From advertising and brand management to executive recruiting and family life, Kendra Stearns Drozd reflects on how professional goals and personal priorities can change over time.
A résumé can tell you where someone worked, what they studied, and which positions they held. What it rarely explains is why they made certain decisions, what they were hoping to accomplish, or how their priorities changed along the way.
For Kendra Stearns Drozd, a former marketing professional and executive recruiter now living in Bluffton, South Carolina, some of the most important decisions in her life involved moving away from a path she had once worked hard to follow.
Her career took her from advertising agencies in Chicago to brand management at Kraft Foods and eventually into executive recruiting. Each transition reflected a different set of interests, opportunities, and personal circumstances. Later, when she became a mother of four, she made another significant decision by stepping away from full-time work.
Her experience raises an interesting question about careers: How much of a person’s success can really be understood by looking at their job titles?
The Career Plan She Made at 19
Drozd developed an interest in business before she had even finished college. When she was 19, her father introduced her to several women working in the business world, allowing her to learn about careers she might otherwise have known little about.
Those conversations helped her develop a surprisingly specific plan. She wanted to begin in advertising, earn an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and eventually work in marketing at Kraft Foods.
It was an ambitious set of goals, but Drozd liked having something concrete to work toward. After graduating from Williams College with a degree in English and a concentration in Art History and Psychology, she began pursuing that direction.
Her first professional experiences were in advertising, where she worked with clients in industries including restaurants, hardware, and automobiles. The work provided an introduction to consumer marketing, client relationships, and the unpredictable nature of promotional campaigns.
One memorable assignment involved coordinating approximately a dozen costumed Colonel Sanders lookalikes during a KFC product promotion in Chicago. Drozd was responsible for accompanying the characters to public appearances, including sporting events, while also ensuring they followed promotional guidelines.
Not everyone followed those guidelines, and she occasionally found herself managing situations that had little to do with traditional advertising.
The experience was an unusual introduction to the business world, but it illustrated something that would remain relevant throughout her career. Even with a carefully prepared plan, working with people often requires patience, flexibility, and the ability to respond to unexpected situations.
Reaching the Goal and Discovering What Came Next
After gaining experience in advertising, Drozd pursued her MBA at Kellogg, where she enjoyed the school’s collaborative approach to learning.
Her time there also included international travel and a consulting project in Japan, providing opportunities to study business outside the United States.
Following business school, she achieved one of the goals she had established years earlier by joining Kraft Foods as a Senior Associate Brand Manager.
She worked on Kraft Singles and FreshPrep, a dinner kit product that was eventually discontinued. Her responsibilities included consumer research and understanding how products fit into everyday household routines.
Some of that research involved visiting families in their homes to observe how they prepared meals. Rather than relying entirely on surveys or assumptions, Drozd could see how people actually used products, managed their time, and made decisions in the kitchen.
It was the kind of hands-on experience she had hoped to gain when she first became interested in marketing.
Yet reaching a professional goal doesn’t necessarily mean someone will want to follow the same path indefinitely. As Drozd’s personal life developed, she began thinking about what she wanted her working life to look like in the years ahead.
Choosing a Different Kind of Opportunity
Drozd met her future husband, Tim, at a Kellogg event, and the couple eventually married and began building a family.
As her responsibilities outside work changed, she considered career options that would allow her to continue using her professional skills while gaining greater flexibility.
That led her to Bloom, Gross & Associates, a boutique, all-women executive recruiting firm specializing in consumer packaged goods marketing.
The position offered an arrangement that was unusual for its time. Drozd worked from home three days a week, spent one day in the Chicago office, and had Fridays off.
This was long before remote and hybrid work became common topics in workplace discussions.
Executive recruiting also allowed her to use skills she had developed in advertising and brand management, particularly her understanding of marketing roles, communication, and professional relationships.
The move wasn’t simply a change of employer. It represented a shift in how she evaluated professional opportunities.
Instead of focusing only on the next title or company, she was considering how a position would fit into the life she wanted to build.
When Stepping Away Became the Right Decision
After the birth of her third daughter, Drozd decided to leave full-time employment and devote more of her time to raising her children.
For someone who had spent years working toward specific educational and professional goals, it was a meaningful change in direction.
Her earlier career had been shaped by clear milestones, including gaining admission to Kellogg, joining Kraft Foods, and building experience in business. Motherhood introduced a different set of responsibilities, many of which couldn’t be measured through promotions or performance reviews.
Drozd and her husband went on to raise four daughters, Katherine, Elizabeth, Caroline, and Christina.
She became more involved in school activities, volunteering, and community life, finding new ways to contribute outside a traditional workplace.
Although she was no longer following the career path she had imagined at 19, the skills and experiences she had gained didn’t disappear. Planning, communication, understanding people, and managing competing responsibilities remained important parts of her daily life.
Her decision also challenged the idea that professional progress must always involve moving upward or pursuing the next opportunity.
Sometimes, a person’s definition of progress changes because the things they value most have changed.
Finding Purpose Outside a Job Title
One of the most significant commitments Drozd made after leaving full-time employment was becoming involved in Stephen Ministry.
She was commissioned as a Stephen Minister in 2012, following personal experiences that had changed her understanding of emotional support.
After enduring multiple miscarriages and unsuccessful fertility treatments, she had experienced firsthand the importance of having people who were willing to listen and remain present during difficult circumstances.
Stephen Ministry gave her an opportunity to provide that same kind of support to others.
The organization trains laypeople to offer confidential, one-to-one emotional and spiritual care to individuals experiencing grief, illness, loneliness, and other life challenges.
One of Drozd’s caring relationships lasted approximately five years, becoming one of the most meaningful relationships in her life.
The work was very different from the responsibilities she had held in advertising, marketing, and recruiting. Yet it still drew on her ability to connect with people, understand different experiences, and develop trusting relationships.
It also brought a different kind of satisfaction, one that wasn’t connected to a salary, job title, or professional recognition.
A Career Doesn’t Have to Tell the Whole Story
Looking at Drozd’s professional background alone, it would be easy to describe her career as a progression from advertising to marketing and executive recruiting.
That description would be accurate, but incomplete.
It wouldn’t explain why she was drawn to business as a teenager, what she learned from working with consumers, or how she came to value flexibility as her family grew. It also wouldn’t account for the years she has spent volunteering, supporting others, and raising her daughters.
Today, Drozd defines success largely through happiness and contentment. She takes pride in the professional goals she accomplished, but places equal importance on the relationships and responsibilities that have shaped her life since.
Her experience is a reminder that career decisions are rarely made in isolation. They are influenced by family, personal interests, opportunities, and the changing circumstances of everyday life.
For Kendra Drozd, the path from advertising to community service wasn’t something she could have mapped out when she was 19. Her early goals helped establish a direction, but the decisions she made afterward allowed her to build a life that reflected more than her original ambitions.
A résumé might capture the positions she held along the way. Understanding why she chose them, and why she eventually moved in another direction, tells a much more complete story.
