My Career Changes Elevated Me at Work — Now I Do the Same for Other Women

Jen Rindt is no stranger to career changes. Before being promoted to Director of Marketing for Diesel Engines Americas, she’d dabbled in several industries including engineering, sales, product management and marketing.

Her journey began as a project engineer in the Global Faucets division at Kohler and pivoted when she became a program manager for the decorative product brand Kallista. From there, she soared into sales as an operations and channel manager, then moved up the ranks in product management and marketing in Kohler’s Power group.

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Now, in addition to working full time as a marketing director, Rindt is also a co-chair of Kohler’s Power Women@Work business resource group. Leading this group allows her to help cultivate an inclusive environment for women through professional development, shared best practices and raised awareness around diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Rindt’s career journey makes her quite the “Jill of all trades,” but her willingness to try her hand at different roles hasn’t slowed her down a bit. In fact, it’s had the opposite effect.

“It can be scary to switch career paths, but there’s always something new and challenging to find if you’re willing to take the chance,” she told us. “I’ve worked in multiple business units and industries, and I think it’s made me a better businesswoman and leader.”

Recently, she shared with Fairygodboss what she loves most about her role at Kohler, the career move she’s most proud of, and her current priorities as a Power Women@Work co-chair. 

How long have you been in your current role, and what were you doing previously? 

I’ve been in my current role for one month. I was recently promoted from marketing manager – Diesel Engines Americas to marketing director.  

What’s the first (and/or last) thing you do at work every day? 

The first thing I do for work each day is check my phone for emails, calls and text messages.

What’s the #1 thing you think your colleagues should know — but probably don’t know — about Women@Work? 

Our focus is to cultivate an inclusive environment that supports and encourages women. This group shares similar and diverse experiences, perspectives and challenges to cultivate an inclusive community and contribute to the success of Kohler through focused member development, company culture and consumer insights. 

Tell me a bit about how the business resource group works. 

The W@W Power Group Chapter was formed at the end of 2018. We are a very new group but have made tremendous progress in the last few months. We have a chapter meeting every month for anyone woman or man who wants to attend. We also have a co-chair meeting every month for our leadership team.  Our leadership team is made of associates from both Engines and KPS. There is a Kohler engine chair and a KPS chair for each of our committees (membership, events, professional development, communications, stewardship and treasury). 

Our group has already had a handful of successful events that are sometimes tied to the chapter meeting, including a 2019 kick-off meeting, Leadership Speaker Series, TedTalk, and Book Club. Our next event is “Career Development, Hints and Lessons Learned,” a co-ed panel of KPS and Engines associates sharing their advice and valuable lessons  from each of their career paths. 

What are Women@Work’s top three priorities right now? 

Our priorities are to raise awareness and understanding of why diversity and inclusion are so important for Kohler, to gain exposure for our W@W Power Group chapter, and to build a membership (community or network) for our W@W Power Group chapter.

What’s the one career move you’ve made that you’re most proud of?  

I’m most proud of my current role in the Diesel Engines because I feel that I contribute to the success of our business further empowering me to do so.

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