HR, We Have a Problem - Changing the narrative by creating a workplace that prioritizes inclusivity and representation for adults with disabilities.

[00:00:00] Wouldn't it be so cool if one day this product was in grocery stores and people in the community and specifically people with disabilities, especially kids with disabilities, who walk down a grocery store aisle or aisle of Target and see a physical product that represents them.

[00:00:17] And see a person on that product who looks like them and see a quote in a name where they can feel seen and heard and represented. And that happened. And that is huge. Welcome to the HR Huddle podcast presented by Sapient Insights Group, the ultimate resource

[00:00:38] for all things HR. It's time to get in the huddle. Hello everyone. Welcome back to the HR Huddle. I'm your host, Terry Zipper. I'm the CEO and managing partner at Sapient Insights Group. We're back for another exciting episode. I am actually on site today.

[00:01:05] I'm at the Pendo offices in Raleigh, North Carolina. Super excited to be here and I'd like to welcome to the show today Lindsay Reg. Lindsay is the CEO and co-founder of 321 Coffee, which we're going to be doing a little bit of talking about today. Welcome Lindsay. Thank you.

[00:01:26] Glad to be on location. I know. This is the first time we've done this, so I'm super excited about it. That's awesome. Hopefully it's going to turn out really well with our AV guy Cliff is in the background taking care of all that good stuff for us.

[00:01:39] In a pink blazer though. He's wearing a pink blazer in the background. Come on in Cliff. Awesome. So we've got a lot going on here today. We were actually on site here in Raleigh doing an executive round table for about

[00:01:55] 25 executives in the local area just talking about change leadership. And in particular, the use of how you use diversity and inclusion to really drive change in your organization. And so I'm excited. I want to talk about kind of what you're doing at 321 Coffee and how you've kind

[00:02:15] of infused that inclusiveness into your organization and how you're driving change. Does that sound like a good plan? Yeah, totally. All right then, let's get into the huddle. So we just like I said, we just did this round table.

[00:02:29] I'm very excited and I know we I've heard this story and I just heard it again this morning, but I'd really like to just give the audience a little bit of background about

[00:02:40] you and kind of how you got started with 321 Coffee and really what was the sort of the mission for you? What were your guiding principles if you will? Absolutely. My story dates back to when I was in elementary school, switch schools didn't know anyone and

[00:02:56] my first friends were from girls in class that had different types of disabilities. And I think it's really important to recognize that when you're six, seven, eight years old, any label around, oh, well, she has Down syndrome or autism or spinodipida or

[00:03:09] the Georgia syndrome like really doesn't mean anything. Right? We bonded just over being friends and loving the color purple and wanting to play how to go seek and going to dance class together, right? Just normal seven year old things.

[00:03:23] But by nature of these friendships and growing up with these girls as some of my best friends and I'm proud to say that 15 years later they are still a huge part of my life. I learned so much about the world of inclusion and accessibility and the fact

[00:03:37] that there's more than one way to do something. And it was so powerful and really shaped my life and which has been fantastic. But where the story sort of changes is when we got to high school graduation and I

[00:03:50] saw the difference of my life about to go like this with college and work opportunities and traveling abroad and things like that. And their life really hitting a cliff. I learned that 80% of adults with disabilities are unemployed.

[00:04:03] I saw firsthand my friends apply for jobs, not hear back, get an interview, not hear back. One person got a job which was incredible. And even after working there for multiple years, and I remember talking with her one day and commending her for it.

[00:04:17] And she said, thank you, but all they let me do is clean bathrooms. And that hurts. And so that was the big driving factor behind wanting to change that narrative. And so we sought out to start through two and coffee with the

[00:04:31] intentionality of having a workplace where people with disabilities could be incorporated on the forefront. If we could design accessible operations, very individualized training, create opportunities for a personal development, professional development, growth, community. And that's exactly what we did.

[00:04:48] And it didn't, that's an awesome vision and it didn't start like that on day one necessarily. We've come a long way over the past seven years but I'm really proud of what we've built and that we have a team who has stuck with us throughout

[00:05:00] that and is united in where we're going. Yeah, yeah. It's just such an awesome story. It touches my heart every time I hear it. So I could hear it multiple times. I'm sure I'll hear it again.

[00:05:14] So what were there some sort of core values that you had in your head when you were thinking about, OK, these are the things that we're going to focus on? Yeah, I appreciate that question. It was definitely something that I was thinking about a lot during the

[00:05:28] roundtable discussion. So yes, when we started, I had a co-founder, Michael and the two of us were, we sat down to write our handbook and part of that was we wanted to have core values and we thought a lot about representation matters.

