Archived Radio Show

January 17, 2022

Original Radio Show  ID:
WSA220117

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Featuring

Click the Name to access the Segment below

1. Commentary by Elaine B. Holtz, Host of Women's Spaces

2. Aubrey Ballinger, Corporate Graphics Manager & ESOP Communications Committee Chair, Oliver's Market

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1. Commentary by Elaine B. Holtz:  I have a special guest this morning, joining me in the studio, Aubrey Ballinger
Corporate Graphics Manager & ESOP Communications Committee Chair, for Oliver’s Market and we are going to talk about the Employee-Owned Business model ESOP, which stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plan. An ESOP grants employees company stock, often based on the duration of their employment. Typically, it is part of a compensation package, where shares will vest over a period. 

Our History is our strength, and I get incredible strength from the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a hero to me and today we are honoring his birthday. I never think of this holiday as a Celebration, yes we can celebrate he lived among us but more important to me is that we each have a reminder of how important it is to come together in justice and peace as a human family and when you look at the world today you have to wonder will it ever happen. Well, I believe it will and I feel being eighty-one the same way he felt that day. I am going to play an excerpt from the last speech he made, “I Have Been to the Mountain Top,” Also I want to do a shout out to the Community Baptist Church here in Santa Rosa for their support of the MLK Birthday Committee annual event that occurred yesterday by zoom.

Special Piece of Hertory to celebrate today: Just in time for her 200th birthday, Harriet Tubman has arrived in Philadelphia. Nine feet tall and bronze, “Harriet Tubman, The Journey to Freedom” was sculpted by Wesley Wofford and unveiled on the northeast corner of City Hall on Tuesday. January 18. The sculpture will reside there until the end of March when the city celebrates the anniversary of her birth in March of 1822.

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, c. March 1822[1] – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends,[2] using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the movement for women's suffrage

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2.  Our first guest Aubrey Ballinger begins the interview with her story of positions she has held at Oliver's Market, starting with her attraction to the Bakery section because of her love of tasting different foods, or as she calls herself, a Foody. With the advent of her son's birth, Aubrey was able to transition to Marketing, which had better hours for her to also be a new mother. The new job proved to be compatible with her university training in Graphic Design and Education.

Aubrey describes the growth of Oliver's Market from its founding in 1988 by Steve Moss with a store in Santa Rosa. Oliver's now has two stores in Santa Rosa and one in the neighboring town of Windsor, with 1,000 employees. In 2017 Steve Moss changed his sole ownership to a Social Purpose Corporation with Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), so that 47% of the company stock is owned by the employees. The plan is for Oliver's to become 100% employee-owned when Steve retires. Oliver's has a Board of Directors and the Executive Committee with Steve Moss at the helm with the rest being long-term employees who make the operations decisions. Each of the three stores has local leadership that prioritizes listening to employees, as experience has proven the best ideas come from them.
For the second segment of the interview, Aubrey discusses GoLocal, of which Oliver's is a founding member. Sonoma County GO LOCAL Cooperative is a membership alliance of locally owned businesses, individuals, non-profit organizations, and government agencies, that provides it's membership businesses economic development marketing with a shared brand, GoLocal. Oliver's vendors are 30% local businesses. Local for Oliver's means Sonoma County. Aubrey shares one story of how one local vendor that started presenting its product Bachan's Original Japanese Barbecue Sauce on Oliver's shelves and has now nationwide distribution. Oliver's commissioned a study by Dr. Robert Eyler, Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute for Regional Economic Analysis, on the effect to the local economy when local businesses are shopped by county residents. The local tax revenue increases, which means more money for local county services like First Responders and parks. The GoLocal membership and ESOP of Oliver's also give its employees confidence that their work supports their kids' schools and other public services provided by the County. 

-  report by Ken Norton, Co-Producer, Women's Spaces

About our Guest: Aubrey Ballinger joined Oliver’s in 2012 in the Montecito store Bakery. She quickly moved through the department to become Assistant Manager and then Manager of the Stony Point Bakery in 2016. Aubrey transferred to the Corporate Graphics department in 2017, where she quickly established herself as an excellent Graphic Designer and Event Coordinator, producing the Oliver’s 30th Anniversary Celebration in 2018.

When Oliver’s became employee owned in 2017, Aubrey supported the rollout and has led the ESOP Communications Committee since it was started in 2018. She was tapped to lead the Corporate Graphics Department in 2019 and oversees all store marketing, along with playing a key role in educating our 1000-plus employees on the benefits and responsibilities of employee ownership. Aubrey earned her bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources Planning & Interpretation with concentrations in Graphic Design and Education from Humboldt State University. She and her family reside in Santa Rosa.

Guest Links: 

Oliver's Market:  https://www.oliversmarket.com/

Oliver's Market Sustainability Page: www.oliversmarket.com/sustainability/

GoLocal:  https://sonomacounty.golocal.coop/

Center for Regional Economic Analysis LINK

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Herstory

Our history is our strength. Check out important dates to remember in herstory at the National Women's History Alliance

January 17, 1910 (1987) – Edith Green, elected to Congress in 1954 and served nine terms, worked on women’s rights, education, and equal pay.

January 17, 1920 (1987) – Nora Kaye, ballerina, choreographer, and film producer, joined George Balanchine’s American Ballet (1936), collaborated on films with husband Herbert Ross including “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1969) and “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution” (1976), produced “The Turning Point” (1977) and “Pennies from Heaven” (1981).

January 17, 1922 (2022)– Betty White, veteran actor, her latter TV roles included “Mama’s Family,” “The Golden Girls,” and “Hot in Cleveland,” advocate of animal welfares. White passed away 16 days before her 100th Birthday.

January 17, 1939 – Martha Cotera, pioneering Chicana feminist, author of two seminal texts Diosa y Hembra and Chicana Feminist, founding member Raza Unida Party in Texas (1969), one of the mothers of Chicana Feminism.

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Announcements& 

Saturday, January 22, 2022 10 AM - Noon, Santa Rosa High School, Staff Parking Lot, MultiPurpose Room, 1235 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA, the Sonoma County Black Forum and NAACP's Food Distribution for times like these. www.sonomacountyblackforum.com

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Thursday, January 20, 6:00 pm, NOW Sonoma County Chapter Planning Meeting, via Zoom. We are organizing our own gathering in support of the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in concert with the ERA Coalition's call for nationwide action on January 27th and need your help! For details see http://nowsonoma.org/Events.html  

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Music Selections

The Opening and Closing Theme song The Woman in Your Life is You is done with permission of the Composer and Singer Alix Dobkin ((August 16, 1940 – May 19, 2021) Alix Dobkin death was just announced - Thank you for all you did for Lesbians to be recognized and Women to be honored. May you rest in peace. See our Interview with Alix Dobkin on 12/1/2014 at   and our Memorial to Alix Dobkin on 11/24/2021

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For music purchasing opportunity, supporting the artists: 

Link:  Spinitron.com Playlist for Women's Spaces Show