Monday Manufacturing Motivation – with Paola Velasquez and Simone Walker from IMEC Illinois

Curt Anderson 0:02
Hey, happy Monday. I wait a minute. It’s not it was wait yesterday was Monday. It’s Tuesday. So happy words. How do you do manufacturing Monday motivation on a Tuesday. But guys, happy Tuesday everybody hope everyone had an amazing, incredible, wonderful safe holiday weekend boy just a great day to spend time with the family and laugh and love and all those great things. I am super excited to first off I’m missing my partner in crime Damon is is off with family this week. And so he Damon, we send our love to you brother. know you’re having a great time with mom hanging out of the flow with a family. I am honored and privileged to have two amazing incredible guests today from none other than I met the Illinois MEP. We’re going to take a deep dive here. So I have Paola Velasquez close. I have Simone Walker from IMEC. Simone, how are you?

Simone Walker 0:55
I’m doing great.

Curt Anderson 0:57
Happy Tuesday to you Paola. How are you? Happy Tuesday. How are you today?

Paola Velasquez 1:01
Doing great. Thank you.

Curt Anderson 1:03
How was your weekend? Did you have a nice holiday weekend?

Paola Velasquez 1:07
Yeah, that’s good. Relaxing, and fun.

Curt Anderson 1:09
Excitement, family. Anything good? Anything good?

Paola Velasquez 1:12
Anything? Barbecue.

Curt Anderson 1:17
Simone, how about you? Did you have a nice holiday weekend?

Simone Walker 1:20
I did. I actually went to Colorado this weekend. We went to Colorado. Oh nice. Where do you go in the boulder area.

Curt Anderson 1:28
I was just there a week ago, we’re gonna have to talk offline. I was just in Boulder. We did some hiking over there. And it was just absolutely one boy Boulder is a wonderful city. I’d love to geek out after the program. So let’s start off Simone. Since I have you on stage, you’re at the plate. Let’s take a deep dive marketing specialists here at IMEC. Your program coordinator. Boy, you’ve been just rocking it with some amazing, incredible webinars programs, doing a great job doing marketing services for IMEC. Share a little bit about your own fascinating background. And I’d like to just could you just share a little bit high tech lead a social media talk about what your walk of life and how we got

Simone Walker 2:07
here. Sure. So I went to DePaul University where I majored in marketing with a concentration in sales leadership and a minor in industrial organizational psychology. My first job out of college was doing sales at CW, I learned that sales was not for me. So I transitioned over into marketing at another tech company. And that is really like I really honed my skills in social media marketing, event marketing, content creation, all the all of it. From there, I went over to bed fitter where I did event management for a couple of years. And then I was a content creator for a company called blue there a tech platform. My job there was engage people on the platform. And then after that I did freelance for a couple years. And then now I’m at four years now.

Curt Anderson 2:51
Oh, that’s awesome. So hey, great to have you here. Thank you so much. I know you’re super busy, smart. So thank you for taking the time. Paola, you have a fascinating career as well. Little different path that you took I if I’m not mistaken, University of Northern Illinois, masters at Kent State. So great college choices there. Then you’ve you have a little fun manufacturing story that we’re going to share. But you’ve also had an illustrious wonderful career and health care. Can you just talk a little bit about your background, your walk life, and how you got up to this stage?

Paola Velasquez 3:20
Sure. So I was introduced to manufacturing, actually, at a very young age, both of my parents worked and retired from manufacturing. In fact, when we I migrated to the United States at a young age and and with with my parents and several aunts and uncles also followed. And they all worked in manufacturing. Right out of high school, I actually worked in manufacturing, I worked in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, I worked on night shifts. And then on some Saturday mornings, I would go with my mom to another manufacturer, we’d go very early, and we’d stand in line hoping that they needed workers for the day. And then depending on how many workers if we were the first ones in line, we would be selected. And we would work that Saturday. So it was actually it was great for me because I I went to college and it really help pay my first year of college. I earned my bachelor’s in business and Spanish translation. I have a master’s in translation studies. And that helped me teach went into teaching. I taught Spanish English as a second language, bilingual GED, and then I also interpreted and help communities that were underserved. And I did that for many years. I actually did that. When I was a child. I started doing that because my parents didn’t speak English. So I started doing that for them doing it for friends, was pulled in my high school to do it for my immigrants that were coming into the United States. So just been doing that my whole life. You mentioned health care. Yes, I was in health care. I was there for many years. I supported score I had oversight of several sub For departments, and then I also lead several diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Although that was not my main responsibility that was more of something that I love to do a passion I had, and I started doing it on the side. And then I just started getting more responsibility with it. So by the time I left healthcare, I had oversight of three hospitals. And I was helping lead some of those initiatives in those hospitals. But I’ve been with IMEC for nine months. And I’m really excited because I was able to come back to manufacturing, and they just think that the fact that I was in different industries and have different experiences, I can bring a different perspective.

Curt Anderson 5:42
That is, absolutely Man, what a great story. I absolutely love that you’re going to, you know, look at manufacturing did for you an early stages, you know, brought your your folks here came to the States, and you know, kick things off. You just mentioned you paid for college, and you and mom are, are showing up to the manufacturers on Saturdays, getting first in line and just what an absolutely amazing story. Guys, if you’re jumping by Hey, Diane, Happy Tuesday to you. Thank you for joining us, Gary, thank you for joining us. If you’re out there. drop us a note. Drop us a hello, let us know that you’re out there also. Absolutely. Please connect with Paula and Simone. We have a lot to cover here. today. We’re going to take a deep dive Simone, let’s you’re talking about your background, heavy tech. And you know, we’re here in Palos story. One question that I always love to kick off with. And Paul, I’m going to come back at you maybe you’ve covered a little bit small when you were a young girl growing up. Okay, you got an attack, you go to DePaul University, great university. When you were a young girl growing up, who was your hero? Who was your hero that you looked up to that you maybe had a big imprint imprint? And kind of help pave your path? Who’s your hero growing up?

