Maxine Clark Interview: Build-A-Bear Mega Founder Turns to Social Entrepreneurship
Diana Landau | July 07, 2023
Carl interviews Maxine Clark, a true catalyst and inspirator. After a two-decade career as a successful executive in retail, Maxine pivoted at age 48 and founded Build-A-Bear Workshops, which has sold nearly 250 million stuffed animals worldwide. In 2004, Maxine orchestrated the company's highly successful $170 million IPO, the first St. Louis woman to do so. Maxine, a woman of boundless energy and enthusiasm, continues to be a driving force for positive change in the world.
Maxine grew up in Coral Gables, FLA. Her father was an electrician and her mother had quite a remarkable career in the non for profit realm. Maxine tells us her mother graduated high school at 14 and went to work as a secretary for Eleanor Roosevelt. Fun fact: Roosevelt urged the women who worked for her to go out in the world and advocate for positive change. Her mother did so, first as a big fundraiser in the community and then started a school for children with Down's Syndrome. Maxine tells us, "My mother was very creative. No problem can't be solved. I like that."
Although she first thought she wanted to go into law, after college she began an illustrious career in retail, working her way up the ranks of the May Company. She became President of Payless ShoeSource in 1992. In 1996 at the age of 48, she moved to St, Louis and started thinking about a new business. Sparked by the idea of creating personalized teddy bears, she tried to buy a couple companies, which didn't work out. Everyone told her she was crazy.
But you guessed it--only nine months later the first Build-A-Bear Workshop opened in St, Louis. Carl asks Maxine how she could go from creating a concept to opening a store in record time. "I'm pretty good at planning and execution. I had experience and resources. But I also had a vision." As Founder and CEO, Maxine led her Build-A-Bear team to the pinnacle of growth and success just seven years after start up. She was the first woman to bring an IPO to Wall Street, managing critical relationships for the company to be publicly traded on the NYSE.
After 17 years with Build-A-Bear, Maxine wanted to pivot again, but this time in the not for profit world. In 2015, she launched a ground-breaking project to create positive change in her community. The "Delmar Divide" was an area in St. Louis historically known for segregating poor black neighborhoods from white neighborhoods. Maxine's team bought the old St. Luke's Hospital and is developing an innovative hub and collaborative space dedicated to helping not for profit creatives to work together, to improve the lives of children and families in the metropolitan St. Louis area. This once-neglected dividing line in St Louis is now being transformed into The Delmar DivINE. Maxine says, "This is joyful work. Dream the dream-- supreme!"
Maxine Clark's Inspirations:
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"Your experience is so valuable to somebody else. There's always something you can do to strengthen your community."
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"Look around at what interests you, whether its non-profit or volunteering and just meet people around it. Network!"
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"I like to bring experts to the table, and I also sit at the table, to make sure we find solutions and continue to move forward."
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” blog.
Ryan Frederick: Finding the Right Place, the Right Time
Diana Landau | November 30, 2021
Carl interviews Ryan Frederick, CEO of Smart Living 360, a consulting and real estate development firm specializing in housing and healthy aging. Ryan wrote a very timely book Right Place, Right Time “the ultimate guide to choosing a home for the second half of your life.” He has a passion for helping people and organizations understand how we can do better when it comes to healthy aging and deciding where we want to live and flourish.
Ryan was born in Fairfax, VA and his family of four moved to Menlo Park, CA when he was in third grade. Ryan says he had a lot of things to be grateful for growing up. From an early age he, wondered, “How can I use my gifts and talents to make the world a better place?
In high school, Ryan says he was a “walking contradiction”, playing sports as well as singing in the San Francisco boys chorus. Peer pressure aside, Ryan says he learned some things. “Who cares what people think? Do what you think is right to do, what you enjoy! I think the experience made me all the more stubborn to do what I wanted to do.”
