Paola Mendivil & Mary O'Connor Shaw

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Produced by women, about women.

Powerful Women, Let's Talk is a series of interviews with women who are trailblazers and have helped shape our world transforming who we are and how we live.

(upbeat music) - Hello everyone.

Time for Powerful Women, Let's Talk.

Thanks so much for joining us today.

I'm Jennifer Moss.

It is such a pleasure to bring you today's powerful woman Paola Mendivil.

She is the bilingual business development officer at GROW providing technical assistance and working capital loans to small business owners.

She's also the Vice President of Catering for her family business, El Granjero Mexican Grill established in 2007.

Born and raised in Mexico City Paola moved to Grand Rapids in 2005.

She attended Grand Rapids Community College and years later obtained her bachelor's degree in business administration from Ferris State University.

Paola was awarded the university's Pacesetter Award in 2021.

She currently serves in the Inforum West Michigan Council and the Ferris Grand Rapids Council.

Paola served in the city of Grand Rapids Planning Commission for two years, as well.

And she's a nontraditional first-generation college grad passionate about providing personal growth opportunities and connections for her networking circles including the Latina Network and the Latina Community Coalition.

And of course, all of that has powerful woman written all over it.

Welcome Paola to Powerful Women, Let's Talk.

We appreciate you being here.

- Muchas gracias, thank you so much for having me.

- [Jennifer] Indeed.

So let's start let's talk a little bit about the restaurant, El Granjero.

You are the co-owner there but you're also the bilingual Business Development Officer at GROW.

You've got a lot on your plate.

You're a very busy woman.

(Paola laughing) - Yes, I'm passionate about always doing something.

I want to make sure that there's productivity.

There is steps moving forward with my business family business or with the community that I know.

Working at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce back in 2010 for six years.

That gave me a lot of opportunity to get to know the challenges and barriers for the Latino business community here including my mom, right.

So she didn't feel comfortable speaking in English all the time.

So paperwork was overwhelming.

Going to meetings, introducing herself that was something intimidating.

So having me kind of like, the face of the business.

Because believe me, you don't want me in the kitchen.

I'm not a good cook, unfortunately.

- I bet you do well, I bet you do well.

(Paola laughing) - I know the recipes and I know the process.

It's just like, I cannot execute the way they do.

My husband, who is our kitchen manager they're very passionate about it.

They make it look so easy and it's delicious.

So, that's their job.

But yeah, I've been the face of the business for so long.

And like you said, co-owner.

Like on paper, I'm not even a co-owner.

I've been an employee all this time.

That's how I wanted- - [Jennifer] Still working.

- Yes, yes, so.

- So, some of the things as we look at that and you being the face and doing a lot of the conversation over time, first of all let us say congratulations, 15 years.

- [Paola] Yes, thank you!

- You just celebrated that at the beginning of the month.

- Yeah.

- Yes, that's exciting.

Does it seem like it's been that long that you all have been celebrating?

- Especially after the pandemic, it's just like where did the time go?

Are you serious?

Like, we remember the first anniversary and we look at our pictures and the people who were there.

Our customers that were small families now they bring their children and they're so tall, maybe taller than me.

I'm like, oh my gosh, look at you.

So it's been a very, very exciting journey.

- And the business has grown quite a bit over these number of years, the 15 years.

- Yes, yes.

We're very thankful for the community.

That Grand Rapids loves authentic Mexican food and there is so many options and we still have that loyalty and that following.

And even through the pandemic seeing the love and support from our customers just has no comparison to any award recognition.

Knowing that they'll be there for you it's so important to our family roots, our team especially everybody, you know willing to come back from this uncertainty and and have their job back at the restaurant and things like that.

It's just so amazing.

- I bet that it is.

And, and everything is so exciting.

Like I said, you've got a lot going on, very busy.

Are you enjoying this journey as you go along?

That's always an important kind of a stop gap to check and and do that inner check.

Are you enjoying the journey along the way here?

- It is, yes.

The one thing that we miss at the restaurant is not having our family from Mexico going to come visit able to, you know, get the experience which is very unfortunate.

But that's why our customers at the restaurant become our family because they've been coming for years.

