Quality Assurance and Regulatory Manager and Consultant, Aparajhitha Sudarsan

Aparajhitha Sudarshan is a Quality and Regulatory Manager in pet food manufacturing and the founder of Food Strategy Consulting, where she helps small and medium food businesses with compliance, training, and food safety systems. In today's episode, we talk about the 80/20 rule of food safety leadership, how to build soft skills nobody teaches you in school, and practical ways students can network at conferences without it feeling forced. --- Shownotes --- 🎵 Music: 'Piano Sway' (Intro A - 4 seconds) by Jay Man / OurMusicBox (our-music-box.com) --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:41 - About Apara's Food Job 02:59 - Foundations of Food Safety 03:56 - Building Team Culture 05:50 - A Typical Day on the Floor 09:26 - Pre-Op Conversations 11:06 - The Soft Skill Nobody Teaches 15:44 - Most Surprising Part of the Job 17:46 - Her Career Path 20:10 - Comparing Industries 22:22 - Practicing Soft Skills Early 24:05 - What Is Toastmasters? 27:56 - Reframing Mistakes 30:34 - Conference Networking Advice 40:14 - Low-Stakes Ways to Start 42:27 - Closing Thoughts --- 📙 Career Guides 💭 Career Advice --- CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST 💼 Aparajhitha Sudarshan LinkedIn 💼 Food Strategy Consulting LinkedIn 🌐 Food Strategy Consulting Website --- CONNECT WITH US 📸 Instagram 🎵 TikTok 💼 LinkedIn