Celebrating 4 Years of The Chemical Show: Victoria Meyer Shares Her Journey, Industry Insights, and What's Next - Ep. 210

Since starting the Chemical Show in 2021, it has really changed the game and it has changed my business. It's changed my relationship with people across the industry. And I think, and I hope that it has really made a difference for you, for others in the industry, for companies, for leaders and more. So thank you as part of our four year anniversary, I really wanna take this opportunity to do several things. Number one, reintroduce myself.

People are like, how often do you have an introduction call or introduction podcast? I'm like, eh, not very often. So let me, I'm gonna use part of the time today is just to share a bit more about myself. As you know, if you're a loyal listener of the Chemical Show, you know, I always start with Origin story and I'm gonna start with my origin story and what got me here.

It's gonna be a bit of a then and now reflection on the chemical industry and where we were four years ago and where we are today, and very different places and yet also very similar. And the word I wanna plant in your mind is resilience, because we talked a lot about resilience. In 2021, we launched the podcast and we are talking a lot about resilience today in 2025.

And then thirdly, I wanna share with you just more about the chemical show, where we are and where we are growing to be because, um, as I said, I. This journey that started four years ago? Well, first of all, it started probably before then, but the podcast has been an inflection point, for myself, for my business, and for you. I hope so. Once again, thank you and let's get going.

So first of all, um, I'm gonna start with a bit about myself and, and if you guys are familiar with the Jay-Z Song, uh, public Service announcement, you know, allow me to reintroduce myself well. I'm gonna reintroduce myself to you so you know. Who am I? Victoria King Meyer. I am today the host and the founder of The Chemical Show, the Chemical Summit, and an executive advisor and coach across the chemical industry.

Where I started my journey though, was where a lot of people, and the industry started, right? So I'm a chemical engineer by training with an MBA. I pursued a career in the chemical industry and in chemical engineering, much like many other. Of students and many of my guests who were like, well, I was good at math and science. I like problem solving. And that led me to be encouraged to study engineering. I grew up on a farm in northern Illinois.

In fact, you guys who are watching this on, YouTube or seeing clips may notice. Hey, that looks like a different recording environment. It is. I'm actually, at a podcasting conference in Chicago and recording. This episode and where I'm sitting today is not far from where I went to university. So I went to Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, to study chemical engineering, and it's not far from where I grew up in a small town outside of Chicago.

Grew up on a farm where you really learn these skills of problem solving and hard work. I spent my summers bailing hay and milking cows and doing all those farm kid things, before I went off to college in Chicago at. I, IT as I mentioned, and, um, and started a career in the chemical industry, right? So everything from project engineering to manufacturing, at companies including Amaco back when there was an amaco.

Most of it's now Ineos, as you guys know, and Lyon de Bassell or predecessor company to that. And then, took a pause and went and did an MBA at. The Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

'cause part of my story is I always knew I was starting in engineering and then moving into management, whatever that meant at the time my post MBA career took me to Houston, where I joined Shell and I spent a big part of my career inside of Shell Chemicals, doing everything from strategy to m and a. Selling businesses, buying businesses, running businesses, turning around businesses, and finally starting businesses.

And so part of my story and where you see my focus, when I talked to certain, uh, people across the industry or attend certain events is a big part of my time at Shell. I was global marketing manager for the NEODOL alcohols and ethoxylates, so the surfactant space, soapy stuff. That's where I got really well-versed and well-known and understanding of, um, ACI and its members companies. And so it's one of my go-to places. I love it.

It's like going home, back in convening and with people across the surfactants business. I also spent a lot of time in polyethylene, including early in my career in manufacturing, and then later starting up Shell's polyethylene business. Which as people might have heard me say, you know, it took 13 years to start up. I wasn't there the whole time.

Went from Shell to Clariant and then left Clariant in 2017 and kicked the tires on a few things and said I can do more value outside of companies and inside of companies. And that's where I started Progressio Global and my consulting business, working on strategy and growth, helping companies in and adjacent to the chemical industry. Grow their businesses, implement strategies more effectively with their employees and with their customers.

