Whole Foods Market

"I've worn many hats working at Whole Foods Market, my journey beginning in June 1995. I was working for a family-owned grocery chain all over the Richmond, Virginia, area for over 15 years when I answered a recruiter's call and applied for an Associate Store Team Leader (ASTL) role for Fresh Fields. I became an ASTL at the Bethesda, Maryland store and ended that year at the Annapolis, Maryland location. It was announced during that time that Fresh Fields had been acquired by Whole Foods. I quit but, still curious, drove to Northern Virginia to see the recently acquired Bread and Circus and what this new company was all about. That visit got me so excited, I rushed home and called my Team Leader to ask for my job back. Luckily, he agreed and here I am, almost 30 years later! The 'One' Operations Team is in constant change, and I have changed numerous times in numerous roles along with it — deepening my respect and admiration for our Team Members and the teams they make up. So when I was presented yet again with a new opportunity to champion the experiences of our operational leadership, I said 'yes.' My new role focuses on giving these leaders the tools they need to provide clarity to our Team Members and in turn support their growth as they become more confident in their expertise. I truly believe as leaders we need to stay connected to the end user to successfully understand the manageability of our requests and better appreciate the efforts needed to get them done. Throughout my Whole Foods history, what I love most is my connection to our Team Members. I am so excited about this role and the instances I'll have to share my experiences with leaders, build new ones and do all I can to make their time here at Whole Foods the best it can be. This is my passion and a big part of my 'why' in making sure our programs and new ideas are achievable and creating the difference they were made for." - Joey Herndon, Sr Principal Program Manager of ELO/STL/TL Experience #TeamWFM

#ICYMI: Last week, for the first time in 11 years, we opened the doors to a new Whole Foods Market store in the United Kingdom on the iconic and historic King’s Road in London, England! The 21,000+ square-foot store features new and exclusive products only available at Whole Foods Market King’s Road and many local brands and customer favorites from London and across England. Our highlights from the day included: 🥳 Getting welcomed into the neighborhood by more than 500 enthusiastic customers, providing the pre-opening queue with local goodies from Old Spike Roastery and The Celtic Bakers Limited 🚐 Launching the very first UK-based Nourishing our Neighborhoods van with our long-time food redistribution partner The Felix Project being the first recipient. We were also incredibly proud to partner with local organizations, BAGS OF TASTE, Refettorio Felix, HTB Church Chelsea Shelter and Kensington + Chelsea Foundation in their community giving efforts 🍄🟫 The array of certified organic and conventional, fresh produce, including local items Merit Mushrooms, Mudwalls Food Group and a King’s Road exclusive of Crate to Plate herbs and lettuce that use 95% less water than traditional farming, no pesticides or herbicides and no importing 🍦 A curated grocery section filled with exclusives from XOXO SODA, Joe & Seph's, Old Spike Roastery, GOOD PHATS and Ice Cream Union, and local products from over 80 brands 🍖 A full-service meat counter, featuring dry-aged beef, marinated-in-house meats, beef from Ashdale Farm and pork from local supplier Dingley Dell Cured 🍷 A new and exclusive to King’s Road rosé wine from Maison Mirabeau l B Corp™, from the first vineyard in France to achieve both Regenerative Organic Certified and Certified Regenerative, setting a benchmark for climate positive viticulture 💚 Congratulations to all 120 King's Road Team Members, including Store Team Leader, Bianca Rojas and Associate Store Team Leader, Magda Gembiec! #NSO #NourishPlanet #NourishPurpose #NourishGrowth #TeamWFM

