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Speaker 1: Everybody is Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.

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Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation

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Speaker 1: with Lauren McCann. Right after these brief messages from our

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Speaker 1: generous sponsors, I want to tell you a story.

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Speaker 2: I'd love to hear it.

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Speaker 1: Okay, when I started my business, I also still wanted

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Speaker 1: to save the world because I was thirty one years

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Speaker 1: old and thought.

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Speaker 3: I had the way I grew up, like we all

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Speaker 3: grew up.

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Speaker 1: And while I was evolving and developing mown ideas about

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Speaker 1: what's right and wrong in the world, I still had

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Speaker 1: my perspective as a kid and a young guy in college,

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Speaker 1: and I think.

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Speaker 3: We all evolve over time. One of the things that.

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Speaker 1: I have always believed from my own personal experience is

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Speaker 1: that the nuclear family matters. I think a kid needs

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Speaker 1: an involved mom and dad, and if at all possible,

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Speaker 1: an organic mother and father in the home. And that

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Speaker 1: comes from the fact that I'm the product of a

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Speaker 1: mom who's been divorced five times, whose father left him

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Speaker 1: when he was four, who until in his forties, dealt

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Speaker 1: with some trauma that I never really reconciled until my forties. Right,

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Speaker 1: So as a result, that's something that I'm very opinionated about,

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Speaker 1: and I probably hurt people's feelings when I say that sometimes,

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Speaker 1: and oh, well, I grew up fat and redheaded. I've

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Speaker 1: had my feelings stomped on since I was six. They

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Speaker 1: can get over it. So with that in mind, I

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Speaker 1: started this business us on a wing and a prayer

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Speaker 1: when I was thirty one years old. And one of

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Speaker 1: the guys that I cared very much about who came

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Speaker 1: to me as a former marine who then became an addict,

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Speaker 1: who was actually living at Lighthouse Ministries named Sam Quinn.

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Speaker 1: He recently passed. I had an enormous respect for Sam

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Speaker 1: because he was in his early forties when I first

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Speaker 1: met him, working for me for eight dollars an hour

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Speaker 1: in a very labor intensive job, like a twenty two

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Speaker 1: year old guy. But he was working and he was

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Speaker 1: trying to get his life straight. And one night we

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Speaker 1: had some machinery breakdown and he stayed the entire weekend

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Speaker 1: to help me get the machinery going so we could

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Speaker 1: run Monday. And this is back when I had no

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Speaker 1: money at all, first year in business, very tenuous. I

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Speaker 1: could not run, also couldn't pay him overtime, and he

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Speaker 1: did it for nothing because he was buying into the

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Speaker 1: idea that if we built this business, maybe he has

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Speaker 1: a place in it. Loved Sam missed Sam today. At

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Speaker 1: any rate, it's impossible to spend forty eight hours with

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Speaker 1: somebody in Greece and dirt and soot and not talk.

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Speaker 1: And so I talked about my background, he talked about his,

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Speaker 1: and one of the things I found out is that

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Speaker 1: he had a girlfriend who had two children who he loved,

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Speaker 1: and the children he'd taken on as a father and

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Speaker 1: was really working hard to figure it all out. And

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Speaker 1: I started in on my kids need an organic family

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Speaker 1: conversation with sam My high and mighty, all knowing I

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Speaker 1: have the cultural answer for everything. Very condescending conversation that

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Speaker 1: was extraordinarily well intentioned on my part, but I had

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Speaker 1: no idea what hell I was talking about.

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Speaker 3: And when pressing him on why he wouldn't go ahead

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Speaker 3: and just marry the woman that he professes to love

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Speaker 3: and maybe adopt or at least be a steady father

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Speaker 3: figure for those children and create an organic home so

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Speaker 3: those children would see what that looks like to break

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Speaker 3: this cycle of single parenthood.

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Speaker 1: Issues that plague are inner cities. Why he just wouldn't

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Speaker 1: man up and do the right thing. It was then

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Speaker 1: that I learned that although his wife worked forty hours

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Speaker 1: a week as a maid for a hotel chain, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't enough to pay all her bills, and she needed

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Speaker 1: some I think it's Section eight or I don't remember

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Speaker 1: the words, but she got some assistance for housing, and

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Speaker 1: she got some food assistance from children, even though she

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Speaker 1: worked forty hours a week. This is not the quote

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Speaker 1: welfare queen's story that we heard during the Reagan years.

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Speaker 1: All right, this is a working woman, full time, raising

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Speaker 1: her two children, keeping a roof over the head, but

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Speaker 1: couldn't make enough money and provide food for children a

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Speaker 1: roof over head. And I said, well, Sam, y'all combind

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Speaker 1: your incomes too, can live cheaper than one. And I

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Speaker 1: went into the whole that trope, at which point he

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Speaker 1: finally looked at me. He said, Bill, you don't understand

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Speaker 1: if I marry her, the government assistant stops. And he

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Speaker 1: looked at me and he said, so, on the one hand,

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Speaker 1: you and the government tells us that the best thing

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Speaker 1: for our children is to have an organic household and

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Speaker 1: be married, and we don't disagree. But on the other hand,

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Speaker 1: they disincentivize the very thing they say we should be doing,

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Speaker 1: or incentivize us to not do the very thing we

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Speaker 1: should be doing. And he looked me dead nose and

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Speaker 1: he said, what the hell would you do? Get married

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Speaker 1: and have your children starve. It was then that I

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Speaker 1: understood what the dangers of even well intentioned top down

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Speaker 1: policy is.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I had a similar experience actually reading a book

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Speaker 2: which is not a known, well known you know book,

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Speaker 2: but it's by a man named Mauricio Miller. It's called

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Speaker 2: The Alternative. It's pretty radical, but it had the same

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Speaker 2: profound impact on me. It was like everything I know

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Speaker 2: is wrong.

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Speaker 3: That's how I felt.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I also felt undressed by this man that worked

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Speaker 1: for me, and rightly so. He was respectful, but he

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Speaker 1: looked me dead the nose and tight lips said basically,

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Speaker 1: get off your high horse. You don't know what you're

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Speaker 1: talking about. And you know why because I never asked.

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Speaker 1: I told yeah. So it's interesting when you talk about

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Speaker 1: your time as stand together in the top down verse

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Speaker 1: bottom up things. And it's important to me that our

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Speaker 1: listeners here, the true answers don't come from an ivory

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Speaker 1: tower or somebody spouting policy because of all the things

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Speaker 1: they learned in academy. It happens when you actually ask

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Speaker 1: the very people you need to serve, what do you need?

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Speaker 2: That was the theme of this book, The Alternative. And

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Speaker 2: I'll just share very quickly because I don't even know

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Speaker 2: if it's on Amazon. It's that kind of rare of

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Speaker 2: a book. It's not a bestseller, but it had a

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Speaker 2: profound impact on me. Maricio Miller used to run a

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Speaker 2: poverty program in California. And his name is Mauricio Miller, Okay,

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Speaker 2: And at one point he was like invited by President

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Speaker 2: Bill Clinton to sit in the box during like the

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Speaker 2: State of the Union it is, and that's how the

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Speaker 2: book starts. And he's sitting there and he's getting all

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Speaker 2: these accolades about the program he started in California, and

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Speaker 2: he's thinking to himself, I would never send my mother

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Speaker 2: to this program that I started. His mother grew up

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Speaker 2: in poverty, and he's feeling all this shame, like I'm

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Speaker 2: a fraud. I have this shiny program, but I would

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Speaker 2: never send my own mother there. And the entire book

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Speaker 2: goes through his realization that the key to helping people

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Speaker 2: like his mother was listening to her, was empowering her,

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Speaker 2: was getting out of the way. And so the alternative

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Speaker 2: is about this radical idea of not intervening. So he

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Speaker 2: started pioneering like direct cash assistance programs where you give

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Speaker 2: and you observe and you learn and you get out

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Speaker 2: of the way. And actually it was so radical too.

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Speaker 2: In reading the book, is like, even in his organization

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Speaker 2: that he built after this realization of like top down

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Speaker 2: versus bottom up, his team wasn't able to intervene to

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Speaker 2: help the people that they were working with. So a

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Speaker 2: good example in the book was very extreme. It's like

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Speaker 2: they're working with someone in poverty who does not speak English,

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Speaker 2: and somebody's like, well, I just can translate that letter

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Speaker 2: for that person. I'm happy to do it, and he's like, no,

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Speaker 2: because if you do that, they're not going to build

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Speaker 2: the community and connection to build the long term to

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Speaker 2: fill the long term need of their lack of understanding English,

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Speaker 2: like they need to figure it out. You helping actually

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Speaker 2: hurts them. And so it was this like radical idea

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Speaker 2: of like stop helping, stop intervening, listen, empower and get

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Speaker 2: out of the way, give them agency. And I remember

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Speaker 2: at the time we were thinking about how we could

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Speaker 2: build stand together in our working communities, and that book

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Speaker 2: had a profound impact on us. So it's like, how

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Speaker 2: do we not helicopter and how do we empower how

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Speaker 2: do we support you know, from the bottom up, because ultimately,

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Speaker 2: if you're not giving them the opportunity to figure it out,

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Speaker 2: you're hamstringing them. And it actually goes to my brother's story,

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Speaker 2: like he applied on his own to artlifting. My knee

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Speaker 2: jerk reaction was, no, I should have I should have

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Speaker 2: helped you with your application. I could have I could

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Speaker 2: have like supported you. He needed that win, he needed

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Speaker 2: to figure it out. That was a skill that helped

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Speaker 2: him long term. But like those were stepstones, like don't

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Speaker 2: don't take away the steps stones.

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Speaker 1: It dawns on me as I'm listening to you, that

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Speaker 1: is the precipice of the very thing that becomes institutionalization.

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Speaker 1: It is, Yeah, when you when you tell people to

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Speaker 1: stand here, line up, here, go get this, go get that.

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Speaker 1: Eventually the government becomes the biggest paternalist on the face

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Speaker 1: of the planet.

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Speaker 3: So there's your experience it stand together.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, professionally, as you're evolving your understanding of how you

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Speaker 1: think things did work, and then your personal experience with

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Speaker 1: your brother. We often say on the show that amazing

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Speaker 1: things happen when passion and opportunity collide, and it feels

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Speaker 1: like there's a collision starting to take place for you,

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Speaker 1: passion about folks who suffer from the same deals that

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Speaker 1: your brother suffers from, and obviously the opportunity you're starting

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Speaker 1: to see it Stand Together. So I'm sure procure impact

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Speaker 1: is morphed, but I'm collecting that or I'm arriving and

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Speaker 1: maybe inaccurately you can tell me. But somewhere at the

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Speaker 1: Stand Together Brother thing, this picture impact became a concept.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's actually a project I worked on at Stand

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Speaker 2: Together that was really bringing it to life. So my

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Speaker 2: brother had this transformational purchase changes life, and I'm thinking,

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Speaker 2: how do you scale that? At the time at Stand Together,

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Speaker 2: I was given the project of building out our office space.

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Speaker 2: Totally random, but I had to literally work with architects

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Speaker 2: and designers to think through the physical office and we

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Speaker 2: care at Stand Together, you know, we were working on

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Speaker 2: projects that helped people break the cycle of poverty, and

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Speaker 2: I thought, well, why not actually do that in how

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Speaker 2: we're building perpetually?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, why not actually put into practice what we're preaching

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Speaker 3: around this.

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Speaker 2: Story, but in this project of our office, which is

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Speaker 2: such a small thing, right, But what I realized is like,

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Speaker 2: by building a space, could we purchase products for our

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Speaker 2: office space that actually helped people transform their lives and

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Speaker 2: get out of poverty. And we started building up lists

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Speaker 2: of enterprises that made products that helped survive of trafficking,

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Speaker 2: or that helped people coming out of incarceration, or uh

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Speaker 2: snack products that supported individuals with disabilities. And I had

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Speaker 2: never thought of these organizations as suppliers. Just we were.