And for me personally, it's always been about, growth people, um, people both inside the company and outside the company and creating that customer focus. Along the way. Um, and when you. Our, a consultant and a professional service provider, you know, people say, oh, you should build authority. Well, one of the ways to build authority, as they say, to become known is through podcasting.

I had fallen in love with the medium of podcasting, and in 2021, I decided to launch The Chemical Show Podcast. And in fact, I, um, some of you guys have heard this story, I was actually on a goal setting retreat with my husband in November, 2020 and out for a walk and had been thinking about this, wanting to start a podcast, not sure what it was gonna be about, and this moment of clarity came and it's like, it's The Chemical Show. Keep it simple.

Um, went back to our hotel room, bought the website right away. It was available, it was, let's go. Um, spoke to one of my business coaches a couple days later who said, Hey, I can, would you like me to introduce you to my podcast company that I work with that helps, you know, can help you launch your podcast? And I said, yes. And the rest, as they say is history.

I'm gonna get to a little bit more about The Chemical Show and the business and what that is, but really coming back to me, and this is part of my, you know, reintroduction of introducing you to Victoria and what gets me going and why do I do what I do. I love to engage with people. You guys can see this, I believe. That people learn from people. And that's one of the fundamentals of the Chemical show, that we are all going through the same stuff.

And it's really nice to know that, number one, we're not alone. I. Um, number two, it's how others are approaching opportunities and challenges, and that ties into what we're doing on The Chemical Show. It ties into what we do with The Chemical Summit, which I can explain more about in a little bit, and also some of the mastermind groups that I've launched, including the Chemical Executive Mastermind. So if you don't know about that, stay tuned.

You're gonna be hearing more, not just on the Chemical show, but as you, as we go out in our email campaigns and, and outreach, et cetera. I started as a chemical engineer dipping my toes into the chemical industry. And today what I would tell you is fundamentally I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a media business owner. I'm a coach, and I'm a public speaker, and those are the things that I love to do.

My core values, and these are the things that come through on the Chemical show, in the Chemical Summit, in my coaching and speaking. And the other things I do is number one, connections. I love building connections, connecting people with each other, helping make those connections. Number two, insights. This idea again, that we can all learn from each other. And for me, a big part of my DNA is continuous learning.

as I mentioned earlier, I'm at a podcasting conference and I talk to somebody, they're like, why are you here? I'm like, to become better. To become better to, for myself, for you, my listeners, um, and the chemical community, as well as inside the chemical show. And to become better with that in my business and more. And then three is growth. And I'm very growth oriented.

And, you know, everything I have done along the way really is about growing businesses, growing people, and achieving growth. So that's me. oh, next step. I'm looking at my notes 'cause I've, you know, wrote down what I wanted to talk to you guys about. I had this question recently, so I ran into somebody and event Slack Victoria, like, what do you do? Like, what's really, what do you do? And so what I would tell you is when I started The Chemical Show, this actually has marked a pivot for me.

I do very little consulting today, like you still consulting a little bit. I do advisory work there. So what I would say is, number one, I have a media business. The chemical show, that also it has an extended network beyond that and there will be some additional podcasts coming. So stay tuned. And with this media business, I collaborate and consult with companies and leaders on how to make an impact through new media.

So you guys have heard some of the sponsorship ads, um, and messages throughout. I talk to companies that are gonna have guests on The Chemical Show about how do we make a more effective story for them, for you and to create that impact. So that's number one. Number two, I host an event, The Chemical Summit. So if you do not know about The Chemical Summit, I'm just gonna tell you that is a place that you need to be. This is the third year for the Chemical Summit.

It is held on September 30th and October 1st in Houston, Texas. It is a small conference, and I really mean that it is small, 150 people. Um, and it's about connecting leaders together. So we have stories on the stage and speakers on stage, but more importantly, building connections in the audience amongst attendees who are talking about, Hey, what just happened up there? Do you believe that? How are you guys approaching that?

