A-List Summer Excursions Part 2: TOMS, Hannah's, and Beyond

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” ― Anne Frank

For every pair of shoes sold, TOMS gives a pair to a child in need. For every coffee sold, TOMS gives fresh drinking water. For every student on our TOMS excursion, inspiration!

This summer I was asked to create a course on American Business Exploration, consisting of excursions for international students visiting Kendall College in Chicago from countries including Brazil, Chile, India, Korea, Peru, and Thailand. I structured the course around the concept of networking, mentoring, and volunteering as comprising a culture of innovation and success in American business.

I orchestrated excursions to large and small companies where dear friends of mine are founders or managers, namely Gardeneers, Google, Hannah's Bretzel, TOMS, Kimpton Hotel Gray, and Chicago Design Museum, to illustrate those themes.

Then I invited my A-Listers -- students who earned an A in any course of mine, whether from the US or overseas -- to join in.

We had a blast, and I am proud of the A-Listers for their professionalism and enthusiasm!

See the previous post for our visits to Gardeneers and Google; and on to our next stop:


TOMS!

I'm happily surrounded by dear Kendall College A-Listers and dear Kendall summer program students and coordinators at TOMS Chicago!

I've been a fan and customer of TOMS for some time, and provided sustainable chocolate for a coffee and chocolate pairing event held at TOMS Chicago, so loved bringing students to experience this special brand!

With every purchase, TOMS provides shoes, sight, water, safe birth, or bullying prevention services to people in need. It all started with shoes: for every pair sold, the company - founded by Blake Mycoskie - gives a pair to a child. [Video!]

This one-for-one give inspired me to expand the philanthropic work of my business to start a one-for-one give of our own: for every chocolate subscription box we sell, we give a meal to a child at the CREER rescue center in Cote d'Ivoire, which rescues formerly trafficked kids who escaped from the bulk cacao farms that supply industrial chocolate brands.

At TOMS Chicago, we heard from Assistant Store Manager Adriane Battilana how volunteering is a way of life in the TOMS culture. To let our group be fully part of the mission, I arranged for each student to choose a coffee or other beverage from the cafe, ensuring yet more giving as each TOMS Roasting Co. drink for us meant fresh water for a community in need.

One-for-one makes giving simple and transparent.

Cheers!

TOMS sources and roasts coffee beans from origins such as Peru and Malawi.

Happy feet: A-Lister Mark Jacks, yours truly Professor Valerie Beck, A-Lister Martim Castro wearing TOMS, and A-Lister Kadisha Mukhamejanova.

Students helped me select this pair of TOMS, which I purchased and didn't want to take off, so I bounced out wearing them!

Thank you, TOMS!

Some A-Lister feedback:

"Thank you also very much for the great field trip today. TOMS is such a great and exemplary business. I loved this one for one charity idea.... I found powerful and wonderful this need and desire to help people around the world, as our speaker told us today, and also the way they provide a healthy and sustainable life style." - Martim Castro

"Thank you again for the TOMS excursion today! It was a delightful experience and enjoyable to hear from a representative of such a conscious company!" - Mark Jacks

Next stop:

Hannah's Bretzel!

Sampling craft chocolate deliciousness at Hannah's, specifically Askanya Chocolate, Pump Street Bakery Chocolate, and Violet Sky Chocolate. These beautiful bars, like all of the brands I represent, are sustainable and slavery-free, soy-free, small-batch, and scrumptious! 

I've been honored to feature Hannah's Bretzel on my Chicago Chocolate Tours for many years, and to distribute craft chocolate bars for their chocolate program featured on their Wall of Chocolate, so what a thrill it was to bring dear students to one of the 7 Hannah's locations, to hear from dear friend and client Florian Pfahler, founder of Hannah's!

Florian's commitment to sustainability shines not only in the sustainable food and chocolate at his cafes, but also in the business culture he built around the idea of "do the right thing," and he shared his journey of sustainability and culture with the students, as we all enjoyed his brand's signature sandwiches and some favorite chocolate bars. Click for a video showing the real Hannah playing cards with her dad Florian toward the end! : )

A-Lister Michael Wulfstat, Hannah's founder/ceo Florian Pfahler, yours truly Valerie Beck professor and chocolate muse, and A-Lister Kadisha Mukhamejanova.

Some of Team Hannah's making marvelous sandwiches for our students.

Student sustainability superstars: Kendall summer program students and Kendall A-Listers with Florian and yours truly.

I brought some cocoa beans for students to sample along with some favorite chocolate brands from the Wall of Chocolate at Hannah's through my distributorship, plus Chocolate Uplift stickers, and TOMS friendship bracelets, to tie together our circle of ethical business culture!

Some A-List feedback:

"[At] Hannah's Bretzel ... we learned about cutting edge sustainability practices in small businesses and also got to try their amazing sandwiches!" - Michael Wulfstat

Summer program student feedback:

"Their culture is amazing, to give employees a path to grow.... Also their concern on serving the best quality connects very well with the Chocolate Uplift mission and values, so it was nice to go all the way around and observe the 5 Ps in every business." - Naira Barros

Thank you, Florian and Team Hannah's!

Thank you as well to our other esteemed excursion hosts on this year's summer program:

Kimpton Hotel Gray

Guess who brought the chocolate to the glorious Hotel Gray, where the warm and individual Kimpton culture makes life sweet!