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Speaker 2: We were thinking of them as entities we would invest

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Speaker 2: in philanthropically, right to help them through the programmatic ways

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Speaker 2: they were supporting the populations they serve. And when I

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Speaker 2: met with architects and designers, they had never thought of

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Speaker 2: them as suppliers either. So we were building out the

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Speaker 2: office space and every piece in the in the office

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Speaker 2: had intention and purpose. I mean down to the coasters

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Speaker 2: that were made in Appalachia by people in poverty.

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Speaker 4: I gotta say those Thistle Farm lavender soap is amazing.

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Speaker 3: It smells. What is it still in the office? Are

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Speaker 3: you actually going to invoke lavender soap?

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Speaker 2: Tennessee Tennessee Base.

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Speaker 3: Too soap made.

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Speaker 2: It's made by Thistle Farms. They're in Nashville. They support

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Speaker 2: survivors of trafficking and addiction.

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Speaker 3: Are you kidding?

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Speaker 2: They support them with housing for two years. The job

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Speaker 2: is part of the transformation process to help the women heal.

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Speaker 3: And so you're like the soap it stand togethers coming

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Speaker 3: from these folks. That's rather than Dove exactly. That was

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Speaker 3: literally the idea corporate deal. Nothing wrong with Dove. Gosh,

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Speaker 3: they may be we're going to go to commercial break

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Speaker 3: and it's probably going to be Dove and we're probably

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Speaker 3: going to lose that sponsor right now. Nothing wrong with Dove.

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Speaker 1: But the point is you decided to take that job

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Speaker 1: of making the office space to use intentionality about buying

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Speaker 1: everything you could, spending those dollars with organizations that had

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Speaker 1: some social purpose.

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Speaker 2: That's it was. It was a simple concept. But what

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Speaker 2: I realized is there wasn't an easy way to execute

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Speaker 2: the strategy. Like no one had ever aggregated product based

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Speaker 2: enterprise is that were helping people transform their lives. They

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Speaker 2: were all fragmented, you know, in different communities, and so

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Speaker 2: this was almost like the first manifestation of what became

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Speaker 2: Procure Impact before I knew I was going to become

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Speaker 2: an entrepreneur. But we had conference tables made by carpenters

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Speaker 2: that had experienced homelessness, high end, beautiful conference tables. We

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Speaker 2: had coffee, we had snacks. I mean, it was the

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Speaker 2: whole thing. So when we did the ribbon cutting.

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Speaker 3: You know we have one of those in Memphis. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 3: it's this one and b I think is the name

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Speaker 3: of it. No, and a tea company here Yeah. No, oh,

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Speaker 3: Jess and I've been on with We've done.

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Speaker 1: They started a woodworking show and people who had struggled

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Speaker 1: with both addiction and homelessness, and they make.

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Speaker 2: Cutting boards sending my way.

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Speaker 3: We'll introduce you when we're done. Yes, he is amazing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And the thing that was so exciting about it, No, No,

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Speaker 2: it's great. We want to be able to identify more

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Speaker 2: suppliers we can work with in that way. But when

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Speaker 2: we did the ribbon cutting for the space, what was

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Speaker 2: also so magical about it. I remember because it was

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Speaker 2: Martin Luther King weekend. Our team members were walking around

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Speaker 2: the space and there were plaques that talked about the

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Speaker 2: impact of each product, and it actually set the stage

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Speaker 2: for our culture in terms of like opening people up,

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Speaker 2: making people think more intentionally, connecting to the stories of

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Speaker 2: the products. We would open meetings and people would pet

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Speaker 2: the tables and like explain, they would explain where they

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Speaker 2: came from. They were so proud of the tables. They

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Speaker 2: were gorgeous tables. And so that's when I started to realize, like, oh,

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Speaker 2: wait a second, this is a business idea. Like the

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Speaker 2: architects and designers I was working with had no concept

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Speaker 2: of these suppliers and the opportunity to be that bridge

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Speaker 2: and to actually help their clients or help the corporations

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Speaker 2: they're working for leverage their purchasing power to create impact.

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Speaker 2: And what's so interesting to me is when you think

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Speaker 2: about corporations and their working communities, they often think about

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Speaker 2: it as like here's my business and here's my philanthropy

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Speaker 2: or my corporate social responsibility, But they don't realize that

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Speaker 2: their biggest levers for sustainable change are the people they

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Speaker 2: hire and the products they purchase, which are much more

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Speaker 2: sustainable than philanthropy alone. Like philanthropy is great because it

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Speaker 2: can help people stabilize and it's important, but when you

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Speaker 2: buy something and bring it into your supply chain. It's

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Speaker 2: creating that repeatable, sustainable revenue that actually.

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Speaker 1: Has so many philanthrothropic endeavors are only as good as

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Speaker 1: the people who keep empty in their pockets every year

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Speaker 1: to provide whatever work's being done.

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Speaker 3: But this can help philanthropy sustain itself.

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Speaker 2: It gives it philanthropy the opportunity to be targeted for

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Speaker 2: support of services, stabilization, etc. And that enduring revenue that

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Speaker 2: companies get through purchases, the corporations may become the foundation

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Speaker 2: for helping them impact more lives.

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Speaker 3: Will be right back.

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Speaker 2: And so I was super intrigued by this.

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Speaker 1: Idea, and really you stumbled over it because you put

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Speaker 1: together the office but you had the background of the

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Speaker 1: top down, bottom up thing and your brother. So it's

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Speaker 1: almost this kaleidoscope of things kind of coming into focus.

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Speaker 3: It feels like.

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Speaker 2: It was surreal. Actually, I remember writing a two pager

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Speaker 2: about social impact procurement on a plane that sat there

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Speaker 2: for a little while.

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Speaker 3: Just brain just kind of thinking about it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was a couple it was. It

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Speaker 2: was several years before I actually had the courage to

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Speaker 2: start to like test it out beyond that office space project,

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Speaker 2: because I was I was working in philanthropy, so I

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Speaker 2: was doing good, but I wasn't really thinking about betting

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Speaker 2: on myself taking a leap, leaving safety and security to build.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, all that stuff scary as hell.

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Speaker 2: It's very I mean I have two little kids at

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Speaker 2: the time, so it was very like, that's something you

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Speaker 2: do later, right, but it was nagging at me. I

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Speaker 2: also realized that I knew the suppliers. I had this

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Speaker 2: passion because of my personal lived experience, like I was

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Speaker 2: equipped to do it. And I started thinking about what

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Speaker 2: industries buy a lot of stuff? What would create more

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Speaker 2: sustainable revenue for these suppliers that are working with our

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Speaker 2: most vulnerable, marginalized populations. And I just kept imagining mini

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Speaker 2: bars like hotel consumption of product. I had no hospitality

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Speaker 2: background at the time, and yet because of my filanthropic connections,

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Speaker 2: I knew a couple of owners of hotels. And these

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Speaker 2: were owners of hotels who deeply care about their community

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Speaker 2: and were investing filanthropically. And I approached them and said, hey,

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Speaker 2: would you pilot with me? Like, I don't really know

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Speaker 2: what this is going to turn into, but what about this?

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Speaker 2: We could we use your hotel and your purchasing power

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Speaker 2: as a way to create the impact you're trying to

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Speaker 2: create in communities. Are their products that would fit your needs?

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Speaker 2: And it started with a handful of hotels that we

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Speaker 2: were working with.

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Speaker 3: First products. I've been dying to ask those first products.

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Speaker 2: Soars, No, absolutely, soap candles. So think about a hotel.

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Speaker 2: Hotels almost like a microcosm of our multiple businesses. You

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Speaker 2: have spas, you have restaurants, you have retail, you have snacks,

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Speaker 2: you have food and beverage. So there's quite a lot

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Speaker 2: of consumption happening in hotels, and hotels are trying to

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Speaker 2: create unique guest experiences, not just kind of the cookie

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Speaker 2: cutter same same, Like they want hotels to be a

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Speaker 2: destination where you're able to align to your purpose, your

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Speaker 2: why get respite, relaxation. Their place is a belonging right

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Speaker 2: they have to. They welcome people from all over the world.

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Speaker 2: And I realized I was like, Okay, if you're in

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Speaker 2: the minibar, you're in every room, you know there's consumption happening.

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Speaker 2: These are repeat orders if you're in their retail store,

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Speaker 2: if you're their amenity program. And so we went to

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Speaker 2: Pacific Hospitality Group, which our first partner literally had nobody.

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Speaker 2: I had no staff, I didn't have a big vision

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Speaker 2: for what was going to happen. I just said it

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Speaker 2: was me and a napkin, and I asked them to

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Speaker 2: pilot with me, and they said yes, and that pilot

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Speaker 2: uh turned into you know, fast forwards. Now we have

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Speaker 2: twenty five hundred hotels.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, what did you what did they buy the first time?

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Speaker 2: Buying? Okay? Snacks for their retail store, candy.

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Speaker 3: What's snacks? Who makes snacks?

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Speaker 2: So they're companies like the Women's Bean Project. So the

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Speaker 2: Women's Bean Project is in Denver. They work with women

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Speaker 2: coming out of incarceration, women in recovery sons. They have

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Speaker 2: raspberry gummy fish, jelly beans, plantain ships, trail mix.

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Speaker 3: They mad jelly beans.

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Speaker 2: They do so we have really well Okay.

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Speaker 3: So where would they sell these before you came along a.

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Speaker 2: Lot of these groups had partnerships in some local grocery,

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Speaker 2: local boutiques, But.

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Speaker 1: Would they sell enough product to actually be profitable enough

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Speaker 1: to sustain themselves?

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Speaker 2: So sometimes that's the goal. Sometimes they have philanthropy to

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Speaker 2: pay for the kind of like deep casework case management

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Speaker 2: work that they have to do with the populations they serve.

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Speaker 2: So oftentimes it's a blended model where they have like

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Speaker 2: some philanthropy and they're making revenue through the sale of

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Speaker 2: their products. Another good example, Cameron's Chocolates, is in Fairfax, Virginia,

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Speaker 2: just like fifteen minutes from my house. I didn't know

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Speaker 2: they existed until I started this company, which is crazy.

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Speaker 2: They work with individuals with disabilities and they make high

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Speaker 2: end Belgian truffles and chocolates and baked goods, and these

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Speaker 2: are some of the best chocolates store.

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Speaker 3: So where do they go into the host of the hotels?

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Speaker 2: Imagine like the chocolate on the pillow from back in

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Speaker 2: the day.

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Speaker 3: Right, it's like in the day, there's still hotels that

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Speaker 3: do that.

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Speaker 2: It's it is the welcome gift you get when you

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Speaker 2: come in. Several several of our hotels have four piece

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Speaker 2: chocolates that.

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Speaker 3: Out of taste.

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Speaker 1: All the cameras story tom time stamping. Yeah, I get

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Speaker 1: so much trouble with this producer guy.

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Speaker 4: You chased of too many squirrels in the first part

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Speaker 4: of the interview.

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Speaker 3: I thought, you're here, I'm allowed to do it, and

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Speaker 3: don't edit this out either.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday, Yeah, we interviewed an organization in McKinney, Texas, that

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Speaker 1: the restaurant is run seventy employees or so is run

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Speaker 1: ninety percent of the employees. Our individuals to suffer intellectual disabilities,

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Speaker 1: some folks with downs, some folks on the spectrum whatever.

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Speaker 3: She brought me a box of cookies that her people made.

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Speaker 1: Yep, fantastic, Lisa, and I almost got sick on them.

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Speaker 3: Web side.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, do you know Hugs Cafe?

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Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, yeah, you know them.

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Speaker 2: I we're not working with them yet, but I know

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Speaker 2: of them because Yeah, they were to make.

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Speaker 1: Check in cookies wrapped in little bags for the hotels.

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Speaker 2: There are thousands of those those things all over the country.

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Speaker 1: And the point is, but how do people even really

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Speaker 1: know about them? Because typically they're selling their stuff probably

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Speaker 1: it I don't want to besmirch what they're doing, but

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Speaker 1: they're probably selling them locally, and they're probably.

