April 22, 2025 • 24 mins
What happens when you combine legal expertise with a passion for understanding the grocery business from every angle? Stephanie Becker, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Associated Wholesale Grocers Incorporated (AWG), reveals how her journey from real estate law to grocery leadership unfolded through curiosity and persistence.
"I just started asking questions and kept walking into meetings," Stephanie shares, explaining how she evolved from handling real estate transactions to becoming AWG's General Counsel in 2018. Her candid conversation with host Kristen Popp explores how AWG leverages its $12 billion balance sheet to secure favorable lease terms for independent retailers, creating a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Beyond the boardroom, Stephanie passionately advocates for independent grocers through congressional fly-ins, where she helps lawmakers understand how policies directly affect grocery operations and ultimately impact consumers at checkout. From the Credit Card Competition Act to SNAP program changes, these advocacy efforts illuminate how Washington decisions ripple through neighborhood stores. Stephanie's perspective is further enriched by her experiences on mission trips to Nicaragua, Honduras, and India, where she witnessed communities thriving despite limited resources.
For those aspiring to grow in the grocery industry, Stephanie offers refreshingly simple advice: find several mentors, ask questions, and then ask more questions. Because in an industry where "everyone needs to eat," the opportunities for impact are limitless. Subscribe to Grocery From Your Seat to continue exploring the remarkable stories of women shaping the independent grocery industry.
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Host: Kristin Popp
Producer: Rachael Melot
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Grocery From Her Seat.
The WGA podcast, offering aunique perspective as seen
through the eyes of remarkablewomen who shape and lead in the
independent grocery industry.
Your host, Kristen Popp,president of WGA, will bring you
exclusive stories and insightsfrom the women serving our
industry, From presidents toCEOs, to entrepreneurs and
(00:22):
students.
This podcast is your source ofinformation.
Now listen, take notes andwelcome Kristen Popp.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I am your host, kristen Popp, and today I have
the opportunity to chat withStephanie Becker, chief Legal
Officer, general Counsel andCorporate Secretary with
Associated Grocers Incorporated,AWG.
Welcome to Grocery From yourSeat, stephanie, and thank you
so very much for sharing yourtime with us today.
So, stephanie, I know I touchedand stated your title, but
(00:51):
sounds like a pretty big rolewithin AWG, so can you share
with us a little more in detailwhat that all entails and kind
of what your day-to-day lookslike?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So my day-to-day nothing is normal about it.
It ranges everything from thestandard of I'm working on board
meeting minutes to dealing withan investigation that might
have come up into somethingdealing with a product.
It might be litigation, itmight be something related to
(01:22):
tariffs an interesting topicthese days.
So a good day is a day that Iget to either talk directly with
a member of the board or amember of AWG.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, a big range of things, and I'm sure in most
days you never know what mightbe thrown at you.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I joke that there was one day early on he had a new
attorney start and on that dayon his desk he had a waiver for
a hot dog eating contest and amulti-million dollar acquisition
that he was working on.
So totally run the gamut interms of what it might be.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
One aspect to the complete other.
So let's talk a little bit moreabout your path into the
independent grocery industry,because, as you didn't
necessarily come into groceryfor groceries, so is that
correct?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
That is correct Now.
I did have a summer job atBob's IGA, so I have, as a
member of the legal team, I havea law license.
I graduated from law school andmy background is in real estate
law.
I have a master's degree inreal estate law and worked for a
little bit of time in the CzechRepublic, which was fun and
exciting, and then got theopportunity to come to AWG as a
(02:36):
real estate lawyer.
So I spent the first number ofyears doing anything related to
the real estate that we own orlease, and so we have a number
of projects where we will workon helping retailers as they
want to develop new sites and ifit's possible, then AWG goes in
(02:57):
through its subsidiary.
Supermarket developers willacquire, will build, will end up
with a great location for aretailer and then lease that to
the retailer.
We stay in the middle as thesort of the credit tenant in the
middle is usually.
Awg's balance sheet is a $12billion company, is a little bit
(03:17):
better than most independentretailers, so we can get the
best pricing on rent.
So is my, my standard world.
I started at AWG in 2005, soit'll be 20 years in June and
then in 2008, the real estatebubble burst, so that made for
(03:37):
an interesting time, and then,as I like to put it, I just
started asking questions andkept walking into meetings and I
think people were afraid totell me to leave the room.
So I learned an awful lot alongthe way, and 2018 became
general counsel.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
When you mentioned you just started asking
questions.
I think that's how we learnright.
I think that's how a lot of ushave learned and navigated our
path to where we are today, andyou can learn so much from
asking questions to differentpeople, and so many people are
willing to share the knowledgethat they have and the
information that they can giveyou to continue to grow your
career.