Simone Walker 6:53
That’s a tough one. I would say I haven’t thought about this snowball. Curt, this is a softball, you threw a slider that I had for you. Okay, um, I will say Maya Angelou just because of how she grew up and although she persevered and how she came out on top, and just her great. That’s what I was she was my hero.

Curt Anderson 7:15
Awesome. That is a great, thank you. Great answer. Paola. Maybe you answered it. You’re talking about mom and dad being sound like they were a great inspiration manufacturing. Little girl growing up your, you know, hitting manufacturing in Chicago, who were your heroes growing up?

Paola Velasquez 7:33
I guess I would say it would be my parents to just the I guess I should have gotten my Kleenex ready for this. Right. So they, the fact that they left their home country not knowing the language, the culture, yeah. And to come here just with that thought of, we’re coming here to make a better life for my child, children eventually, but my child and give her those opportunities that we didn’t have, I think seeing their struggles and the things that they went through. To me that that was just made a huge impact on my life and made me want to do more and give back.

Curt Anderson 8:12
Yeah, and boy and you certainly are what’s mom and dad’s name,

Paola Velasquez 8:16
Miriam and Alvaro.

Curt Anderson 8:18
Okay, excellent. And just, I mean, just think of the courage it takes to leave a home country, you know, you know, family, friends, maybe, you know, stability or whatever, and they wanted to have a better life and came to the States in Chicago and just what an inspiration and I tell you there are millions and millions of these stories across generations of what manufacturing can do for families you know, turn it into a higher you know, you bring it into a different class. Educate yourself as you said, Paula, you know, go off to college. This is just man great inspiration here. So Alright guys, let’s take a deep dive here. So now we’re with the you know what before I before we get into this MVP thing, an iMac Simone. I have another question I want to come back to and hopefully this is a softball for you. So high tech that you know CD W massive company if you look at you guys connect with someone on LinkedIn in light of social media marketing are your superpowers. Now you you bring your skills and your talents to manufacturing. What attracted you to manufacturing?

Simone Walker 9:22
You know, it wasn’t necessarily about manufacturing. At first, it was about doing meaningful work, because I don’t believe in just trusting the keyboard just press the keyboard isn’t that satisfying. It’s not fulfilling, it won’t last long. And you won’t do your best work. So I was searching for a company that had a strong mission. I came across iMac and I learned a lot about manufacturing in the industry. And the more I learned the more into it I got and the more dedicated I am so that is how I got into manufacturing or cared about manufacturing. Okay,

Curt Anderson 9:51
that might be you know, for people that could check out our show. I always have like we call them either like moments or silence or drop the mic moments. We’ve already had a couple there. so that, you know, find aligning yourself, it wasn’t so much manufacturing vote, of course, manufacturing is really what you brought your superpowers to. But it’s like just coming in for a cause I absolutely love that. Paul, I’m gonna fire the same question at you, you know, you kick off, you had a great background with mom and dad, manufacturing what it did for you for your family. However, you brought your superpowers to health care, you’re a community builder to you know, with translation and everything that you’ve done with your wonderful career. What brought you back to manufacturing after a nice career in health care?

Paola Velasquez 10:34
Yeah, I think in healthcare, it was there for many years. And we had an established initiatives around diversity, equity and inclusion. And I really wanted to come back more to the basics. I always said that I wanted to return to manufacturing just, again, it was a great, there was a lot of stability within manufacturing for my parents place food on our table, just amazing in that piece. But I also saw some things that I thought were missed opportunities. And one is, I think, is the opportunity to highlight manufacturing as a career. I’d love to see that shift in mindset for the production line workers, when they see when they’re working in manufacturing, want them to see it as a career, not just a job. And I love to see them encourage their children, their nieces or nephews to join manufacturing, I think of when I was working in manufacturing, some of the workers, my colleagues at that time would tell me stories about their children going to college, their children, but they didn’t share the stories about manufacturing. And they think that was a missed opportunity. You know, if if there was that encouragement about the opportunities, the advancements, the skill building within manufacturing, I possibly could have taken a different career path. I may have stayed within the industry. I don’t regret the path I took. And it’s exciting that I’ve come back, but I do think that that was an opportunity missed.

Curt Anderson 12:03
Yeah, that’s wonderful. And boy, God bless you for for bringing your talents, your superpowers back to manufacturing. And you know, I’ve had the honor and privilege of connecting with you and a number of things. And we’re going to dig into that in a few minutes here. So for anybody out there again, please connect with Paula and Simone here. We’re talking about iMac. Now. I’m Nick as part of the manufacturing extension partnership, program network, if you will. And Simone, what is the MEP network? What is manufacturing extension partnership?

Simone Walker 12:32
So the MEP network is you just said the Manufacturing Extension Partnership national network is a part of a federal program that’s part of the NIST National Institute for Standards and Technology. And they enable centers like I met to be able to provide the necessary resources to help manufacturers grow reach their goals, and there is a center in every single state and I make is Illinois MEP center.

Curt Anderson 12:57
Perfect. Okay. And so it just again, just kind of recap. So today we’re gonna be talking about the the MEP in the great state of Illinois. However, you’re coming to us from a different state there is an MEP near us. Matter of fact, Diane, our dear friend, she’s with tack the tax centers, which I know they work closely with, with a lot of MEPs. Diane, again, thank you for joining us today. But the MEP centers as someone just said there’s one in all 50 states and even some of the states like here in New York, where I’m at Pennsylvania, Ohio, there’s numerous every piece based on geography. Now in Illinois, you guys are I met you have one senator, but boy, you covered the entire state top to bottom in a new I if I’m not mistaken, probably 50 people strong give or take. I’ve had the honor and privilege of working with a number of amazing folks what an all star team that Dr. DE belay has put together at IMAX. So I don’t know if either one of you want to kind of slide into this moment. I’ll start with you just share a little bit about what’s what is iMac and what’s going on. And then Paulo, I’ll come down to you. And we’ll hit some of those programs that you’re working on.