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Speaker 3: It farmers' markets or whatever. But how do you like

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Speaker 3: scale it?

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 1: And what you're doing is you're challenging This is all

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Speaker 1: just coming to me now. I'm starting to understand what

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Speaker 1: you do. You're challenging large corporations that have true buying

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Speaker 1: power to be intentional about trying to direct their purchases

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Speaker 1: as long as it's I mean, profits are necessary measure

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Speaker 1: of any businesses this US. So these hotels can't just

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Speaker 1: go pay extra money. But if it can be reasonably

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Speaker 1: competitive price wise, why not put your buying power at

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Speaker 1: places that intentionally help.

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Speaker 2: Society exactly, And they have to perform well, So these

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Speaker 2: have to be amazing cookies they have, they're amazing cookies,

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Speaker 2: and our products do outperform the typical snack or typical cookie.

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Speaker 2: And they have a story that helps connect the guests

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Speaker 2: to their community and inspire them and allow them to

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Speaker 2: they tell.

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Speaker 1: The guests the story because I got to believe then

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Speaker 1: the guest is like, oh and yeah. With that number

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Speaker 1: of scale of people coming in, that's got to also

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Speaker 1: heighten the awareness of one the good that the hotel

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Speaker 1: or the corporation's doing, and two the actual people doing

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Speaker 1: the work.

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Speaker 2: Yep, we create the storytelling assets for the hotels. You do.

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Speaker 2: We do so we make it super easy for them

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Speaker 2: to engage with their guests and allow them to create

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00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,920
Speaker 2: that meaningful moment upon check in or when they enter

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Speaker 2: their room. And I'm going to mention Cameron's Cameron's was

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00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,919
Speaker 2: never in a hotel before they came on our platform.

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Speaker 2: We have a B to B marketplace, like an actual

439
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 2: e commerce platform that it makes it really easy for

440
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 2: hotels to buy from us. I walked into that chocolate

441
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,560
Speaker 2: shop one day in a baseball hat and just said, Hey,

442
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,439
Speaker 2: I have this vision. Would you guys want to partner

443
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,360
Speaker 2: with us? Very early on, they're in over two hundred hotels.

444
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,159
Speaker 2: They are now shifting a lot of their production to

445
00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:00,160
Speaker 2: wholesale because it's allowing them to hire more people. I've

446
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 2: met families and individuals who've been impacted by jobs that

447
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 2: didn't exist before the purchases from our platform came to camerons?

448
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: When did this concept? Because you asked Pacific somebody.

449
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 2: Pacific Hospitality Group two, Yeah, to hang out with you.

450
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:18,800
Speaker 3: But you're still working. I mean, this is not your

451
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 3: thing yet? Right?

452
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,199
Speaker 2: No? Where did you go all in?

453
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 3: This might work? And I'm gonna toss in quit my

454
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 3: job and tell my little kids we may starve a

455
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 3: little while while I do this.

456
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:36,080
Speaker 2: Yes, and to add to that, my husband also works

457
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:38,439
Speaker 2: for Procure Impacts, so we like pushed the chips on

458
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:39,560
Speaker 2: the table currently.

459
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,400
Speaker 3: Yes, both did What did he do before this?

460
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:45,199
Speaker 2: He was working for it for s and p he

461
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 2: was in like finance and capital market.

462
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:49,400
Speaker 3: So you both have really good jobs.

463
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,879
Speaker 2: We have good jobs. Yes, we have good jobs.

464
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 3: You're living in outside.

465
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 2: DC, totally rational.

466
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,640
Speaker 3: You kind of got the normal walk well, two kids.

467
00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 2: Two kids, Yeah, I mean you're good.

468
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,760
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, So you just had to screw your life

469
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 3: up and just say.

470
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 2: That nurs Yeah, you know, I think there's this feeling

471
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,800
Speaker 2: like safety and security. You know. I was always pursuing

472
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 2: that as like a part of my growth path is

473
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:18,120
Speaker 2: like I'm gonna get a good job and I'm gonna

474
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,400
Speaker 2: stick with it and then when my kids graduate college,

475
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:24,159
Speaker 2: I will go do the fun things. But I realized

476
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 2: I only have X amount of working years left, right,

477
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,040
Speaker 2: I only have a certain amount of time to be

478
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 2: able to creatively build. And I was like, why not

479
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 2: bet on myself? Right? I think being around a lot

480
00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 2: of change makers in philanthropy made me realize that, like

481
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 2: what sets them apart from everybody else is they got

482
00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:44,400
Speaker 2: in the arena, like they tried. Worst case scenario. I

483
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 2: fail and I learned a lot, but there wasn't It

484
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 2: was really just a question of do I have what

485
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 2: it takes to get in the arena. And then once

486
00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 2: I got in the arena, I was like, there's no

487
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,240
Speaker 2: going back, Like I am a builder in the arena

488
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:02,160
Speaker 2: for us. Yeah, I mean it is. It is uh

489
00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 2: life giving to be able to see to bring something

490
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:06,800
Speaker 2: to life and to be able to see it grow

491
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 2: and to impact lives, like I have the best job

492
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,239
Speaker 2: in the world, Like we create demand for chocolates that

493
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,400
Speaker 2: allow people on waitlists to get access to jobs who

494
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,560
Speaker 2: wouldn't otherwise have access to that kind of work. So

495
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 2: I pinch myself every day.

496
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 3: But I have to ask you, do you have a vendor?

497
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 3: I'm going to call the people vendor? Is that what's

498
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:27,800
Speaker 3: going supplier?

499
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:28,280
Speaker 2: Vendor?

500
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 3: Do you have a vendor that are artists?

501
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 2: We do, so we do work with artlifting. We have

502
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 2: had hotels by artlifting art for their lobbies.

503
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 3: That is so cool.

504
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 2: Art wrapped.

505
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 3: I mean, just tell you back to your brother well.

506
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 2: To bring that home. I was at an event and

507
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:47,520
Speaker 2: my team knew this was going to happen. I didn't

508
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:48,840
Speaker 2: know this was going to happen. But I was speaking

509
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 2: at a hospitality conference and I get into my room

510
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 2: and there's like a setup, you know, with a couple

511
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:58,040
Speaker 2: of in room amenities for the participants. Including art wrapped

512
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,440
Speaker 2: notebooks with the story of the artist inside. And I

513
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 2: walk in and it's one of my brothers art pieces.

514
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 3: Are you kidding?

515
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:11,240
Speaker 2: No, I'm sobbing. Yeah, I face timed him. Yeah, it

516
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 2: was a whole thing. But but it was a very

517
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,200
Speaker 2: full circle moment. I was like, this was the dream

518
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 2: to be able to actually help other people and scale

519
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,320
Speaker 2: the opportunity for for more people. But I want to

520
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 2: share a quick story to like bring to life the

521
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 2: scale of the opportunity here. Last year we heard that

522
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,080
Speaker 2: Marriott that has like this glamping brand called Postcard Cabins.

523
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 2: They're like pods in the woods. They were not happy

524
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 2: with their Smores Kit. Now this is so specific, but

525
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 2: you're going camping and they have Smores Kid as an amenity.

526
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 2: When you arrive, the marshmallows weren't melting. It was just

527
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:49,560
Speaker 2: kind of a bad Smores Kid.

528
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 3: So I didn't even know there was a sports kit. Ye,

529
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 3: good bad? And how hard is talking about a Graham Cracker?

530
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,600
Speaker 2: I mean, you think, right, But we seize this opportunity

531
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 2: to pitch this brand on an elevated s'more using stroop

532
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,840
Speaker 2: waffles instead of gram Crackers. And so if do you

533
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 2: know what a stroop waffle is. It's like two waffles

534
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 2: with a caramel side.

535
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:16,960
Speaker 3: Those things are good. You get them on airplanes sometimes.

536
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:18,520
Speaker 2: Yes, so these are handmade.

537
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 3: Actually they're they're like Swedish or something overseas airplanes instead

538
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 3: of peanuts.

539
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 1: Get those things out exactly. I think it's in Norway

540
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: or air France. No, I'm serious about them. I know

541
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: what it's talking.

542
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 2: About hundred percent. So we have a supplier that employees

543
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:37,880
Speaker 2: resettled refugee women and they make stroop waffles. And we

544
00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 2: went to them and we said, hey, could we scale

545
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 2: a s'mores kit using your stroop waffles. Now, postcard Cabins

546
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 2: is nationwide. This was a million dollar opportunity and we

547
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:55,480
Speaker 2: won that contract for these smores kits with postcard Cabins. Immediately,

548
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 2: five women guide jobs who are on a waitlist who

549
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,360
Speaker 2: wouldn't have otherwise had access to that work. They get

550
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 2: supportive services like access to English classes. They get like

551
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,800
Speaker 2: a whole community of support around them, and they're often

552
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,360
Speaker 2: coming from more torn countries right with nothing except their family.

553
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,600
Speaker 2: And what's so awesome about this story is the smorest

554
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,920
Speaker 2: kits have gone viral on Instagram and TikTok because people

555
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 2: walk into these cabins and they're like mind blown, a

556
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 2: stroop wafflesmore different than your average, more elevated ouey guey,

557
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 2: and it's changing lives right, And so for us, it

558
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:38,880
Speaker 2: shows like the commercial success isn't a compromise. Like if

559
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:42,640
Speaker 2: you're purchasing with intention and you're purchasing high quality cookies

560
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,480
Speaker 2: from a group like Hugs Cafe, it is a win

561
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 2: win for the brand and for the customer, it's a

562
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 2: win win for society. There isn't a compromise in that equation.

563
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 2: And so what we're trying to demonstrate is like by

564
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,920
Speaker 2: shifting a percentage of your purchase to products on our

565
00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 2: platform that are uploadfting communities, changing lives, you have this

566
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 2: trickle down effect into the communities. You're creating sustainable revenue,

567
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,480
Speaker 2: you're uplifting people that wouldn't otherwise have access to that work,

568
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 2: and they're amazing products, and so it's a superior experience

569
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 2: for the guest. And so that's what we've just been

570
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 2: doing all across the board. But this smorest Kid is

571
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 2: a really good example of how scale can happen.

572
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 3: When did you take the plunge, what year.

573
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 2: So forcurem pack's been around three and a half years.

574
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 2: I went one time two and a half years ago. Yeah, yeah,

575
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 2: it's just.

576
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:33,480
Speaker 4: Got a Marriot contract.

577
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 1: Come on, well, just hand you really took the plunge.

578
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,200
Speaker 1: I thought we were talking about five to ten years.

579
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's been a bit of a rocket ship in

580
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 2: that when we identified this market gap that we could

581
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,760
Speaker 2: be the glue and the bridge that made it easy

582
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:52,560
Speaker 2: for people to purchase these products. We had to build

583
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 2: a tech platform that was a not in the Bingo

584
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 2: card either had never done it.

585
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 3: Also not inexpensive, is it.

586
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,840
Speaker 2: No. We actually ended up going to the market, got

587
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 2: some investors who were deeply vision and values aligned in

588
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 2: what we were doing, and I found co founders to

589
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 2: support me. One has twenty years experience in hospitality. The

590
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 2: other actually worked at stand together with me, and so

591
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:20,719
Speaker 2: that hospitality experience, we were able to go to management companies,

592
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:24,919
Speaker 2: brand executives and essentially get the right to sell and

593
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,480
Speaker 2: the ability to galvanize their hotels.

594
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 3: Towards the end, I knocking down that door's probably pretty tough.

595
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:31,239
Speaker 3: Those are some big companies.

596
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:35,360
Speaker 2: It is tough, But for us, that's really why individual

597
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:39,359
Speaker 2: suppliers like it's impossible for them to break down those

598
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:43,320
Speaker 2: joys doing. It's too complicated. The decision making.