As you settled into grocery,what are some of the highlights
(04:17):
or things that have had thebiggest impact on you?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Fun things that I've gotten to do have been related
with NGA.
I really enjoy getting to go toDC to be part of the fly-in, to
get to meet the legislators, toget to meet our retailers who
are at these events, to get tomeet other members of the
(04:41):
grocery industry and to be ableto really interact, learn more
about the grocery world.
I've learned more about how theactual retail grocery world
works by being at a fly-in,having time to sit down at a
meeting and chat with a retailerand what's their world like,
(05:01):
how does their specific areathat they work in, whether it be
geography or their part of thebusiness and learning that
aspect of how what I do from thelegal world can help and impact
how the independent grocer isable to actually provide for
(05:22):
their communities and to runtheir business.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So let's talk about the impact of the meetings with
lawmakers.
I also have the opportunity toattend the fly-ins and the
congressional meetings, and theyare very impactful.
Beyond learning what you'vebeen able to take from
interacting with the differentparticipants of the fly-in
itself, why do you feel thatit's important, or how important
(05:47):
is it, to participate inactivities like that or some of
those meetings and opportunitiesto share our story?
Where do you feel that impactlies?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I think that impact is so important for lawmakers
who spend so much time in DC andso much time working on any
number of disparate issues thatthey don't always have the time
to hear from the people at home.
They don't always get to hearfrom the person who is down the
street in their congressionaldistrict who is trying to feed
(06:23):
their own families and trying tofeed the families of their
community.
I think there's an awful lotthat's lost in terms of how the
independent grocer actuallyworks and how, as this
independent world, we're able toreally get involved within our
communities to understand theissues that are within our
communities.
And I know many people I talkto say, oh, I don't know what I
(06:46):
would say and I don't know whatI would.
You know the issues enough.
Nga does a great job of dealingwith making sure you're aware of
the issues, but even on that,it's going in and sitting down
and telling someone who isliterally from your area because
you're in their congressionaldistrict that, telling them what
(07:09):
it's like back at home and theytreasure that so much.
And sometimes you talk with thelawmaker themselves, sometimes
you talk with their staff.
Their staff are the ones thatthey are listening to, so it's
never a bad thing to have theconversations with their staff
and to be able to really explainhow what is happening in
(07:31):
Washington DC is impacting theworld at home.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And I just want to reiterate what you said because
I think there is I don't want tolose capturing that because I
think the ability to sit in witha lawmaker who is looking at
these policies and trying tomake decisions on what is a good
policy to pass and vote on howit directly impacts you doing
(08:04):
business, but not only that howit then translates to the
consumer at the checkout laneand how it directly impacts so
I'm telling that story is soimpactful.
When you say maybe I'm not themost well-versed, I'm not going
to lie.
The first time I went in it wasextremely intimidating.
It's not necessarily they don'twant to sit and talk policy
(08:26):
with you.
They want to hear from you.
How does it affect yourday-to-day?
How is it affecting theconsumer when they come through
the checklist?
What conversations are beinghad and why is that a challenge
for you and for?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
them.
There's any number of thingswe're dealing with right now
that are very specific, that youknow.
When you look at words on paperit might make sense and then
when you hear about how itactually gets implemented in the
grocery store in the community,then it takes on a whole
different meaning and a wholedifferent aspect of how.
That really does relate to thequote real world.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, and just a story that I remember that was
very impactful for me, when wewere sitting in one of the
lawmakers' offices fromWisconsin and we started talking
about one of the particularbills that was up for vote and
explaining how that would impactus.
He actually pulled out the lawitself and read through it
because he didn't understand itthat way and it's like, well,
(09:19):
that's how it reads, but whenyou actually put that into play,
this is what's going to resultfrom that, and so it was a
really productive conversation.
So, as a result of thosemeetings, what is one of the
initiatives you hope will have abig impact on the industry?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Snap is a huge impact and a huge issue right now, on
Snap Choice I also.
Credit Card Competition Act isone of those.
It's a really short act,talking to retailers and hearing
specifically about theirstories in that they get charged
different amounts based on thedifferent type of credit card
(09:56):
that people have.
They don't know how muchthey're going to get charged
until they get the bill at leasta month later.
They're not always written in away that makes any sense
whatsoever.
They're not always written in away that makes any sense
whatsoever.
And even if they did make sense,it's not as though the retailer
is going to have the option tobe able to put up a sign at the
check stand and say, ok, I'mgoing to take Visa cards, but
I'm only going to take ones thathave this type of a system, or
(10:21):
I'm only going to take, you know, discover cards because it only
has this or that.
It really is trying to cometogether and Visa and MasterCard
really are the two that we dealwith in terms of looking at
competition in the marketplace,but just being able for the
retailer to be able to addresssomething that is such a major,
(10:42):
major, major expense within thestore and making certain that if
it's understood how thatimpacts their ability to set
prices, their ability to providejobs, their ability to support
the communities.