They have so many great memories.

They help us improve our service, our food.

So, you know when you're passionate about the hospitality industry the cooking, it's just so rewarding to see how far we've come.

- Okay, and, and as we speak of rewards, I, you know there's been years in the making to get to this point of 15 years in the celebratory piece of that.

But along the way have you encountered barriers, yourself your business as you proceeded along this journey?

Have there been barriers that you guys have encountered that you have encountered?

- Yes, even from the beginning.

I mean, it was 2007 so, there was a lot of unemployment in the state in the region.

We had a lot of people that were moving out so we couldn't find employees either, or customers, right?

So that, that time was challenging, especially, you know they say, within the three years some restaurants fail and cannot keep open.

And to see that even through the recession and housing issues, all of that we kinda like survive and made our way beyond that mark.

And then five years and then 10 years.

Then with the pandemic, same thing.

Knowing, navigating uncertainty, the challenges.

What was important for us at the time is having that communication and collaboration with other restaurant owners in our neighborhoods or beyond, with the breweries with everyone in an industry knowing that we were facing those same challenges.

Coming with resources, coming with, you know just a place to vent if necessary, during that time.

So, I think that transparency, that communication, again with those members helped navigate the challenges.

And yes, it's unfortunate to see that many restaurants did not survive the pandemic.

They closed, not, maybe not right away but after two years we've seen that more and more are going out of business, which is very unfortunate.

But we see, we understand the challenge.

- [Jennifer] Yes, indeed.

So, what has it taken for you, Paola to get as you you navigate through all of this get comfortable in your own skin.

You're like you said, the face of the restaurant and you also work with GROW.

How have you become comfortable within yourself as a a female leader in our community?

- I feel like the love and support from the networks that you mentioned having other Latinas know that we work hard, we collaborate we open doors for others that's what makes me stronger.

Knowing that somebody else is succeeding or maybe that if I'm inspiring someone else to achieve their goals whether it is going back to school because I was a high school dropout.

But here was my second chance to go and finish high school and eventually college and the university.

Finding your voice, not, not always knowing that you your career path will look like but knowing what your passion is and following that path.

So, the encouragement and empowerment from others is what keeps me going.

- When you look back at the 15 years what inspired you to like, to do the business to go into business with your mom?

Was it like a no choice thing because we're family and to help El Granjero grow to where it is today?

Or was it something that was in your spirit in your heart that you just wanted to do a new that was part of what you wanted?

- Well, inspire me was the sense of hospitality.

Just making guests feel at home feel that they're being taken care of.

That to me, is important.

And, so when we came, my mom was working there and I it's funny because she invited me to go work with her and I said, oh no, I don't like that restaurant.

I'm not working there, forget it.

And then, you know, 15 years later we there, once she took ownership.

But yes 15 years ago the owner was going out of business.

He's like, I'm closing down.

I hope that you guys find another job in the middle of the recession, goodbye.

And that was my mom's like, kind of passion and dream to have our own restaurant.

So, to me it was like a no-brainer.

I'm like, yeah, let's go for it.

We, we didn't even stop and think, what if we fail?

And it's just like, boom, let's get this menu.

Let's choose the name.

She went to the bank and it's just like, get it going get it, you know, done.

- [Jennifer] And it all came together.

- It did.

- That's not an easy thing to just say, you know we're gonna just open a restaurant, because it's difficult.

It's hard work.

So, what a awesome opportunity.

And 15 years later, here you are.

Do you have a, by chance, a favorite saying a motto or something that you keep in your heart or your space that you use for yourself or to others to help encourage along the way?

- Mm hmm, so I grew up with my mother saying (foreign language) in Spanish which translate to something like when you really want something, you're gonna accomplish it.

And I think I've heard that, say it say when you need something what was it?

When you want something if you want something you don't find excuses, you find you know, kinda like the purpose behind of it.

So yeah, right now, to me we've seen a lot of people thinking about themselves first which is great because before it's all go, go, go.

Let me get this.

It's the families that work always put in everything else before them.

And now I think we're seeing that there are more boundaries.

That there are more structure or maybe more laid back.