599
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,800
Speaker 3: Is to you. The biggest my company is the prospect

600
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:48,839
Speaker 3: of selling home deepot is just too argos. I don't

601
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,480
Speaker 3: even try the layers you have to get through and

602
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:54,560
Speaker 3: to get no company like that or too For instance,

603
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:57,040
Speaker 3: Alex has said advice, now I'll tee it up for

604
00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:57,880
Speaker 3: you marry on.

605
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we have a partnership with Hilton. We're working

606
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,400
Speaker 2: with all the four major brands.

607
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:05,719
Speaker 3: And to get how'd you get there?

608
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:11,440
Speaker 2: Grinding it out? I mean truly, but also you know

609
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:13,520
Speaker 2: all of us I said this sort of at the beginning.

610
00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:16,839
Speaker 2: One in six families has a story like me and

611
00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 2: my brother right when we talk about what we do.

612
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:22,920
Speaker 2: I cannot tell you how many times there's a person

613
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:24,800
Speaker 2: across the table that has a similar story.

614
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: That a mentor of mine said, wants to me to

615
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:33,799
Speaker 1: never forget. When I was a very young man, I

616
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 1: was a sea level guy on another business Forumnlown company.

617
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 1: He said, just always remember an organization or corporation will

618
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:50,400
Speaker 1: never be loyal. It's the human being behind the plaque

619
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 1: that you build your loyalty with. Likewise, breaking into you're

620
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:02,800
Speaker 1: really not breaking into an organization often is just finding

621
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,239
Speaker 1: that right one person who your story resonates with, and

622
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,000
Speaker 1: then all the rest of that corporate crap gets.

623
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 3: Out of the way.

624
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:13,440
Speaker 1: And I hear you saying, and that's how we approach

625
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:17,759
Speaker 1: sales of my business. But I hear you saying, it's

626
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,480
Speaker 1: almost invariable that when you tell your story, there's not

627
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 1: somebody inside that organization that feels that story because they've

628
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:27,720
Speaker 1: dealt with the similar issue with someone in their family.

629
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 2: It is. I mean, we give speeches at hospitality conferences

630
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,719
Speaker 2: and talk about our why and give the case studies,

631
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 2: and there's usually a line of people that are waiting

632
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,799
Speaker 2: to share their story with me. It almost feels like

633
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,480
Speaker 2: ministry in that moment, like it's very different.

634
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,480
Speaker 3: At the top, you said one of six families experienced

635
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:48,279
Speaker 3: difficulties in.

636
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 2: This so RNY nine million Americans are in recovery.

637
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 1: Odds are there's plenty of people in that room when

638
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 1: you're presenting that.

639
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean example, we were doing a tasting with

640
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,280
Speaker 2: the head of Food and Bad Ridge for IHG and

641
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,319
Speaker 2: he's he was actually tasting Cameron's chocolates. To bring it

642
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:10,080
Speaker 2: full circle to camerons and he is blown away and

643
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 2: he's like, I have to get on the phone with

644
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 2: the founder and tell them how amazing these chocolates are.

645
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 2: So we set up this call. We have no idea

646
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:20,840
Speaker 2: other than he wants to talk to them and share

647
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:25,440
Speaker 2: his like positive feedback. But in the call, he says,

648
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,839
Speaker 2: you know, I grew up with dyslexia, and I see

649
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,880
Speaker 2: myself through the people who make these chocolates. And I

650
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,439
Speaker 2: mean those types of human moments that happen to us,

651
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:41,000
Speaker 2: and our business is pretty frequent. You know, parents of

652
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 2: children who have disabilities, people who express like their openness

653
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:51,480
Speaker 2: around like their recovery journey. And hospitality as an industry

654
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:54,440
Speaker 2: is that way. Like a lot of people started as

655
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 2: dishwashers and become general managers and become you know, C

656
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 2: suite executive in hospitality. It's an industry that provides that

657
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,560
Speaker 2: on ramp. So the level of passion that we tapped

658
00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:12,040
Speaker 2: into it. We don't sponsor, we don't do ads, like,

659
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 2: we don't actually have the traditional marketing sales strategies. It's

660
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:19,400
Speaker 2: been very direct referral and person a person.

661
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:39,279
Speaker 1: We will be right back. So two and a half

662
00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:44,880
Speaker 1: years later, Yeah, how many vendors or suppliers. Word am

663
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 1: I supposed to use?

664
00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:45,879
Speaker 3: There?

665
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:47,000
Speaker 2: I use suppliers.

666
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:50,200
Speaker 3: How many suppliers do you represent?

667
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,280
Speaker 2: We have over one hundred, and we have two hundred

668
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,839
Speaker 2: to three hundred prospects right now that we're actually evaluating.

669
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,040
Speaker 2: And we exclusively work with mission driven brands and so

670
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:05,799
Speaker 2: from a supplier fit perspective, And we exclusively work with

671
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:09,240
Speaker 2: social enterprises that employ people who have barriers to work

672
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:13,120
Speaker 2: products that have charitable contributions tied to them where they're

673
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:17,680
Speaker 2: uplifting communities in their backyard. And we've started to also

674
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:21,720
Speaker 2: onboard local brands, independent brands that wouldn't otherwise get access

675
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,720
Speaker 2: to the market for hotels that are looking for local

676
00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:27,160
Speaker 2: And it's all about economic mobility.

677
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:30,760
Speaker 1: And you say you as in your organization cure impact.

678
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 1: You guys make it easy for the customer to tell

679
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,799
Speaker 1: the story about the products you're buying. So when you

680
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 1: bring on a new vendor, you also have to cultivate

681
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 1: the story.

682
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:52,319
Speaker 2: That's right. We're building out shelf talkers, merchandising signage, we

683
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:55,279
Speaker 2: have video assets that show the products being made. We're

684
00:39:55,320 --> 00:40:00,840
Speaker 2: doing blog stories, We're constantly giving a and it's creating

685
00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:05,640
Speaker 2: an experience on site at the hotel. So you're grabbing

686
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 2: go snacks marketplace, you could have the same same products

687
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:13,840
Speaker 2: you see at the grocery store or three convenience store,

688
00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,400
Speaker 2: or you can create a guest experience through those shelves.

689
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,319
Speaker 2: And so we're like taking the shelf. We're building the

690
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:24,920
Speaker 2: retail experience for the hotels, which for them, it's taking

691
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,719
Speaker 2: the burden off of them to coming up with the

692
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:31,840
Speaker 2: ideas and curating the collections. For the suppliers, it's giving

693
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:36,440
Speaker 2: them repeatable purchases that help them hire more people.

694
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,719
Speaker 4: And you have this at Dullest Airport too.

695
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 2: Do we have a ten foot wall at Dallas Airport?

696
00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:45,200
Speaker 2: There's probably about fifteen suppliers. We're actually going into two

697
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 2: other airports this year.

698
00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:52,160
Speaker 1: That was my next question. How many ongoing, like I

699
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: guess customers? Yeah, do you have right now?

700
00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:55,640
Speaker 2: Thousands? Yeah?

701
00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,480
Speaker 3: Thousands? Yeah, I really was expecting fifty.

702
00:40:59,000 --> 00:40:59,760
Speaker 2: No.

703
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:01,919
Speaker 3: No, I mean when you say thousands, do you mean

704
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,040
Speaker 3: thousand different hotels or thousands?

705
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, Because we work with management companies and nobody really

706
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:11,040
Speaker 2: knows this. They think like Hilton and Marriott, and we

707
00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:14,520
Speaker 2: do partner with the brands, but they're franchises right, So

708
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:18,840
Speaker 2: they license and then monitor and have compliance standards around

709
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:22,839
Speaker 2: the license for the brand. The management companies are these

710
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:26,399
Speaker 2: companies that actually operate the hotels. There are customers, they're

711
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:27,440
Speaker 2: the ones who make the purchase.

712
00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:32,120
Speaker 1: So when you say you're with Hilton, some family owned

713
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: management company owns eight hotels.

714
00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:36,440
Speaker 3: They're branded under Hilton.

715
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:40,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they use the Hilton name and they get

716
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:44,280
Speaker 1: direction from Hilton, but they're running their own So those

717
00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:47,959
Speaker 1: eight hotels may not have your products where these other

718
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: eight Hilton hotels do. And so when you say thousands,

719
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:56,240
Speaker 1: you're getting all of these different entities under these big

720
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 1: management marketing brand names.

721
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 2: Yes, and the brands. If you want to become like

722
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:06,239
Speaker 2: the Double Tree cookie like our s'mores kit, that is

723
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:10,239
Speaker 2: a brand level decision because it's essentially a mandate across

724
00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 2: the brands. So we're pursuing all those things to try

725
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:17,200
Speaker 2: to get leverage. But the management companies are really our customers.

726
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:19,480
Speaker 2: And we have twenty nine management companies.

727
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:21,880
Speaker 3: We work with some of them only two and a

728
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 3: half years.

729
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:25,719
Speaker 2: It's been it's been three and a half, but we

730
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:29,800
Speaker 2: went full time and our first platform, like the Tech,

731
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,879
Speaker 2: launched two and a half years ago, so that's been

732
00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:33,960
Speaker 2: like the scale.

733
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 1: I mean, that's really phenomenal. So yeah, what about now

734
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:38,720
Speaker 1: my mind's running.

735
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,759
Speaker 3: Now my business fun thing is we've talked a lot

736
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:50,040
Speaker 3: about foods. Yeah, there are places who make furniture. There

737
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:54,440
Speaker 3: are people who make mirrors, there are people who do

738
00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:59,600
Speaker 3: toile trees. There's yeah, all kinds of vendors out there

739
00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:02,280
Speaker 3: that are that are that are purpose driven in terms

740
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:06,160
Speaker 3: of who they employ. H I mean, honestly, this thing

741
00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:09,040
Speaker 3: has no bounce.

742
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 2: When I first started, I was like, anyone can buy

743
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:13,400
Speaker 2: from us. It was kind of like, if you have

744
00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,120
Speaker 2: four walls, you can buy from us. Right because my

745
00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:21,000
Speaker 2: office space example was a great case study for anyone

746
00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:24,319
Speaker 2: who's purchasing can purchase an attention, and that is the

747
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:30,600
Speaker 2: scale pathway. We're starting with travel and tourism, hospitality and

748
00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:35,200
Speaker 2: adjacent industries first because the storytelling around it is actually

749
00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:39,200
Speaker 2: a differentiation opportunity and it creates brand loyalty, it creates

750
00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:44,160
Speaker 2: unique guest experiences, it increases guest satisfaction and their consumption

751
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,120
Speaker 2: is really high. But essentially, we're testing in spas, We're

752
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,920
Speaker 2: testing in airports, we're testing in convenience stores within hotels,

753
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,280
Speaker 2: and so the opportunity for us to expand is pretty

754
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:59,120
Speaker 2: substantial with the same products that we're currently using. But yeah,

755
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:01,440
Speaker 2: we have hotels buy furniture from us. The hotel m

756
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:04,520
Speaker 2: A Line bought a coffee table and stools, you know,

757
00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:09,200
Speaker 2: and supported people coming out of incarceration. We have spas

758
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:14,080
Speaker 2: that purchase candles and wellness amenities like Thistle Farms products.

759
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:18,319
Speaker 2: We do a lot in like textiles too, like handbags.

760
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:21,320
Speaker 3: I was wondering about textiles. My next question was stuck stalls.

761
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:24,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have an amazing group that I'm actually joining

762
00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:27,040
Speaker 2: the board. I'm joining. My first board meeting is this

763
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:31,080
Speaker 2: this month. But Unshattered works with women in recovery and

764
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:35,440
Speaker 2: they upcycle textiles and make handbags. So they've actually partnered

765
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:38,080
Speaker 2: with Jet Blue and they have like the seats, the

766
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:40,680
Speaker 2: seat covers and they make they make handbags out of that.

767
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:46,320
Speaker 2: So it's a sustainability strategy, but it's creating skill development

768
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:47,560
Speaker 2: for women in recovery.

769
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:53,480
Speaker 3: It's phenomenal. Ye, it is such a cool Is anybody

770
00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 3: else doing anything like this?