I think that's one of the mostimpactful ones, because if
(11:02):
you're spending that much moneyon fees, then you may not have
money for the new cases that youneed to have, or the new
promotion that you want to have,or upgrading something else
within the store, hiring thatextra person, all of those
things that sort of go from howmuch money is spent in one
aspect versus others others.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
So, stephanie kind of shifting conversation here a
little bit as we prepared forthe conversation you shared
something that's not on yourresume, that you are proud of,
which actually led then toanother significant part of your
life.
Can you share what that is?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Well, I have been on a number of mission trips, so
I've been to Honduras, nicaragua, india, and I like to tell
people that I met my husband ona trip to Nicaragua.
Now we're both from Kansas City.
We attended the same church.
He sat upstairs, I satdownstairs, and he would always
(12:01):
sneak out after service was over, and so he decided one time
that he wanted to get to knowmore people, and so he's going
to do it in a small, smallmethod, and he loves to travel,
I love to travel, so we ended upon this mission trip to
Nicaragua together.
I think I went to Nicaraguaeight times and ended up in
(12:21):
Honduras once and India once.
I say I practice law in thereal world and I pretend to be a
pharmacist at times inNicaragua.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
One of the biggest takeaways that you took from
participating in trips like that.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
How happy people are and how happy they are to share
their lives with you.
One of the things that I tookupon myself when we did these
trips is to make certain thatthe doctors and the nurses
anybody that we had that wasworking in the clinic with us
stopped during the middle of theday, took lunch and then
(12:54):
actually was able to walk aroundthe community and usually with
an interpreter from our groupjust have even a small
conversation with someone.
They're like no, no, we havethis huge long line of people
that we need to see.
I said, yes, you do, but youalso need to see the community
and kids who are out playingtogether and seeing the women
(13:15):
supporting each other, seeinghow hard everyone is working to
provide for their families andto be happy in what we would
look at and say, oh my goodness,how is that possible?
And they loved life and it wasawesome.
Now, the mud one time was alittle bit more than I was
really excited about, but it wasjust seeing people being so
(13:40):
happy in a setting that was sotruly foreign, so unknown to me,
and to be able to experiencethat and to be part of their
lives was really amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
The opportunity to experience a different culture
and see a different perspective.
I've not had the opportunity todo that in the capacity that
you have, but I can only imaginethe impact that that's left on
you lifelong and just an awesomeopportunity to partake in
something of that nature.
(14:14):
So I want to shift again alittle bit and talk about your
involvement with Women Grocersof America Kind of a two-part
question.
So what is your experience withthe organization, ben?
But also what role do you feelorganizations like this play in
the industry?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I think I probably knew about women grocers for a
long time, but then yourinvolvement and making certain
that really was becoming thisvibrant community of women
coming together really made itjust so fantastic and exciting.
I went to an EXFL ExecutiveLeaders Female Leaders Group and
(14:50):
I tell you, walking into thatroom of 30 or 40 women in the
industry who were so passionateabout grocery, who knew it from
multiple different angles, andbeing able to hear that other
women were dealing with some ofthe same issues in terms of how
(15:11):
do you deal with the fact I havean eight-year-old, how do you
deal with the fact that you'vegot a meeting at eight and he's
just refusing to leave forschool, and it's like, oh, been
there, done that, and any of theother number of things in
between.
So having that come togetherhas just been so amazing.
Having this forum, this outletfor women to be able to form
(15:32):
friendships across the industry.
Able to form friendships acrossthe industry.
So whether it's with a vendor orwhether it's with a competitor,
whether it's with anotherretailer, whether it's one that
AWG services or a different one,those have been just so
fulfilling and seeing the waythat the industry is doing more
(15:53):
and really giving thatopportunity.
It's so easy to just put ourheads down and work and not
always step up and say, okay, Iwant to learn more, or even say,
oh wait, I'd like to sit downand learn more about what this
other woman is doing in herbusiness.
And I now find that if I go tothe NGA show or if I go to our
(16:15):
own AWG shows, I see women therethat I've seen in different
places, and it's just this nice,fantastic community that is
available and has managed to putitself together.
I think when we have theopportunity for women to support
women, that it just addsanother layer to give us the
ability to know that the peoplethat we're talking to are
(16:39):
dealing with a lot of the sameissues.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, and I think I want to highlight something that
you said and you talk abouthaving an eight-year-old that's
maybe not as willing toparticipate in activities that
need to be done in the mornings,but I think everything ties
into our professional role aswell.