I don't know what it is but if that makes them feel comfortable and able to recharge, then I'll encourage that.

And so sometimes, I need to hear that advice, right?

So just knowing, knowing what makes you happy and also not feeling guilty about when you say no.

Because once you say your limits and you're like oh, but I should have, and I feel sorry.

It's like, no.

And my sister is like that.

She's a Scorpio and she has no regrets.

She's not being rude.

She's like, that's not gonna work for me.

This is what I'm doing.

And to me it was like, ah, oh my gosh.

At the beginning, like we had that constant shock every time.

But now I understand where she's coming from and and she's given me an opportunity to be another type of leader because beyond being sisters and I'm the, her older sister being able to kind of like manage her time her work at the restaurant with the catering.

I don't have doubts that she's doing a great job because she has amazing feedback like the results that I mentioned to you.

But it's given me a chance to also not be so control freak which I'm used to because you want the event to go perfect and please your guest and your customers.

But at the same time it's like giving her that chance and sometimes it might fail and that's okay because I have failed too.

So, you know, growing together as a family in the business in our professional roles, she's doing great.

- Awesome, and what's the saying again?

What's it called?

What'd you say?

(foreign language) Wonderful.

I love it.

Paola Mendivil thank you so much for joining us today on Powerful Women, Let's Talk.

We so enjoyed our conversation with you.

So nice talking with you.

And we wanna thank you, too for joining us for another edition of Powerful Women, Let's Talk.

I'm Jennifer Moss, do enjoy your day.

(classical music) - Mary O'Connor Shaw is a talented writer and artist today leading 360 Shaw Communications.

Speaking of today, Mary is most likely counting her blessings.

She joins us to share a recent challenge successfully overcoming in addition to a self-described excellent cheesemaker.

Welcome to powerful Women, Let's talk, Mary.

Hi Mary.

- Good morning, Shelly.

How are you today?

- Oh, I'm fine.

Where are the good cheese?

I can't, I see the books.

I see you, no cheese.

We'll give back to that.

- It's aging, just like me.

(women laughing) - That's good.

I think I'm older.

Let's get into our conversation.

You grew up in Ravenna, Michigan.

What, first of 13 kids?

- [Mary] Yes ma'am.

Yes, the first alpha dog, I like to say.

- [Shelly] Yes, and probably the leader of the pack.

- Pretty much, for sure.

- Yes.

What would be a childhood memory you want to share with us with 13 kids in the family?

- I would say the dinner table where we're all gathered around and that's kind of where I learned how to tell stories.

That became a big part of my professional life.

My dad would have us go around the table and each of us had to say something about our day that was interesting.

So it was timed, you know you only got a certain amount of time cause there were so many children.

But it was a lovely way to learn how to express something that happened to you in a compelling way and taught me a lot about storytelling.

- Yes, which is part of your, your life today.

Your first entry into leadership, age 10.

What, selling strawberries?

- Yes, I convinced a local farmer.

I tried picking strawberries but found that that was really, really hard.

So I convinced the farmer that I could be a local sales rep for his product.

And I took it on my bicycle and went around the little town of Ravenna selling strawberries.

Nailed my own little first sales territory.

And that kind of started me off on my entrepreneurial journey that lasted a lifetime.

- [Shelly] Hmm, take me to the beginnings of this entrepreneurial journey?

Educationally, what'd you study?

- I studied engineering at Muskegon Community College.

So I always had talent in artistic endeavors but I was looking for a little bit more practical outlet for that.

Something where you really could get a good job right outta school.

And so, I studied design engineering and spent the first part of my career in automotive product development.

- Hmm, and you moved on from there because I have books.

You have books in front of you.

Where did this transition happen?

- [Mary] Well, you know, being the oldest of 13 you can imagine, you have to be pretty independent and it's a little bit difficult to color inside the lines when you're an artist.

You wanna make your own lines.

So very quickly after working in the automotive field I struck out on my own and founded a video production company specializing in technical communications because I realized I could speak that language of engineers.

I didn't necessarily wanna be an engineer but I could speak the language fluently and help them tell their story.

And so, that was a whole 20 years of doing video production and media and that kind of work in the Detroit area.