Simone Walker 14:00
Yeah, I make is the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence center. And we are a team of about 50. Industry experts like you just said, with a common goal to ignite manufacturing excellence in Illinois, and we help companies build global competitiveness. We are a one stop shop with all the resources for manufacturers to excel in all areas of their business, from leadership, to workforce operations and everything in between. Last year alone, we assisted over 1600 companies and to successfully improve and innovate their projects. And we consistently demonstrate a ROI that exceeds 19 to one.

Curt Anderson 14:38
Okay, we need to back up and recap that Simone. Did I hear you correctly? You know, I’m an older guy, so I gotta make sure I got these 1600 Did you say 1600 manufacturers? Is that the impact that you had? So in so with the MEP centers, and we’re again we’re here today at Illinois with the art with IMEC you have an impact you’ve touched and helped and improve 1600 manufacturers? I mean, let that number sink in. And what was the other number that you mentioned?

Simone Walker 15:08
Our ROI exceeds the 19 Someone consistently

Curt Anderson 15:11
19 to one. So if I, you know, I’m not a math major, but if I give you $1, you’re given me 19. Back, do I have that close? Right? Diane back me up in my math here, right 19 One do I have. So I don’t even need to take my suit socks and shoes off for that one, Simone. So 19 to one that is absolutely powerful. So let’s talk a little bit about someone talking about some, we’re gonna go back and forth, we’re gonna get a tennis match going here. But talk a little bit about some of the programs that you guys offer, at iMac and some of the workshops that are going on here.

Simone Walker 15:41
Yeah, we have a ton of events that has happened that are coming up. A lot of webinars, some of we’re starting to go back to in person. But besides events, we have a bunch of different programs that help manufacturers to get projects going that they can’t, they don’t necessarily have the financial resources to do resources to do a bunch of different brands brands, you just participate in one in one that we just concluded the Grow your future. We have similar ones coming up that are in the process. But right now, if people are interested in learning how to take some advantage of some of the resources, our website has everything up to date and on the events page. That’s where a lot of our programs are that are that you are participating with this.

Curt Anderson 16:19
Absolutely. So Paula, let’s get in the game here. So all right, you brought your skills superpowers you mentioned nine months ago. So boy, congratulations, time flies, when you’re having fun, almost coming up on a one year anniversary. Again, you wanted to get back into manufacturing. And so I think, like what attracted you to iMac and then I love for you to share, you know, boy, through COVID I think every manufacturer, every small business in the country has been suffering with, you know, workforce challenges, and so on, so forth. So it’s just wonderful of what your mission is, what attracted you to iMac and then slide into some of the some of the programs that you’re working on. Yeah, so

Paola Velasquez 16:56

I was familiar with iMac actually, as I mentioned, I wasn’t healthcare, but I was familiar with iMac for their process improvement improvement initiatives around the Baldrige framework. So I actually went receive training, I think two years in a row through IMEC. So I can bring that framework to the organization I was at. So I was familiar with them, I loved what they stood for. And so that was one of the reasons why I was attracted to iMac and then through the interview processes, I always say that their interview process was amazing. I they invest time into interviewing someone, because they want to make sure that person is the right fit for the organization. And when I say right fit, that the person could bring their talents and skills and be able to implement them and help other manufacturers. So that’s what I mean, when I say right fit, they just want to find the place that that person can use their niche, their skills to help others. And so that’s why they invest that time. And so I love that part of it. So I thought if they take that time to really learn more about the people they’re interviewing, that’s an organization I want to be at. So that’s one of the things that I liked.

Curt Anderson 18:12
Well, I love that. And again, we’re getting you know, so Diane says, Boy, you know, great numbers. And then Hey, welcome to sit here. Hopefully I’m pronouncing that correctly. 1600 manufacturers and you’re getting a standing applause there. So again, great job, Simone. You mentioned the girl your future program. And yes, and what an honor privilege of working with the team at iMac and I want to get in some of your teammates, boy, you know, I’m going to be I’m going to be disappointed myself, because I’m sure we’ll leave some folks out. But you guys took on an aggressive and amazing grant program, and it was called Grow your future. And it was a help manufacturers figure out this whole digital marketing and get the sales pipeline going. Can you talk a little bit about that program, if I’m not mistaken, I think was over 125 manufacturers that you had a positive impact on can you just share a little bit for folks out there that are new to you know, I’m a manufacturer, and I’m like, Man, where have you been on my life? Simone, I want to get involved in this. Just hear a little bit about the success you found with that girl your future program?

Simone Walker 19:10
Yeah, so that was more of a Michelle project was more perfect. I will tell you that the program itself was designed to help manufacturers to grow their business as it’s called. And we offered trainings to help them to get their businesses show up online, to grow their social media platforms to get down with SEO practices, build out their website and to generate and build a successful online e commerce Store store. That was just up the project but to get all the details

Curt Anderson 19:42
well in you know what for shameless plug if you guys go to b2b channel we so we interviewed some we’re talking about Michelle Fossett boy is she amazing. Melissa Zerbo boy and we know and Christy John’s in boy another Melissa you guys have just such an incredible team. We Raisa gyno just joined your team as a dear close friend of mine. And so, you know, I know we can go on and on. And again, you the leadership from Dr. David belay and I just, you know, it’s just off the charts. And Paula, as you talk about, like, you know, you, you talk about such an enthusiasm, it’s almost like you’re talking about iMac as like a family member, you know, talk about like, now you’re nine months in, you know, so you, they want you over with the culture and you know what was going on now that you’re nine months in sure, like your enthusiasm for iMac and how you bring that enthusiasm to your manufacturers?

