After 35 years in produce, Cindy Swanberg Schwing announces her retirement, effective March 20th. "Produce has been my passion. I've had a beautiful career, worked with fantastic people, and have no regrets," she said. In this article, she reflects on how her career in produce started, how it developed over the course of more than three decades, and she looks ahead at the next chapter.
© Cindy Schwing
Rio Grande Valley
Born and raised in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, Cindy earned her MBA in International Business in Monterey, CA. After graduation, the plan was to go work for Cotton Incorporated on 6th Avenue in Manhattan, NYC. This would have been a logical fit, having grown up on a cotton and grain farm in Texas. "However, a family friend called about a position with TexaSweet Citrus. This job put me closer to my family and seemed to make more sense," she said. Although Cindy accepted the position, it was a segment of the ag industry that was completely foreign to her. Having grown up around cotton and grain, she didn't know anything about fresh produce but recognized the connection and forged ahead. Oddly enough, her master's thesis was about passion fruit out of Central America and appeared to be the perfect backdrop for what was to come.
After having soaked up knowledge about Texas grapefruit and oranges as fast as she could, she moved to WareHouse Farms (WHF), the largest citrus company in the Rio Grande Valley at the time and became Marketing Director. "During my years with WHF, I started in brand marketing and Rio Queen label became my focus." She also got involved with the export side of the business, which was her educational background. "I even helped secure Targeted Export Assistance (TEA) funding for the industry for a marketing export program in Japan and European countries," she said. As an industry, a charter ship for Germany was loaded out of Brownsville, TX, which had not been done in over a decade. During her tenure at WHF, she also experienced her first killer freeze (1989), which caused complete devastation in the industry.
© Cindy Schwing
Cindy and Produce: a marriage made in heaven
"By that time, though, I knew I wanted to be my own boss." She started her own produce-focused marketing and consulting firm and represented non-competing produce companies in the Rio Grande Valley for about 12 years, promoting Rio Queen citrus, Trophy onions/melons, Alita and High-Lowe Watermelon and London Tropicals (mangoes, limes, papaya, jackfruit). She supported every client with all aspects of marketing that pertained to the produce industry. As a spokesperson for several companies, she traveled extensively throughout the United States on behalf of a variety of fresh products.
"I had found my niche, my passion and it was the fresh produce business, without a doubt. I couldn't get enough of the industry nor the people in it. I ate, drank and slept the produce business 24/7, and read every produce publication I could get my hands on. I had found what matched my strong work ethic and seemed to be the perfect fit for my high energy, dedication to the ag industry, and the idea of a relationship-based way of doing business," she shared. "There's something special about ag people that has always clicked with me: their humility, the love of the land, and their deep devotion to God and family."
© Cindy Schwing
Cindy promoting grapefruit and watermelons.
Love for mangoes
After 12 years of running her own company, she joined London Fruit and took on Business Development and social media, followed by the National Mango Board where she was a Retail Account Manager (West Coast) before joining Splendid by Porvenir as VP of Marketing/Retail Sales 3.5 years ago. "At Splendid, I am most proud of the Jaguar Mango and Keitt Kong marketing campaigns. The reason I decided to marry the mango world was the international/cultural side of mangoes, which tied right into my background and love for travel." Mangoes are grown worldwide and on several of her trips she had an opportunity to incorporate visits to mango fields, including Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Spain. "During my time at Splendid some of the best memories are going to the fields with Daniel Ibrarra in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, learning how to pick mangoes off the trees."
"Cindy has been an incredible asset to Splendid during her time with the company," says Daniel Ibarra, President of Splendid by Porvenir. "Her passion for the produce industry, especially mangoes, is truly contagious and she has a unique ability to connect people across every part of the business—from growers in the field to retail partners in the marketplace. Cindy's energy, professionalism, and genuine love for agriculture have helped strengthen the Splendid brand and the relationships behind it. Beyond her accomplishments, she is simply a wonderful person to work with, and her enthusiasm and dedication will certainly be missed. However, Ms. Mango will live on in the mango world."
© Cindy Schwing
Left: Ms. Mango promoting mangoes. Right: Cindy and Daniel Ibarra.
New chapter
© Cindy SchwingWhen asked about her plans for retirement, she said she will first take some time to unplug and decompress. Next, are home projects that need to be tackled and domestic as well as international trips with her husband and grown children. "We will see what happens after that as my canvas is blank at this point and a new chapter is about to begin that I will consider my "go years". Time and health are both priorities, but I don't plan to be on the sidelines for long as I'm sure I will find myself in the center of something very soon," she concluded.
For more information:
Cindy Schwing
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (+1) 956-793-6493
