Welcome to The Vital Life where we spotlight Vital Proteins® employees. This week, our Associate Director of Integrated Marketing, Koren (Hairston) Cook, gives us a look inside her remote workday.
Lively: Thanks for sharing your day with us! To kick things off, can you tell us about what you do at Vital Proteins and what you enjoy about your role?
Koren (Hairston) Cook: I am on the Global Marketing Team here at Vital as the Associate Director of Integrated Marketing. I help develop 360 campaigns, which includes strategy, messaging and timelines for key drive periods and new product launches. I work collaboratively with various teams every day from Ecommerce to Social & Influencer.
L: Walk us through your morning routine – how has it changed (or not) since staying home?
KHC: I am one of the few people that has always worked remotely, even before the pandemic. I live in uptown Dallas with my husband who also works from home full-time. We typically start each day with our morning collagen coffee, made with two scoops of Vital Proteins® Collagen Peptides. I like to catch up on marketing news and trends from Adweek or LinkedIn for 30 minutes before I officially start my day. I feel like it puts me in a great headspace for my meetings and conversations that could potentially benefit or inspire an idea from something I’ve read.
L: Where have you been getting inspiration for projects or tasks you might be working on throughout the day?
KHC: Along with reading marketing articles I get inspiration from social media and blogs. I am a huge digital nerd and truly enjoy learning about new tech, applications and trends. TikTok is becoming my new go-to for almost all project inspiration because the content and trends move so quickly but don’t require a lot of time to learn.
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L: Lunchtime! What’s your plan?
KHC: My husband and I love to meal prep our lunch in advance, since sometimes our calls can be back-to-back or run over. We know that our moods can be a tad hangry if we don’t eat by 2 p.m. I am big on carbs and protein being in every lunch since those give the extra energy I need to stay in the zone and full. I occasionally swap in a strawberry or vanilla smoothie that must include our Vital Performance™ Protein with a simple chicken salad.
L: You’re hitting your mid-afternoon How do you re-energize your afternoon?
KHC: My go-to is our Morning Get Up & Glow™, I’m sure you’re reading this thinking, Wow, she uses a lot of Vital’s products, but I really do. One scoop of our powdered Morning Get Up & Glow™ is the caffeine push that re-energizes me to take on the rest of my day.**
L: How have you been practicing #wellnessfromhome these days?
KHC: I love doing yoga from home, it’s one of those activities you can do anywhere and feel refreshed and focused right after. I have a standing desk that comes in handy when you want to get a quick leg workout in.
My coworkers can usually tell if I am standing it means I have my ankle weights on and am getting some leg lifts in or my resistance bands are being used to whip these arms in shape. Learning to multi-task and embrace the breaks whether long or short throughout day to work out has taken the pressure off having to do an hour-long workout each day.
Rapid-Fire Round
Your favorite podcast: Currently not listening to any podcast in particular, but I am all about Audible. I’m currently reading Will Smith’s new book, Will.
Your favorite workout: Hot yoga.
Binge-worthy show: Succession
Your favorite Vital Proteins product: Collagen Peptides. My morning has not started if I don’t have my coffee and that always includes 2 scoops of collagen peptides. I love that the unflavored peptides don’t affect the taste of my coffee and blend so easily.