Because once again, I believe people learn from people and we are all in this together. The third piece of my business portfolio is executive coaching. I do one-on-one coaching with executives and an exclusive executive mastermind, Chemical Executive Mastermind, which is a 12 month small group program where we're bringing in leadership learnings as well as creating a peer group advisory, ecosystem to help leaders become better leaders. One of the things that.

Became really apparent to me when I moved from big corporate Shell to Clariant and then to working with small companies is all too often leaders are alone. Right? We kind of forget that. There are other people doing the same thing, learning from each other and more. And so back to this people learning from people and helping people grow. Um, the Chemical Executive Mastermind is that third part of that ecosystem. The fourth is strategic advisory work. So I haven't fully left corporate behind.

Um, and it's really a much more focused on helping startups move into commercialization, helping companies and leaders in transition, and really applying my network. The knowledge that I've built through The Chemical Show, the community and more. Um, and then the fifth thing is professional speaking. Whether at corporate events, at conferences coming in and engaging, sharing insights, wisdom, knowledge, helping you grow, helping your businesses become more, That's that reintroduction part.

That's kind of the part one of this. And, um, if any of that resonated with you, send me an email. Uh, let me know. If you have any questions, let me know. Happy to answer those for you. My podcast journey. So The Chemical Show, let's talk about, we're doing the look back on The Chemical Show. You guys might remember episode number one, April of 2021. And my first guest was Brad Beauchamp, who is the CEO of Carpenter Company. I reached out to Brad.

He was one of the first guys I went out to and said, Hey, would you be willing to do this podcast with me? And he said, yes. And by the way, we did our interview and he promptly introduced me to a dozen people, many of whom were also on that first year of the podcast. So I owe big kudos and big thanks to Brad for being the number one guest, and helping launch, and grow The Chemical Show. So, Brad, if you're listening, thank you. Um, today's episode is episode number 210. Awesome.

Hard to imagine when we, I just began, uh, that I would get to this 210 point. I'm proud to say that we are the number one business podcast in the chemical industry. We're recently recognized by Plastics News as a 2025 social media account to follower and um, I'm really excited that people. Reach out to me, approach me, talk to me at conferences and elsewhere and say, Hey, you are doing a great job. I can't believe it's you. I love your podcast. I loved this episode. Or I like this.

You know, people tell me different things. One person said, I, I love the origin stories. You know what? Me too. I love, you know, this aspect of when you talk to this leader. Me too. The reality is I have a great job, um, and a great business. And frankly, I think of it as a real privilege to be able to speak with leaders, have great conversations, ask them questions that maybe you would like to ask. Um, get to know them better and get to share their stories.

And, that is really just a huge blessing to me. People ask me, here's the next question that people ask me sometimes. Who's your favorite guest? I would say, I don't have a favorite guest. Um, you are all my favorites. And you know, I will tell you every episode, every guest brings different. Aspects of value and fun. And while that was cool, I can't believe they did that. I can't believe they said that I'm so appreciative of what they're going through.

Um, what I really enjoy and, and this is true, people across the chemical industry, and you know this is I get to talk to smart people and with interesting topics every day or every week, and that's really great. Um, how do I find guests? So that's always a good question too. Recommendations and referrals. So people will reach out and say, Hey, I really suggest that you talk to this person. I'm like, great. Make an introduction.

companies reach out to me and say, Hey, we'd like to talk and be on the podcast. I'd like to have a guest on the podcast and say, great, let's talk about what that is and how that fits. Um, or I, we reach out and find them.. So in wide variety of ways, a lot of it is referrals. 'cause as you guys know, a warm referral is better than a cold call any day. so let's talk a little bit about the then and now. And this is, I wanna just switch and pivot to that piece of, um, of the podcast episode.