"My journey with Whole Foods Market began in South Florida in 2010, where I was a Marketing Team Leader at our Plantation store. It was a dream job for me, fresh out of graduate school: I was allowed to flex my strategic marketing muscles and simultaneously learn a ton about store operations — all while surrounded by incredible food. Since then, I have had the opportunity to lead marketing teams at several stores, including our flagship store in Downtown Austin, Texas, where I was fortunate to partner with our corporate teams on events like the SXSW showcase benefitting Whole Planet Foundation and the annual rooftop ice skating rink.     Since joining our central Store Support team in 2017, I have held roles on Category Marketing, led Promotions Marketing and have implemented new supplier marketing and advertising programs. These days, I lead a team in driving enterprise marketing strategy for programs that span many of our businesses, including product discovery, catering and an array of innovative projects in partnership with our eCommerce team and Amazon.    Most recently, my team and I were challenged with launching a newsletter to highlight the incredible assortment of new, unique and high-value products found in our stores. We worked closely with our Creative, Digital Channel Marketing, and Marketing Operations teams to craft a strategy that would allow us to tell stories about new items coming to our shelves and products that you just can't find anywhere else. The result is one of our most visually compelling and hotly anticipated communications, The Inside Scoop.    This newsletter has become a bit of a passion project for the tight-knit group of Team Members that support it. The level of collaboration and creativity is unparalleled, and it has been such a joy to share our love for our products with our shoppers; we hope this passion shows in the newsletter itself.   The latest issue of The Inside Scoop is out now! Be sure to sign up for our emails to receive extra goodies in your inbox. :)"   🔗: https://lnkd.in/gXMhzZRZ   - Kate Schlienger, Senior Team Leader, Retail Marketing #Marketing #NourishPeople #NourishWellbeing #TeamWFM

"If anyone three years ago told me that I would move from Atlanta to work for the grocery chain I grabbed snacks and pressed juices from, I would not have believed them. My perception of Whole Foods Market quickly changed on my first visit and after meeting my now colleagues. I am no stranger to taking leaps of faith to improve my life and further my career, and that warm welcome easily made me pick up my entire life and relocate to Austin, Texas. Being a lawyer was not my first career. I started in marketing, back when billboards, radio and print were the main advertising platforms. I credit my previous career to teaching me about working with business owners, as well as becoming one, having built a successful marketing firm myself. Once the effects of the recession hit in the early 2000s, I began preparing for a pivot and used the opportunity to pursue a legal career (something I always wanted to do but put on the backburner). I completed my bachelor’s degree, began law school immediately after and later started work as a contractor in the Legal department at another large retailer, jumpstarting an in-house career that led me to Whole Foods. Compared to those who literally grew up with this company, I am somewhat at the beginning of my Whole Foods story, and my time here has been nothing short of exciting and challenging — in the best ways. It's special, having a leader that keeps you engaged and motivated. Any time there is an opportunity to meet new people or see what this place has in store for my future, I am encouraged and supported to take part. I have met incredible business partners along the way, whom I have the honor of working with and advising on matters that protect and move Whole Foods forward. I am at a point in my career where my work environment is just as important as the work I do. Being able to enjoy the team I’m with everyday makes our work feel less like it and even more worth it. For those that aspire to be attorneys, no matter what age or stage you are in life, I say there is a place for you, your knowledge and your life experience. For attorneys that aspire to be in-house counsel, I encourage you to increase your business acumen and work on your collaboration skills. This career can take you anywhere, and it continues to take me in directions that I never thought I would go." - Rasheeda Wadley, Senior Principal Legal Counsel #Legal #NourishPeople #NourishGrowth #TeamWFM

"That little girl, who was frozen in time, she tried to be everything she thought she had to be in order to be successful, in order to be loved, in order to be accepted. And then, when that little girl started making yogurt, it was like a full expression of myself. When a customer would try the yogurt for the first time, they would light up like they never tasted yogurt before. That fed me, more than anything fed me, and I was like 'All I want to do tomorrow is make one more jar.' One more jar, led to five more jars, led to 25 more jars. It was preserving that interaction with the consumer that honored myself and my heritage as well." - Homa Dashtaki, Founder of The White Moustache 💚💚💚 How do you preserve a culture when you’re forced to leave the country you call home? For The White Moustache, it means preserving a painstaking, but loving process rooted in the family’s Persian and Zoroastrian heritage. It means eschewing conventional norms of how we produce food while enhancing flavor, richness, and legacy. In this #WholeStory, we explore how yogurt and whey reflect a life affected by immigration, community, adaptation and experimentation. #NourishPeople #NourishPurpose #NourishWellbeing #TeamWFM