And then again a reinvention kind of midway through my life I went into my Martha Stewart phase and I bought a farm and developed a an organic farm raising livestock and vegetables and things like that.

Teaching myself cheesemaking, you mentioned that.

Making maple syrup and all those kinds of things and selling those products.

And I did that for about 10 years.

And then I realized, this is getting hard as I'm getting toward my fifties.

So then, I kind of pivoted back to the corporate roots and brought all of that experience from engineering and from running my own business and then doing the organic farming to help c-suite executives do complex problem solving.

You sort of have to have all of those kinds of skills either as a farmer or an entrepreneur or the oldest of that many children.

You have to be good at solving problems and working with lots of different personalities.

And that was that's now where I've kind of got my focus, professionally.

- What was it like taking these risks going from one to another?

Did you have mentors?

Did you discuss, should I be doing this or did you have a a pretty cool faith to take that leap?

- You know, change is always scary but what you find is if you can kind of push through that initial fear on the other side there are things that you never possibly could have imagined.

And so, I think it was always knowing that if I could just get through the scary part and have faith, as you said that's a good word to use have faith that on the other side things may be better they may be worse, they're gonna be different.

I kind of hate to put that judgment of better or worse on it, it's just different.

- Back in August, you went on a hundred mile bike trip.

How was that?

- [Mary] It was great, it was great.

I was living my best life.

- [Shelly] Yes, but two days later?

- I woke up with a I could not find my arm in the bed and I just thought it was asleep.

But then when, when I got up, you know it was swinging like a pendulum and I thought all right, I'm no doctor, but this, something's not right.

So I woke up my husband and he noticed the signs of a stroke.

I was slurring my words a little bit and I was disoriented and plus the arm.

So he immediately called 911 and the ambulance came and then sort of the rest is history.

It was a stroke.

- Yes, so what has happened between then and today?

- Well, kind of like those other reinventions that you talked about or that we were just talking about.

It was scary, obviously because your body is not reacting the way that you think that it should.

You know that way that it always has and you don't know what's around that next corner.

Are you gonna be like this for the rest of your life?

Are you getting the medical care that you should be getting?

You, you're not a doctor, you don't know.

You just have to trust and have that faith that everything's gonna be okay.

And in my case, I was really lucky because I landed at Mercy Hospital in Muskegon and then they coordinated with St. Mary's in Grand Rapids and I got the very best neurosurgeon that I could get.

Ended up needing to get brain surgery which was just, no pun intended, but kind of mind blowing you know, that something that I never would've imagined.

And then I landed at Mary Free Bed where they gave me just wonderful rehabilitative care.

Met all kinds of really cool people.

So, sort of the lesson that I took from it is this is not the journey I would have chosen but this is the one that I'm on and you know let's kind of make the best of it.

- Yes, and obviously you look at your future the same way with current rehab and obviously, serving as a role model for others going through the same experience.

- Yeah, if you were looking for a role model or advice it's that you have to believe that the work that you're putting in is going to help make you better.

There's no guarantee, but day-by-day, you know you sort of find yourself at the bottom of that hill like poor Sisyphus and you have to believe that doing the work that the occupational therapists the physical therapists tell you you're gonna get a little bit further up that hill each day and that incremental progress you have to celebrate.

So, I have always measured my worth in life by productivity and efficiency and those are no longer my measuring sticks.

I've had to reframe around that what success looks like for me.

And that has been a real growth opportunity, I would say.

- Yes, well, before we are finished I'm gonna ask you for a motto to get us up and and inspire us.

But let's get back to your talents.

You said reframe, there is a book called FrameShifting.

What's the Frame thing?

- Correct, yes.

This is a book that I wrote with a colleague another consultant, Allison Heiser.

And we both have similar consulting practices helping clients solve problems and imagine outcomes in new ways.

One of the problems that we experienced when we were working with corporate clients is that they tend to approach a problem with the same tools that they always have.

And sometimes they work and but very often they don't.

So helping the client think about a challenge in a new way and maybe bring new tools to that problem solving opportunity makes a big difference in helping them move ahead.