771
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:58,440
Speaker 2: No, And I think that you know, it's hard. It's

772
00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:01,480
Speaker 2: hard to be working with two different sides of a marketplace,

773
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:05,440
Speaker 2: like our customers are the supplier and the buyer. It's

774
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:10,640
Speaker 2: very hard people have. Yeah, it's very hard to penetrate hospitality.

775
00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:13,280
Speaker 2: Like our competitive mode is deep because this is hard.

776
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,960
Speaker 2: But you know, when I think about the scale of impact,

777
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:21,520
Speaker 2: like oftentimes, again in my old hat with philanthropy, you'd

778
00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 2: invest in a model right in a community to help

779
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 2: it grown scale. But without distribution, without the infrastructure, without

780
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:33,000
Speaker 2: the demand, you're kind of limited in the scale potential.

781
00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:36,120
Speaker 2: You know, we're becoming twenty thirty percent of people's revenue

782
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 2: and climbing, and so that enables them to diversify away

783
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 2: from philanthropy, allows them to hire more people. It's a

784
00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:48,040
Speaker 2: market based approach to scale, and so I get super

785
00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:51,880
Speaker 2: excited about like the platform play, the systemic change that

786
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 2: we can create.

787
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:57,480
Speaker 3: I think grocery stores, large change. Grocery stores would be

788
00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:59,240
Speaker 3: a possible for sure place.

789
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:03,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're trying to curate local, they're trying to curate different,

790
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:07,120
Speaker 2: you know, different products, absolutely, and whole foods I would

791
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:13,120
Speaker 2: say pioneered some of this, like local independent brands as

792
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:16,440
Speaker 2: a grocery chain. But yeah, airports, I.

793
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:18,520
Speaker 3: Mean, on the one hand, in two and a half years,

794
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,480
Speaker 3: it's phenomenal, how far you've come. On the other hand,

795
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:24,920
Speaker 3: as I listened to you, you're only scratching the surface.

796
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 2: Yes, this is why my hair is going great. Yes,

797
00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:33,080
Speaker 2: you know if you just think about hospitality alone, Like

798
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:36,800
Speaker 2: the two largest procurement companies in hospitality are fifteen billion

799
00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:40,440
Speaker 2: and fourteen billion, So we're talking a lot of resources

800
00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:42,799
Speaker 2: that can help a lot of people just by shifting

801
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:44,120
Speaker 2: a small percentage.

802
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:46,480
Speaker 1: I get jazzed about the business side of it just

803
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:48,719
Speaker 1: thinking about it, but I think I need to bring

804
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:53,080
Speaker 1: us back to the impact point. Yeah, your suppliers employees

805
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:58,239
Speaker 1: have been challenged by some disincentives to work, So that

806
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:02,160
Speaker 1: we remind ourselves the two and a half years is phenomenal.

807
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 1: Your passion started with you finding out that your brother

808
00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:13,960
Speaker 1: was able to deal with himself when he found value. Yeah,

809
00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:17,839
Speaker 1: and insteadive, and that's what changed his life despite all

810
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:20,040
Speaker 1: the help you try to get. And then your time

811
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:24,440
Speaker 1: is staying together, really cultivating your full belief and bottom

812
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 1: up answers. And then you paired them together for this,

813
00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 1: But then the reality is still there that like I said,

814
00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:36,000
Speaker 1: some of your suppliers employees have been challenged by some

815
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,920
Speaker 1: distance centives work. I think it's important alreadyence understands what

816
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:40,719
Speaker 1: that is, what that looks like.

817
00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:46,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean these these are often people left out

818
00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:51,759
Speaker 2: of the workforce. And by demonstrating what's possible through these

819
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:57,800
Speaker 2: models that are supportive and inclusive and driving profit and scale,

820
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:01,080
Speaker 2: those are the lessons all corporations can learn from you.

821
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:03,920
Speaker 2: When I mentioned that the levers corporations have are the

822
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:08,160
Speaker 2: people they hire and the things they purchase. Even though

823
00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:11,520
Speaker 2: this isn't explicitly our mission, we've always said that our

824
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:14,480
Speaker 2: products are a trojan horse in getting people to think

825
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:18,000
Speaker 2: differently about the people behind the products. And if we

826
00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:19,760
Speaker 2: can get them to think differently about the people behind

827
00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:22,640
Speaker 2: the products, why not hire the people that are making

828
00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:26,080
Speaker 2: these products? Why not give them more opportunities and on

829
00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:28,960
Speaker 2: ramps to employment. We actually had a hotel recently reach

830
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,840
Speaker 2: out to us and ask the question, said, Hey, do

831
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:34,359
Speaker 2: you have groups in the area that we could work

832
00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:37,200
Speaker 2: with as an employment on ramp, And I was like,

833
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:39,279
Speaker 2: it's already happening, right, We're already getting them to think

834
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:43,279
Speaker 2: differently about these levers and the value that these individuals

835
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:47,440
Speaker 2: can create. And to give you a sense of an

836
00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:51,239
Speaker 2: example of like why these groups are able to support

837
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:55,399
Speaker 2: people enabling them to thrive. There's a popcorn company called

838
00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:59,040
Speaker 2: prospect Or Popcorn. It was actually a movie theater, So

839
00:48:59,080 --> 00:49:02,520
Speaker 2: they were a movie theater that employed individuals with disabilities

840
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:05,520
Speaker 2: for all aspects of the movie theater. And in their

841
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:08,040
Speaker 2: tiny little kitchen and in the top floor, they were

842
00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:11,799
Speaker 2: making popcorn. And they started making gourmet popcorn flavors like

843
00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:16,920
Speaker 2: strawberry ice cream, Belgian toffee, chocolate in this very small kitchen.

844
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:21,400
Speaker 2: And they're in over three hundred hotels through our platform.

845
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:23,800
Speaker 2: And as a side note.

846
00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:26,399
Speaker 3: They actually a movie theater out there in over three

847
00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:29,480
Speaker 3: hundred hotels. Yeah, with their popcorn. That is so cool.

848
00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:33,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they're one of our bestsellers. And they actually

849
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:36,439
Speaker 2: just broke ground on a new popcorn facility, a five

850
00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:39,799
Speaker 2: thousand square foot facility that should actually they should be

851
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:42,680
Speaker 2: moving into in the next couple weeks. And it's this

852
00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:45,760
Speaker 2: beautiful place that they'll be able to double the amount

853
00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:47,800
Speaker 2: of people they're employing. I mean, it's an amazing story.

854
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:50,240
Speaker 3: And they employed people with intellectual disability.

855
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:54,560
Speaker 2: Intellectual disabilities across the spectrum of disabilities. But there's this

856
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:57,359
Speaker 2: gentleman that works there. They call them the Prospects. All

857
00:49:57,400 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 2: the people that work there, whose name is Dylan. And

858
00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:06,000
Speaker 2: Dylan was bagging groceries before Prospector, and we did this

859
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:08,759
Speaker 2: interview with him and he's like, it's bagging groceries and

860
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:12,200
Speaker 2: I just wanted to learn and my boss wasn't very

861
00:50:12,239 --> 00:50:17,759
Speaker 2: nice to me. And ever since he's been at Prospector,

862
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:20,800
Speaker 2: he's been able to grow. He's done the front of

863
00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:24,120
Speaker 2: the house, he's done ticketing, he's done popcorn making, he's

864
00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:27,919
Speaker 2: done marketing. He's been able to learn new skills, and

865
00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:31,719
Speaker 2: very unprompted in this interview, he's like, and now I

866
00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:34,319
Speaker 2: live on my own. My parents still look out for me,

867
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:37,480
Speaker 2: but I live on my own and I just want

868
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:42,239
Speaker 2: to keep learning. And these places of employment, like this

869
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:46,279
Speaker 2: popcorn company, we can all companies can learn from what

870
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:49,200
Speaker 2: Prospector is doing to create a supportive work environment that

871
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:52,239
Speaker 2: enables people to thrive. They have this special sauce like

872
00:50:52,239 --> 00:50:56,280
Speaker 2: they're creating the environments that are empowering Dylan to grow

873
00:50:56,400 --> 00:50:59,040
Speaker 2: and to be self sufficient more so than he ever

874
00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:03,120
Speaker 2: was before. And so we're trying to help them scale

875
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,200
Speaker 2: their models. But when you think about the trojan horse

876
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:08,279
Speaker 2: of getting people to think differently about people behind the

877
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:11,520
Speaker 2: products and getting companies to think differently about how they

878
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:16,480
Speaker 2: treat people and how they support people in their own environments.

879
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:19,719
Speaker 2: Hopefully there'll be a lot of case studies that get

880
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:22,840
Speaker 2: more systemic change in companies across the country.

881
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:26,719
Speaker 3: It's not just companies though, No, you're right. As I

882
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:27,560
Speaker 3: listen to.

883
00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:33,799
Speaker 1: I think about and that guy over there gets so

884
00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:37,319
Speaker 1: upset when I say anything that says politics.

885
00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:40,759
Speaker 3: But this is not a political comment. It's just a

886
00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:46,839
Speaker 3: general comment involving politics, which is this, Sometimes somebody does

887
00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:50,160
Speaker 3: something in politics or culture, or society or with policy

888
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:53,400
Speaker 3: that pisses off enough people that they go have a boycott.

889
00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:57,839
Speaker 3: And that is how the individual uses their dollar to

890
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:04,719
Speaker 3: oppose something they don't believe in. You're the antithesis of that.

891
00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:10,200
Speaker 1: You're the positive version of that in that certainly the

892
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:15,319
Speaker 1: companies and everything else, but we as individuals, I'm sitting here,

893
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:18,600
Speaker 1: I can't help but think we as individuals have a

894
00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:20,440
Speaker 1: part to plan those You're right.

895
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:23,200
Speaker 2: Everyone asks me, why are you going to launch the

896
00:52:23,239 --> 00:52:25,719
Speaker 2: B two C version of your marketplace? I want to

897
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:25,960
Speaker 2: buy it.

898
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:26,359
Speaker 3: Yeah.

899
00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:32,320
Speaker 1: No, it's true because if I, as an individual, oppose

900
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:35,160
Speaker 1: something and decide not to spend my money with something

901
00:52:35,200 --> 00:52:39,000
Speaker 1: because I oppose what they did. I mean, for instance,

902
00:52:40,239 --> 00:52:43,279
Speaker 1: bud Light can teach a lot of people about not

903
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:47,000
Speaker 1: really understanding their market and having a marketing campaign that

904
00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:49,680
Speaker 1: could kill about forty percent of their business. Whether or

905
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:55,359
Speaker 1: not you agree with that whole thing that happened and

906
00:52:55,440 --> 00:53:02,120
Speaker 1: the public boycotted a product because of a policy they

907
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:07,280
Speaker 1: didn't like and it changed that company, that's a negative version.

908
00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:13,760
Speaker 1: But the point is if the public understood and could

909
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:18,200
Speaker 1: use their and choose to spend their dollars where there

910
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:23,800
Speaker 1: was social impact that was positive, Yeah, it can. Literally

911
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:29,760
Speaker 1: the scale of that is phenomenal to me, is the thought.

912
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:32,400
Speaker 1: So while I'm sitting here listening to you, I can't

913
00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:37,120
Speaker 1: help but wonder, Yeah, do you have designs on just

914
00:53:37,239 --> 00:53:42,400
Speaker 1: letting Joe blow Bill here in Memphis be aware of

915
00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:45,600
Speaker 1: these platforms so that I can spend my money and

916
00:53:45,680 --> 00:53:46,800
Speaker 1: support of them.

917
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:49,920
Speaker 2: We are absolutely thinking about that, and part of what

918
00:53:49,960 --> 00:53:53,319
Speaker 2: we do is introduce these brands to customers who then

919
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:56,400
Speaker 2: purchase from those brands right and follow on. So we

920
00:53:56,440 --> 00:53:59,400
Speaker 2: get stories like that all the time of people discovering

921
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:02,640
Speaker 2: Port City Pretzels because they were in a hotel and

922
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:05,040
Speaker 2: then becoming a customer of ports City pretzels. Like the

923
00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:07,919
Speaker 2: consequence of that is creating more impact as well.

