 Thank you for joining us today. I am Kay Hampton, and I'm the deputy director of our office. Columbia Economic Development is the department of the city of Columbia. We have four major areas of focus in our office. Recruitment of both new business and talent, existing business expansion and retention, entrepreneurship, and marketing communications. You can find out more about us on our website, choosecolumbiasc.com. Today's webinar will also be streaming live on our Facebook page at COLASCED. We are excited to have Nita Rutherford, who is an entrepreneur and small business owner in Columbia SC, and Tony Waller is the director of constituent relations at Walmart. Our guests will take questions as time allows and you can submit those in the chat box of the webinar. We will start with allowing our guests to tell us a little bit about themselves, their careers and current positions, and they will continue with conversations on topics regarding building an authentic workplace and how to include diversity and inclusion into everyday values. Nita, Tony, thank you so much. Thank you so much for having us. I'm very honored to be here today. And same here. It is really an honor and a pleasure to be speaking with people from the beautiful city of Columbia, South Carolina, and to be able to hang out with someone as super fabulous as Nita Rutherford. You know, my life just can't get any better. I don't know. It's kind of glamorous some days and some days not so much. I feel you on that. I really, really do. You know, you know, people laugh at me because even at home as I'm sequestered at home, I still get, I guess, don't get dressed up. I do too. Every day, right? And so, but there are days right now, like, I can't do this today. I slap on my head. I slap my head on top of my head. And I said, this is the best I can do for y'all. I just made a video yesterday on my Instagram talking about the need to still get dressed because it's a part of self love and self care and we can get bogged down with the weight of the world, especially in the climate that we are waking up to. I've been in these past 4872 hours and I think it matters to show up for yourself and and to try to have a little bit of happy in sometimes a sad place. So thank you for being fabulous along with me. Thanks so much for joining us for being here and having us. I really appreciate it. I don't really know you. I mean, we've talked a couple of times, but tell me about you. What should I know about you? You should know that I'm the hardest working woman you'll ever meet. That's number one. Number two, you should know that my heart is in service and in the community and whatever I can do in my life that allows me to serve others. It will always be my number one focus and my number one goal. I just so happen to do it quite stylishly. So when people ask me, you know, who are you? What do you do? I tell them I'm a servant first and then I'm a mom. I'm a wife and I'm a community advocate. Those are those are how those are the titles that I would use to describe myself, but what I do for work, which is often what people want to know. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm also a nurse practitioner. I've been in healthcare for 14 years and I have that skill set in that background. I work in that area every day, but my passion is service and I love fashion. I've always loved fashion, even though I grew up poor and in foster care and I didn't really have new clothes until I became an adult. And so now I try to show individuals that you can be stylish and fabulous and show up for yourself in the best way possible. But you don't have to spend lots of money that you can do it using secondhand clothing items, gently used items, and you can still look amazing. So that's me in a nutshell. I am so right there with you. Like you, like you, I love clothes. I love, you know, looking good. It makes me feel good. It helps me mentally be on, you know, just mentally be on. Like you, I truly believe that. So a little bit about myself so I can kind of get into this a little bit by myself. I was born and raised in my name is Tony Waller again, I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. My family, however, is from Virginia from a little town called Danville, which is the southern part of the state. My father was in construction ended up going to Puerto Rico for a year and it ended up turning into 22 years. So that's, that's, that's how that goes, but moved back to Danville when I was 15, went to college. I started working for a state farm work for them for a long time for about 22 years, and then left state farm after a great time there, never thinking that I would ever make a drastic change. Like I did, but I left state farm after 22 successful years and went to work for Walmart and have been with Walmart for 13 years, almost 14 will be 14 years in, in, in December. Now, y'all, I started real young. Okay, so let's get that part straight. I ain't old. I was going to say you're only 22 Tony, how have you done? Thank you. Thank you. That's right. I'm only 22. But you know the thing, you know, like you said, you know, that's kind of what I do in my daytime. But my nighttime job, my other jobs I have to one is I, I shop for people. So I have a whole group of clients that I shop for do all of their shopping. And the range of people that I work with are individuals who have, you know, disposable income they can they can buy what they want but I have clients who say Tony, all I have is this amount. Yes, those are the ones that I love working with the most, because unfortunately society has made it seem as if in order to look good and be your best, you have to spend a whole lot of money. Which you and I know that is a lie. Yes, it's a lie. You know, when I first started out, I didn't have any money to do the things I wanted to do. You know, I went to secondhand stores I went to at the time I went to K Martin JC pennies and Sears and, you know, you know, all these, you know, as some people would turn more in stores I don't know what to do with that. But, you know, that that people don't tend to connect with from a fashion standpoint, and created all things and it's, it's always it always kills me when I makes me laugh actually when people say like, Oh my goodness that looks good. Where did she get that. Oh, I bought that tie at Kmart or Walmart or about that shirt at, I found this shirt at a thrift store for $7. It's unbelievable what you can do. And then my other job is like you, I'm all about service my mother