Paola Velasquez 20:36
Sure. I think that’s one of the things that I love about iMac because you could bring your whole self to work, you can share your ideas, you’re listened to. It’s it’s a it’s a very welcoming environment, prior to even joining the the the the organization, very welcoming people reaching out and just excited about me joining via LinkedIn, they send messages and so forth. So that to me, was just very encouraging. And I, I wish to see that replicated within manufacturers. So when I, when I meet with a manufacturer, I just love to hear about their culture, what they’re doing, I love to highlight the great things that they’re currently doing. Because sometimes I think we focus too much on the negative, and the things that aren’t going well. And you know, we need help with this and so forth. And, and I really like to just bring it back to well, what are you doing? Well, let’s talk about that. Let’s highlight that. Fortunately, again, because we’re able to bring our creativity to IMEC, we were able to create a journey Mac map, a DI journey map, which we’re able to then share with our with the manufacturers that we sit down with and we kind of just go bullet by bullet and just say, What are you doing well, in this area, what are we doing? Well, and let’s highlight those strengths before we start focusing on the things that aren’t going well. And so I think that’s replicate that I saw within iMac when I first joined, and I want to replicate that same thing with the manufacturers we’re working with.

Curt Anderson 22:09
But I and again, hats off to you guys, because you know, what your I make is taking a leadership role really like you know, MEPs around the country, if you will, by taking charge of the DEI and so not only walking the walk because they’re like, you know, if you don’t feel it internally at the culture, Paul, you know, it’s hard for you to go out there and express that with your manufacturers. So it’s just wonderful to hear that not you know, iMac they’re talking to talk walking the walk, bringing these tips, strategies, you know, to manufacturers, I want to someone I’m going to slide back So Diane says, Hey, gotta love it website, SEO ecommerce projects. I got so carried away, I didn’t finish my thought. If you guys if you go to b2b Tell my shameless plug website. We’ve had the honor privilege of interviewing multiple folks from iMac and we actually brought your clients on our LinkedIn live show. And they just rant and rave on how amazing how wonderful it is working with IMAX. So they you know, like, I get this real boring little background here. You guys have these wonderful backdrops. If you see any videos with these wonderful backdrops that’s iMac, check those out. So again, if you’re like, Oh, gee, you know, you guys have kind of caught my attention. I love to work with iMac Well, we have case studies, right here and from our LinkedIn live shows, talking about this. Paul, I want to come back to you and let’s talk let’s let’s take a deeper dive into like, some strategies. Okay, let’s say I’m a manufacturer and you know, struggling with workforce, you know, it’s been challenging point, man, has it been challenging past two years, right. And I just want to like I really, I’m committed to building a nice diverse culture, but maybe I just need some guidance. You know, for manufacturers, they are throwing on multiple hats all day, every day, right? One minute, I’m doing finance next minute, I’m trying to figure out operations next minute a machine just broke down next minute I find out supply chain is, you know, vendors not supplying a part that I need yesterday, you know, and now I’m trying to figure out my workforce and culture. So I’d like to sit down. Just catch my breath for one minute. Help enlighten me a little bit. What are some maybe some strategies? As you know, I’m, I’ve been only I’ve owned my manufacturing business for 30 years. And I just need some fresh ideas. How could you help me with that?

Paola Velasquez 24:15
Sure. I like to always start with defining diversity. So diversity is all the attributes that make us unique, that differentiate us. But at the same time, it’s the similarities that we have in common, and it’s beyond the visible traits that we commonly hear about race, age and gender. I really like to start there because it includes all dimensions. I hear too often manufacturers say oh, we don’t have diversity within our within our organization, or I don’t I don’t have a large pool of diverse people to pull from to hire more diversity, but it includes all dimensions, its physical and mental abilities. Its sexual orientation, education, family status status, if you’re a veteran, if you’re Single parent, a parent, if you’re were incarcerated geographic location, I like to share that I was, I wasn’t born in the United States, I was born in Columbia, South America, but I was raised in the Midwest. And that’s so different from someone who was raised on the east or the west coast. So we bring our own diversity. So it already exists within organization. So I like to share that definition because I like people to start thinking about their company, as a company that already has diversity, when we already acknowledged that, and we start embracing the current diversity, we can take some intentionality to create an inclusive environment, then we can start recruiting diversity, more diversity into the workplace, and I say it in that order, we need to embrace what we currently have, then start intentionally creating an inclusive environment, and then go out and recruit more diversity. And if we do it in that order, then you’re not running the risk of losing people that are coming in. Because when they get there, they don’t feel like they belong. They feel like there’s no inclusivity and then they may leave for another organization. So I really think that that order is so important. But um, yes, I so I share with people and I can go on and on. Yeah. Yeah. But I always talk about, you know, what are the different backgrounds and skills. And if people have different experiences, they have broader perspectives, when you’re brainstorming when they’re bringing solutions, and it’s gonna lead to so many benefits. It’s going to help with the business overall success is going to help with overall community, there’s going to be job creation, there’s going to be economic growth. So there’s so much return on investment. And there’s tons of studies out there around the different returns on investment. And then one last thing I’m going to share is that diversity has existed for a long time in manufacturing, if you think of Rosie the robot Riveter, how she exemplifies, you know, 6 million women joining in manufacturing. Our industry is a trailblazer for diversity, I think, I think what we need to really look at is equity and inclusion, how do we how do we start making some strides towards that, and then we start having those conversations, feeling comfortable with that making it a priority, then, then we can embrace it. And we’re already talking about people. We’re talking about hiring recruitment skills, training company culture. So indirectly, we’re already having conversations around GDI.