So we wrote the book FrameShifting with a mind for corporate clients, but then we've I found in this stroke journey it's very much the same thing.

So in, in mentioning I always measured myself by efficiency and productivity that is a frame that helped me determine my value but I can't use that frame anymore.

And if I kept chipping away at it with that same perspective I could get really depressed, you know because I'm not efficient and I'm not productive.

Getting dressed in the morning is a big challenge after, like you say, riding the bike for a hundred miles.

So I've had to reframe how I think about myself and how I think about the future.

And the same methods that worked in the corporate world are actually working in my stroke journey, as well which is kind of, kind of neat.

Was not my intention, but really turned out pretty cool.

- Hmm, FrameShifting, thank you for that.

All right, let's talk about what you have for the little kiddos?

- Well, another thing so I mentioned storytelling with my family and I, we have a little granddaughter Claire Margaret, who's four and a half and she comes to our farm and does all kinds of cool things that she doesn't get to do in the city.

And so, we started developing these stories about her adventures on the farm and I turned that into a a series of little children's books that I illustrated and wrote and then just had it bound actually at Walgreens.

And so, this has kind of opened up a whole new way of storytelling that's different from the corporate world not quite so technical and a lot more fun, more whimsical.

And so, that kind of taps into a different part of my personality that's a lot of fun.

- Wonderful, all right, let's talk fun, cheese.

Tell me about cheesemaking.

- Well, it's something that I wanted to learn how to do and decided to kind of teach myself.

But the thing that was fascinating to me about it is it involves transformation.

And that's always sort of been a theme in my life of reinvention and transformation.

So you have this milk and you are going to make it into something completely unique and different and it requires time, patience and a little pressure.

And if that's not an analogy for life I don't know what is.

So I started to do this and then I ended up actually teaching cheesemaking classes cause it turns out there's a lot of other crazy people like me that wanted to learn how to do it.

And, and so I did, I did that for a number of years.

I haven't done it really recently since the stroke because you really have to have two hands.

It's a two-handed project, but it's just a really I highly recommend it.

It's really interesting to do.

- Back to the challenge that you are running through now.

What, what will keep you motivated and keep us inspired to watch you grow and rehab?

- Well, I must must say, that the encouragement that I receive from friends and from family and from strangers, like, you know, go girl that really helps a lot.

You know, it's, it might sound a little bit cliche but all those little affirmations and you know people are kind of watching and cheering for you that's really helpful.

Another thing about the stroke is to realize how much you're surrounded by people who really do care and stepped in, like, helped us on the farm when we couldn't do the things that we normally were doing.

All of that love and support really also helped to bolster the recovery and then again, also just being okay with a little bit each day.

So bringing those lessons of farming and frameshifting and all those things in life that you learned that all applies here if you're willing to sort of shift your frame a little bit and think about it differently.

- And obviously, I do ask you for a motto.

What will inspire us after all is said and done?

- It's gonna be okay.

One of the things that another thing that I learned through this is I can't really think about who I was because if you go back to that, like, you know, you said took a hundred mile bike ride, super active, A plus you know, always working and doing new things and and out into the world.

Now, if I think about that, I'm not her anymore.

It's an opportunity for me to really, again, reinvent.

Not in the way that I necessarily would've chosen but lots of new life experiences and people to meet and challenges to embrace with this new me.

And what might she become?

I think looking at it from that perspective puts a positive framing on it and not a negative.

So you're not diminished, you're transformed and that opens the door to many new possibilities that I would never have experienced if I had not had this stroke.

- Thank you very much for this conversation, Mary.

- It was my pleasure.

If you don't mind, Shelly could I do a shout out to all of my friends at Mary Free Bed?

The people who held that vision for me of what would be possible because when I came there I couldn't even sit up let alone walk or use my arm.

And they could see because of their experience in this field what was possible for me.

And they transferred that belief to me and then showed me the exercises that I would need to do to be able to walk again.

And without them and without their love and support and their beautiful talent and dedication I would not be sitting here talking with you right now.

So for that, I'm very grateful.

- Give them a shout out.

- Shout out to Mary Free Bed.

Thank you so much.

(upbeat music)