taught me years ago. Before she passed away, that we all have an assignment in this world, and do not confuse your assignment with what it is that you do your job, your family, your friends, your ups, your downs, everything in your life is a tool that you are to use to carry out your assignment. And so I'm very clear what my assignment is. And so I make sure that all that I do is focused on helping me to accomplish that assignment because I know that at the end of the day I only have a few I have a limited amount of time on this earth that I need to get things done. And so that's a little bit about me and nutshell. I love it. Well we have so much in common Tony is as we kind of found out when we had our previous conversations. So tell me how tell me how you're feeling about. There's this push right now. And if there's a push for equality. It's a battle we've been fighting for a long time. But you work in a corporation you work for a big corporation and I'm sure that there have been lots of kind of coffee coffee room talk about how to increase diversity in the workplace and how to build that and what that looks like and what that feels like without seeming like it's just like let's hire black people right. It's a very real conversation that needs to be had because oftentimes people that look like you and I are not represented at the highest level in corporations. So talk to me a little bit about the work that you do with Walmart and how you're helping them create an environment that is more inclusive. You know it's interesting that you then she asked that question and it's a great question. Fortunately, I don't know if it's fortunate or not. But you know we've been having these conversations for quite some time pre COVID pre everything that's been going on in the world on what it is that we need to do better and our CEO I give him mad credit has been really been paying attention Doug has been out for a long time talking about the inequities that we see in the world and he recently just came back prior prior to all this he just came back from Montgomery and went to visit the new social justice museum that's that's down there and it really rocked his world. I mean to see historically, how inequity has has has led up to where we are today. It led him to to be part of an Institute Institute called the Racial Equity Institute and based on a Greek or North Carolina amazing organization. But what the Institute does it traces the history of slavery and racism from the beginning from 1619 all the way up to today. And it shows us all of the systems that have been put in place that started back in 1619. Now their purpose is not about trying to change your mind on anything but their purpose is to show the evidence that racism has been is a system that was created. That has been used and reused and reused and all these new levels have been laid on top of it to create to where we have today which is why it's being manifested in the way that it is today. And so with that, it's really caused him to call it really has caused him to step up and lead and understand that we as corporations have to play a role. There was a time I would tell you that he as many CEOs would say, we are just blank. You know, in other words, he would say we're Walmart we're just a retailer. I mean we're just supposed to sell stuff it's not it's not for us to, you know, AT&T we're just about phones you know we're you know it's not about us getting involved in this kind of stuff right to now where you're seeing corporations stepping up and seeing oh my goodness we have to do something. Right. And the expectation is there, because consumers are expecting that. I don't know if you've seen. There is a report called the trust barometer that comes out every year, Edelman public relations the largest public relations firm in the country does this, and they literally test and test the trust in communities every single year. And in fact they just did one solely focus on racial equity. And the interesting thing came out of that. What came out of it was that straight up people just don't trust. They don't trust government. They don't trust communities. They don't trust anybody. And their height of expectation now has increased so now it's not government or nonprofits do the work corporations, you need to step up and do your part as well. I'm sorry. Well I was going to say Tony that there's been a history in in the medical field, you know I'm a healthcare provider in the medical field in government, you know we have this systemic problems, and we know we can't fight all of it right like we know that we can't fight all the battles like Tony Waller can fight the battle that he can fight and maybe that it's starting a youth group youth group in Danville to help, you know, disenfranchise youth. Maybe it's, you know, like style by NATO, we provide clothing to the homeless and maybe being able to provide them with business close to be able to go and interview for a job helps break that cycle for them of poverty. You know, in the in the right direction so I think our society with so many things that have been brought forth the, the videoing of of racial injustice and social unrest has allowed us a lens into has a lot I guess not as black people has allowed other non black to have a lens into what it feels like to have your life endangered by the people by the by the very people who are supposed to protect you so I think it's a, it's a very interesting dynamic that we have. We know we can't like we're not the corporation but I think that we are the consumers of these corporations and they are in business because of us and we know that these businesses are placed into areas where people need it the most Walmart is not setting itself up down the street from millionaires Walmart is setting itself up near lower socioeconomic developed areas, because they are the ones that need those types of bulk and cost savings so we have to. We have to acknowledge that the corporations are making money off of the people who are being threatened and we have to also acknowledge that those corporations do have social responsibility to give back to the communities that support them and put. that be in the billions that they make from those communities so I'd like to kind of switch the conversation if I can Tony to have to have us talk about on a on a micro level from from Walmart. What are some things that Walmart is doing at a local level at a community level. That gives people hope and and allows people to see representation from Walmart. So