Curt Anderson 27:26
Right? Man, I absolutely, I’m a history buff. I couldn’t love what you just said more. And when you think about take, you know, see the early auto days, you know, even pre auto days, when you think about immigrants coming, you know, just like you said, like when your parents, you know, immigrants coming from Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, you know, and different walks of life, the whole shift of, you know, the southern migration to the north, to hit other factories in the 1910s 20s. And what have you. So, you know, it’s always been there, and it’s just like, how do we do it better? You know, like, how can we just as a country, we were just so much stronger? When we work together? And I just I love what you’re describing Paula? Simone, how about, you know, can you chime in a little bit? I know, you’re the marketing guru. Can you just share from your background, your history, you know, any walks of life, any tips, strategies to share on like, how can we really focus on build a nice diverse culture at a manufacturer?

Simone Walker 28:19
I think being open to hearing other people’s opinions, and being willing to like, break the norm and that go the normal way. Like, instead of always doing things just because I’ve always done it this way, guess what, there’s another way, there’s more than one way maybe your way isn’t the best way. And maybe this person we may not hold as high of a regard. They may have a way better idea and more innovative idea. That means I think listening to your employees and being open to open to what you may have thought was impossible.

Curt Anderson 28:47
Right? Drop the mic. So we’ll say that again, open your mind,

Simone Walker 28:53
be open to what you thought maybe impossible.

Curt Anderson 28:55
Just be possible, right? Just be possible. Be authentic, just be genuine. I learned a nerd I was on I’m in part of a mastermind group. I heard I learned. So Google did a huge study on diversity and what have you. So this is not my I’m an ecommerce guy. So not my area of expertise whatsoever, but a term psychological safety. So Paula, did you know with your walk of life, is that a term that you’re you’re nodding your head? Is that something you’re familiar with? does this tie in with our dei conversation?

Paola Velasquez 29:24
It most certainly ties in I think that’s where we need to start with psychological safety. When you create an environment that is psychologically safe. You have employees that feel like they belong, they feel like they’re included, they feel like they can contribute without the fear of being shut down. And when you have that you open up a space for your employees feel like they’re loyal. They’re dedicated and they want to stay there. You’re going to reduce your turnover rates because your employees are going to be more committed. You’re going to see their their efficiency improved because they’re the See that loyalty? With with the strides you’re making in your environment to create a psychologically safe environment?

Curt Anderson 30:07
So that that term is that been on your radar? Like, has that been part of your walk of life with your training? What have you? So that’s it’s not new to you correct?

Paola Velasquez 30:16
No, it’s not new. And it’s one of the thing that we that we emphasize a lot when we’re working with manufacturers is we bring up psychological safety. I love it.

Curt Anderson 30:25
So in this and again, I’d like I, you have to, I don’t know what the even Google but it was like the Google’s you know, high impact study. I don’t know if anybody’s familiar with this study. But the five levels were number one, psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, value. And what like both you just said like, what attracted you to iMac like smoking gave me chills, and you’re like, you know, the you’ve joined a prize, like you treat your job like a mission. And lastly, impact. So those were the five. And again, I can’t do it justice. And he’s a professor from Stanford on this call, but I was on yesterday, he was enlightening and sharing all these powerful impact things like it’s not, you know, we’ll talk about we’ll try to do all these little different things, maybe money or so and so forth. Like, those were the five things. So how for someone that’s like, psychological safety? I guess on a surface, I understand that. Can you just take a little deeper dive on? Like, what does you know? What does that mean to somebody new? What’s Is there a psychological psychological safety one on one that you can share with folks?

Paola Velasquez 31:26
Yeah, so I would say when you’re one of the things that I make offers one of the service offerings, we offer our engagement surveys and focus groups. That’s an opportunity to listen to your employees to understand what they’re valuing. Because sometimes as leaders, we think our employees are thinking a certain thing. But when we do those engagement stories, we get to see their perspective, hear their perspective, and we can customize some of the questions around trust around belonging, do they? Is there safety, and not just physical safety, but psychological safety, what that means is do they feel like they can share their ideas, they can come to you with concerns, they can see an issue and bring that to you, instead of overlooking it. And so if they, if we get that perspective, we can start making some changes within our organization. If we bring education and training to our leaders around what does psychological safety mean? And how does it impact our, our organization? And how can we make changes towards improving our organization, and goes back to that, that, that feeling safe to contribute, feeling safe, feeling like I’m included? For example, if you’re, you hire someone new, even though they’re hired, and you know, they’re already on the payroll, they’re still excluded, because they haven’t, there hasn’t been that intentionality to include them into, into something. So if we have, for example, a buddy system in place where we can pair them up with someone, and that buddy isn’t introducing them to different people, that buddy is having lunch with them, that’s helping them feel part of the team feeling like they’re included, that’s psychological safety, that’s one step in psychological safety. But there’s several other other steps in it too. Hopefully, that helped answer what you were asked that

Curt Anderson 33:20
was the buddy system. You know, and I love you know, earlier you said, you know, beyond visual traits, I just, I absolutely love this, you know, creating that safe, you know, what a competitive advantage this creates. And so someone that’s there on our marketing hats, right? So we’d love to preach, hey, let’s stop being the best kept secret, you know, so for manufacturers out there, you know, say small manufacturer, again, we talked earlier, boy, they’re doing HR one minute, finance next minute trying to do operations, oh, by the way, I need to market my company, right? I need to do I need some sales to get the bike pipeline going. When you’re helping manufacturers that you’re doing marketing for IMEC. You also out there, you know, say helping manufacturers with their marketing strategies. I want to I want to dig into that in one second. But what just look at what a powerful, competitive advantage of having that diverse culture brings for manufacturers, and how that can be part of your marketing message. Can you just can you share a little bit about how that diversity can be a great piece for your marketing message?

