Member Spotlight Archives - Page 11 of 12

Dary Goodrich, Chocolate Products Manager at Equal Exchange, on fair trade and their new 92% Total Eclipse Bar

Bham Now recently featured Forge Member Dary Goodrich in an article- we’re reposting that content here! Read more about Dary’s role with Equal Exchange and why he works from Forge.

Think about what’s in your pantry right now. Any coffee? Tea? Chocolate? Do you know where it came from? And I don’t mean which Birmingham grocery store. How was it made? Who’s hands touched it before yours? How much time was spent growing, cultivating and preparing that singular product for you to enjoy? And what benefits did the farmer whose energy, time and hard work went into making it get?

These are questions Equal Exchange wants to help answer by bridging the gap between producers and consumers—making sure more benefits get back to farmers who are growing the food we eat.

So, I sat down at Forge with Dary Goodrich, the Equal Exchange Chocolate Products Manager, to learn more about their mission and find out how Birminghamians can get involved.

Who is Equal Exchange?

Equal exchange is a fair trade for-profit worker-owned, cooperative based in Massachusetts. So, let’s break that down:

Fair trade = a way of doing business with developing countries to ensure fair prices are paid to producers for their products. Learn more about that here.
Worker owned co-op = “An alternative for-profit structure based upon standard democratic principles.” All of the employees own an equal portion of the company and receive equal share of any profits or losses. The “worker-owners” elect and serve as 6 of the 9 board of directors who hire/supervise management.
Other aspects to the co-op = They believe in one-person/one-vote equality at the governance level; open access to information/open-book management; free speech; and the equal distribution of resources/income.

“It’s an organization doing development but in a very different way…we’re going to change the business structure so that more is getting back to people who need it the most.”

Dary Goodrich

As one of the largest and earliest formed worker co-ops in the United States, Equal Exchange is comprised of roughly 130 worker-owners located all across the country. They got their start in coffee, pioneering the fair trade of that product in the U.S. Since their start over 30 years ago, they’ve expanded into tea, sugar, bananas, avocados, cocoa and chocolate. Which brings us to Dary.

Meet Equal Exchange’s Chocolate Products Manager 👋

Side Note: I mean, let’s take a moment to appreciate this job title… *rethinks entire career path*

“I was interested in the intersection between the environment and social justice, and food as a way those pieces come together.”

Dary Goodrich

After graduating, Equal Exchange had an opening—the perfect fit for Dary. And now, 17 years later, he’s running their chocolate program which includes cocoa products and chocolate bars.

“I’ve been able to grow this program. It’s very entrepreneurial—just figuring out what’s next? What are the right products? How do we think about where we should be going? And that’s always very exciting work.”

Dary Goodrich

With 100+ worker-owners, it’s not always easy—but it’s definitely worth it.

“It’s making sure everyone is feeling educated enough and up to speed on the issues so that you as a group can make a big decision. Sometimes it can be slow to change, but it’s something we’re always trying to practice, learn and do better.”

Dary Goodrich

The Rewarding Part Isn’t Just the Chocolate

Travelling 3-4 times a year to visit farmer partners all over the world is another exciting part of Dary’s job.

“I feel so lucky that I get to actually go and visit farmers who grow this crop. I think people are very disconnected from where their food comes from. For me to see the reality of the work and struggles they have just to make a livelihood and build a community—especially with this crop (cocoa/chocolate) that’s often defined by the international market and depersonalized or commoditized—is an exciting piece of the job.”

Dary Goodrich

Where’s Home Base?

When he’s not travelling, you can find Dary at Forge—the coworking space above the Pizitz Food Hall. But this isn’t his first coworking experience. Before moving to Birmingham, he worked in a co-working space in Atlanta, and before Forge, he worked at Innovation Depot downtown.

“A friend of mine connected me with Kim, and I talked to her about this idea… we kept in touch as she was still in the business development phase of this. When she launched I was like, yeah I’m in. Sign me up.”

Dary Goodrich

The best part of working at Forge, according to Dary, has been the community.

“I really enjoy being able to come to Forge to be around other people doing a wide range of work. It’s great to learn what other members are doing and to take advantage of their expertise through some of the educational events hosted at Forge.”

Dary Goodrich

Now, Back to the Important Stuff… Chocolate 🍫🍫🍫

What’s Dary’s current favorite? The new 92% Total Eclipse bar.

“It’s a really approachable and well-balanced bar for such a dark bar and I am excited that we are using beans for the first time from farmers in West Africa, specifically from Togo.”

Dary Goodrich

They’re brand new and not in stores yet, so we’ll keep you updated! And you can find Equal Exchange chocolate products in Birmingham at Sojourns Fair Trade, Whole Foods and Target, or shop all products online here!