you are spot on, you know, I'm a believer that you have to control what you can control. Right, the problems out here are so big, and sometimes it gets overwhelming to the point that you say well, you throw your hands up and say I can't do anything which is not true. You can control what you can control. And so, to your point, we've been doing a lot of work around a number of areas. As an example, in the in the area of hunger and, you know, and food. We've worked with our local food banks to make sure that available for those who are in need right now, especially during the time we're seeing more and more people who are going without. And so we've increased our giving to food bail around the country to make sure that there's access to food. We've hired additional people we've already hired over half a million additional workers, because we know that people have been displaced. You know, since it's that close or they've laid off. And so what we've done is is is found opportunities to bring people on board in our stores and our distribution centers to help out and what I'm loving what's happened with this is that we've seen a lot of innovation as well, because there was a time that it would probably take about 24 days if you will, to hire somebody, we can now get somebody higher than 24 hours, go in and tomorrow have a job. And so, so, so I'm proud of that innovation but there's still much more that has to be done right. We still have schools who are in need we still have people who are worried they are not they can pay their rent we still got where can they get their prescription. You know, and so we are looking at how can we play a role in how we can play a role in that in that way as well. One of the things that we did talking about rent. As you know, and many of our stores we've got storefronts right so we've got small businesses that are located within our stores. Well, we forgave rent because we knew that they were going to have a hard time and that you know they could be open because of different, you know, rules regulations and many cases, you know, government said, you know, right now you shouldn't be open. You know people weren't able to make money, you know, and had to make the justice to how to restructure their physical buildings right or the physical entity to be able to serve customers. We understood that that was going to be hard. So we made provisions to let them know that we're supporting you and we're helping you out. One of the things that we're also looking at right now is working with non-profits, local non-profits in communities that are serving the customer, they're serving people who have been impacted by COVID on a lot of different levels, whether it's food, whether it's other types of assistance. So we're working with, you know, with with local Urban League affiliates, we're working with NAACP branches, we're working with the National Black Child Development Institute affiliates. We're working with school systems, we're working with smaller non-profits who are looking for, you know, for looking for supplies and trying to help them as best that we can. Thus far, just COVID alone, with COVID related efforts alone, we've contributed over $30 million, and that's over and above the close to $1 billion that we contribute in the world, you know, annually. Because we know it's needed, and we continue to look for those kind of opportunities. The other thing that we've been very clear on is making sure that we do the best that we can for our associates, because they're out here working really, really hard. Which is one of the reasons why we cut our hours. Now we're not open 24 hours. Why? Because we've got to give our associates a break. We've got to give them an opportunity to rest up and be ready and take care of the needs that they need to take care of. Right? To restock our shelves to make sure that they're available for the customer. And to make sure that they can take care of their own families and make sure that they're okay. Right. And so that's the reason why we've shut those hours down so they can do that. But it's also we found opportunities to show our appreciation by giving them a number of bonuses. They've done three bonuses thus far. And a lot of people, in addition to their annual quarterly bonus, a lot of people don't really know that we bonus our associates every quarter. If your store is a profitable store, you are eligible for a bonus. And that's whether you are part-time or full-time, whether you are a store greeter or store manager, everybody's entitled to that. But we've also made additional bonuses, three of them in fact. It's come over, it's come to a total of over $1.1 billion that we've given to associates to help them out because we know that they are going through some stressful times just as the rest of the world is. And probably in many cases even more stressful as they're trying to serve the customers that we want to serve at the same time as taking care of their own needs. So those efforts continue. We were the first company, we were the first company to remove the crime-related questions of our application because we've been very focused on how can we play a role in hiring people who'd been previously incarcerated. If you paid the price, you should be redeemed and given a second opportunity. And one of the things that we realized is that unfortunately society doesn't allow for that. So in 2010, we made the decision to take those questions off and we've been working very hard and finding ways to proactively hire people who've been previously incarcerated, who are able, who want to work, who want to make a change, and who deserve to have the opportunity for a second chance. So, I mean, I know you're tired of hearing from me, so let me shut up. No, no, no, you're fine. No, no, you're absolutely fine. You brought out some really interesting things. I was taking notes as you were talking. You know, the fact that Walmart has been able to assist local food banks to assist local nonprofits. I hope that Kay will take the time to put in the chat where local nonprofits could possibly access in game or information about that because there are lots of nonprofits doing work that may need assistance. So thank you so much for bringing that up. I think sometimes we look at Walmart, you know, there's multi-billion-dollar company, and we think, you know, they don't understand what's going on at a local level at that micro level, as I like to say. And so it's really nice to hear that they're doing local things, that they're