So the ability to support andprovide connections that can
help support in some of thoseareas ties back into how well we
(17:05):
show up for work, because if wecan learn how to better manage
some of those outside influences, we can be our best selves when
we arrive to our professionalcareers as well.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
I think that there's an awful lot of pressure that we
put on ourselves trying to dealwith any number of things and
trying to navigate.
That world is not an easy, easyworld.
I think that's really a littlescary and a little hard to
navigate at times.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Are there any females who have inspired you
throughout your career journey,and in what way have they given
that inspiration?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
The former general counsel here at AWG was a woman
by the name of Chi Chi Poole.
She was fantastic in all of thethings that she was able to
accomplish and to take care of,and I also take some amazing
knowledge and skill from somewomen that I've worked with that
(18:04):
I mentored, who were in a highschool program, and their
tenacity, their ability tofigure things out, their desire
to learn was fantastic and hasbeen fantastic for me to be able
to take that and say I can helpby helping them learn things.
But I can also learn so much interms of curiosity and wanting
(18:30):
to know more and peeling backlayers and trying to figure
things out behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I absolutely love that there's so much value from
both sides of it, notnecessarily always the mentor
giving the mentee insights andinformation.
Yes, that happens, but it alsogoes the other way too.
I love that you highlight that,because I've seen value in that
as well.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
It's pretty amazing, when we can, what we're learning
from others, and that itdoesn't have to be a formal
relationship and it doesn't haveto be lunch every Tuesday and
it doesn't have to be that we'redoing this, that or the other
together, but we can really justall learn at the same time and
take from that experience.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
So, as we look at the industry, what trends do you
see shaping the future?
Speaker 3 (19:17):
I see that resilience is one of the things that we
are going to need to focus onthe most and one of the things
that I am doing some reviewswith some members of my team
right now, and managingambiguity is one of the phrases
that we deal with.
I think there's an awful lot ofambiguity right now.
I think we're trying to learnwhere things are going to go,
(19:43):
whether it be from how we'regoing to be dealing with
traceability on FSMA 204, howwe're going to be dealing with
SNAP and SNAP Choice, and howwe're going to be dealing with
the economy and any of thechanges that are happening in
the economy.
I think being resilient, beingwilling to take an opportunity
(20:09):
and run with it and, at the sametime, if you get partway
through and you look back andyou're like, and, at the same
time, if you get partway throughand you look back and you're
like, well, I'm not going in theright direction, to be able to
shift and know that it's okay toshift, that you don't have to
finish something through if it'snot going to achieve your goal,
but to shift and say, okay,that's not getting me where I
want to go, so let me find thedetour and get back on track
(20:32):
that way.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And what excites you the most about our future?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Oh.
I think the independent groceris fantastic.
I think that there is nothingmore exciting about the fact
that Main Street is still beingable to be shaped by the local
grocer, that the companies thatare out there that are providing
groceries to our communities,that they're able to pull
(20:58):
together and to be able to sayokay, I'm seeing that this
change is happening.
How do I adapt to that change?
Over the last 20 years, I'velearned that there's nothing
that the independent grocercan't do if they set their mind
to it.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
I think that NGA tagline the heart of the
community.
I always come back to thatbecause it truly is truly are
the heart of the community in somany aspects.
Stephanie, what advice do youhave for someone aspiring to
join or advance their career inthe industry?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Find someone to talk to and it doesn't have to be a
single person.
Find three or four people, gosit down with them, ask lots of
questions and then come back andask more questions.
It's not as easy these days tojust walk into the meetings and
sit down and learn.
But find something that's goingon, ask questions and be
(21:50):
surprised that the person thatyou might learn things from
could be the secretary, that theperson that you might learn
things from could be thesecretary could be the CEO could
be the cashier.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
It's a fantastic, amazing industry with so many
different ways.
Great advice to ask questionsand then ask more questions.
So, stephanie, as we look towrap up this great discussion
today, I'm going to throw you alittle curveball.
If you were writing a book orcreating a podcast about the
industry today, what would thetitle be?
Speaker 3 (22:17):
So it could go anything from wow to excellent.
Everyone needs to eat and so,as I think through them, I think
(22:37):
that is the we can help makecertain that America is fed.
That that's the great thingabout grocery is that we have a
product that everyone needs,everyone needs, and the
independent grocer has theability to be nimble to figure
(22:58):
out how to provide that to theirindividual constituents, their
individual shoppers.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Fantastic.
I can't wait to dive in whenyou release that book.
Stephanie, I thank you so verymuch for sharing your time and
your thoughts with us today.
I appreciate you, your storyand your contribution to the
industry.
Thank you for your valuableinsights and I look forward to
watching you continue to make adifference in all you do.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Kristen, thank you for everything that you do.
I have so enjoyed WGA, and yourleadership has made it a
fantastic and amazing place forwomen to come together.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Thank you and to our guests.