Get Involved 👏

Feeling inspired and want to invest in a good cause? Get involved with Equal Exchange—they need your support. Who knows… you might end up at Forge working beside Dary. Bonus: lots of chocolate would be involved.

A personal chef for $96/week in Birmingham? It’s true. I tried it. Learn more about Eryka Perry’s Not Just Catering

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Bham Now recently featured Forge member Eryka Perry of Not Just Catering in a recent article. Check out the original post here.

For $96/week, you can have your very own personal chef. Yes, you’re reading that right. For a little less than $100 (plus the cost of groceries) the folks over at Not Just Catering will cook in your home and leave your fridge stocked with three fresh, healthy meals. They’ll even clean up. Want to know more about the company making personal chef experience affordable? Read on!

When Eryka Perry started Not Just Catering five years ago, she knew—hence the name—she wanted her culinary business to encompass more than just cooking food for people. She wanted it to be a lifestyle business, something that her customers could take with them after finishing one of her meals.

With Not Just Catering’s expert health coaching, private chef program and menu consultation service, Perry has done just that.

“Our goal is to really bring people back to the table, and show them what a healthy lifestyle looks like. We focus our meal planning and cooking around colorful, healthy foods and the importance of getting out and moving more, it’s a full spectrum experience.”

Eryka Perry, Founder of Not Just Catering

Not Just Catering serves the Birmingham metro area, focusing on certain areas of town each day to efficiently serve their growing clientele. Some of Not Just Catering’s services include:

In-home personal chef services
Wedding concierge service
Health coaching
Lunch and learns
Cooking classes
Event planning

How the In-Home Personal Chef Service Works

The menus, tailor-made for each customer weekly, are curated by an in-depth questionnaire of likes, dislikes and health goals. From the questionnaire, Perry and her team then make a weekly meal plan for each customer. They arrive on a pre-planned day, with fresh, seasonal groceries in tow, and get right to work. You don’t even need to be there! They’ll leave everything packaged and ready to serve in the fridge if you’re still at work.

I had to try this service, of course. Here’s what happened:

Here’s the thing. Nobody paid me to try out the Not Just Catering services. I did that on my own after talking with Perry about her business. As a busy mom of two with a long commute, Perry’s traveling chef service seemed like the answer to many a dinnertime prayer. After all, it’s tough getting dinner on the table after traveling the entirety of 280 in rush hour traffic from downtown to Chelsea. Crock Pots can only do so much.

I was very down to fork over the $96 plus the cost of groceries if it meant serving my family something other than frozen lasagna. I filled out the five-minute questionnaire and got a response and a meal plan the next day.

Coincidentally, I came down with the flu a couple of days before Perry was set to cook at my house, so she had to do all food prepping elsewhere. (Bc, germs.) She arrived with a smile on her face and sack full of home-cooked meals ready for my crew. She also included a little bottle of her homemade flu remedy that I’m convinced allowed me to live to see another day. It’s the little things!

The food was packaged family style and was absolutely amazing. Even the picky kiddos enjoyed the food, which is a downright miracle in itself.

This is what we had:

Jambalaya
Stuffed peppers on a bed of seasonal greens and veggies
Chicken spaghetti with zoodles

10/10— we will be using Not Just Catering on the regular moving forward!

About Eryka Perry at Not Just Catering

Perry went to school to be in the medical field but found herself with a culinary arts degree after a twist of fate landed her a scholarship in the culinary program.

“I kept noticing that there was a connection in my interests to the science and nutrition I was studying in school to the cooking at culinary school I was doing on the weekend,” she said. “So I opted to combine the two.”

A few years later she started Not Just Catering, dabbling in personal chef work and health coaching along the way.

Now in its fifth year, the company has seven employees comprised of local health coaches, private chefs and menu consultants. The team works out of Forge, the coworking space in The Pizitz in downtown Birmingham. She says working out of Forge has allowed her and her team the space they need to plan ahead and really focus in on the business side of their work when needed.

“It’s such a blessing that we are able to have a place to spread out and focus on the planning side of things,” said Perry. “The place has great energy—I can knock out a serious to-do list when I need to at Forge!”

Gift cards are available if you’d like to give the gift of a home cooked meal or three. I highly recommend this as a gift for a new mom or someone needing a little extra TLC and a few good meals.

Interested in knowing more about Not Just Catering or signing up for their traveling chef services? Visit their website here.

