“Now let me start from the beginning,” Teresa Martinez, Texas Mutual Project Management, and Analysis Supervisor said. After leaving home at a young age Teresa found herself, a 17-year-old who didn’t finish high-school, working at Target with a young son at home and looking for more. “I happened to notice a sign that read if you’re a youth and you are interested in something more than just your average job, call this number,” Teresa said. “So, I called the number on the sign and after going in and talking with counselors at the program, I called Youth Employment Services and found out that I qualified for help.” Youth Employment Services, at the time, was a funded partner of United Way. The program helped her work towards her GED, obtain a driver’s license and most significantly, helped her get her son into childcare with Any Baby Can – a United Way affiliated partner. “That was my first introduction to United Way,” Teresa said. Change-maker As a 19 year Texas Mutual veteran, Teresa has eight years of United Way campaign coordination under her belt and has once again returned to the campaign as 2017 co-chair. Teresa was the volunteer special events coordinator for the United Way Campaign at Texas Mutual from 2007 – 2013 and during that time, along with the help of passionate coworkers, she organized fundraising events that allowed Texas Mutual Employees to give back to their community in a fun and rewarding way. In […]
Read MoreYou Know It’s Campaign Season When…
You probably hear the phrase “employee campaigns” from UWATX, but if you don’t work in a business that runs campaigns, this phrase can be quite confusing. Employee giving campaigns are how we receive many of our donations throughout the year. Our Development Officers visit multiple workplaces to inform employees about United Way for Greater Austin’s work, help set up fun activities to encourage employees to pledge and coordinate team-building volunteer activities. We make it easy to give in your workplace through payroll deductions; employees sign up during their campaign to give $5, $10 or more per each paycheck for the upcoming year. We asked UWATX Development Officers Heather and Keith to give us an idea of what campaign season feels like to them. Heather says: UWATX runs employee giving campaigns throughout the year, but August through October are the busiest months when most of our corporate partners promote giving to make Austin greater! With running campaigns comes numerous planning meetings, special events, embarrassing challenges, tables of food, jars of pennies and large campaign finales. It’s a great time and one that I and my fellow Development Officers enjoy. These are a few of the ways I know it’s that time of year: 1. Your phone is full of companies’ campaign event photos 2. Your car turns in to the campaign mobile 3. Your friends tell you to quit asking them for money 4. Your wallet always has 2-1-1 cards in it 5. You change your clothes three times in one day – […]
Read MoreJune’s Face 2 Face Recap
Each month, the Austin Business Journal hosts a Face 2 Face speaker series at Whole Foods, featuring leaders of all types of industries. This month’s speaker was Terry Lundgren, CEO and Chairman of Macy’s. Macy’s is a $28 billion corporation with 176,000 full-time employees and 800 stores. Macy’s is also the 7th largest Internet company. Lundgren commented that while the company embraces technology as a powerful source of commerce, he believes “people first, technology second.” Terry Lundgren has been high on the Macy’s ladder since 1997, with his roles including president and chief merchandising officer, among others. He started his career in retail in 1975, slowing climbing his way from trainee to management to buying to director of stores before becoming an executive. His advice to young adults entering the workforce: “Bloom where you are planted,” meaning not to focus so much on where you are going next, but to perform your current job better than anyone else to get noticed. When moderator Colin Pope asked if it is lonely at the top, Lundgren responded that he has a great team of management and board members. “When we make decisions, we move forward together. Success has many fathers, but failure has none.” Lundgren is notorious for showing up to his stores unannounced, to get a real feel for the atmosphere and customer service being provided. He says he enjoys watching and learning from his star performers. He believes localization is the reason Macy’s has been able to grow while maintaining […]
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