helping their associates, and to talk about the fact that the criminal records are, yes, we have to look at those things, but to give someone a second chance. I work in a prison system here in South Carolina, and I know that sometimes people go to jail and it's for something really small. I mean, something that really any of us, you know, if you pay, if you don't pay a speeding ticket, you can have a warrant put out for your arrest. Does that make that person a bad person? No, it just means that maybe they had a heavy foot one day and they forgot to pay it. And so it's really nice to know that Walmart is making strides in the community in that way. So thank you so much for sharing that. I'd like to talk a little bit about, thank you so much, Kate, to put up the Walmart Foundation and where people can go to find that information. Let's talk about how, how we actually bring in people, because we know that at the associate level we probably have lots of representation of black and brown and non-white people that work in those roles. Let's talk about the actual how though, like for me as a small business owner. I look, I recruit from USC and I recruit from Benedict College. Those are two schools that I have a relationship with. One is predominantly white and one is an HBCU. I'm a proud graduate of Benedict College and HBCU. And I know that there are lots of talented people there that often are overlooked because large companies or even small businesses don't think to tap into that pool of potential workers. And so for me, I put out information at both of those schools. One has for USC, we use a portal system there. And for the students at Benedict, I contact the administration to see, hey, do you have any students in need of jobs? As a local business, I've been able to help start a career closet there at Benedict College so that students who are in need of clothing, whether it be business or casual clothing, so that they can go there and get free clothing items. But that's just such a small part, right? So how do we, how do we include more people, more diverse people in the workforce because it's not just about race, right? It's not just about black, white, Hispanic, Indian, Asian. It's not about those things. It's also about our veterans. It's also about the members of our LGBTQ community. It's also about having people who have different perspectives and different voices and different experiences so that they can bring those two leadership roles. Tell me how you feel Walmart is doing at an executive level. Are they increasing recruitment efforts for people in those higher level positions? Because I often find, Tony, it's not at the base level where there's a lack of representation. It's often at the top level. And what is, what do you feel Walmart is doing to recruit people from its communities that it serves to operate at those higher executive levels? So you are spot on, Neda, the fact that we could do a better job. I will say this, Walmart is doing a very good job. It can do better, right? And I would say to you, I would agree with you in the lower bonds of companies, people do really well in entry level to do well, but where we were corporations, and that includes Walmart, needs to do better at is how do we create a pipeline that prepares people to move folks up. In our case, I will tell you, and I'll be very frank, we are doing really good on the top, and we do a really good, you know, kind of in the bottom but it's the middle that we could we could do some more improvement. You know, as an example, the Kona Smith, he is the chief operating officer of Walmart, a black man. Latrice Watkins, she is the EVP of consumer, in other words, she oversees all buying of anything that is not who black woman, Spellman grad killing it. So, Calvin Buncombe is the president and CEO of neighborhood markets, so you the small neighborhood, the smaller format stores are primarily grocery, the EVP over all of that black male. And the list goes on and on. I mean, we've got tons of great, you know, a great, you know, African American officers within the company who are doing tremendous work. I don't know if you know Carla Harris, I don't know if you know Carla Harris, who's vice chair of not JP Morgan Chase. Morgan Stanley, on the board of directors at Walmart, prior to all of them. Ross Brewer, who now is CEO of Starbucks was the CEO of Sam's Club, which means a lot of people don't realize that Sam's Club is also part of Walmart. So we've been very good in that realm, and we're doing really good I'm very proud of the work that we're doing there and we're continued to add more and more African American officers to the company. And that's because of the leadership and direction of Doug McMillan who says, we're going to make this thing happen. Right. Okay, well that's really good to hear. Oh, yeah, but now how do we prepare people to your point right to be ready to compete with those for those jobs when I treat the sides are going to take another opportunity when the corner says I'm retiring. When Kelvin says, you know, oh, I want to move over to international. Right. Who are we preparing to get lifted up there. And so it happens on two on two ways one is in the recruitment. Right. So we have an amazing executive recruiting team, who is directed by all of our, you know, key associates and say this is what I want. Who are saying to people, don't present to me a pool of candidates that's not diverse for me to interview. We're saying, you know, who are saying, then in turn, what are we doing now to make sure that we're preparing people to compete because we got a lot of good people working at Walmart. Right. Right. So how do we start identifying that talent. And it's on us to, you know, so one of the things that that I learned was, I can't expect others to do what I should be doing to which means being on the lookout of good solid talent and making others at be aware of that talent and saying, and you need to take a look at this person. You need to watch out for this person. How do we create a developmental opportunity for that person that will showcase his or her talent and get them into the eyes of the right people. We've all got to do that. So it can't all be on recruiting. It's got to be on us as associates and we have to expect that. And so that's one of the things that we're working on. We're working in formal group of directors and senior directors that meet every month. And one of the things that we talk about is looking at, who have we seen out there that looks really