Striking the Right Work/Life Balance on the Road

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Today we’re featuring a post written by Forge Member Alex Grodner. We loved Alex’s perspective on work/life balance as he’s a remote worker often traveling for his job. Alex and his friends have a podcast and blog called the Clueless Dads. We know there are plenty of mom blogs out there (and rightly so!) but we love hearing from the mindset of the dads too. They share personal experiences and stories as they learn how to be a better dad.

In today’s day and age, the local / Monday-Friday / 9-5 jobs are almost non-existent. The antiquated ideas of all families being a man who is the only source of income for the household and a woman who takes care of the children and home are long gone. We have turned a corner in society where families look different, have different priorities, and a different working/stay-at-home mixture. While many families, including mine, have decided that the women staying home with the child(ren) makes the most sense, that is not always the case. The idea of the stay-at-home Dads or both parents continuing their careers soon after the baby is born is starting to change the way we think about families and how they work.

The idea of having the entire family home to sit down for dinner every night is not very conducive to many jobs. I personally have gone from every week travel schedule to every other week (but very flexible). What I have found, especially while my wife is pregnant and home with a toddler, is that work travel is not easy and can cause many issues if not addressed. Below is a list of the 6 things that I have found that help find that right work/life balance.

1. Set boundaries when you are home

I would argue this is important regardless of whether or not you travel for work. Whatever expectations you set at a job will be assumed in the future. If you are the kind of person that during a busy time will working until midnight and be back on working at 6AM the next morning, more power to you, but don’t expect that will be a one-time thing. On the other side, if it is an hour or two every work night you are home to spend with your family or letting it be known that Saturdays are for football and not work, it is so important to set boundaries of when you will/won’t work (outside of “normal business hours”). I have found that few jobs will care as long as you are meeting expectations and getting your work done when you say you will/when it is expected to be completed.

2. Make sure the time at home is special

When I am home, I have found that doing “other things” during my non-work time – playing video games, working on side projects, etc. – are best done when my wife and son go down for their afternoon naps or go to sleep at night. I also make a strong effort to spend as little time as possible on my phone or computer, often leaving my phone in the other room to avoid the unnecessary distraction. Having those distractions take priority over spending time with my family, especially when I am traveling a lot, is just not worth it and I end up regretting it when I am out of town.

3. Find a special activity

My son Bryant and I have our special activities that only him and I (and sometimes the dog) do. Spending some time at our local zoo (it’s 5 minutes away, hassle free, and we have a membership), cooking together, and going on runs with him in the jogging stroller and the dog’s leash around my waist are just a few of “our” activities. This is not to say that my wife cannot come if she wants to, but more times than not she finds this as a great time to do things that she wants to do…without a toddler and crazy puppy running around the house.

4. Give your significant other a break

As mentioned in the earlier comment, the activities that my son and I do give my wife a chance to do whatever she wants and has not been able to do while I was out of town – get a well-deserved nap, clean up around the house, run errands, etc. In addition to getting us out of the house, doing some of the things that my wife does while I am out of town (and especially the things that she doesn’t or can’t do) is something she greatly appreciates. Doing the bedtime routine/morning routine, turning cleaning up the house or dog poop in the backyard into a fun activity and having my “big helper” assist (which more times than not he is the opposite), and taking my son to school on my way to a coworking space ends up being a much-needed break for my wife.

5. Have a checklist of to-do’s before leaving town

Trying to get items on the “honey-do list” or things that you have put off and need to get done around the house is so important to try to do while you are in town. Many times it is very easy to forget/ignore some of the issues because they are “out of sight, out of mind” for you, but your wife and child(ren) have to see those things every day. Whether it’s cleaning up pet’s poop/pee or mowing the grass that has become a little too over grown, it can really make a difference and when you get home you aren’t reminded of something else that you wanted/needed to get done.

6. Communication, communication, communication

My wife and I share a Google calendar where I put my flights so that she knows when I am leaving and when I will be back home. This can obviously change due to flight delays or last-minute work changes, but if that happens I try to let her know when I know. I have found this gives my wife something to look forward to (a much-needed break) and it also keeps from the “so when are you going to be home again” question every day. In addition to keeping my wife updated on when I’ll be home, technology has made it extremely easy to video chat regardless of what type of technology someone has. I obviously can’t video chat with them every night, but it’s a nice way to see my wife and son and for them to see me.

Being on the road so much has not been easy, but I have found that these things – maximizing time when I am home, setting work boundaries, and constant communication – make it a little bit easier.

Suzanne Humphries of Suzanne Humphries Design on how the coworking environment at Forge revitalized her business

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Another feature from Bham Now focuses on Forge member Suzanne Humphries of Suzanne Humphries Design. Read more about how Forge has revitalized her business!