924
00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:10,840
Speaker 1: My wife buys bisco Off all the time. I thought

925
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:13,280
Speaker 1: Delta because we're Memphians and Delta's here.

926
00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:14,479
Speaker 3: All right, Well I love bisc Off.

927
00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:17,960
Speaker 1: Well, I would have never bought a bisc Off had

928
00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:21,600
Speaker 1: I never sat in Delta and enjoyed a bisc Off. Yeah, right,

929
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:25,160
Speaker 1: That's how it was introduced to me, was my travel,

930
00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:28,080
Speaker 1: which is hospitality and traveling hospital and all that.

931
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:28,520
Speaker 2: Yeah.

932
00:54:29,640 --> 00:54:34,040
Speaker 3: I just can't help but think that as this continues

933
00:54:34,080 --> 00:54:37,120
Speaker 3: to grow, as just the Joe blow consumer starts seeing

934
00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:40,080
Speaker 3: these products and understand the social impact behind them, that

935
00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:44,200
Speaker 3: then we can purchase those on our own, to blow

936
00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:46,360
Speaker 3: it up in a crazy way.

937
00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:50,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the movement building potential here ish, Yeah,

938
00:54:50,680 --> 00:54:53,759
Speaker 2: it is. And that's really the premise is like our dollar,

939
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:58,600
Speaker 2: where we put our dollar matters, and those small incremental

940
00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:01,400
Speaker 2: changes actually have huge impact when you think about the

941
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:06,920
Speaker 2: collective purchasing that's happening across the country. And so yeah,

942
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:10,560
Speaker 2: we want to be able to empower more customers to

943
00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:13,759
Speaker 2: purchase products and be part of this broader movement. We're

944
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:16,759
Speaker 2: doing this in service of the hotels right now. But

945
00:55:17,160 --> 00:55:20,840
Speaker 2: they like peripheral effect or like the sort of halo

946
00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:24,439
Speaker 2: effect of what we do in hotels is customers get

947
00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:28,360
Speaker 2: more aware of these brands, Like you're gonna go home

948
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:33,280
Speaker 2: and talk about Cameron's Chocolates if you received a small

949
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:36,400
Speaker 2: chocolate box with a card at the Sheridan Philly City Center,

950
00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,160
Speaker 2: which is where they give out Cameron's chocolates as an

951
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:42,439
Speaker 2: amenity because of the story behind it and the sort

952
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:44,960
Speaker 2: of like surprise of who made it and then your

953
00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:47,160
Speaker 2: inquiry about like, well, wait, I want to learn more.

954
00:55:47,400 --> 00:55:51,680
Speaker 2: So we're creating those moments all all across the country,

955
00:55:51,800 --> 00:55:55,080
Speaker 2: but you're not to dive into politics, but to maybe

956
00:55:55,719 --> 00:55:59,799
Speaker 2: share what I see is really hopeful. We have some

957
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:05,040
Speaker 2: of the most conservative owners in hospitality and some that

958
00:56:05,080 --> 00:56:10,120
Speaker 2: would maybe be more liberal. And what's been really amazing

959
00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:14,200
Speaker 2: this past year is that you know, we are a

960
00:56:14,239 --> 00:56:17,520
Speaker 2: solution for both Like we are a market based approach

961
00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:22,880
Speaker 2: to uplifting communities. We are an economic justice strategy that

962
00:56:23,040 --> 00:56:26,560
Speaker 2: is true. Those are both things that are true, and

963
00:56:26,640 --> 00:56:31,920
Speaker 2: so I feel like we've been able to stay in

964
00:56:31,960 --> 00:56:38,040
Speaker 2: a lane that is both a platform for social change

965
00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:42,600
Speaker 2: for people who have different affinities or affiliations because it's

966
00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:46,680
Speaker 2: all about job creation, it's all about uplifting communities. And

967
00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:49,040
Speaker 2: all of us are neighbors. All of us have people

968
00:56:49,080 --> 00:56:53,120
Speaker 2: in our lives who've had these barriers, and so despite

969
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:56,520
Speaker 2: a lot of the politics happening, we've been growing. We've

970
00:56:56,560 --> 00:56:59,120
Speaker 2: been growing with people who have very different points of

971
00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:02,440
Speaker 2: view about the world. Because we don't argue about these things.

972
00:57:02,680 --> 00:57:06,359
Speaker 2: We all know how important and dignified work is or

973
00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:10,640
Speaker 2: our most vulnerable and marginalized populations, and so I feel

974
00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:15,719
Speaker 2: like we've created a strategy that is inclusive rather than exclusive.

975
00:57:18,640 --> 00:57:36,880
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. What you just said rings so

976
00:57:37,080 --> 00:57:40,720
Speaker 1: true to me. One of the things I've said a lot,

977
00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:45,680
Speaker 1: and it's you know, Alex gets tired of me saying it, probably,

978
00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:49,680
Speaker 1: but I truly believe. I don't care who or how

979
00:57:49,720 --> 00:57:52,320
Speaker 1: you love. I don't care who or how you vote.

980
00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:56,640
Speaker 1: I don't care which skin color is. I don't care

981
00:57:57,400 --> 00:58:01,520
Speaker 1: who you worship or if you worship at all. As

982
00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:05,000
Speaker 1: it pertains to this, if you're doing something positive for

983
00:58:05,080 --> 00:58:08,120
Speaker 1: another person in our society, and you're doing it selflessly

984
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:10,560
Speaker 1: and for the right reasons, regardless of all that other

985
00:58:10,640 --> 00:58:12,840
Speaker 1: craft that seems to divide us these days, I can

986
00:58:12,880 --> 00:58:16,880
Speaker 1: celebrate you. And even if I don't vote like you,

987
00:58:16,920 --> 00:58:19,200
Speaker 1: look like you, love like you, or worship like you,

988
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:22,240
Speaker 1: if I'm doing something positive by society that's helping somebody

989
00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:24,600
Speaker 1: that you can see. If you have any empathy or

990
00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:26,840
Speaker 1: care for siding in the world, you can celebrate me.

991
00:58:26,960 --> 00:58:31,040
Speaker 1: All those things seem to melt away and not matter

992
00:58:31,120 --> 00:58:34,040
Speaker 1: near as much when you're having a positive impact on

993
00:58:34,080 --> 00:58:37,640
Speaker 1: your culture or society. So when you say I have

994
00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:39,800
Speaker 1: customers who are a rule leve.

995
00:58:39,720 --> 00:58:43,840
Speaker 3: Customers who are more conservative, I have everything, all of

996
00:58:43,840 --> 00:58:46,640
Speaker 3: that doesn't seem to matter as much when they can

997
00:58:46,800 --> 00:58:51,320
Speaker 3: use their dollars, run their business, do it efficiently and profitably,

998
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:57,680
Speaker 3: but also have some positive social impact. It's a win

999
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:00,640
Speaker 3: win for everybody. And those things that we tend to

1000
00:59:00,640 --> 00:59:04,280
Speaker 3: divide ourselves by these days seem to melt yeah.

1001
00:59:04,280 --> 00:59:08,520
Speaker 2: And I think, like I mentioned before, there's so many

1002
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:11,880
Speaker 2: times when people are sharing what's on their heart in

1003
00:59:11,960 --> 00:59:14,959
Speaker 2: our work. I've never been in a role where people

1004
00:59:15,040 --> 00:59:19,920
Speaker 2: have been so vulnerable and so real and authentic and unmasked.

1005
00:59:19,960 --> 00:59:22,080
Speaker 2: It's almost like we're giving them permission by sharing what

1006
00:59:22,080 --> 00:59:24,360
Speaker 2: we do to be that way and to show up

1007
00:59:24,400 --> 00:59:28,080
Speaker 2: that way. And because we have a very tangible way

1008
00:59:28,080 --> 00:59:31,120
Speaker 2: they can take action and it's a low lift, right,

1009
00:59:31,160 --> 00:59:35,360
Speaker 2: it's a win win, right. It's not changing behavior, it's

1010
00:59:35,440 --> 00:59:38,680
Speaker 2: kind of like helping them align behavior. It's almost like

1011
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:40,280
Speaker 2: a relief. A lot of people are like, I want

1012
00:59:40,320 --> 00:59:42,280
Speaker 2: to be part of this. There's not a lot of

1013
00:59:42,280 --> 00:59:46,160
Speaker 2: salesmanship in it because it's real jobs, real impact, you

1014
00:59:46,240 --> 00:59:50,560
Speaker 2: know in communities. So yeah, I mean, we're I'm excited

1015
00:59:50,600 --> 00:59:54,840
Speaker 2: about this movement we're building within hospitality and the broader

1016
00:59:54,880 --> 01:00:01,080
Speaker 2: implications of it because the monumental impact in the amount

1017
01:00:01,120 --> 01:00:05,040
Speaker 2: of dollars that can actually sustain and support people who

1018
01:00:05,120 --> 01:00:09,000
Speaker 2: are waiting for that opportunity. That's what gets me up

1019
01:00:09,040 --> 01:00:09,520
Speaker 2: every morning.

1020
01:00:10,200 --> 01:00:12,760
Speaker 1: Look, you still have a whole lot to look forward to.

1021
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:14,600
Speaker 1: Like I said, you're only two and a half years

1022
01:00:14,600 --> 01:00:17,480
Speaker 1: old in this thing, and there's no doubt, there's no

1023
01:00:17,640 --> 01:00:21,560
Speaker 1: way this thing doesn't just gym. But I do got

1024
01:00:21,560 --> 01:00:27,280
Speaker 1: to ask you, yeah, when you or if you, because

1025
01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:30,720
Speaker 1: you should take a deep breath and take a survey

1026
01:00:31,560 --> 01:00:36,400
Speaker 1: of the incredibly unique circumstances of your brother and what

1027
01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:39,920
Speaker 1: you did for a living, and your two pager that

1028
01:00:39,960 --> 01:00:43,360
Speaker 1: you wrote on an airplane, and how all of those

1029
01:00:43,560 --> 01:00:48,840
Speaker 1: kind of collided to bring this, I mean pun intended

1030
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:53,960
Speaker 1: how they impacted to It's almost like a big bang

1031
01:00:54,680 --> 01:00:58,440
Speaker 1: to kind of bring this together. When you take note

1032
01:00:58,560 --> 01:01:01,840
Speaker 1: or you survey all of those unique experiences that led

1033
01:01:02,120 --> 01:01:05,360
Speaker 1: to what it is right now and what it invariably

1034
01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:09,720
Speaker 1: is gonna even morph into and become, how do you

1035
01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:11,240
Speaker 1: feel when you take stock of that.

1036
01:01:13,120 --> 01:01:16,600
Speaker 2: This entire journey, there's no other explanation than God. And

1037
01:01:16,800 --> 01:01:22,720
Speaker 2: I'm a person of faith. My faith has been strengthened

1038
01:01:23,640 --> 01:01:27,840
Speaker 2: and deepened actually through a lot of the struggle that

1039
01:01:27,880 --> 01:01:29,959
Speaker 2: we went through as a family. I found my faith,

1040
01:01:29,960 --> 01:01:32,000
Speaker 2: I would say later in life. I mean I was

1041
01:01:32,040 --> 01:01:35,200
Speaker 2: a grew up Greek Orthodox and I was kissing icons,

1042
01:01:35,240 --> 01:01:39,360
Speaker 2: but I wasn't like deep into my faith until much

1043
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:44,160
Speaker 2: much later. And I cannot explain the people who have

1044
01:01:44,960 --> 01:01:47,680
Speaker 2: come into our lives at just the right time, or

1045
01:01:47,720 --> 01:01:51,120
Speaker 2: to your point, the stakeholder across the table who shares, oh,

1046
01:01:51,200 --> 01:01:54,080
Speaker 2: my mother happens to have been someone who worked with

1047
01:01:54,120 --> 01:01:57,280
Speaker 2: individuals with disabilities. I'm in, what do we want to do?