good. Who is doing great stuff. And then, okay, so who are what are we going to do to get that person into the front of the into the into the eyes of the right people so they can be viewed. And then the other thing that has to take place that we're we're we're I'm very proud of where we're headed here is making sure that we're developing programs specifically to identify and prepare diverse associates in this case black associates to be ready to compete. So we've been working with our executive talent development department to focus on, okay, I know that you all are looking at these high potential people. How do we start identifying people who are high potential who are black, and others, but who are black, and how do we now in turn prepare them start preparing that intentionally for opportunities because the other thing I always see is that we talk about it right. Oh, yeah, right. But we don't get intentional about it until you like really do something, you know, talking about it ain't gonna do squat. Tony, I was about to call you out I was about to call you out brother I was about to say listen companies are, especially corporations are excellent at talking about, Oh, we're implementing a diversity program or we're increasing our recruitment efforts to include more diversity but I want to see it I want to see proof and so when I when I hear companies say whether they are small business or whether they're a large corporation when they say to me, Hey, we're increasing out increasing our diversity in our recruitment, how show me show me what you're doing. And, and then when you get those people in. What are you doing to develop your people so what so one of the things that happens at style by need and and again I speak from a small business standpoint is my employees are paid well. My top employees. They, they make a certain amount. And then, but I at our base level, you're making $10 an hour and a lot of times these are college students let me tell you if I was a when I was in college I would have killed for a job where I could have made $10 an hour minimum wage is $7 and 25 cents. And so we're already bringing our people in and showing them respect for their time and their talents by valuing that with a with a dollar amount. And then like our director of operations makes a little bit more than that, because we're preparing leaders so when you come to work at style by NATO, you are being prepared for leadership so I don't treat them as if they are just, working for me, I tell them all the time I worked for you you tell me what you want to see so we hire them as independent contractors, so that they can say so we have a young lady that that is majoring in visual merchandising. Well, I can't provide you those tools that's in you. So you have to bring your, your talents to our store. And so, one of the main parts of her role there is to do the visual merchandising for the store. The store has never looked better we love having her on. We have a, and she's a USC student we have a former SCAD student SCAD graduate, who does our marketing. A student that is majoring in retail management. So she helps to run the operations of the store. So when you come to work for for my small business, you are doing what you would do in a in a real position on the outside we given that real world experience and when they get stuck right or if there's an employee issue I say to them, how would you fix it. If you had to fire or hire someone how would you fix it. I feel as if a lot of times and even in large corporations there is no thought placed into what will actually prepare them for leadership. Well you can't prepare for any role unless you learn to practice in that role so I forced them to use their leadership skills, and then I pinpoint I like to see where they are naturally. Some people are natural leaders, and some people need development so for the young lady who is the director of operation. She's a natural leader when everything started to fall apart with Coronavirus and all of that. And she happens to be a young, she's a white female, but then our marketing director the black female, we have a model and store associate who's a black female we have another young lady who she was from, I want to say her families from Nigeria I may be messing that up I'm so sorry in goes the I love you. I just can't remember off the top of my head right now but so we try to have a diverse workforce so that when shoppers come into the store. There is representation there's a mix there, but also we try to give them diverse experiences that actually prepare them for leadership so that when they walk into a Walmart as an associate, or a store manager, or one of those mid level exec roles, they have been in leadership they know what it's like to fire someone they know what's like to hire they know what it's like to meet daily meetings and weekly meetings and to plan to do retail management and resource management so. So Walmart is from what I hear you say to me Tony, you're saying that Walmart, it could improve in their development of those mid level executives, but they are also putting in place programs actual programs with objectives and goals to foster and facilitate leadership in at that entry level to build them up is that what you're saying to me Tony because that makes me very happy. Well, that is exactly what I'm saying to you and in fact, you know, one of the areas where we've done an amazing job I'm so proud of is in our internship program you're talking about bringing people in our internship program is. I would I would say probably one of the best internship programs in the country, because we give our interns real world challenges to solve, and it is amazing to see the brilliance of these young folk, and what they come up with. These are programs that actually end up implementing I mean so I the last interns just. And I had the opportunity to be a young man, Southern University grad or getting ready to graduate from Southern University, who was given a project to focus on how do we make in Sam's Club, how do we take some of our. What's the right word the surrounding programs that we work with like voodoo Pandora, you know, all of these agreements all of these kind of merchandising reason we have with organizations. And how do we make them better because of the fact that while we have them are the members of the using right so is it because there's something else that's better out there or they don't know about it or combination what is it. And what he put together was out of this