Simone Walker 34:20
I think one of the biggest advantages of being diverse and inclusive is you will retain a stronger, more dedicated workforce, you will become an employer of choice. They’ll be more attractive to people and you won’t necessarily be one of the manufacturers, trying because you can find quality people to come work. The people are out there. You just have to find them and look into different pools that you normally won’t look into.

Paola Velasquez 34:42
Yeah. And Simone, I want to kind of jump in because I want to be very transparent. We’re not there as a MEP center as IMEC we’re not, you know, leading the way as as we would want to be leading. So we’re in the beginning stages too, but we really feel that it’s It’s important that we lead simultaneously with our clients. So it’s so we hear a lot in this dei space, you hear a lot about representation. Are we are we hiring people, more women? Are we hiring more people of color? And and the reality is, if we’re not working with our manufacturers to understand the importance of career advancement skills training, how can we hire more representation when when we’re not leading in the industry? So I think it’s important for, for us to be transparent in saying that we’re also in the initial stages within IMEC. Were, we created a framework to lead our clients, our manufacturers, but we’re also following that framework so that we can also improve in the same journey? Yeah,

Curt Anderson 35:49
I love that, Paula. And again, I appreciate your humility. And you know, just saying, hey, you know, we haven’t perfected it, I am comfortable saying, you know, as you know, is there a company out there that has truly perfected it? I’m sure there’s some companies that have done that are doing extremely well, maybe they’re cheerleaders leading the charge. And again, this is, you know, I’m an E commerce guy. So I’m gonna pretend that I, you know, that I know what I’m talking about. But I think, you know, the collectively the raising our hand in that effort of like, we want to be better. Not just we want to do better, we want to be better, and how do we vastly improve this? So I think, you know, again, working together this communication, maybe an ounce of patience of like, Hey, we’re not there yet. We haven’t arrived. But boy, are we full on our way. So any any thoughts on that comment there is going to be one I just threw that I just threw that up for anybody. Right? That was

Simone Walker 36:42
I make has definitely been not just talking my top we are walking the walk like we started in house. And then that’s how Polycom unboard because we don’t know how to do it. So we hired an expert. And she’s teaching us as we’re learning how to teach manufacturers how to do the same.

Curt Anderson 36:56
Yeah. So you know what? So while we’re there, let’s you know, I dropped a few names. Let’s talk about your team. Let’s take a deeper dive on some of your teammates. I know. Paula, you’re new to the team nine months in? Simone, you’ve been on? You’ve been racking up for four years. Now. You know, I mentioned Melissa I mentioned mentioned Michelle. So again, manufacturers out there like, boy, I just I really dig in what you guys are talking about. This is fantastic. Let’s take the next step. describe me the hierarchy. How like your regional advisors work or like, you know, how does this whole iMac thing? I want to get engaged. I want to work with you guys. How does walk us through some of the names some of the players? And how does this process work? Simone, I’ll start with you, then Paul off, I’ll come down to you. So Simone, how does this work in that first engagement.

Simone Walker 37:41

So first engagement, there is a regional manager that is located in or nearby, literally all over the state. If you live in Illinois, there’s a regional manager nearby who can help you get started with working I’m working with MX. And if you are if you are an organization with resources that we can use to help manufacturers, we have a process that you go through as a third party resource and you would work with Melissa servo. She’s a resource manager and become one of our partners like you are and yeah, regional managers, then the tech specialists, they come out deliver the solutions. And then you have a team of marketers led by Christa Jones, we help spread the word about what I’m MC is doing what manufacturers are doing. Just as

Curt Anderson 38:25
well and that’s perfect. And a lot of you know we’ve covered so you guys had an amazing program with girl your future which covered like, you know, different digital marketing, e commerce, SEO, there was a Wesleyan Grier did amazing job and a bunch of other resort third party resource partners helped with like, fill in the pipeline sales, social media, that type of thing. Paula, we’re talking a lot about diversity, talk a lot. And I guess maybe someone will come back to you on this. You guys know, I’m a manufacturer, you guys not that you try to be everything to everybody. But boy, you have a deep deep bench of subject matter experts. So as far as like lean, operational excellence, ISO talked about some of the, let’s go through some of the menu items, some of the services that iMac offers that you deliver to help those manufacturers, especially those meet, you know, as a manufacturer, you know, boy, they’re in a silo. You know, like I said, they’re putting out fires all day, they don’t need to be alone because they can lean on you. So with that small mentioned, talk about some of the menu items that you guys offer. Yeah, we can

Simone Walker 39:22
help. Like you just said literally all areas of business. So from leadership development, Twi workforce development, we have a program called Career Pathways in manufacturing, where if you have your existing workers can learn and develop their skills or if you have new people coming out, we can train them to develop their skills. We work with manufacturers to develop a completely customizable training program specifically for their company. I so a AMTS, advanced manufacturing technology solutions, anything that has to do with automation or industry 4.0 And there’s so many out

Curt Anderson 39:59
there There’s a lot and so the thing is

Simone Walker 40:02
cybersecurity,

Curt Anderson 40:03
cyber. Yeah, thank you cybersecurity. So again, not that I’m at tries to be an expert in everything, but boy, they try to align themselves with experts in that subject matter to help you as a manufacturer. So again, you’re putting out a fire you have a challenge that you’re facing, could be importing could be exporting could be, you know, some type of bureaucratic man, I want to rip my hair out, which I already did a long time ago. But if you’re stressed and you feel challenged, boy, reach out. And if you’re outside of Illinois, you’re like, hey, wait a minute, they have all these great things going on in Illinois, you absolutely want to reach out to your local MEP, whatever state that you’re in. Paul Paola, as you’ve come in nine months ago, we keep mentioning, any any pleasant surprises, since you’ve joined the team and she frozen? She might be frozen. How are you doing? Simone, are you doing, you’re doing? Hey, add

Simone Walker 40:57
on real quick, if if we happen to not have an expert in a certain area, we do have partners that we have access to resources that can provide the expertise that’s needed to help a manufacturer.