Suzanne Humphries recently made the move back to Birmingham after a few design stints in Atlanta and New York, just to name a few. She and her husband, a successful chef, both grew up in North Alabama and heeded the call of Magic City, where they are now pursuing personal projects.

Humphries used this move to set out on her own and create her own Interior Design company, Suzanne Humphries Design. Only a year and a half in, the company has had large success in the Birmingham area and beyond, but Humphries was feeling like she needed a change of pace. She had worked from home (and coffee shops) since setting out on her own, but was feeling like she wanted a place to go where she could get work done.

Forge to the Rescue

Humphries actually credits the team here at Bham Now for introducing her to Forge (#humblebrag). When I asked her how she found out about the chic coworking space in the Pizitz building, she said she was scrolling through Instagram one night and one of our posts about Forge caught her eye. She called in for a tour and was a Forge member the next day.

Perhaps you remember Humphries from a previous Forge article for which she gave the following testimony:

“Working at Forge has reinvigorated my business. I am more motivated, productive, and fulfilled now that I have the balance of self-employment and workplace culture. The best professional decision I have made was to move to Birmingham and start my own company…the second was to develop this company while working at Forge.”

Let’s Back Up

What Is Suzanne Humphries Design?

Humphries has worked for several different design firms since her graduation from grad school with a Master’s in Interior Design. These jobs took her from Washington D.C. to New York to Atlanta, and she finally branched out on her own in Birmingham. These opportunities gave her experience in an array of different design styles. In New York, she worked with Ralph Lauren in commercial design. In Atlanta, she gained experience in residential design through her work with Suzanne Kasler and in hospitality design with Smith Hanes. As you can tell, her portfolio is quite varied and broad. With her experience in the different design styles, Humphries has been able to move confidently throughout them, and has empowered her in her current project: opening a restaurant with her husband, Chef Adam Evans.

A New Birmingham Restaurant

There is no doubt that the space will be beautiful. Evans, who formerly worked at The Optimist in Atlanta, has plans for the space to serve gulf-caught fresh seafood and other local ingredients. The restaurant, whose name has yet to be revealed, will be in the Lakeview district. Humphries and Evans are hard at work designing and preparing the restaurant space, which is expected to seat 160 people, for an opening.

Stay tuned for more information on the restaurant!

Humphries’ Focus

While her focus is currently on hospitality, Humphries enjoys each different style of design and is open to projects of all kinds.

“I want to build my business to be open and accepting and excited about any type of project that comes my way. I want to be able to pull from my past experiences from the different places that I’ve been and use that skill set to work with whatever client is a good fit.

Interior Designer vs. Interior Decorator

With her degree in Interior Design, Humphries went through a curriculum in which she learned about construction and building, enabling her to understand the architecture component of the spaces she is working with. I had no idea that interior designers had to know all of the structural ins and outs of the building. When I thought of an Interior Designer, I was under the impression that she was choosing paint colors and focusing on the surface level of the home. However, it’s much more than that. Humphries explained to me that there are three main titles: Architect, Interior Designer, and Interior Decorator; and that each one is different.

Because Humphries’ title is Interior Designer, she has a broad list of responsibilities to the space in which she is working:

“The true Interior Design process includes everything and anything that goes on inside the walls of a home, a restaurant, a hotel — any sort of structure, permanent or temporary. I enjoy doing the full process, but I am also happy doing parts of the process.”

Spaces Shape Experiences

Have you ever walked into a restaurant, a hotel, or a store and it feels impeccably designed, yet effortless? That is the work of an Interior Designer. The layout, the colors, and so much more impacts the way we move through a space. Almost even more so, design impacts the way you live in your home. Of course, we never think about this, but the design of our homes impacts our everyday experiences. This is one of Humphries’ favorite things about what she does.

“It’s almost like you are creating this space that shapes the family, person, or couple’s day-to-day life. I think that’s a way in which design is so much more than picking paint colors and fabrics. And that’s why I like it. That is my favorite part.”

Humphries’ work experience is vast and varied. Check out her website and her Instagram.

Meet Two Ravens: a new Birmingham-based consultancy that aims to draw out the human in all of us

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We are highlighting another article from Bham Now about a team at Forge. Learn more about the Two Ravens team!

Among the many talented companies that work at Forge, the coworking space located on the second floor of The Pizitz residence building, is Two Ravens. Two Ravens is an “innovation consultancy,” “research and development,” “problem solving” company. Their team consists of six people, and they are always looking to a wide range of individuals in order to come up with the best ideas and constantly improve their business.

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Who Is Two Ravens?