1048
01:01:57,840 --> 01:02:01,040
Speaker 2: Like the amount of open doors that have happened, and

1049
01:02:01,080 --> 01:02:05,360
Speaker 2: the inexplicable nature of how this came together. I can

1050
01:02:05,440 --> 01:02:09,440
Speaker 2: only point to to God, and I genuinely feel like

1051
01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:12,600
Speaker 2: a vessel for what is happening, Like I am of

1052
01:02:12,680 --> 01:02:17,880
Speaker 2: service to this broader vision, and I've learned so much,

1053
01:02:18,000 --> 01:02:20,320
Speaker 2: Like I've been stretched to the edge of my limits

1054
01:02:21,360 --> 01:02:23,520
Speaker 2: in just the short amount of time. Many times I've

1055
01:02:23,520 --> 01:02:25,400
Speaker 2: done things I've never thought I could do or we

1056
01:02:25,440 --> 01:02:29,400
Speaker 2: would do. Last year, we were named to Fast Companies

1057
01:02:29,440 --> 01:02:34,280
Speaker 2: Most Innovative Companies list. We were a baby company. Mind

1058
01:02:34,280 --> 01:02:37,160
Speaker 2: blowing things like that have happened where we're like, you know,

1059
01:02:37,280 --> 01:02:41,400
Speaker 2: it feels very surreal. But at the end of the day,

1060
01:02:41,560 --> 01:02:46,400
Speaker 2: the moments that really like ground me are when I'm told,

1061
01:02:47,520 --> 01:02:49,760
Speaker 2: you know, these two people were hired because of the

1062
01:02:49,800 --> 01:02:53,720
Speaker 2: three hotels that started coffee programs with procure impact. We

1063
01:02:53,800 --> 01:02:58,080
Speaker 2: got a video from Butler Coffee, the employed individuals with

1064
01:02:58,160 --> 01:03:02,120
Speaker 2: disabilities actually interviewing two people who hired because of our work.

1065
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:05,400
Speaker 2: There's a lot of happy tears in our job, a

1066
01:03:05,440 --> 01:03:09,680
Speaker 2: lot of serotonin hits in the sense that it's not

1067
01:03:09,760 --> 01:03:11,760
Speaker 2: it's very rare for someone to be able to tangibly

1068
01:03:11,760 --> 01:03:14,520
Speaker 2: point to the impact they're having every day and know it.

1069
01:03:14,920 --> 01:03:17,640
Speaker 2: So even though there's very tough days like grinding it out,

1070
01:03:17,680 --> 01:03:21,400
Speaker 2: trying to figure out how to better unlock you know,

1071
01:03:22,000 --> 01:03:25,439
Speaker 2: Hilton or Marriott or get the next management company. We're

1072
01:03:25,520 --> 01:03:29,480
Speaker 2: constantly getting reminders of why it matters, and so it's

1073
01:03:29,520 --> 01:03:30,760
Speaker 2: like a true blessing.

1074
01:03:31,800 --> 01:03:33,920
Speaker 3: Who puts you in charge of deck right in the

1075
01:03:33,960 --> 01:03:35,000
Speaker 3: office of staying Together.

1076
01:03:35,880 --> 01:03:40,600
Speaker 2: Definitely Brian Hooks, the chairman, and yeah, I mean that

1077
01:03:41,040 --> 01:03:41,720
Speaker 2: was Ron.

1078
01:03:41,560 --> 01:03:45,440
Speaker 1: Hooks gets a high hot because if not for that, yeah,

1079
01:03:46,160 --> 01:03:50,040
Speaker 1: arbitrary little job that got tossed on you, you probably might

1080
01:03:50,080 --> 01:03:52,080
Speaker 1: have rolled your eys as at first, like, oh I

1081
01:03:52,080 --> 01:03:56,440
Speaker 1: get to do this. I mean, even with unique nick

1082
01:03:56,560 --> 01:04:01,920
Speaker 1: set of circumstances, just that opened a window for you.

1083
01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:05,040
Speaker 1: And I mean honestly, you're a set of one who

1084
01:04:05,040 --> 01:04:07,600
Speaker 1: else would have had all these different little things to

1085
01:04:07,680 --> 01:04:09,040
Speaker 1: collide to make this happen.

1086
01:04:09,080 --> 01:04:12,400
Speaker 3: It's incredible. It's such a cool.

1087
01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:16,360
Speaker 1: Story of how it all landed in your lap and

1088
01:04:16,680 --> 01:04:17,960
Speaker 1: you had the courage to go for it.

1089
01:04:18,240 --> 01:04:18,400
Speaker 3: Well.

1090
01:04:18,760 --> 01:04:21,000
Speaker 2: I also, I have to say I had like mentors

1091
01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:25,960
Speaker 2: around me who recognized the opportunity before even I did.

1092
01:04:26,200 --> 01:04:29,400
Speaker 2: Our chairman of our board, John Boaz, heard me kind

1093
01:04:29,400 --> 01:04:33,760
Speaker 2: of dreaming this up in weekly conversations, monthly conversations, and

1094
01:04:33,800 --> 01:04:37,720
Speaker 2: then one day said I'd invest in that and I

1095
01:04:37,800 --> 01:04:40,080
Speaker 2: genuinely didn't know his net worth. I didn't even know

1096
01:04:40,160 --> 01:04:42,680
Speaker 2: he would be open to investment. I had no anticipation.

1097
01:04:42,840 --> 01:04:45,040
Speaker 2: I didn't I didn't actually think I was asking him

1098
01:04:45,040 --> 01:04:47,840
Speaker 2: for anything. So there was a lot of people who

1099
01:04:47,920 --> 01:04:52,160
Speaker 2: bet on me before I realized the opportunity that actually

1100
01:04:52,160 --> 01:04:53,320
Speaker 2: helped this come to FORRUI.

1101
01:04:53,440 --> 01:04:55,880
Speaker 3: Those are other little blessings of miracles.

1102
01:04:55,560 --> 01:04:58,880
Speaker 2: Miracles my co found one of my co founders, John Collins.

1103
01:04:59,040 --> 01:05:02,160
Speaker 2: I literally reached out to her on LinkedIn. People assume

1104
01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:07,080
Speaker 2: we've known each other for years, and people are like,

1105
01:05:07,080 --> 01:05:09,800
Speaker 2: how did you meet? We're like, god, you know, I

1106
01:05:09,880 --> 01:05:12,880
Speaker 2: was looking for somebody in my network who had hospitality experience,

1107
01:05:12,920 --> 01:05:15,200
Speaker 2: because I was like, this is really confusing, like who's

1108
01:05:15,280 --> 01:05:18,520
Speaker 2: the buyer? How do I figure out how? And I

1109
01:05:18,640 --> 01:05:21,560
Speaker 2: went on LinkedIn and we were directly connected, but we

1110
01:05:21,640 --> 01:05:23,680
Speaker 2: have thousands of connections, both of us, and we have

1111
01:05:23,800 --> 01:05:27,720
Speaker 2: no idea how we were originally connected. And she didn't

1112
01:05:27,760 --> 01:05:31,280
Speaker 2: respond at first, and I was persistent, and then when

1113
01:05:31,280 --> 01:05:34,160
Speaker 2: she did respond, we met for coffee. And she will

1114
01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:36,000
Speaker 2: often say like she was trying to weasel her way

1115
01:05:36,040 --> 01:05:39,000
Speaker 2: on to my advisory board, and I was trying to

1116
01:05:39,040 --> 01:05:41,400
Speaker 2: figure out a way to make this her thing, and

1117
01:05:41,960 --> 01:05:44,680
Speaker 2: within three months of being complete stranger, she was our president.

1118
01:05:45,200 --> 01:05:47,960
Speaker 2: So I mean all of that, I can't really explain

1119
01:05:48,080 --> 01:05:51,360
Speaker 2: any of this other than to say, like we tapped

1120
01:05:51,400 --> 01:05:56,760
Speaker 2: into an existing need in hospitality and desire to really

1121
01:05:57,120 --> 01:05:59,960
Speaker 2: help people feel a sense of belonging in the places

1122
01:06:00,080 --> 01:06:04,320
Speaker 2: in which we visit, and we had supply to do

1123
01:06:04,360 --> 01:06:08,080
Speaker 2: that and the right talent. And it's been a lot

1124
01:06:08,080 --> 01:06:09,640
Speaker 2: of a lot of learning. So it's not all like

1125
01:06:09,800 --> 01:06:11,960
Speaker 2: straight up, right, there's a lot of like ebbs and

1126
01:06:11,960 --> 01:06:16,200
Speaker 2: flows on the journey of entrepreneurship, but the conditions that

1127
01:06:16,240 --> 01:06:18,680
Speaker 2: were set around us, Like I can't explain that.

1128
01:06:20,720 --> 01:06:22,720
Speaker 4: You've also had a little bit of a personal story

1129
01:06:22,760 --> 01:06:26,600
Speaker 4: yourself with addiction, right, and we've actually had the phoenix

1130
01:06:26,640 --> 01:06:29,960
Speaker 4: too on the podcast was on the board before. Really, yeah,

1131
01:06:29,960 --> 01:06:32,360
Speaker 4: if you could talk a little bit about your personal story.

1132
01:06:33,680 --> 01:06:38,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, So to unpack that in sort of the journey

1133
01:06:38,880 --> 01:06:44,040
Speaker 2: when my brother was found that year kicked off like

1134
01:06:44,120 --> 01:06:50,160
Speaker 2: a series of pretty monumental changes in my life. One

1135
01:06:50,280 --> 01:06:54,560
Speaker 2: I started going to church. I baptized my kids that Easter.

1136
01:06:54,920 --> 01:06:57,200
Speaker 2: I mean, because there was really no way to describe

1137
01:06:57,880 --> 01:07:02,080
Speaker 2: the miracle of my brother found and it set me

1138
01:07:02,120 --> 01:07:05,280
Speaker 2: on this this sort of discovery journey of my of self.

1139
01:07:05,840 --> 01:07:09,880
Speaker 2: And so that first step was finding God again, finding

1140
01:07:09,920 --> 01:07:13,040
Speaker 2: my faith, reigniting my faith, finding the right faith home

1141
01:07:13,640 --> 01:07:17,560
Speaker 2: for my family. And then that summer I started to

1142
01:07:17,760 --> 01:07:19,520
Speaker 2: really look at like what was in my life that

1143
01:07:19,640 --> 01:07:23,000
Speaker 2: wasn't serving me, and trying to shed the things that

1144
01:07:23,000 --> 01:07:26,320
Speaker 2: weren't serving me, being honest about the influences of things

1145
01:07:26,320 --> 01:07:29,480
Speaker 2: around me, and I held up a mirror to my

1146
01:07:29,640 --> 01:07:35,160
Speaker 2: own use of alcohol as a way to kind of

1147
01:07:35,320 --> 01:07:39,280
Speaker 2: weather through life. I was definitely what you'd call it

1148
01:07:40,160 --> 01:07:43,080
Speaker 2: a functional addict. AD a great job, I had a

1149
01:07:43,080 --> 01:07:46,880
Speaker 2: great I was professionally successful. I was also in bands

1150
01:07:47,120 --> 01:07:51,600
Speaker 2: and using a lot of alcohol on the weekends. And

1151
01:07:51,640 --> 01:07:53,920
Speaker 2: there was this cycle that I was noticing in my

1152
01:07:53,920 --> 01:07:57,160
Speaker 2: own patterns of my own behavior. And so that same

1153
01:07:57,240 --> 01:08:03,000
Speaker 2: year I got sober, and I've been sober for almost

1154
01:08:03,080 --> 01:08:08,800
Speaker 2: eight years now. And so that when I think about

1155
01:08:09,120 --> 01:08:12,400
Speaker 2: again the gift that was that incident with my brother

1156
01:08:12,480 --> 01:08:15,920
Speaker 2: and how it set me on this course professionally, it

1157
01:08:15,960 --> 01:08:20,960
Speaker 2: also set me on a course personally to really realign

1158
01:08:21,240 --> 01:08:26,000
Speaker 2: myself towards not only impact and my purpose and my why,

1159
01:08:26,040 --> 01:08:29,599
Speaker 2: but in my own day to day life with my family,

1160
01:08:30,560 --> 01:08:32,200
Speaker 2: kind of facing my own demons.