Curt Anderson 41:09
Absolutely. And what you can do is you can you can grab people from other states. So that’s a nice thing is you know, the MEP in Indiana is at Purdue University, you can go through Ohio has multiple MEP. So again, if there’s not a subject matter matter expert on their team, they reach out to a third party resource, or they have a whole other 50 states. So Paul, Hey, welcome back. How are you? So as you joined nine months ago, as we keep mentioning any talk about like any pleasant surprises, or like, you know, your engagement with your manufacturers, what’s you know, when they reach out to you? What does kind of walk me through that process? I reach out to you for the first time? How does that engagement go? Can you walk us through that?

Paola Velasquez 41:54
Sure. I wouldn’t say there’s there’s no surprises, I know that everyone’s in a different journey, and we want to meet them where they’re at. So I mentioned earlier about us having a journey map, we purposely created it so that we can have the conversation with the clients. And that’s one of the things that I like to share with them. And, and we kind of talk about some of the things that they’re doing well, again, I mentioned how too many times we focus on the negative. So let’s highlight what you’re doing well, and sometimes we don’t think about some of those things. So our journey map helps us there’s also a GDI assessment that we offer, it’s very short, it’s guided self assessment, I’ll walk clients through it as well help them to start thinking outside the box, Simone mentioned that, you know, stepping out of that comfortable zone and thinking of the impossible. Sometimes we’re doing so many things, but we’re not connecting the dots to di and so when we start talking through and you know, tell me a little bit more about that. Tell me a little bit more, oh, you’re talking about multi generations, you have five different generations working in your in your manufacturing plant, that’s di o you’re you know, you’re helping high schoolers, you know, you’re going in, open up your doors, giving tours, that’s reaching the younger generation, you know, maybe they have a partnership with a jail, and they’re going and doing some skills development. And so they’re not making those connections. And so that’s really, the purpose of our assessment. And the purpose of our journey map is to help them to start talking through it and thinking outside of the box of what they’ve traditionally traditionally known. Yeah.

Curt Anderson 43:32
Oh, that is so good. And love that someone is man, I know we could chat all day. I want to be my I know you guys are super busy. So I’m very mindful of your time, Simone, you’ve done an amazing job putting out I don’t know any, any organization that’s more aggressive with webinars, workshops trainings than iMac. Boy, we’ve been blessed with some great speakers. We’ve covered topics like PII with our dear friend Sharon, Rosemary did a great job. And like stepping up your virtual game we have Allison afford raise again, I’ll talk a little bit about some of the webinar programs. I know Paula will talk about you have a big one coming up on Thursday. But some will talk about from some of the great webinars that you guys have been putting on what you have coming up for September.

Simone Walker 44:14
Yeah, we just finished a series of growth webinars with you and some of your colleagues really just designed to educate manufacturers and how we can help them achieve their goals to grow and build up their e commerce, their grow their social media platforms. get found online by implementing SEO strategies, and know that we have a couple coming up with you and Nicole Donnelly and how to implement inbound inbound marketing strategies. Damon is doing one of the 22nd around how to find how to leverage online marketplaces. And yeah, we have a ton coming up and even some of some around workforce development that are all listed on the event that I make events page.

Curt Anderson 44:58
Perfect and I think I hopefully If you guys can see in the chat box I dropped it in earlier. So if you check it out, it’s just go to iMac, go to their website and you check out their events. They have all sorts of great content, great subject matter experts that are delivering high level solutions. For you, boy, just a boy, this lineup that we have, we have Chris Harrington coming up. Tom configurators. We have Max crew, like you mentioned, Damon and Nicole Donnelly, we have just, we had a bunch of speakers from August. But boy, that party is just going to continue on. Now. Paula, you are moderating a wonderful program this Thursday. So folks don’t want to miss this. If you are having any challenges with supply chain. This is a can’t miss event. Paola, do you want to talk a little bit about what’s going on Thursday?

Paola Velasquez 45:45
Sure. Well, I’m excited because we have amazing female talent sharing their expertise in supply chain. They have a wealth of experience and knowledge. They’ll be talking about supplier diversity and the benefits, which make this businesses more resilient and agile. They’ll be sharing tons of resources. So it is a webinar to watch. Our guests include Sarah scoter, CEO of source date and host the manufacturing Maven Snia Kumari, senior supply chain manager and DC man’s pergola founder and CEO of new gen architects. So just a lot of information is going to be shared that day. So it’s an opportunity for to hear some resources and solutions that are out there.

Curt Anderson 46:27
Absolutely. Three dear friends, all three of these wonderful amazing individuals have been we’ve been blessed to have them on our program. High energy and boy, you do not want to miss this. They are subject matter experts. Simone I think is perfect. I dropped in and chatbox next, we’re actually doing a fun inbound marketing you mentioned next Wednesday. St. 1130. central time at iMac. So guys as we wind down let’s How about parting thoughts? So you shared with me? Heroes, your heroes growing up? I love that you shared that with me. Paola, I’m going to start with you. Okay, as we wind down we’re, you believe it’s already after Labor Day like what the heck happened in 2022? Right, where’s the time going? But as we’re coming in, you know, you have a new career and you’re just bringing your passion, your expertise, your superpowers to iMac who or what inspires you today? Okay, you’ve talked about mom and dad being your inspiration as a little girl like who and what is inspiring you? And what are you looking forward to the rest of the year I might.