world, so much so that he's been offered a job already. So he's already secured a position at Sam's Club. Before he even gets out of school so he's going back to school for the rest of the year and next year he'll be working you know he'll be working for us. Right. So those are the kinds of things that to your point. So often what happens is like we do these these programs right but we don't put no meat behind them right we don't. You know, real to your point exactly what you talk about a really giving them experiences that really set them up to be able to, you know, to be successful when they start hitting the real world. And so those are the kinds of things that we have to continue doing we have to continue walking walking that talk. Our, our black African American associate resource group has a program that they put together for for for the entry level folks again to prepare them for opportunities so it's about number one truly educating them on who we are as a business and how to understand the business so not just about our philosophy and what why we do what we do, but understanding what does it mean to market at Walmart what does it mean to understand a balance sheet at Walmart talking about profit and loss what does it mean we're talking about supply chain and bringing things in, giving them those basics so that they understand what the business is all about. And also to show them what options they are right because the other thing that we learned was that oftentimes people don't think people always think that you know when they think of Walmart they just think of a store. And I get it, you know, most people see they see a store and cashiers and stockers and store managers, but they don't see the architects they don't see the real estate agents they don't see. They don't see all the computer and tech people that we hired they don't see all the logistics expert. They don't even see the weatherman, do you know that we have our own weather station that we have, we have people right now, I've got, I've already gotten reports on what's going on with Hurricane Laura, and how they have to make sure that they're able to get to the stores that they need to get to. Right. How they're looking at that. I mean people that those are the kind of stuff that we do in house we don't have anybody else to do that. We do that ourselves. So these are jobs that people often don't understand that we realize that we hire, we have our own DJs, people don't realize that we have our own radio station, that we have our own DJs that we hire. I mean, we have our own television station we got television technicians, producers, directors, you know, who work for us as well who do our own commercials who do everything. You know, so these are the kind of things that people don't understand we have that we have to expose people to now to your point. This is where we have the biggest challenge is how do we make sure that we trickle this information down to the field. One of the things that we have really learned really well right now in these past few months is that all time, our own associates in the field. Don't know what's available. Don't know understand and so big concentration of the world right now is making sure that people fully understand fully know this stuff. There's a gentleman by the name of Keith Weichi. Keith is one of our vice presidents overseeing what we call our education shared value work. They're the ones that that's one pillar in this in this race towards social equity that we're focusing on of how do we do better from an education and workforce development standpoint. He's looking at that and he's identified that as one of the things that do and how do we do it in a way that we keep people informed. How do we do it in a way that we actually help people create their own workforce workforce plan like, you know, you know, the X. How do we get you there. How do we intentionally getting there. And we've got people out there who are very verse who are very well verse at developing and they know how to do that kind of stuff. But I would say not everybody does so now we're going to get everybody ramped up so that all of our associates have those kinds of opportunities. So, you know, you're your spot you are spot on your. Now let me ask you something. Yes, come on. You as a small business owner as I'm going to call you that because I already get your conglomerate. Yes, let's call you let's call you let's be real. You are bad sister. Thank you. You know, what are the challenges that you have seen as a as a as an honor now given all of the issues and challenges that we are seeing in the world. And how have you what what are the steps that you have taken to kind of adjust we adjust kind of make change to keep this thing going because I know it cannot be easy. It is it is not easy and I'll tell you this there are lots of businesses that won't make it out of this pandemic that won't make it out of the social unrest and the social injustice that we're dealing with. There are lots of non black businesses that will suffer because people will will maybe not patronize them. Maybe they have a Confederate flag hanging in their restaurant and they didn't realize that that people noticed. And so there are lots of businesses that will be affected by this and I'll tell you that our business our business has been affected and I and I'll share with you that I'm a part owner of a restaurant in Northeast Columbia so food restaurant and while my style by Native business has, you know, decreased significantly. We put measures in place that allow us to operate online and being a thrift store online is very difficult because you you don't have 20 of one product or like Walmart, you know, thousands of one product and you just have that one picture. We have to take a picture and measurements and and and find models and do all of that for one item. And so that whole process for one item, and it's been a challenge but we have satchel and kid and Tasia and goes the Olivia who have worked with me throughout the pandemic who have been I mean just amazing amazing talent that they brought to us. But I'll tell you it's been hard now at my restaurant at the restaurant that I co owned with Raquel Thomas. The pandemic was the best thing that happened to it. The social injustice and arrest was the best thing that could have happened to it restaurant business is hard and it was struggling. And we had all this food and, like I said, service is the main driver behind most of the things that I do probably all the