[00:05:41] And so we were really intentional about even on this tumbler, including our people, right? This is Tessa, Russell and Drayana and people are featured on our packaging and in our stores and things like that. And another one was that dance when you like the music and with this

[00:05:55] sentiment of we're going to work hard and we're going to work together but we're still going to have fun. And we came up with these core values that we really valued. And just a month ago, we sat down with our leadership team and said,

[00:06:07] we need to start from with a blank newspaper. And you know, these core values are great, but it was truly one that Michael and I came up with and it doesn't necessarily mean that it's seen everywhere and through everyone and we wanted to start from scratch.

[00:06:22] And so someone helped guide us through an exercise which I thought was really effective and impactful. And we said, OK, everyone's going to pick three people on the team, current people on the team that if you could multiply them, you'd be unstoppable. And it was awesome to see.

[00:06:41] Erin's name was on that list. I bet it was. Yeah, just excellent people. And then it was like, OK, what do they bring to the team that is so excellent that make them so amazing? And it was so fun to see different people within different parts

[00:06:56] of the business and with different responsibilities. But there was core elements of inspired by Erin, contagious energy, right? And whether you're serving coffee in a shop, whether you're working in the racing facility, giving a tour, whether you're on stage, bringing this contagious

[00:07:14] and infectious people focused energy that makes you feel so good. And so we came up with the big list and we've sort of like grouped like with like and we then boiled down to our new core values.

[00:07:27] And we're one month in, so we're recognizing that they might not be the end all be all, but we're looking for ways to keep fine tuning them. And so much of the conversation at the round table today was making hiring decisions around your core values,

[00:07:39] making firing decisions, having performance reviews, like really linking it all back to it and how that really just does have such a hand people impact on culture. I was so energized listening to that, knowing that we're sort of in the middle of our revamp.

[00:07:55] That was a long answer to your question. Well, you know, it's a very unique organization, but it's an organization and you guys go through the same kinds of change that other organizations go through. Totally. And you're growing. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:08:11] Getting a spot in Whole Foods was just I mean. Thank you for that. Fantastic. Yeah, you want to talk a minute about that? Like what that took? Like what was the formation of that? So I mean, for context for all of it, when COVID hit,

[00:08:25] we were just these retail stores. And that was really scary because when COVID completely obliterated the food and beverage industry and downtown settings and people going out and about, it was terrifying. And so we thought, all right, well, what are we going to do?

[00:08:40] We've got all these people they want to work. And all of a sudden we can't open for business. So we started roasting coffee and we figured, well, we can ship it to people. And when we did that, we got excited about like,

[00:08:49] oh, we can tell our story in this way. You don't have to physically be in rally to be a part of the 321 community and to have 321 in your everyday life. And we can incorporate our people onto the packaging. So maybe you don't get to meet them in person

[00:09:00] but you get to learn their story. So this was a couple of years ago. And in that, we were like, wow, wouldn't it be so cool if one day this product was in grocery stores and people in the community and specifically people with disabilities, especially kids with disabilities

[00:09:14] can walk down a grocery store aisle or aisle of Target and see a physical product that represents them and see a person on that product who looks like them and see a quote in a name where they can feel seen and heard and represented.

[00:09:29] And that happened and that is huge. So last month we were officially launched in the local Whole Foods markets here in the Triangle area. We're in six stores so far, it's been going really, really well and I'm really optimistic that if this keeps performing,

[00:09:47] six could turn into 16, could turn into 60, could turn into 600, right? And just keep growing. But even if we don't make it all the way to national nationwide, I'm really proud that we're having this impact here in our local area. Yeah, that's fantastic.

[00:10:01] What have you heard from the community? Like what does this mean for the community? Because I think, yeah, to me this is a really important part of our world. Absolutely. And it's just something that I think everybody can share in in some way, especially coffee. Yes, yeah.

[00:10:19] Not everybody drinks coffee, but you've got something for everybody. Did you know that I don't drink coffee? I have my cup here. I'm glad you're drinking it. I've got my tea. And you guys do tea as well with other types of drinks.

[00:10:32] But it is one of those things that kind of brings people together. Absolutely. And just let's have a cup of coffee, right? And that's exactly why I love that we're in the coffee industry because it is a very community-based space. But yeah, this feedback has been so positive.

