With more than 3,000 exhibitor booths, 510,000 square feet of show floor and tens of thousands of attendees, it takes a dedicated team of professionals with diverse skills to ensure that Natural Products Expo West is an all-around success. Representing education to operations, client services, sales, marketing, design, standards, content and more, these and other New Hopers work behind-the-scenes—for months and sometimes even years in advance of a show—to make sure each expo runs smoothly, and to support New Hope’s mission statement to cultivate a prosperous, high-integrity CPG and retail ecosystem that creates health, joy and justice for all people while regenerating the planet.

This Expo West Show Scoop series highlights some of the many people at New Hope Network who make it all possible.

Here, Content Marketing Director Nancy Coulter-Parker shares her love of this industry and why she's been a part of it for so long.

In one sentence, tell me about your job at New Hope? I help brands and companies across the supply chain gain visibility, tell their stories and communicate their points of differentiation in the marketplace.

How long have you been doing this? A while. I worked at New Hope in a similar role for 5.5 years. I then worked as a content consultant for 10 years so I could have more time with my kids. During this time, I continued to work consistently with New Hope. Two years ago, I returned to New Hope and my current role full time.

What do you love about your job? I love the people I work with and the people I get to interact with across this industry. I love elevating conversations that are important to these times, such as the role organic and regenerative organic agriculture can play in mitigating climate change. I also love helping brands and companies gain visibility and talk about the good work that they are doing.

What do you wish people knew about content marketing? Content marketing is incredibly versatile and can be an effective tool for brands and suppliers to dive deeper into showcasing the work they are doing—whether talking about mission or products. And there are so many different assets that can be used to do this from articles to e-guides to infographics, or videos, podcasts and webinars.

What’s your favorite thing about Expo West? The chocolate! Discovering new products. The education sessions. Seeing familiar faces and meeting new people. Basically everything!

What’s your least favorite thing about expo west? How I feel after trying too many samples on the show floor (and not being smart about the order I try them in)! Never having enough time to get through the show floor. 

What’s the one thing you cannot live without at EW? Comfy shoes! (And my portable charger).

Favorite Expo shoes? I’m still searching.

Favorite restaurant in Anaheim? I like to get away from the convention center. The Anaheim Packing House is fun, lots of places to eat under one roof. Old Town Orange (or the orange circle) not far from Chapman University, has some great restaurants. Haven Craft Kitchen and Bar is great and I’ve heard good things about Francoli Gourmet and Gabbi’s Mexican, too.

What are you most proud of about the work you do on EW? I usually help moderate and present at the education sessions. This time around, I’m excited to present the qualitative research I did for our Inside the Bottle program at the State of Dietary Supplements session on Wed. March 8 at 10 a.m. For this, I spoke to consumers around the country and the findings from these conversations are interesting to consider in today’s marketplace.