This Beam Suntory exec has worked in Russia, Slovakia, and Hong Kong. She thinks more people should consider a global career

– Around the world. Throughout her career, Jessica Spence has worked in Russia, Slovakia, Poland, Hong Kong, Denmark, and now New York. It’s the kind of global trajectory that not everyone considers—but Spence thinks more people should.

Spence is the president of North America for Beam Suntory, the spirits business behind Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, and other liquor brands. Since finishing business school, she’s spent her career in the alcohol industry. “I knew I wanted to see a lot of the world and that I wanted to build brands that mattered to people,” she says.

Early on, at the beer business SABMiller (since acquired by AB InBev), Spence hopped around Eastern Europe running marketing. She addressed challenges like how to sell a new apple beer to Russian women, who didn’t often drink inside bars but carried beverages with them like an accessory.

Courtesy of Beam Suntory

She arrived at the brewer Carlsberg Group to oversee marketing from Hong Kong and later held business roles for markets from India to China. Spence says this was the biggest growth accelerator in her career, learning about different ways of doing business and leading teams—as well as operating in an even more male-dominated part of the alcohol industry.

In 2019, Spence moved to the U.S. To oversee brands and now runs the North American market for Beam Suntory. In the U.S., she leaned into the granularity of markets not just by states, but by cities and neighborhoods.

The U.S., too, was an international stop for Spence, who was raised in Luxembourg and attended university in the U.K. Growing up in such a small country gave Spence an early global perspective. “You know growing up that you’re going to leave,” she says. “Everyone is looking at countries next door and around the world imagining that’s going to be part of their lives.”

But Spence thinks more people—even those who start their careers in the biggest markets—should consider a global career. “Think really hard about what a global career could give you; that richness and the level of learning. The speed at which you have to learn because you don’t have anything else to go on,” she says. “You’ve just got your ability to learn and think through problems.”

She acknowledges the challenges of a career that requires frequent 6,000-mile moves. Spence doesn’t have children, which makes moving around the globe every few years a bit easier. “You have to be honest; there are going to be moments that are really tough—and it’s tough on you as a family. You’re not just putting yourself through it—at a certain point in life, you’re going to be putting your loved ones through it too,” she says.

Still, she’s a proponent of the career path for anyone who is “clear-eyed” about those challenges. “It accelerates your development,” she says. “It definitely did for me.”

__

Separately, Coins2Day is soliciting nominations for its Impact20 list, which celebrates startups that have incorporated a social mission into their money-making operations. You can nominate a startup using this form and contact the editors overseeing the project at [email protected]. This year’s list will publish in early December, and the deadline for applications is Oct. 23.

Emma Hinchliffe
[email protected]
@_emmahinchliffe

The Broadsheet is Coins2Day’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- One race, many winners.Claudia Scheinbaum was selected as the presidential candidate of Mexico’s governing party yesterday, a move that ensures that a woman will be elected president next year for the first time in Mexican history. Scheinbaum, a physicist, will run for the top spot against Xóchitl Gálvez, a rags-to-riches tech entrepreneur. New York Times

- Build back better.Construction companies are offering childcare resources, conducting harassment training, and even installing lactation pods to attract female applicants to construction jobs created by the bipartisan infrastructure law. Women are already piling into these positions and could make up about 29% of the new jobs created if the current trend continues. Wall Street Journal

- Turbulence over firing. When the first woman CEO of TAP, a Portuguese airline, gave an exiting board member a $535,000 severance payment earlier this year, she was fired by a government official on live TV. Now, former CEO Christine Ourmieres-Widener is suing the state-owned airline for $6.3 million over the stunt.Bloomberg

- Quitting while ahead.Former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin's legacy is defined by her successful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, staunch support for Ukraine, and Finland's integration into NATO. Now, she's retiring from politics. Marin, who was just 37 when she became Finland’s premier, will join the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. NBC

- Marriage traps.Opposition to the legality of no-fault divorces, which allow one partner to file for divorce and don’t require a specific reason for the split, is surging anew in conservative circles. Traditionalists lament no-fault divorces for destroying the nuclear family, but an end to the practice could further disadvantage women who’ve been abused and are trapped by their partners. Mother Jones

MOVERS AND SHAKERS:  TrailRunner International has hired Teresa Henderson as managing director. Ideal Image appointed Tara Margarella as chief medical officer.

ON MY RADAR

Long live the party mom Vogue

How Momofuku CEO Marguerite Zabar Mariscal created a $100 million food empire Fast Company

Where have all the girlbosses gone? Vanity Fair

PARTING WORDS

"When you’re the first, you need to do well for yourself, but you also have to do well for all those who want to come up after you. If you mess up, people judge a whole community based on your actions."

—White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the first Black person and the first openly gay person to hold the position, on being a representative for those communities