1161
01:08:34,720 --> 01:08:38,599
Speaker 3: What a story? Do you allow yourself to be proud

1162
01:08:38,640 --> 01:08:39,080
Speaker 3: of it? Yet?

1163
01:08:41,520 --> 01:08:47,640
Speaker 2: I mean, my I'm I'm I'm a doer, so I

1164
01:08:47,680 --> 01:08:50,960
Speaker 2: probably don't marinate in like the reflection enough to be honest.

1165
01:08:51,080 --> 01:08:54,840
Speaker 2: I'll tell you. My co founder Jen says, we're really

1166
01:08:54,880 --> 01:08:58,519
Speaker 2: bad about celebrating so like because we're just like, all right,

1167
01:08:58,600 --> 01:09:03,760
Speaker 2: next thing right. I mean, I feel like I was

1168
01:09:03,840 --> 01:09:06,680
Speaker 2: around a bunch of courageous people because my work could

1169
01:09:06,720 --> 01:09:09,559
Speaker 2: stand together. I was around a lot of leaders who

1170
01:09:09,800 --> 01:09:13,240
Speaker 2: had built organizations and it faced their dams. So I

1171
01:09:13,280 --> 01:09:16,519
Speaker 2: think I was just sort of faced with this reality

1172
01:09:16,600 --> 01:09:23,120
Speaker 2: that I was hiding things for myself, and so it

1173
01:09:23,200 --> 01:09:26,040
Speaker 2: prompted me to really self examine. But I know, I

1174
01:09:26,040 --> 01:09:29,760
Speaker 2: think you've had the Phoenix on your show before Scott Strode.

1175
01:09:30,680 --> 01:09:35,240
Speaker 2: I was definitely influenced and impacted by Scott's story. And

1176
01:09:35,280 --> 01:09:39,720
Speaker 2: I remember listening to a lot of Phoenix participants, like

1177
01:09:39,800 --> 01:09:42,439
Speaker 2: on stages telling their story and I was like, huh,

1178
01:09:42,600 --> 01:09:47,200
Speaker 2: sounds a lot like my story. And that was part

1179
01:09:47,240 --> 01:09:49,520
Speaker 2: of the holding up a mirror website.

1180
01:09:49,560 --> 01:09:51,720
Speaker 3: How do people find out more about procure impact? There?

1181
01:09:51,800 --> 01:09:54,960
Speaker 1: Could be somebody listening to us today that owns six

1182
01:09:55,320 --> 01:09:58,120
Speaker 1: hotels somewhere, a management company that wants.

1183
01:09:57,840 --> 01:09:59,919
Speaker 4: To I'll share her emails.

1184
01:10:00,040 --> 01:10:02,280
Speaker 3: Don't be That's fine, I'm going to get there.

1185
01:10:02,400 --> 01:10:05,840
Speaker 2: Go yeah. I you know. If you're a hotel, if

1186
01:10:05,880 --> 01:10:09,759
Speaker 2: you're a place of business that wants to purchase with intention,

1187
01:10:10,280 --> 01:10:13,639
Speaker 2: please reach out to us. Our website is Procure Impact

1188
01:10:13,760 --> 01:10:17,280
Speaker 2: p R O c U R E Impact dot us.

1189
01:10:18,040 --> 01:10:21,680
Speaker 2: And if you are also a supplier, if you are

1190
01:10:21,840 --> 01:10:25,040
Speaker 2: a nonprofit leader or a business that makes a product

1191
01:10:25,240 --> 01:10:29,360
Speaker 2: that is helping your community, helping create job opportunities, or

1192
01:10:29,400 --> 01:10:32,840
Speaker 2: a local brand, we are actively looking for new suppliers.

1193
01:10:33,200 --> 01:10:36,000
Speaker 2: We have some really exciting news with some big brands

1194
01:10:36,000 --> 01:10:40,519
Speaker 2: that we'll be launching later this year where we're looking

1195
01:10:40,560 --> 01:10:43,320
Speaker 2: for suppliers in regions across the country. And so we

1196
01:10:43,360 --> 01:10:46,000
Speaker 2: want to build out our supply to be able to

1197
01:10:46,000 --> 01:10:48,639
Speaker 2: handle the demand that we're expecting from these big brands

1198
01:10:48,640 --> 01:10:50,640
Speaker 2: who want to continue partnering with us and grow their

1199
01:10:50,680 --> 01:10:54,160
Speaker 2: partnership with us. So, if you are an enterprise like

1200
01:10:54,240 --> 01:10:56,600
Speaker 2: Hugs Cafe, we don't have your cookies on our platform.

1201
01:10:56,760 --> 01:10:58,880
Speaker 2: I haven't tried them before. We would love to try them.

1202
01:10:58,920 --> 01:11:02,639
Speaker 2: We would love to get them on our platform. We're

1203
01:11:02,680 --> 01:11:07,160
Speaker 2: looking for enterprises like that and we have an application process,

1204
01:11:07,240 --> 01:11:10,960
Speaker 2: but anyone can contact me at Lauren l a u

1205
01:11:11,120 --> 01:11:14,280
Speaker 2: r E N at Procureimpact Us.

1206
01:11:15,120 --> 01:11:18,639
Speaker 3: Lauren, I'm gonna tell you something. Your story is cool,

1207
01:11:19,760 --> 01:11:20,559
Speaker 3: and it's just.

1208
01:11:22,040 --> 01:11:24,479
Speaker 1: Oh, I sit in this chair and talk to people

1209
01:11:24,520 --> 01:11:27,280
Speaker 1: all the time for all these shows and all that,

1210
01:11:27,439 --> 01:11:31,120
Speaker 1: and it is It's never lost on me how so

1211
01:11:31,320 --> 01:11:37,160
Speaker 1: very often sets of circumstances gets stringed together to create

1212
01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:43,760
Speaker 1: something amazing. And I think we all have sets of

1213
01:11:43,800 --> 01:11:47,760
Speaker 1: circumstances in our lives that equip us, and we all

1214
01:11:47,800 --> 01:11:51,439
Speaker 1: have passions in our lives that should drive us to

1215
01:11:51,479 --> 01:11:55,640
Speaker 1: get involved. The common denominator for those that do and

1216
01:11:55,760 --> 01:11:59,919
Speaker 1: the common denominator for those that don't, to me is courage.

1217
01:12:00,680 --> 01:12:04,000
Speaker 3: And you had the courage to step away from job.

1218
01:12:04,040 --> 01:12:06,080
Speaker 3: Your husband had a courage step away from job and

1219
01:12:06,200 --> 01:12:09,080
Speaker 3: jump in both feet and do it. And you're changing lives,

1220
01:12:09,800 --> 01:12:15,200
Speaker 3: you're changing narratives, you're telling stories. But ultimately and you're

1221
01:12:15,200 --> 01:12:20,599
Speaker 3: making a living. But ultimately, as you're able to help

1222
01:12:20,720 --> 01:12:25,240
Speaker 3: these brands grow, they're able to hire more people who

1223
01:12:25,280 --> 01:12:29,920
Speaker 3: they are seeking to serve. And so through your entrepreneurship

1224
01:12:30,200 --> 01:12:35,200
Speaker 3: and your work. Ultimately, you're changing lives of the people

1225
01:12:35,200 --> 01:12:39,639
Speaker 3: that work for the vendors whose products you sell, and

1226
01:12:40,320 --> 01:12:41,439
Speaker 3: what a way to make a living.

1227
01:12:42,560 --> 01:12:46,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is a blessing, and I appreciate your kind words.

1228
01:12:47,000 --> 01:12:51,080
Speaker 2: It's a it's been a journey. But you know, I think.

1229
01:12:51,320 --> 01:12:54,439
Speaker 3: If you hadn't even gone around the first term yet,

1230
01:12:55,120 --> 01:12:57,640
Speaker 3: when you think I've been a journey, listen, Yeah, I

1231
01:12:57,720 --> 01:12:58,120
Speaker 3: started my.

1232
01:12:58,200 --> 01:13:01,320
Speaker 1: Verses thirty one. I'm fifty seven years old. Yeah, I

1233
01:13:01,439 --> 01:13:03,200
Speaker 1: made it through nine to eleven. I made it through

1234
01:13:03,200 --> 01:13:05,360
Speaker 1: the housing crisis two thousand and six, I made it

1235
01:13:05,400 --> 01:13:06,839
Speaker 1: through the first round of tariffs.

1236
01:13:06,840 --> 01:13:08,599
Speaker 3: I'm making it through this round of tariffs.

1237
01:13:09,040 --> 01:13:11,559
Speaker 1: And I always think to myself, it's been a journey

1238
01:13:11,680 --> 01:13:14,920
Speaker 1: until I take survey of what's in front of my

1239
01:13:15,000 --> 01:13:19,000
Speaker 1: business and I realize miles to go before we sleep,

1240
01:13:19,120 --> 01:13:22,040
Speaker 1: and you have it even take it the first turn

1241
01:13:22,920 --> 01:13:26,240
Speaker 1: in this race. I can't wait to see what happens

1242
01:13:26,280 --> 01:13:27,639
Speaker 1: for you the next five to ten years.

1243
01:13:27,680 --> 01:13:30,160
Speaker 3: I know it's going to be extraordinary. Thank you, Thank you,

1244
01:13:30,280 --> 01:13:32,400
Speaker 3: thanks for coming to Memphis and telling your story. I

1245
01:13:32,479 --> 01:13:36,519
Speaker 3: am I can't wait to watch I really am. I'm

1246
01:13:36,520 --> 01:13:38,400
Speaker 3: gonna keep up with you and there.

1247
01:13:38,240 --> 01:13:42,799
Speaker 1: Is it's impossible that we will not interview more people

1248
01:13:43,160 --> 01:13:46,680
Speaker 1: who I need to connect with you ultimately and so

1249
01:13:47,200 --> 01:13:49,080
Speaker 1: have the sneaky suspicion will stay in touch.

1250
01:13:49,200 --> 01:13:50,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would love that. Thank you so much for

1251
01:13:50,880 --> 01:13:51,960
Speaker 2: having me, thanks for.

1252
01:13:51,920 --> 01:13:57,799
Speaker 3: Being here, and thank you for joining us this week.

1253
01:13:58,200 --> 01:14:01,720
Speaker 1: If Lauren McCann has inspired you in general, or better yet,

1254
01:14:01,760 --> 01:14:06,280
Speaker 1: to take action by exploring procure impacts, mission driven products

1255
01:14:06,280 --> 01:14:11,920
Speaker 1: for your own company, recommending suppliers to them, or something

1256
01:14:12,000 --> 01:14:15,040
Speaker 1: else entirely, just let me know I really do want

1257
01:14:15,080 --> 01:14:17,599
Speaker 1: to hear about it. You can write me anytime at

1258
01:14:17,640 --> 01:14:21,960
Speaker 1: Bill at normalfolks dot us. If you enjoyed this episode,

1259
01:14:22,640 --> 01:14:26,439
Speaker 1: please share it with friends and on social Subscribe to

1260
01:14:26,520 --> 01:14:31,720
Speaker 1: the podcast, rate the podcast, review the podcast, join the

1261
01:14:31,880 --> 01:14:36,559
Speaker 1: army at normalfolks dot us any and all of these

1262
01:14:36,600 --> 01:14:39,639
Speaker 1: things that will help us grow an army of normal folks.

1263
01:14:40,000 --> 01:14:43,439
Speaker 3: I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can