First, why the name “Two Ravens?” The team referenced Norse mythology and the two ravens of Odin when I asked about the origin of the company name. Mythology has it that the two ravens of the god Odin were responsible for flying all over the world and bringing information back to him. These ravens were responsible for bringing Odin information about the goings-on of the world from a third-party perspective. Two Ravens, the company, feels that this is similar to their business strategy. Their job consists largely of working with companies to be a third-party observant of issues or programs that the company may want to change or address. They bring an observant nature to the gathering of information, then they formulate action steps for those issues.

I sat down with three of the partners to discuss the company: Marc Beaumont, who has a background in Marketing, Donne Garvich, whose background is in tech and team building, and Dr. Lindsay Sutton, whose background is in Psychology, Behavior Analytics and Research.

Business Approach

The team at Two Ravens is quite varied. The best way to describe them is that they are a supergroup. Beaumont shared that the company is truly made up of people in different disciplines that have often worked together in some way in the past. He described them each as having their own unique “superpower” to bring to the team. Many of them worked at the same company previously, but quickly realized they generally had one common goal, so they decided to work together at their own company.

“The common core element that drove us is this really strong internal drive to improve the lives of other people. And what we were finding is this: we had these talent sets that were really complimentary but we weren’t combining them anywhere we had worked before to that end.” – Garvich

The following is a brief description of the company from Garvich:

“Two Ravens was created to help organizations better understand the problems and opportunities ahead of them, and to help them quickly develop solutions that they can bring to the world. We do this by providing research and development-based innovation services that blend expertise in behavioral science, marketing, technology, and operations.”

This thinking is one of the things that makes the company so special. Their approach focuses on research, development and ideation, yes. But the three words that each member used to describe Two Ravens came down to the following: ‘Empathy’, ‘Human’, and ‘Innovation’.

Empathy And The Human Element

A large part of the Two Ravens strategy is something called “empathy mapping.” This is what ties in the empathy factor to the human factor. They describe it as being the outcome of a sum of different observations the team has. This includes “collectively gathering as many different perspectives as you can. [Perspectives] that you’ve heard expressed through conversation, surveys and interviews.” Empathy is introduced strongly into this process. This is the point in which the team at Two Ravens starts to collect information about what the humans want.

They have noticed that a lot of top business men and women in corporate companies eventually become identified AS that company. The downside? Losing the human element. That’s where Two Ravens steps in. Dr. Sutton describes it like so: “Other companies may not dig into why a CEO thinks he needs an app. But we do. Who is it for? How are we changing a behavior or a process that people are engaging in? How are we changing the way they’re experiencing it? And there isn’t a single bit of tech involved in that.” That is purely a human process.

Though they realize that this process takes time, they believe it is worthwhile. The human relationships they are able to help their clients make through the empathy mapping process can be invaluable, as well as helping to find the root of the customers’ wants, needs and pains.

Innovation

Two Ravens bills itself as an “innovation consultancy.” They know that many established companies have a sense of fear attached to the term ‘innovation,’ and are working to change that for the better. Beaumont sums it up nicely: “Innovation is a byproduct of our process. Innovation can sometimes feel scary when it is attached to disruption. Change is not always seen as the best thing, and innovation implies change.”

As Two Ravens’ clients go through this process, they find that those fears are usually unfounded. Dr. Sutton notes that behavior change often happens in small increments. She states that a company might move in small steps but that the output can be powerful: adding value to their clients’ and customers’ lives.

“It’s not scary and unattainable and unreachable. It’s here and approachable and can happen today.” – Dr. Sutton

The Forge Advantage

So what is the best thing about working from Forge?

Of course, the fruit-infused water and elegant, clean bathrooms are nice. The unlimited lunch options available at the food hall are also a nice perk. Overall, though, the community wins. Here’s what the Two Ravens team has to say about the community at Forge:

Dr. Sutton: “Community drives energy. We’re all hustlers in a way, and we are figuring out who we are as businesses. So there is that shared experience in a way. All the businesses are so unique, but the energy that is put out is so productive and positive.”

Beaumont: “The energy. It facilitates interaction. There is an energy dynamic that helps feed the office here at Forge.”

Garvich: “I love the fact that we have community, so we have external viewpoints. They are like coworkers, but they’re not attached to one particular silo, so we have access to people who have viewpoints and conversations, etc. talk to people that are in a whole different world.”

In addition to community, there was an overwhelming gratitude for the way that Forge founder, Kim Lee, has set up the co-working space. The team at Two Ravens notes that as a start-up, the last thing they were thinking about is office furniture. Or a printer. Or anything other than their business plan. They are thankful to Lee for creating an environment where they can come into work and be able to focus solely on their business growth.

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