Anissa Borges and Dayana Limon Santiago traveled to Thailand with the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) as part of its international internship program this summer. Selected for their strong academic records and involvement in California’s dairy industry, they gained firsthand experience in international marketing, consumer buying habits and promotional efforts for California dairy products. Both share a deep passion for the dairy industry and view this internship as a way to strengthen their connection to it.
“I had worked with CMAB previously in high school as a dairy princess,” Anissa Borges says. “I really loved working with them and thought they were a very great company. I learned so much through them that I knew I wanted to do an internship.”
Borges says serving as the District 9 Dairy Princess helped her prepare for this internship by building her confidence to share her knowledge with others. Her involvement in the Cal Poly Dairy Club has also taught her networking skills and how to ask the right questions.
“I wanted to deepen my understanding for the dairy industry from a global perspective while applying my passion for ag communications,” Dayana Limon Santiago says. “I have been involved in a few projects in ag communications back at my university and with my other dairy job at Pacific Coast Coalition (PCC). I felt like this internship was the perfect opportunity for me to expand those skills.”
Santiago says her job with PCC taught her how to communicate on complex industry topics – a skill she is using often in Thailand. This experience is also strengthening her storytelling abilities on social media.
Traveling abroad has shown the interns that people in Thailand have different eating habits than Americans, with distinct consumer buying patterns in local markets there.
“I did not realize how much of a niche dairy foods are, especially for cheese,” Borges says. “It is not common in their everyday diet compared to Americans. We put cheese on everything. The goal is to show Thailand how they can slowly incorporate cheese into their everyday cuisines, especially California cheese.”
The CMAB interns attended a cooking class at the Culinary Arts Thailand where they learned how to make Thai cuisines using real California milk products. Image provided by Dayana Limon Santiago and Anissa Borges.
During market visits, Borges and Santiago noticed that food in Thailand is typically packaged in smaller portions, which customers prefer. They also observed that customers tend to favor original flavors of dairy products.
“I have learned about consumer preferences – like cheese types,” Santiago says. “Thailand prefers packaging and products that tend to be in smaller sizes compared to in America. Americans like the cost of bulk, but here they like to have the smaller personal-sized items.”
One of the CMAB’s goals at its Thailand branch is to promote California dairy products. Since cheese is not widely consumed in Thailand, they host in-store demos showing how to incorporate California cheese into Thai dishes.
“I was not as aware of how food companies market their food supply at a grocery store until I saw how CMAB has done it,” Borges says. “We have a chef come and make food demos of Thai cuisine using California cheese. This is what made me realize this is how companies promote their products.”
“Consumers have to be able to emotionally connect with the product,” Santiago says. “Sometimes consumers here tend to not really know about some of the cheeses. Once they try the cheese from the sampling in the stores, they are more open and willing to lean toward buying our product. Promotional efforts require a lot of responsibility, but they are important when it comes to educating the consumer.”
Borges and Santiago say California does a great job promoting their dairy products. They are at every event and even show up to schools as a way of advocating for their products. This is something they think Thailand should try and learn from California as they are starting to build up their dairy industry.
The dairy industry plays a big role in both interns' everyday life, and over the years they have gained so much knowledge about California dairy. Experiencing the dairy industry in Thailand has been one of their favorite parts of the internship.
“My favorite experience is being with the CMAB Thailand team,” Borges says. “Our bosses have gone out of their way to make sure we are having the best experience. Although this is a learning experience, just being able to see Thailand and try Thai cuisines has been a really amazing experience.”
Borges and Santiago are both attending college at California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo. Borges is from Tracy, California, working toward her Bachelor of Science in agribusiness. At Cal Poly, she is involved in the dairy club. In high school, Borges was an active member of FFA and showed her dairy cattle through FFA. Her junior year of high school, she served as the District 9 Dairy Princess.
Santiago is from Wasco, California, working toward her Bachelor of Science in agricultural science. She also has plans to pursue her Master of Science in agricultural education and become an agriculture teacher. Santiago is currently the social media manager for the Pacific Coast Coalition. At this job, she creates social media content that highlights dairy industry trends.
“My favorite experience is spending time with the people here and being able to learn how the dairy industry goes beyond the borders of California,” Santiago says. “Our cheeses are international, and it is cool to see that.”