Thank you so very much fortuning in to today's episode.
We hope you enjoyed thediscussion as much as we did.
If you found value, be sure tosubscribe to the podcast to
never miss an episode.
Leave a review on your favoritelistening platform to help
others discover Grocery Fromyour Seat and let us know how we
are doing Until next time, keepmaking a difference in all you
do, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
On behalf of the Women Grocers of America, we
thank you for listening to ourpodcast today and ask that you
subscribe, leave a five-starreview and share with a friend.
If you have a suggestion for aguest from the industry, mention
them in the comments.
Episodes are released everyother week and they are
sponsored by NGA, hosted byKristen Popp, president of WGA,
and published by Rachel Milowith SWA Marketing.
Welcome to Grocery From Her Seat.
The WGA podcast, offering aunique perspective as seen
through the eyes of remarkablewomen who shape and lead in the
independent grocery industry.
Your host, Kristen Popp,president of WGA, will bring you
exclusive stories and insightsfrom the women serving our
industry, From presidents toCEOs, to entrepreneurs and
(00:22):
students.
This podcast is your source ofinformation.
Now listen, take notes andwelcome Kristen Popp.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I am your host, kristen Popp, and today I have
the opportunity to chat withStephanie Becker, chief Legal
Officer, general Counsel andCorporate Secretary with
Associated Grocers Incorporated,AWG.
Welcome to Grocery From yourSeat, stephanie, and thank you
so very much for sharing yourtime with us today.
So, stephanie, I know I touchedand stated your title, but
(00:51):
sounds like a pretty big rolewithin AWG, so can you share
with us a little more in detailwhat that all entails and kind
of what your day-to-day lookslike?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So my day-to-day nothing is normal about it.
It ranges everything from thestandard of I'm working on board
meeting minutes to dealing withan investigation that might
have come up into somethingdealing with a product.
It might be litigation, itmight be something related to
(01:22):
tariffs an interesting topicthese days.
So a good day is a day that Iget to either talk directly with
a member of the board or amember of AWG.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, a big range of things, and I'm sure in most
days you never know what mightbe thrown at you.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I joke that there was one day early on he had a new
attorney start and on that dayon his desk he had a waiver for
a hot dog eating contest and amulti-million dollar acquisition
that he was working on.
So totally run the gamut interms of what it might be.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
One aspect to the complete other.
So let's talk a little bit moreabout your path into the
independent grocery industry,because, as you didn't
necessarily come into groceryfor groceries, so is that
correct?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
That is correct Now.
I did have a summer job atBob's IGA, so I have, as a
member of the legal team, I havea law license.
I graduated from law school andmy background is in real estate
law.
I have a master's degree inreal estate law and worked for a
little bit of time in the CzechRepublic, which was fun and
exciting, and then got theopportunity to come to AWG as a
(02:36):
real estate lawyer.
So I spent the first number ofyears doing anything related to
the real estate that we own orlease, and so we have a number
of projects where we will workon helping retailers as they
want to develop new sites and ifit's possible, then AWG goes in
(02:57):
through its subsidiary.
Supermarket developers willacquire, will build, will end up
with a great location for aretailer and then lease that to
the retailer.
We stay in the middle as thesort of the credit tenant in the
middle is usually.
Awg's balance sheet is a $12billion company, is a little bit
(03:17):
better than most independentretailers, so we can get the
best pricing on rent.
So is my, my standard world.
I started at AWG in 2005, soit'll be 20 years in June and
then in 2008, the real estatebubble burst, so that made for
(03:37):
an interesting time, and then,as I like to put it, I just
started asking questions andkept walking into meetings and I
think people were afraid totell me to leave the room.
So I learned an awful lot alongthe way, and 2018 became
general counsel.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
When you mentioned you just started asking
questions.
I think that's how we learnright.
I think that's how a lot of ushave learned and navigated our
path to where we are today, andyou can learn so much from
asking questions to differentpeople, and so many people are
willing to share the knowledgethat they have and the
information that they can giveyou to continue to grow your
career.
As you settled into grocery,what are some of the highlights
(04:17):
or things that have had thebiggest impact on you?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Fun things that I've gotten to do have been related
with NGA.
I really enjoy getting to go toDC to be part of the fly-in, to
get to meet the legislators, toget to meet our retailers who
are at these events, to get tomeet other members of the
(04:41):
grocery industry and to be ableto really interact, learn more
about the grocery world.
I've learned more about how theactual retail grocery world
works by being at a fly-in,having time to sit down at a
meeting and chat with a retailerand what's their world like,
(05:01):
how does their specific areathat they work in, whether it be
geography or their part of thebusiness and learning that
aspect of how what I do from thelegal world can help and impact
how the independent grocer isable to actually provide for
(05:22):
their communities and to runtheir business.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So let's talk about the impact of the meetings with
lawmakers.