[00:10:48] How many people view the Hulfe's Bunch and a lot of our milestones and growth as just community wins. And I think that that means so much to me because it's obviously something that really matters to us and our people and has such direct impact for,

[00:11:05] okay, we get to give our team more hours. We get to hire more people. We get more exposure, right? Like there's team benefit and the fact that other people in the community want to buy into that and celebrate that with us is a beautiful thing.

[00:11:20] So like I remember we brought the team over to Hulfe's once it officially hit the shelves to surprise them. And it was a two-part surprise. First was, oh my gosh, our coffees in Hulfe's isn't this awesome. And then like I mentioned, we incorporate our people on the packaging

[00:11:35] and we have some new people that we were able to see during the packaging. And so it was an awesome moment. It was like, look at it. Like there it is. And it was like, hey, turn that bag over. And they did and they saw themselves.

[00:11:46] And just, I mean, Aaron was like screaming and just running laps around the grocery store. And there was a lot of other people shopping there because we were there on just a random Tuesday afternoon or something. And so many people came over and said,

[00:12:00] I don't know what's happening, but I love that it's happening. And people came over and said, I know three, two one coffee. Like I've been to your shop at the farmers market ever since you opened, like congratulations. There was just so much shared joy. And that was again,

[00:12:15] a beautiful thing and a beautiful feeling. Yeah, I love it. And if you're not following three, two one coffee on LinkedIn, do so because it will make your day every day. Lindsay puts out more LinkedIn posts that anybody I've ever seen who is as busy as she is.

[00:12:32] We've got a lot of good stories to tell. She definitely makes time to recognize her team every day. And I just, I love it. I think it's a, you know, just a powerful morning wake up call when I see my three, two one posts. I love that.

[00:12:44] Thank you, thank you. What were some of the, did you run into any challenges where there are some things that were really, really hard through to getting started and- Oh absolutely. And especially given that, you know, the people that you were employing,

[00:12:59] like that process or how did you, you know, think about staffing projects around, I mean, there's a number of different types of challenges. Right? There's the type of challenges of we are business owners and I'm about to turn 25 years old, right? We set up payroll

[00:13:17] and I had never been on somebody else's payroll. We, somebody had to sit down and explain to me what like workers compensation and general liability insurance. And like just being first time founders is really hard. We, there's a lot that we don't know

[00:13:29] and there's a lot that we don't know that we don't know. And so like there's those challenges. There's been absolutely the social challenges of there are mission, which has a ton of value. 100% it brings incredible business value. It builds incredible loyalty both, you know,

[00:13:45] within our team, but also within our community and within our customers. But there's also absolutely some stigmas that we're up against. And a big one is that disability is often associated with less than. And so we have a lot of people

[00:13:57] that will come up to us and say, oh my gosh, Lindsay, this is actually awesome coffee. And I know that sentiment means they mean well. They are excited that they like it. They're excited to share that they like it. But at the end of the day, they're surprised

[00:14:11] and I wish they weren't surprised. So there's challenges there. There's challenges of just growing a business in general and you know, the chicken and the egg if we've got a lot of goals and we've got a lot of initiatives

[00:14:22] and we wanna have people on the team to do those things, but you also need to make sure the numbers work. And until you grow, you don't have the cash flow to pay those people, but you also can't always grow without those people.

[00:14:33] And that goes with respect to people, with respect to operational capacity. There's a lot of layers there and how do you take care and preserve the foundation that you have but also look forward and push the envelope and not get stagnant. Yeah, yeah.

[00:14:49] So the other thing that you guys do, so in addition to having your own shop, I think downtown, you've also got shops in a couple of businesses and that's one of the ones that we're in today. I said we were at the Pendo's headquarters

[00:15:03] on the 19th floor in Raleigh and they actually have a three, two, one coffee shop right on the 19th floor. So this has been, I think, a unique endeavor, right? Incredibly so. Not unlike companies that put cafeterias or whatever inside businesses, but this is a little unique

[00:15:22] and I think what I heard today in the round table was just how connected the three, two, one coffee, baristas and team are with the Pendo 100% working here in the organization. You wanna talk about that for a minute? Yeah, so you're spot on.