Summer program student feedback:

"Kimpton Gray Hotel, such a unique culture! Nabeel [Toubayly, Director of Housekeeping and Kendall College grad] was so welcoming! He truly loved to be there and to give us all the details." - Naira Barros

and

Chicago Design Museum

Guess who is thrilled to provide design-forward craft chocolate to the innovative Chicago Design Museum!

Summer program student feedback:

"Chicago Design Museum, it was one of my favorites!" - Naira Barros

And thank you, Kendall summer program, and Kendall A-Listers who are always our pacesetters and of whom I'm always so proud!

Did you see Part 1 of our summer excursions?

Here's to networking, mentoring, and volunteering, through summer and beyond, and here's to our A-Listers!

A-List Summer Excursions Part 1: Google and Gardeneers

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust

Summer means sun and fun, and it also means vibrant opportunities for networking, mentoring, and volunteering when you're on the A-List!

Summer sunflowers at a Gardeneers site on the South Side of Chicago, where Kendall summer students and A-Listers and I volunteered with Chicago Public School high-schoolers, growing healthy futures!

This summer I was asked to create a course of excursions on American Business Exploration for international students visiting Kendall College in Chicago from countries including Brazil, Chile, India, Korea, Peru, and Thailand. I structured the course around the concept of networking, mentoring, and volunteering as comprising a cycle of success toward innovation in American business.

I orchestrated excursions to large and small companies where dear friends of mine are founders or managers, such as Gardeneers, Google, Hannah's Bretzel, TOMs, Kimpton Hotel Gray, and Chicago Design Museum, to illustrate those themes.

Then I invited my A-Listers -- US and international students who earned an A in any course of mine -- to join in and to add their sparkle to these exciting excursion opportunities.

We all had a blast!


First stop: Google!

Wall of Googleyness.

We took a private tour of the vibrant custom offices of Google Chicago, and learned about Google's unique culture of teamwork, internal networking and psychological safety, where employees feel free to share ideas without judgment, so that innovation can happen.

Here I am with awesome A-Listers on our excursion to Google!
Left to right: yours truly Professor Valerie Beck, Doina Railean, Goncalo Loureiro, Daniel Wigutow, Martim Castro, Benedita Pinto, Mikaela Turner, Kadisha Mukhamejanova.

Welcome to Google: yours truly Professor Valerie Beck with A-List Ladies Kadisha Mukhamejanova, Mikaela Turner.

A-Listers meet summer program students on our Google excursion!

Thinking big at Google.

Straight to the top: our tour of Google Chicago included a visit to the rooftop, where big dreams have space to fly.
Thank you to our Google friends!

Some A-List feedback:

"I really liked this field trip.... Google is one of the biggest successful companies in the world, and all the Google buildings in the world are kind of known as an incredible secret dream work place that only a few with special contacts have the possibility to go inside and visit. It was a privilege to be able to see what and how the amazing building looks like inside, and so to get to know  some of the perks of working there."  - Martim Castro

Summer program student feedback:

"Before I start to talk about our excursions I would like to thank you! You helped us a lot! And the 5 P's [Purpose, People, Product, Process, Profit] together with the networking, volunteering and mentoring is something I will take for life and to all the projects I have. ... I loved to see the employee culture of google and how that leads to innovation." - Naira Barros

"Thank you very much for those amazing excursions!" - Suhant Mehta 

Next stop: Gardeneers!

Sprouting up at Gardeneers: yours truly Professor Valerie Beck with A-Listers Benedita Pinto, Martim Castro, Michael Wulfstat, and Kadisha Mukhamejanova.

Founded by my fellow Harvard alum Adam Zmick, Gardeneers is an impressive non-profit that creates school gardens in food deserts, with the mission of empowering underprivileged kids to connect with healthy food through experiential, garden-based learning.

I brought our Kendall summer students and A-Listers to the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, to volunteer on one of Gardeneers' over 20 school garden sites, where we gardened side by side with high school students in the program, as new friendships were formed while weeding, planting, and doing some heavy garden labor too!

The culture of Gardeneers promotes personal growth as well as garden growth.

Wave if you love gardening!
Here are Adam and I with high school Gardeneers, Kendall A-Listers, and Kendall summer students. Thank you, Adam!

South Side of Chicago, in the Englewood neighborhood, just across from the Gardeneers site we visited.

Two Kadishas!

Benedita in the sun!

Strong volunteers Michael and Martim handling heavy labor duty in the garden!

Garden at the end of the tunnel!

Onward and upward, growing gardens and community through Gardeneers, and growing summer excursion magic!

Some A-List feedback:

"We had a glorious morning today, such a great time in the garden! Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. It´s great for us having these opportunities in different types of businesses." - Martim Castro

"What I enjoyed most about our summer excursions was the incredible amount of diversity and culture that we were exposed to." - Michael Wulfstat

Summer program student feedback:

"Gardeneers, such an amazing idea! They integrate all the 5Ps [Purpose, People, Product, Process, Profit] with the community!" - Naira Barros

Next: see Part 2 for our excursions to Hannah's Bretzel and TOMS, as A-Listers continue in the culture of networking, mentoring, and volunteering, and continue to inspire pride!

Onward and upward!