I also have the opportunity toattend the fly-ins and the
congressional meetings, and theyare very impactful.
Beyond learning what you'vebeen able to take from
interacting with the differentparticipants of the fly-in
itself, why do you feel thatit's important, or how important
(05:47):
is it, to participate inactivities like that or some of
those meetings and opportunitiesto share our story?
Where do you feel that impactlies?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I think that impact is so important for lawmakers
who spend so much time in DC andso much time working on any
number of disparate issues thatthey don't always have the time
to hear from the people at home.
They don't always get to hearfrom the person who is down the
street in their congressionaldistrict who is trying to feed
(06:23):
their own families and trying tofeed the families of their
community.
I think there's an awful lotthat's lost in terms of how the
independent grocer actuallyworks and how, as this
independent world, we're able toreally get involved within our
communities to understand theissues that are within our
communities.
And I know many people I talkto say, oh, I don't know what I
(06:46):
would say and I don't know whatI would.
You know the issues enough.
Nga does a great job of dealingwith making sure you're aware of
the issues, but even on that,it's going in and sitting down
and telling someone who isliterally from your area because
you're in their congressionaldistrict that, telling them what
(07:09):
it's like back at home and theytreasure that so much.
And sometimes you talk with thelawmaker themselves, sometimes
you talk with their staff.
Their staff are the ones thatthey are listening to, so it's
never a bad thing to have theconversations with their staff
and to be able to really explainhow what is happening in
(07:31):
Washington DC is impacting theworld at home.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And I just want to reiterate what you said because
I think there is I don't want tolose capturing that because I
think the ability to sit in witha lawmaker who is looking at
these policies and trying tomake decisions on what is a good
policy to pass and vote on howit directly impacts you doing
(08:04):
business, but not only that howit then translates to the
consumer at the checkout laneand how it directly impacts so
I'm telling that story is soimpactful.
When you say maybe I'm not themost well-versed, I'm not going
to lie.
The first time I went in it wasextremely intimidating.
It's not necessarily they don'twant to sit and talk policy
(08:26):
with you.
They want to hear from you.
How does it affect yourday-to-day?
How is it affecting theconsumer when they come through
the checklist?
What conversations are beinghad and why is that a challenge
for you and for?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
them.
There's any number of thingswe're dealing with right now
that are very specific, that youknow.
When you look at words on paperit might make sense and then
when you hear about how itactually gets implemented in the
grocery store in the community,then it takes on a whole
different meaning and a wholedifferent aspect of how.
That really does relate to thequote real world.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, and just a story that I remember that was
very impactful for me, when wewere sitting in one of the
lawmakers' offices fromWisconsin and we started talking
about one of the particularbills that was up for vote and
explaining how that would impactus.
He actually pulled out the lawitself and read through it
because he didn't understand itthat way and it's like, well,
(09:19):
that's how it reads, but whenyou actually put that into play,
this is what's going to resultfrom that, and so it was a
really productive conversation.
So, as a result of thosemeetings, what is one of the
initiatives you hope will have abig impact on the industry?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Snap is a huge impact and a huge issue right now, on
Snap Choice I also.
Credit Card Competition Act isone of those.
It's a really short act,talking to retailers and hearing
specifically about theirstories in that they get charged
different amounts based on thedifferent type of credit card
(09:56):
that people have.
They don't know how muchthey're going to get charged
until they get the bill at leasta month later.
They're not always written in away that makes any sense
whatsoever.
They're not always written in away that makes any sense
whatsoever.
And even if they did make sense,it's not as though the retailer
is going to have the option tobe able to put up a sign at the
check stand and say, ok, I'mgoing to take Visa cards, but
I'm only going to take ones thathave this type of a system, or
(10:21):
I'm only going to take, you know, discover cards because it only
has this or that.
It really is trying to cometogether and Visa and MasterCard
really are the two that we dealwith in terms of looking at
competition in the marketplace,but just being able for the
retailer to be able to addresssomething that is such a major,
(10:42):
major, major expense within thestore and making certain that if
it's understood how thatimpacts their ability to set
prices, their ability to providejobs, their ability to support
the communities.
I think that's one of the mostimpactful ones, because if
(11:02):
you're spending that much moneyon fees, then you may not have
money for the new cases that youneed to have, or the new
promotion that you want to have,or upgrading something else
within the store, hiring thatextra person, all of those
things that sort of go from howmuch money is spent in one
aspect versus others others.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
So, stephanie kind of shifting conversation here a
little bit as we prepared forthe conversation you shared
something that's not on yourresume, that you are proud of,
which actually led then toanother significant part of your
life.
