{"id":13038,"date":"2022-08-01T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=13038"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:12:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T19:12:44","slug":"keri-rhodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2022\/08\/01\/keri-rhodes\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing adds spice to Keri Rhodes\u2019 career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Spiceology
Keri Rhodes is the marketing director at Spiceology, which sells 400 different spices and blends.
(Courtesy photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Keri
Keri Rhodes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Keri Rhodes<\/a> (\u201909 Mktg., Intl. Busi.) works in the fast-paced world of startups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s the marketing director at Spiceology, a Spokane company named to Inc. Magazine\u2019s list of 5,000 fastest growing US companies last year. Cofounded in 2013 by an executive chef and a food blogger, Spiceology partners with entities like the NFL and celebrity chefs to promote its 400 different spices and blends and develop new products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re innovators and disrupters in the spice industry,\u201d says the Carson College of Business alumna. \u201cYou won\u2019t find us going head on with McCormick and other established brands in the spice section at the grocery store. We have a much different approach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Spiceology sells products like Korean BBQ spice for Brussels sprouts in the produce section and spice sachets and rubs at the meat counter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhodes leads a four-member team in the marketing department at Spiceology, whose products are carried by retailers ranging from Williams Sonoma to Ace Hardware. Spices are ground in small batches in Spokane for quality control. Blends carry names like Vampire Killer for a garlic parmesan mix and Everything Potato for an herb-spice topping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhodes joined Spiceology<\/strong> in 2021 after spending eight years at Kaspien, a Spokane ecommerce startup. At both companies, Cougar alumni recruited her to work with them. The career moves are indicative of how relationships she formed at WSU influenced her professional life, Rhodes says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCougs share so much passion for WSU; it lasts a lifetime. I think it stems from being such an amazing community for a college experience,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By choosing WSU<\/strong>, Rhodes displayed an early affinity for bucking the status quo. She grew up in Issaquah and followed her older sister to Pullman because few of her high school classmates were headed there. \u201cMeeting new people and having new experiences was the kind of challenge I wanted,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Pullman campus, \u201cyou fully focus on college,\u201d Rhodes adds. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the school and the people. Students don\u2019t leave every weekend, so you get to know your peers really, really well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhodes was active in her sorority, worked as a Call-A-Coug telemarketer, and took part in Coug Guys and Gals, a student ambassador organization for WSU Athletics. During her senior year, a sports marketing internship at WSU helped prepare her for job interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy boss threw questions at me, coached me, and it was through his connections that I got my first job,\u201d she says. \u201cI always encourage students to take full advantage of everything WSU has to offer. The more people you know, the more connected you are. And those relationships really do last forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in her career, Rhodes<\/strong> worked for Drugstore.com, which introduced her to the rapidly evolving world of ecommerce. The company had recently been acquired by Walgreens, and it was an early leader for online sales in the beauty\/drugstore marketplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhodes landed at Kaspien when she followed her now-husband Chase (\u201909 Kin., Health & Fitness) to Spokane, where he works as a high school teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe company was run by a bunch of recent college grads with a lot of passion and energy,\u201d she says. \u201cKaspien was scrappy, growing, and it was profitable, which is unusual for a startup. I saw the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhodes started in affiliate marketing<\/strong> for Kaspien, advanced, and stayed with the company through a period of rapid growth. Initially started with a focus on eco-friendly products, the company evolved into a large, third-party seller for Amazon, Walmart, eBay and other ecommerce sites. In 2016, Kaspien\u2014then known as etailz\u2014was sold to a publicly traded company for $75 million, and it continues to have a large Spokane presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunity beckoned again when another Coug connection encouraged Rhodes to work for Spiceology. \u201cThey were growing quickly, and he thought my skillset could add value to the company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides her background in operations marketing<\/strong> and team development, Rhodes had experience with professionalizing a startup company. \u201cI think of it as getting away from short-term fixes and focusing on sustainable, scalable development,\u201d she says. \u201cI liked the idea of working for another Spokane startup, where I\u2019d be contributing to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since joining Spiceology, Rhodes has supported the firm\u2019s efforts to increase sales to home cooks and grillers by leveraging influencer chefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the pandemic hit, we were very focused on restaurant sales. That\u2019s how Spiceology was established and how the company had grown,\u201d she says. \u201cVery quickly, we were able to pivot into different direct-to-consumer sales campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partnerships with influencer chefs and other food celebrities\u2014such as the Food Network’s Grill Dads and Alvin Cailan of the Burger Show\u2014have been very productive for the company, Rhodes says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChefs drive consumer behavior, now more than ever,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople who know about Spiceology love it and often become promoters, which has really contributed to the brand\u2019s organic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhodes also stays connected with WSU<\/strong> and the Carson College. She\u2019s the vice chair of the college\u2019s marketing advisory board. The group worked with students last spring to organize a marketing symposium focused on job opportunities in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to help Carson students with that real-world connection to industry,\u201d she says. \u201cI remember being a student and thinking, \u2018Gosh, what jobs are out there for a marketing major?\u2019 I love being able to help students connect the dots.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keri Rhodes leads a four-member team in the marketing department at Spiceology, whose products are carried by retailers ranging from Williams Sonoma to Ace Hardware. The Spokane company sells 400 different spices and blends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[634],"featured_media":16491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[429,609,425,625],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13038"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18656,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13038\/revisions\/18656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13038"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=13038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}