[00:15:37] We've got our stores that are in downtown settings and anyone can walk in and right now we've got two locations that are in a company office building and it's so cool because it's our same staff and it's only available to these company employees

[00:15:50] so it's only available to Pendo employees, right? We're on the 19th floor, Bob Axis elevator, like we're seeing the same people every day and because of that, the friendships and the depth of these relationships is unmatched. It is one of my favorite things

[00:16:06] so I sit at this table and do work and I was telling someone I was like, I'm not always the most productive because I love listening to the conversations that happen at this cafe and the employees who come up

[00:16:17] and want to know how was your swimming meet last night and tell me about your vacation that's upcoming, what are you most looking forward to? And our staff remembers what's happening in their lives and it can be personal and as well as, how did that big presentation go?

[00:16:30] And there was one time Pendo was having a board meeting here and so all of their board was here, they had investors on site and a lot of them were coming through the cafe and Logan asked, hey, if you have a second,

[00:16:40] can you explain to me how you value a company? That's so cool. There's a great person to ask and he said, without getting into too many details, like here are the things that we think about. There was another time, Logan is a great example

[00:16:53] because he's just got so many questions and very unique questions, which again emphasizes the value of diversity, but someone came up and Logan said, okay, before I take your order, I just have to ask you a quick question. Have you ever thought about drop shipping to Amazon?

[00:17:06] And I was like sitting here, where did this come from? And then Pendo employee was like, actually yes. And they chatted about it and I don't know where it went, but it's so genuine and unique and special. Yeah, and very empowering.

[00:17:22] I mean, just having the ability to participate in something that's outside of what you normally do. Absolutely, absolutely. So yeah, I love that they're showing interconnected here. Yes. So one of the things I wanted to do today

[00:17:38] was maybe talk to a couple of the baristas from the shop. It was a shame they're really shy. Oh yeah, well I've seen Aaron on LinkedIn. I've seen him on the chat. Aaron got a pretty big reputation. He's laughing over there.

[00:17:51] Aaron and Logan, you guys wanna come be a part of this conversation? Here they come! Oh! Oh no, it ended. We also... Oh my name is Logan. You getting rid of your mint? No. Now you're ready? Come on over here friend. Come on over.

[00:18:17] I love it, it ended. So we also have a live audience today which you heard in the background class. It's a very exciting day at Pendo. So as you've already met, this is Aaron and this is Logan. Very excited to have you guys join us today

[00:18:36] and just maybe talk a few minutes about what you do here at 321 Coffee in the Pendo location. So Aaron, you wanna go first and tell me about your job here at 321? I do a lot. You do a lot? Yeah. So what do you do? Make lattes. Make lattes.

[00:18:55] Make money. Make money. Yeah! Yeah! Who loves payday? And make new friends. Make new friends. And so when someone comes up to the cafe, who greets them? It is me. Both of you? Yeah, it is me. And who takes their order? Yeah. I make...

[00:19:20] And then you make the drinks? And then who gives it to the customer? Me. And then who asks them a lot of questions? Yeah! Who gave me? You give the hugs? All right! You both have very... I need to go home before I leave. Don't forget about that.

[00:19:38] You both have important jobs. Yeah. So one of the things I wanna hear about, I know that you guys did something really special recently and late at night, like I'm sure it was after bedtime. Yeah, yeah. You're giving a call from Lindsay.

[00:19:56] He's saying, I need you to come to the airport. Did you say, what in the world does she want? Like why does she want me to come to the airport? I said, make sure you take an afternoon nap, right? Oh! I'm... I'm gonna give it to you.

[00:20:11] And what did we go to the airport to do? May... Your... Meet the president? Yeah. So these guys went to the Raleigh-Durham Airport late at night, like almost the middle of the night. The middle of the night. Air Force One landed at 1.45 in the morning. Yeah.

[00:20:30] I took my home. See... You went back home to sleep? Yeah. Yeah, Aaron said, don't call done tax. You're not coming in the next day, right? You're still sleeping. So was that an enjoyable experience? Yeah. Who did you get to meet? All... Finally. Jill Biden? Yeah. And...

[00:20:51] Hugs, left. I'm here for it. And what was that? Left. Hugs, left. His wife? Yes. Yes, yes. And did you give her a hug? Yeah. Of course. Awesome. So Logan, what about you? Tell me about what you do here at 321

[00:21:10] and were you also part of the Air Force welcoming committee? Logan was holding down the shop during the day so that the overnight crew could run. Well, that's a big job. It is. That is a big job when everybody else has gotten to sleep

[00:21:24] and you're holding down the fort. Yes. Ha! So what do you... So do you love what you do? Yes. I love meeting new people and meeting people in general and meeting the friends and talking to the friends I have here and taking their orders and giving them nicknames.