"My Whole Foods Market journey began in 2018 at the Blithedale store in the legacy NorCal region. I worked in several roles there until I landed as the Prepared Foods Team Leader. This role presented many challenges (even more so during COVID), but ultimately gave me the knowledge and skills to be the operator that I am today. Life led me to relocate to NYC, where I led a much larger Prepared Foods team at the TriBeCa location. While I love making pizza, I always found myself gravitating towards back-of-house operations: cooking for the hot bar or packing out products for the Freshpack wall. After several years in Prepared Foods leadership, I had the itch for something new and adventurous, leading me to my current role as the Facility Leader for our first Micro Kitchen, a Fresh Food Production facility. The opportunity to open the first Micro Kitchen felt like a fresh, fun new challenge. Supporting prepared foods, bakery, cheese, and guacamole production for our new Daily Shop stores in NYC, we’ve been able to elevate our culinary offerings with amazing food quality and fantastic in-stock conditions. While this was a big jump and promotion for myself, the opportunity to do something new was what excited me the most. I have always been passionate about giving our Team Members the tools to be the most successful versions of themselves; getting to initiate implementation from the ground up meant that we would be building resources and creating effective systems as a team, optimized for us by us. Our non-retail facilities may not be customer facing, but they are crucial to the success of the stores. While I do miss the conversations and familiar neighborhood faces, being in a distraction-free environment allows us to efficiently and effectively deliver results. Fresh Food Production is also a huge part of the company's growth plan for the next few years. This means there will be plenty of opportunities for myself and my team to further our careers and have significant impacts on the future of Whole Foods. I’d never been inside one of our non-retail facility before my current role. I highly recommend every one of our Team Members take the opportunity to visit one, work a shift, or apply and join us in this next phase as we help nourish people and the planet. For those of you in the NYC area who want to learn more, feel free to reach out — I’d love to show you around!" - Austin Gregoire, Operations Manager, New York Micro Kitchen #Leadership #NourishPeople #NourishWellbeing #TeamWFM

"My journey with Whole Foods Market began nearly six months ago with a move to Austin, Texas, from Kansas City for an opportunity on a team and in a role that I felt fit perfectly with where I wanted to take my career. My first role after graduating from university was in grocery retail operations. There I learned just how passionate I was about the 'people side' of things in an industry where so much is happening at once. Over the next eight years, I gained experience in various HR functions, including Recruiting, Talent Development, and Talent Management, primarily in the tech and engineering fields. Over time, I realized that what truly motivated me was helping people realize and reach their full potential. After working in technical and engineering spaces, I was excited about returning to something I felt a deeper connection to. My family takes gathering around delicious, quality food very seriously — both sides of my family come from a long history of farming in the Midwest. I felt an instant connection to many of the values Whole Foods holds dear, from food sourcing to the importance of supplier relationships. I’m excited to help prepare Whole Foods for the future by influencing areas like skill building, career development, succession planning, and anything else my role may bring in supporting the success of the Team Members who make our purpose a reality. An incredible amount of growth and learning happens here, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it." - Kenzie Campbell, Senior Talent Management Consultant #HR #NourishPeople #NourishWellbeing #TeamWFM

🎂 Happy Birthday to our Doylestown, Pennsylvania store. Congrats to the entire team on a beautiful new store opening! 📰 Read all about it: https://lnkd.in/g9PgCkrr #NSO #NourishPurpose #NourishGrowth #TeamWFM

So thrilled to be a part of the expert judging team assembled in Green Bay, WI last week for the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest. 2,414 cheeses from 31 states was an amazing representation of the level of high quality cheese and cheesemakers in the United States. Congrats to Europa from Arethusa Farm of Connecticut for their second championship in a row! The gouda style cheese was complex, with great texture and aroma.  I also want to thank the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Organization for honoring me with the Schlinsog Award this year, named for Contest Chief Judge Emeritus Bill Schlinsog – it means so much to be recognized in an industry that I hold so close to my heart! For additional information and a list of the winning cheeses https://lnkd.in/grPMprT2