He attended Princeton and worked in Silicon Valley in his 20’s. While there, some employees at a company he worked for were involved in a financial scandal—it really shook him up, he tells us. Wanting to gain a deeper understanding of how business works, he then enrolled in the Stanford business program. He asked himself, “What if I took this passion to make things better and have a role in people aging and living better lives? Ryan also spent a month living in a senior community to learn from older people and see what it’s like.
After a few stints in the corporate world, Ryan founded Smart Living 360, an organization devoted to helping communities develop with healthy aging, at age 35. A decade later, he started writing a book based on this firm’s research and study when the pandemic hit. Many people then were questioning where they wanted to be living. “Moving is one of the biggest decisions of your life,” Ryan says. “Your surroundings affect you. These things matter.”
Moving is not the only way to improve one’s life, however. On average, only 10% of Americans move every year. You can make changes where you are to better align yourself with where you want to be in the next chapter of your life. Three years ago, Ryan and his family took his own advice and they made a big move from Baltimore to Austin. He enjoys tennis, grilling on his Green Egg and time with family. “There are lots of resources out there to help you—this is the time for growth!”
Gallup poll: 5 universal, interconnected elements that shape our well-being: (more in the book)
1) Purpose
2) Social connection
3) Physical well-being
4) Financial well-being
5) Community/Place
Ryan’s (un)retirement advice on the right place to live in your second half:
• “Do a self-assessment. Where am I now? Am I thriving in the areas that matter? Where can I be?"
• “Keep dreaming, keep creating, find ways to reorient your life. Take on new opportunities and map out a plan!”
• “Baby Boomers, healthy aging, more longevity—means big change is coming!”
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” weekly blog.
Bob Franceschelli Interview: Big Time Beer Exec and now Pickleball Fanatic -- "Goes for The Whole Nine Yards"
Diana Landau | October 12, 2021
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Carl talks with Bob Franceschelli, a former top exec for Anheuser Busch, CEO for a new cardiac rehab program, present Board Member of USA Pickleball Association (USAPA), and more. Bob "goes for the whole nine yards" -- he really feels like anything and everything is possible. This is exactly Bob Franceschelli‘s vision for how he’s living his (un)retirement.
Bob grew up in an Italian family outside of Springfield, MA. As a college student, Bob took some marketing classes. “I have always liked being involved in a lot of different things with a lot of different people, having fun along the way. I did a case study on the beer industry and the lights just went on.”
Planning his next steps, he took an internship in college with a beer distributor, offering to work for free in exchange for help getting interviews after graduation. Bob’s rising career at Anheuser Busch (AB) included show product placement, working with the Rolling Stones and George Strait among others. He developed and built alliances with smaller craft brewers. In 2001, he led the test development and product launch of Michelob Ultra. In 2010 and after 28 years with AB, Bob went on to rejuvenate profit at the Pritikin Longevity Center, commuting every week from his home in St. Louis, Mo. to Miami. He then developed and launched their new intensive Cardiac Rehab division.
Always interested in living a healthy lifestyle, Bob, now 62, had to make some decisions. “I had a 6.5 hour back surgery in 2008, due to broken vertebrae and a disc issue … and have two 4” and two 5” screws in my back. Then, in 2015 … I had a total hip replaced. I truly feel blessed to be as mobile as I am to play Pickleball … and part is the lifestyle--- eat right, exercise, healthy mind--- and part was surgical.”
Bob and his wife now play Pickleball several times a week, and he is a 4.5 level player (!) as well as a Board Member for the USAPA. Bob and his wife have created a detailed bucket list that they review and update often—whether it’s taking off to rent an RV and touring the parks in Utah and Colorado for a couple of weeks or daily stuff like learning to make maple syrup from their own backyard trees—and wanting to play much more pickleball, of course.
Bob Franceschelli’s Top Tips:
• “It’s important to have a mindful approach to (un)retirement. You have to really think and plan for what you really want to do.”
• “The key to this (un)retirement thing (for me) is that I love having structure but I also love having some flexibility. Get out there and just try something!”
• This Week's Sponsor is LoveMyHeartStudy.com or call (866) 955-1594
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” weekly blog.