Paola Velasquez 47:28
I haven’t really thought about who inspires me now I can share that. I was in healthcare for several years. And the CEO of who led the organization for many years really was an inspiration to me, she was a strong female leader, someone I looked up to as a role model. I just loved her tenacity. I loved how she asked tons of questions and she trusted her employees if there was an idea, she said, run with it, let’s figure it out. Together. I love that about her. And I loved her presence when she presented and when I was in that industry for a long time. So when I first started, I always said one day I’m gonna I’m gonna, I strive to be like her to be able to speak and share more. And the opportunity is now with an iMac where I can come back to manufacturers and share my experience and, and what I’ve learned, so I just, I love I think of her when I when I want to move forward with things. That

Curt Anderson 48:34
moment of silence right there. That was just beautiful. Thank you, Paula. And you know what, you know, as, as I’ve been building friendships with, with, you know, so many of your teammates at iMac in you know, when I feel it’s just as contagious. You know, it’s like a contagious enthusiasm, but it’s like an entrepreneurial spirit. So Paula is a newer employee, do you feel that you have an entrepreneurial spirit, like you’re describing, like, that freedom, that psychological safety that we’re talking about that trust of just kind of like, hey, you know, we’re all gonna make mistakes together, but boy, we’re gonna go for it. Do you kind of like that’s what I’m kind of sensing from you today?

Paola Velasquez 49:06
Yes, I definitely and and go back to that interview process where I say that they interviewed you, because they were trying to capture all the skills and talent that you could bring all the potential you could bring to iMac. And then they want you to run with it and share your ideas and your expertise. And I see that with an iMac. So definitely, I would agree with what you just said.

Curt Anderson 49:28
Awesome. All right, Simone. I’m coming right back at you the same question. So who or what inspires you today? What are you looking for? Like you just absolutely rocked hitting the ball out of the park here, for iMac. Woohoo. And what inspires you, as you close out is not close out. But as we’re kind of winding down our 2022, if you will.

Simone Walker 49:49
Yeah. So what inspires me today is what led me to it or what do I make in the first place is knowing that we as a company make an impact on the entire state not just on manufacturers we just do You helping manufacturers and seeing the numbers at the end of the day, like the impact results, like knowing that we helped over 1600 companies in one year like, I’ve never worked for a company where I can say that I was a part of that. That’s my inspiration, inspiration, knowing that I’m making a difference. Even if it’s not a direct difference. I’m contributing to that difference.

Curt Anderson 50:23
You know, no words for you guys. There are no words. So first off, thank you. Thank you, thank you for spending your time with with all of us here today. Big ever anybody out there give a huge round of applause. If you’re catching us on a replay, give a big round of applause. I mean, I’ve gotta give a shout out to Damon Damon, dude, you missed a great session today. My goodness gracious, what a gift and blessing this was. So Simone, thank you. I deeply appreciate you appreciate our friendship. It’s an honor and privilege working with you. Thank you for sharing your inspiration with all of us today. How Thank you, my love the mom. And you know, what, what an inspiration and the courage it took for them to come here to the States. And just, you know, look at these products of what manufacturing can do for you. How about one last question for you guys, I can’t let you go. Just get one more question. There’s a young person out there, and they’re trying to plot out their career. What would you have to say to them about why is why are all the cool kids going into manufacturing? Power? You want to kick that one off? Why should this young person take the plunge and follow their career to manufacturing?

Paola Velasquez 51:35
I think because there is opportunities in, there’s so many different opportunities available. So whether you’re, you know, math savvy, or tech savvy, there’s that opportunity. If you like business, if you like HR, there’s just I think we need to, to look outside of what we think is the traditional manufacturing and look at the whole the entire picture and see that there is an opportunity in different sections, where you can start start, you know, in the beginning an assembly line just like I did, and start moving up. There’s that career path. So I would share, I would say that those are the opportunities and I I know you said to speak to the youth, but if there’s anyone listening, that’s not you, but that has the opportunity to share it with the youth share with them the love you have for manufacturing shirt share, it is a good it’s a career and not just a job. I hate when people say oh, it’s just a job. It’s a career, and there’s so many places that you can move within it. And you can move out of it and go into something else. You mentioned entrepreneur, you can run your own business and be a manufacturer owner. There’s just tons of possibilities.

Curt Anderson 52:49
Tons of possibilities, Simone a can you want to want to tie into that young person out there? Or maybe even not so young, out there? Why are all the cool kids pursuing a career and manufacture? Why should they find their you know, you call it a cause? Why should they join the cause? Well, I

Simone Walker 53:07
agree with everything that apologist says, in addition to like what Paula said, and making a difference, like you get to work in an industry that’s never gonna go away. Like we live, the world literally won’t exist without something being manufactured. So that’s my that’s how I would sell it.

Curt Anderson 53:22
Hey, man, dropped the mic for both you guys. So hey, we’re gonna close things out. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both. I appreciate you more than you know, thanks for anybody out there listening. We appreciate you spending time with us. Reach out to your local MEP. Boy, if you’re fortunate enough to be in a great state of Illinois. You want to reach out to these two fine young ladies connect with them on LinkedIn and you can learn all sorts of things by going to the IMEC website so hey, we wish everybody an amazing week. Again supply chain great program Thursday 11 o’clock Central connect with these guys. We have a talking about supply chain we have a supply chain guru Anna McGovern is gonna be speaking with us on Friday about supply chain as well. So we wish everybody an amazing, incredible week. Paola Simone, hang out one second. Thank you guys. Go out and keep crushing it hang on. Stop being the best kept secret and hey, go manufacturing right. Thank you. Thank you.