Can you share what that is?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Well, I have been on a number of mission trips, so
I've been to Honduras, nicaragua, india, and I like to tell
people that I met my husband ona trip to Nicaragua.
Now we're both from Kansas City.
We attended the same church.
He sat upstairs, I satdownstairs, and he would always
(12:01):
sneak out after service was over, and so he decided one time
that he wanted to get to knowmore people, and so he's going
to do it in a small, smallmethod, and he loves to travel,
I love to travel, so we ended upon this mission trip to
Nicaragua together.
I think I went to Nicaraguaeight times and ended up in
(12:21):
Honduras once and India once.
I say I practice law in thereal world and I pretend to be a
pharmacist at times inNicaragua.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
One of the biggest takeaways that you took from
participating in trips like that.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
How happy people are and how happy they are to share
their lives with you.
One of the things that I tookupon myself when we did these
trips is to make certain thatthe doctors and the nurses
anybody that we had that wasworking in the clinic with us
stopped during the middle of theday, took lunch and then
(12:54):
actually was able to walk aroundthe community and usually with
an interpreter from our groupjust have even a small
conversation with someone.
They're like no, no, we havethis huge long line of people
that we need to see.
I said, yes, you do, but youalso need to see the community
and kids who are out playingtogether and seeing the women
(13:15):
supporting each other, seeinghow hard everyone is working to
provide for their families andto be happy in what we would
look at and say, oh my goodness,how is that possible?
And they loved life and it wasawesome.
Now, the mud one time was alittle bit more than I was
really excited about, but it wasjust seeing people being so
(13:40):
happy in a setting that was sotruly foreign, so unknown to me,
and to be able to experiencethat and to be part of their
lives was really amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
The opportunity to experience a different culture
and see a different perspective.
I've not had the opportunity todo that in the capacity that
you have, but I can only imaginethe impact that that's left on
you lifelong and just an awesomeopportunity to partake in
something of that nature.
(14:14):
So I want to shift again alittle bit and talk about your
involvement with Women Grocersof America Kind of a two-part
question.
So what is your experience withthe organization, ben?
But also what role do you feelorganizations like this play in
the industry?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I think I probably knew about women grocers for a
long time, but then yourinvolvement and making certain
that really was becoming thisvibrant community of women
coming together really made itjust so fantastic and exciting.
I went to an EXFL ExecutiveLeaders Female Leaders Group and
(14:50):
I tell you, walking into thatroom of 30 or 40 women in the
industry who were so passionateabout grocery, who knew it from
multiple different angles, andbeing able to hear that other
women were dealing with some ofthe same issues in terms of how
(15:11):
do you deal with the fact I havean eight-year-old, how do you
deal with the fact that you'vegot a meeting at eight and he's
just refusing to leave forschool, and it's like, oh, been
there, done that, and any of theother number of things in
between.
So having that come togetherhas just been so amazing.
Having this forum, this outletfor women to be able to form
(15:32):
friendships across the industry.
Able to form friendships acrossthe industry.
So whether it's with a vendor orwhether it's with a competitor,
whether it's with anotherretailer, whether it's one that
AWG services or a different one,those have been just so
fulfilling and seeing the waythat the industry is doing more
(15:53):
and really giving thatopportunity.
It's so easy to just put ourheads down and work and not
always step up and say, okay, Iwant to learn more, or even say,
oh wait, I'd like to sit downand learn more about what this
other woman is doing in herbusiness.
And I now find that if I go tothe NGA show or if I go to our
(16:15):
own AWG shows, I see women therethat I've seen in different
places, and it's just this nice,fantastic community that is
available and has managed to putitself together.
I think when we have theopportunity for women to support
women, that it just addsanother layer to give us the
ability to know that the peoplethat we're talking to are
(16:39):
dealing with a lot of the sameissues.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, and I think I want to highlight something that
you said and you talk abouthaving an eight-year-old that's
maybe not as willing toparticipate in activities that
need to be done in the mornings,but I think everything ties
into our professional role aswell.
So the ability to support andprovide connections that can
help support in some of thoseareas ties back into how well we
(17:05):
show up for work, because if wecan learn how to better manage
some of those outside influences, we can be our best selves when
we arrive to our professionalcareers as well.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
I think that there's an awful lot of pressure that we
put on ourselves trying to dealwith any number of things and
trying to navigate.
That world is not an easy, easyworld.
I think that's really a littlescary and a little hard to
navigate at times.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Are there any females who have inspired you
throughout your career journey,and in what way have they given
that inspiration?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
The former general counsel here at AWG was a woman
by the name of Chi Chi Poole.
She was fantastic in all of thethings that she was able to
accomplish and to take care of,and I also take some amazing
knowledge and skill from somewomen that I've worked with that
(18:04):
I mentored, who were in a highschool program, and their
tenacity, their ability tofigure things out, their desire
to learn was fantastic and hasbeen fantastic for me to be able
to take that and say I can helpby helping them learn things.
