Packaging School and AICC: Unconventional Path to Packaging

Dr. Julie Suggs explores the many pathways that lead professionals into the packaging industry, demonstrating how backgrounds in fields such as chemistry, psychology, and history provide valuable perspectives that drive innovation. Through personal experience and examples from The Packaging School's Unconventional Paths to Packaging series, the article illustrates how packaging thrives as an interdisciplinary profession—one where diverse expertise can translate into meaningful and rewarding careers.

Our very own Dr. Suggs and Alli Keigley write in a feature of BoxScore by AICC.

Dr. Suggs states:

I didn’t start my career thinking about boxes, bottles, or barrier films. I started with molecules.
As a chemistry student pursuing my Bachelor of Science in chemistry, I was fascinated by reactions, structures, and the invisible forces that shape the physical world. I loved understanding why materials behave the way they do. But I didn’t yet know that this curiosity would lead me somewhere unexpected—the wide world of packaging.

Read the full BoxScore publication here: https://now.aiccbox.org/unconventional-path-to-packaging/.

Explore The Packaging School's Unconventional Paths to Packaging content library here.

5/11/2026