So when we started, when I started The Chemical Show, April of 2021. You think about where the chemical industry was then we were one year into the Covid pandemic. Um, in some ways maybe there was, it was a bit of the heydays, right? So business felt pretty good. In many parts of it. There was a lot of demand. Conversations were dominated by supply chain, right?

Both the whipsaw of plants, of consumer behaviors of work from home, which changed co consumer behaviors and just the dynamics going on. Then, um, I went back and I looked, and actually I've done a episode, I'll link to it in the show notes of the Top 10 Events from 2021. 2021 when we started the podcast, was event and supply chain dominated really about the physical changes in the industry. So first of all, energy and energy policy.

The US Gulf Coast had faced winter storm Yuri in February of 2021. Do you guys remember that when, um, the power grid went down like in a heartbeat? and chemical plants went down in a heartbeat and things froze up. Caused tremendous damage, caused a lot of supply chain disruptions and really changed the game of what was going on at that point in time. Number two is China energy policy and rolling blackouts.

So, it was proceedings of Winter Olympics and number three was UK Natural Gas and energy pol shortages. So that's that. Weather, hurricane Ida hit l Louisiana. So the more weather related stuff, labor shortages and issues and supply chain. Back in 2021, it was all about the physical changes going on in the industry plants, weather, energy, supply chain, and more. Fast forward April, 2025. Here we are entering, well, finishing up four years of the chemical show, entering the year five.

This time, it's all about the policies. Some of the topics are the same, but we're all about the policies. Number one, new administration. You guys know all about that, both in the US and elsewhere, setting new policies, so geopolitics and trade policies related to the Russia, Ukraine war.

Which has happened the last couple of years, middle East, and the challenges and the, the conflicts that are there and kind of China and everyone we are seeing tremendous oversupplying industry rationalization in a way that we didn't anticipate. So you will hear in an upcoming episode when I talk to Kendall Justin Yano, next week it's gonna get published.

We talked about just some of the rationalization that's going on in the industry, the fact that we have entered a deep trough, one that we've not really seen for 20 years. And so this is playing a big effect on the industry. And then, you know, the third piece is. 2021. We talked a lot about sustainability and there was all the glory days. 2025, we are talking about sustainability again. And it's about getting real and figuring out where the impact is still really important.

The goals are there, and there's a continued focus, but it's really much more about being measured, being resilient, and making things happen. And then of course. We are on this journey in the 2020s of digitization. Heck, we've been on this journey for more than the 2020s. I started doing digitization, we called it e business, um, back in 20, in the year 2000, right? So here we are, 2025 with chemical companies still trying to figure this out.

Much, much more about AI and harnessing AI and augmentation. The world is a different place. And yet some of the fundamentals are still the same supply chain, sustainability, resilience and a continued recognition that the chemical industry is a key critical driver for much of what's happening in the world. So where are we going? So, okay, second of all, let me just direct you to episode 180 where I recorded six trends influencing the chemical industry in 2024 and 25.

I think that's a great episode to look back at. I will also link to the most recent episode featuring Kurt Barrows and Tony Potter from s and p Global. That talked about 2025 chemical industry outlook. 'cause again, I think that is a great topic for us to get focused on here. On our four year anniversary and as we go forward. So what's next? The Chemical Show is going to continue to grow.

We are gonna continue to do more live events, so LinkedIn Live other live events to get you more engaged, um, or to keep you engaged. We are going to be continuing to bring great leaders and guests and stories. To the chemical show audience to you. Um, and then the third piece is that I think we're gonna be starting to make this a little bit more personal. So often we bring in that perspective from leaders about where it's at.

But I really think back to this idea that The Chemical Show and the community that we've built is about people connecting with people, um, sharing stories, understanding that we are all in this together and. We are journeying on this current path to success. So, um, stay tuned. Thank you. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Happy four years anniversary. As this gets published, we may be adding in a few messages around some special promos we have. Um, but you know, here we are. Once again.

Thank you for joining me today. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being on a four year journey of the Chemical Show and keep listening. Keep following, keep sharing, and we will talk with you again soon.