But I can also learn so much interms of curiosity and wanting
(18:30):
to know more and peeling backlayers and trying to figure
things out behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I absolutely love that there's so much value from
both sides of it, notnecessarily always the mentor
giving the mentee insights andinformation.
Yes, that happens, but it alsogoes the other way too.
I love that you highlight that,because I've seen value in that
as well.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
It's pretty amazing, when we can, what we're learning
from others, and that itdoesn't have to be a formal
relationship and it doesn't haveto be lunch every Tuesday and
it doesn't have to be that we'redoing this, that or the other
together, but we can really justall learn at the same time and
take from that experience.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
So, as we look at the industry, what trends do you
see shaping the future?
Speaker 3 (19:17):
I see that resilience is one of the things that we
are going to need to focus onthe most and one of the things
that I am doing some reviewswith some members of my team
right now, and managingambiguity is one of the phrases
that we deal with.
I think there's an awful lot ofambiguity right now.
I think we're trying to learnwhere things are going to go,
(19:43):
whether it be from how we'regoing to be dealing with
traceability on FSMA 204, howwe're going to be dealing with
SNAP and SNAP Choice, and howwe're going to be dealing with
the economy and any of thechanges that are happening in
the economy.
I think being resilient, beingwilling to take an opportunity
(20:09):
and run with it and, at the sametime, if you get partway
through and you look back andyou're like, and, at the same
time, if you get partway throughand you look back and you're
like, well, I'm not going in theright direction, to be able to
shift and know that it's okay toshift, that you don't have to
finish something through if it'snot going to achieve your goal,
but to shift and say, okay,that's not getting me where I
want to go, so let me find thedetour and get back on track
(20:32):
that way.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And what excites you the most about our future?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Oh.
I think the independent groceris fantastic.
I think that there is nothingmore exciting about the fact
that Main Street is still beingable to be shaped by the local
grocer, that the companies thatare out there that are providing
groceries to our communities,that they're able to pull
(20:58):
together and to be able to sayokay, I'm seeing that this
change is happening.
How do I adapt to that change?
Over the last 20 years, I'velearned that there's nothing
that the independent grocercan't do if they set their mind
to it.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
I think that NGA tagline the heart of the
community.
I always come back to thatbecause it truly is truly are
the heart of the community in somany aspects.
Stephanie, what advice do youhave for someone aspiring to
join or advance their career inthe industry?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Find someone to talk to and it doesn't have to be a
single person.
Find three or four people, gosit down with them, ask lots of
questions and then come back andask more questions.
It's not as easy these days tojust walk into the meetings and
sit down and learn.
But find something that's goingon, ask questions and be
(21:50):
surprised that the person thatyou might learn things from
could be the secretary, that theperson that you might learn
things from could be thesecretary could be the CEO could
be the cashier.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
It's a fantastic, amazing industry with so many
different ways.
Great advice to ask questionsand then ask more questions.
So, stephanie, as we look towrap up this great discussion
today, I'm going to throw you alittle curveball.
If you were writing a book orcreating a podcast about the
industry today, what would thetitle be?
Speaker 3 (22:17):
So it could go anything from wow to excellent.
Everyone needs to eat and so,as I think through them, I think
(22:37):
that is the we can help makecertain that America is fed.
That that's the great thingabout grocery is that we have a
product that everyone needs,everyone needs, and the
independent grocer has theability to be nimble to figure
(22:58):
out how to provide that to theirindividual constituents, their
individual shoppers.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Fantastic.
I can't wait to dive in whenyou release that book.
Stephanie, I thank you so verymuch for sharing your time and
your thoughts with us today.
I appreciate you, your storyand your contribution to the
industry.
Thank you for your valuableinsights and I look forward to
watching you continue to make adifference in all you do.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Kristen, thank you for everything that you do.
I have so enjoyed WGA, and yourleadership has made it a
fantastic and amazing place forwomen to come together.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Thank you and to our guests.
Thank you so very much fortuning in to today's episode.
We hope you enjoyed thediscussion as much as we did.
If you found value, be sure tosubscribe to the podcast to
never miss an episode.
Leave a review on your favoritelistening platform to help
others discover Grocery Fromyour Seat and let us know how we
are doing Until next time, keepmaking a difference in all you
do, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
On behalf of the Women Grocers of America, we
thank you for listening to ourpodcast today and ask that you
subscribe, leave a five-starreview and share with a friend.
If you have a suggestion for aguest from the industry, mention
them in the comments.
Episodes are released everyother week and they are
sponsored by NGA, hosted byKristen Popp, president of WGA,
and published by Rachel Milowith SWA Marketing.
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