[00:21:52] You give them nicknames? Can you share a couple of these nicknames, Logan? Uh-huh. Tobo. Oh. Hanky pranky franky. And... What bills? The money. Billion dollar bills. And... And what about the CEO? Oh, yes. My favorite one is the CEO, Todd's CEO. That's his nickname. Awesome.

[00:22:31] So what do you love most about working here in the Pindow community at 321? Um, I love the environment and how fun people are to talk to and learn about. So you get to know the people at Pindow? Yes. Yeah, and they get to know you? Yes.

[00:22:56] Yeah, that's awesome. Was there anything else you'd like to share with the audience that's gonna see this and get to learn a little bit more about 321? Logan, you wanna share a little bit about how some of the leadership opportunities you've taken on

[00:23:11] with helping build up skills of other... Are you're other team members? Yes. I really like teaching some of the very... Or all the baristas and a lot of the baristas about, like, how to do things in the cafe and when there's a new barista,

[00:23:34] I like helping them and like teaching them the ways and how to do stuff. That's awesome. And you enjoy that? Yes. And I've been also trying to teach our barista, Keegan, who is very... Like, we... I like helping him because he does a lot of...

[00:24:04] I try to teach him how to sing the mill for like the operations and this stuff, like the new era. He likes to sing, I notice. Yes. Keegan. Yeah. He really loves his 80s music. Yeah. I love it. Erin, do you wanna tell us a little bit

[00:24:25] about what you're holding there? Ma... Mi... Nui... Nui... Nui... Mi... Nui... So you, Logan, Megan and Keegan are on a bag of coffee. Yeah. And what's on the front of the bag of coffee? Pendo. Pendo. So this is our special three, two, one Pendo bag.

[00:24:47] And you wanna show the bag again? You can give it, bring it closer to the camera. And so our whole Pendo team is featured on the back of this bag and it just got launched yesterday. So this is very exciting, right? Yeah.

[00:25:01] So, let's give it up for the press. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you guys so much for coming over and talking to us for a minute. I'm really excited about it and Erin, I'm gonna hold you to that hug later when I get ready to leave.

[00:25:17] Thank you. Thank you, Logan. Thank you. Thank you, Erin. Y'all are awesome. Thank you. They're so fun. They are fun. All right. Well, just enjoyable team. I love the way they connect. Is there anything else you wanna leave us with today? I think this has been fantastic

[00:25:38] and I'm sure people are gonna wanna know a little bit more about 321 Coffee and maybe a little bit more about how they might work with 321 Coffee. One of the things that we did last year was we actually ordered some of those bags along with some really cool socks

[00:25:55] and pins and coffee mugs and all sorts of things that we actually sent to our clients. So there's other ways that people can work with and partner with 321 Coffee without actually having to be in Raleigh and I know a lot of you out there

[00:26:09] are based all over the country and outside the country as well. So totally, yes, I appreciate that question. I mean, I would say highest level look for ways to make an impact and if it's within the disability community, amazing. If it's within other minority groups

[00:26:26] or socially forward initiatives, look for opportunities and do it. I think Pendo is such a great example of, yes, of an incredible way to make a difference here as through your employee base, but another opportunity is through your partners and your vendors and different other initiatives

[00:26:45] within your company gifting, right? And so yeah, we're proud to be able to partner with companies in a lot of different ways. We can help supply coffee to your break room. We can go as far as operating a coffee shop in your office building.

[00:26:56] We can bring our coffee cart to different events. We can ship coffee to customers or donors or whatever that list looks like. We can be a part of speaking engagements and share about the mission and why we do what we do to hopefully inspire other people.

[00:27:10] But regardless of what your tangible opportunity is, I would say do something. Awesome. Well, I thank you so much for spending time with me today. That's all the time we have for today for this episode. I wanna thank Brand Method Media Group.

[00:27:27] They're the ones that will hopefully put this out to you in a cohesive manner. I wanna thank our marketing team. I especially wanna thank Cliff for being our cameraman today and making sure that we've got good sound and good quality video. If you enjoyed this episode,

[00:27:45] we'd love for you to follow us on your favorite podcast app, like it. Send us an email or a note if you want to give us a topic. We'd love to have some other topics to talk about. And I hope you really enjoyed this episode.

[00:28:01] I enjoyed doing it. Thank you all very much. Have a great rest of your day.