolve, and the space is truly a safe one.
“This is the kind of space where you can talk about the wins, the tough meetings, the ‘why did I say that out loud?’ moments, and leave feeling smarter and more supported than when you walked in,” Carrie describes. “And hear me clearly on this: The women in that room are not your competition. They are your network. Your sounding board. Your future collaborators. The person sitting next to you could be the one you call in two years when you’re negotiating a promotion or navigating a career pivot. We are there to help you along your journey. Every woman in that room has learned something the hard way. Take advantage of that.”
Build the relationships, Carrie emphasizes, and follow up afterward. Stay connected. Show up fully. Take up space.
Over the past year, Carrie has observed much in the industry’s ever-changing demographics, challenges, and victories. She pauses here to share with me that you can sense the change at the individual and group levels—beginning in those moments right after the event concludes.
“What gives me hope isn’t one big headline moment—it’s what’s happened after the conference. I’ve watched women who met at Women’s Fresh Perspectives actually show up for each other. Not the polite ‘let me know if you need anything’ kind of support. The real kind. The ‘I just got out of a meeting, and I’m replaying it in my head—can we talk?’ kind,” she reflects. “When someone speaks up and feels unheard. When they get shut down. When they walk out thinking, ‘Well, that didn’t land how I hoped.’ Instead of internalizing it or spiraling solo, they call someone from this network. And the response isn’t fluff. It’s practical. ‘Here’s how I’d reframe that.’ ‘Here’s how I negotiated that.’ ‘Here’s how I decided whether to keep pushing in that room, or find a different room.’”
These conversations become momentum, and that momentum is contagious.
“There have been honest conversations about compensation, financial stress, career pivots, confidence hits; the kind of things that don’t usually make it into performance reviews but absolutely shape careers,” Carrie says. “This year hasn’t been easy for many of us. But we haven’t been alone. I can’t point to just one uplifting victory because, honestly, we’ve had to rally around more than a few situations. And in a strange way, that’s the victory. The network works. The support is active. Women in this industry aren’t navigating the hard seasons by themselves anymore. That gives me a lot of hope.”
In Carrie’s experience, gatherings like Women’s Fresh Perspectives are meaningful for women in the fresh produce industry because they create something rare—a space where women are safe, equal, and can show up exactly as they are.
“Cheese or no cheese, that’s genuinely how it feels. Titles soften in that room. Years of experience don’t carry the same weight. You’re not polishing your sentences before you speak. You’re not trying to sound ready,” she tells me. “You just show up as a human who works in this industry. And then the real magic happens. Women start sharing the stories that normally stay behind closed doors—the tough feedback, the confidence wobble, the meeting that didn’t go as planned, the moment they realized they’d been underestimated.”
And when someone says it out loud, you can see it ripple across the room. Heads nod. Shoulders drop.
“Someone exhales. There’s this collective: It’s not just me. That’s where growth actually starts. Not from a perfect slide deck. Not from a polished answer. It starts when we’re honest enough to let other women see us fully, and they meet us there,” Carrie expresses. “From there, the confidence builds quickly. The learning accelerates. And you realize you’re no longer navigating this industry solo. You’re doing it alongside women who understand the business—and understand you. That combination? That’s powerful.”
We all belong there, Carrie concludes, adding that we will all get out of it exactly what we are willing to put in.
And Carrie, well, as you can imagine, she goes ALL in.