things that I do honestly. And I said we should offer $5 meals to the community and she said what a great idea we have all this produce all this, all this meet all these things that we can offer and there are lots of families who were struggling and there were people who maybe weren't struggling to be able to donate meals we donated. We had people organizations that donated money so that the nurses at the hospital could eat. We had people who who donated massed. I know personally I wrote the bus system to give out mass to people. And so we tried to find different ways to market and use the business that we have to support the community and we're small. We don't have a lot of money. But it was very helpful for our restaurant business for people to know what we were doing. And for the style by native side, we encourage people during the pandemic because we operate off of donations clothing donations. Purge your closet use this quarantine time to purge leave it on your porch will come by and pick it up it will be a contactless delivery and drop off. And so we were able to do that and now we have beautiful products that we can offer people for $5 and $10. We have a diverse workforce. And so we're able to we were able to pivot and adjust accordingly, but there are lots of businesses that don't understand how to do that. And so during this time I've tried as a small business owner as the as the future conglomerate that I will be to offer people advice and lessons that I've learned along this way. And I find that when you are doing things for the community that help the community, people are more likely to support your business, but you can't just talk about it, you have to actually do it so one of our mantras for this year was do more talk less. And so we show people what we were doing versus talking and making beautiful pictures and posts about it. Here is what we're doing. Yes, there's a pandemic going on but we are riding the bus and giving out masks. Yes, there's a pandemic going on but we are offering free clothing to the homeless who don't have access to showers and things but at least they can have on fresh clothes. We're offering non perishable food items that they can take with them as snacks because a lot of the restaurants aren't doing the outreach that they were once doing because they are limited in their resources so we are doing the work as a as a small business to support our community. But you shared about Walmart having a Walmart foundation. I never knew about that. So don't worry you'll see I'm sure there are a lot of people requesting help from Walmart but we're going to throw our names in the hat too so this is such a great conversation because what it does is allow people to have a face to go with Walmart. That looks like them. And that speaking to what we are actually going through that really does matter. And I think even for for my business with the restaurant gold din and with style by NATO. We're using this time to rebrand we're using this time to make improvements so stop by NATO will actually become the now and then store so that we can focus more on bringing in local small businesses that don't have the capital to have a store front that don't have to rely on going to markets during this time we have an audience of 10.7 thousand people that we can reach for them. So it may not be a lot to people who have a million followers but for our local community. It could mean you know putting money into a single mom's pocket for helping her. So those are the ways that as a small business I feel like we're helping and it's really nice to know that Walmart is people like me who who may need that support during this time. You know, you said something that brought brought about to memory of something one of my favorite quotes there's a quote by St. Augustine that says, preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words. And that's exactly what you're doing so you keep on preaching the gospel girl. You got to meet people where they are. That's right. And you're spot on. I mean, you know, we've got to, you know, we've got to find those kind of ways to support people who ordinarily, you know, don't have the their their normal channels, if you will, of being able to sell their products right. One of the things that we've been having a conversation on a big conversation on at Walmart is how can we do more around making, making it easier or making it a better for small businesses to be able to share their products, you know, and services to others through Walmart. And one way we've done it is is by creating what we call a marketplace on on Walmart.com so that individuals who may not be able to let's say, you know, put something in a store can still be able to put their product on Walmart.com and sell it that way online right. And oftentimes that's how many businesses begin right they start selling online then they they're able to ramp up enough, wrap up enough resource to be able to put you know to put products in our stores. But the other way, one of the things I always tell people. If you Google doing business with Walmart, or do or if you go to corporate dot Walmart.com slash suppliers. It's all of the information on how individuals who want to become suppliers for Walmart, how they can do it, and I would suggest people and encourage people that we're always looking for good, you know, good for product and opportunities but I also say to people to make sure that you are ready. And you talked about that, right, you talked about being ready when I have to switch over when COVID hit often. Yes, we find that folks aren't ready so this way, you know, be ready but the site will give you really great information on what we're looking for how we look at things what you should be considering. What are the questions that we're going to ask you so that you have the answer for them, because that'll be a big hell. I suggest people to look at that and it'll show you also all the different ways right to come in. The other thing people will say like, Well, you know, I can't, you know, we have 5500 stores in this country. Right. Well, I can supply 5400 stores. I get that. Not everybody can right. Right, and you supply 10. Yes, supply, you know, 100. Right. So the site will kind of talk about that as well right so how do you go about that kind of thing too. And so, so we have to continue looking for those ways of making that happen and as I talked as I spoke with you. You know, looking at, you know, the stores that are the entrepreneurs who are inside of our Walmart stores. The other piece that that Doug MacMillan our CEO has said is that we have to watch out for all the small businesses that are around our stores right because we are part of that community. And so what role should we be playing, you know, in helping in helping the recovery when the right time comes and we can kind of get out and do something to see that recovery. Doug MacMillan is the chair, not only our CEO, but he's the chair of the business roundtable which is composed of the CEOs of the top 200 countries 200 companies in the country. He has made it very clear as chairman that he says, you know, it does, it serves us it does not serve us well. Right. If it if we aren't doing something to help small business that the economy needs small business. We, it is not good business, despite what people think that you know like if we have an all, having it all is not a good thing. It's not a good thing. Economically speaking, it does not. You know, we, you know, you see, there's there's plenty of documentation that says that it does recognizes that that we in order for this economy to do what it's supposed to do to be as successful as it as it can be. It must include small business, it must entrepreneurship innovation, and we have to play a role in being a support to that. So you're your spot on it. I'm proud of you. I love how you being innovative and doing what you're doing to serve, you know, to serve those that you're trying to get to try to help and not just people, not just people and consumers but other fellow small business people. So let me ask you, let me ask you one other thing. What's your advice to me. What, what, what is your advice to me as I continue down this journey. What do you think, and what are you are charging me and what are you encouraging me to do. I am so glad you asked this question, because I was going to offer it whether it was solicited or not. Oh my goodness, have I opened up myself to something. I charge you. I charge you to, I charge you to look out into the communities where the Walmart stores are to look for those small businesses and maybe develop a program that helps a small business become eventually big business. And that's due to to create informational commercials that let people know about all of the components of Walmart, and that their internships available and have programs that are direct pipelines to HBC use, and to, and to all female that that offer a way for people who are often overlooked, or lost in the big pool, a way to directly bring in people from a diverse background, because, you know, we talk a lot about race but there's also gender inequality in positions of leadership and it and at executive levels. I've been in a position of leadership and the only female and the only person of color in the room in the room. And it's very disheartening to not have people that have your same experience, and that that experience micro aggression, the way that you do from from their peers. And so I charge you, Tony Waller today to commit to me that you guys will look at small business but you will also look at a direct pipeline into HBC use and into the community. And to look for programs that that encourage people of color and that encourage women to that encourage people of the LGBT community to join forces with Walmart to create a community that really does serve everyone and not just a few. You got it. I got you. I love it as as a as a gay black Puerto Rican. I got you girl, I'm right there with you. So, I thank you for that and, and here's my charge to you. Yes, I'm just about to say what advice do you have to me. Keep on being being vocal. Keep on speaking out for those who cannot speak. Make me accountable. I want you to watch me. I want you to Google me, and I want you to say yo Tony why will I see you doing what you're supposed to be doing. Right, because we need to we need to prop each other up encourage us each other and keep us all accountable. So I got my charge. And I love everything that you presented. I absolutely loved it. But I want you to make sure that I'm supposed to do. I promise you that I will keep in touch with you and that if I feel like you're not I will let you but I will also praise you when you are because a lot of times we critique things, but we don't often for those small battles we know there are lots of small battles to get to the big war right. And so I promise you to support you in your endeavors with Walmart and in the community. And I, and I appreciate all that you're doing. And hey, thank you so much for having this forum. I was, I was going to say, okay, now I'm trying to put NATO on the on the, I try to put NATO on the spot. But can we do this again. I mean, I think there's so much more than we could be talking about. Fabulous and brilliant. And so are you there's so many other questions that I would have loved to have asked you. And so it's so I try to print by his public k if ever comes the opportunity that we could do this again, I would love I would love it because I think there's just a lot. There's a lot that I can learn from data, and then I hope that others can and I'm hoping that people can learn a little something from us and, you know, I guess all the other topics in the conversation that we never even got to. Yeah, that's right. There's a lot more we can talk about and I appreciate both of you so much our whole office does it's been a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know you a little bit better you're both full of life and you know great community and servants and really great role models for everyone I think we've gotten a lot of cool tips and tricks on both ends of the spectrum from corporate to the small business today and that's what our office does that's what we're about and we are proud to know people like you and have you in our community and it's wonderful. And I think everybody for attending today. Again, if you have questions for us in our office we're always available for you our website is choose Columbia sc.com. And we're happy to help we're there for you. Thank you guys so much. Thank you all so much and I can't wait for the next one. Yes, I think we should think we should talk, talk a little bit about how society props up celebrities and doesn't necessarily talk about leadership and how you can have success without necessarily being a celebrity so that was a question that was asked in the chat. So okay I'm putting it on your shoulders. So that we can we have a discussion about that. We will. Thank you guys. Bye. Bye.