Latest / CEOs and ABCs / Adam Vasallo (HSN & Big Brothers Big Sisters America) A Conversation on: The Power of Mentorship and Human Connection for Success #047

Transcript

Adam Vasallo (HSN & Big Brothers Big Sisters America) A Conversation on: The Power of Mentorship and Human Connection for Success #047 · CEOs and ABCs

• 0:00
  Adam Vasallo: You can overcome the imperfection, you can overcome that mistake. And it becomes that repeated showing up. That is where that consistency and really comes down to kind of that trust that gets built that ultimately allows us to be vulnerable, allows us to be human, and allows us to open up to each other.
• 0:15
  Kevin Rice: My guest today is Adam Fasallo. Adam is the chief marketing officer of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. For his work, he's been awarded with nonprofit Marketer of the Year. But Adam's leadership doesn't stop at the boardroom. And for close to two decades, he's lived his organization's mission personally as a two time big Brother.
• 0:35
  Adam Vasallo: How do you connect with your employees and how do you connect with your teams? Do you put up a wall or do you allow yourself to understand them as a person and what's going on in their lives? And it was those experiences I had with those mentors who looked beyond me as the team member and they said, I'm going to invest in you as how do I make you the best person? I try to be perceptive, just like I was so lucky to have mentors in the workplace that were perceptive to me. And then I try to instill just maybe those little nuggets often framed as advice they can take or keep. But it is part of that ripple effect that so often comes with mentorship.
• 1:07
  Kevin Rice: Was this something that was always part of your leadership philosophy or did it evolve over time?
• 1:12
  Adam Vasallo: At that point, I was very ambitious. I just wanted to like, kind of do everything and ascend in the marketing career and industry. And I, as a young marketing professional said,
• 1:24
  Kevin Rice: welcome to CEOs and ABCs. Real stories from execs who lead at work and show up at home. Career moves, parenting wins and fails and everything in between. I'm your host, Kevin Rice. Here's today's episode. Welcome back to CEOs and ABCs. My guest today is Adam Fasallo. Adam, thank you so much for being here today.
• 1:42
  Adam Vasallo: Kevin, thanks for having me.
• 1:45
  Kevin Rice: I'm excited to chat with you. You actually started your career as a TV reporter before you moved into brand marketing at one of America's biggest shopping networks. And now you've built your way up to the chief marketing officer role at Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, which is is one of the most recognized and trusted youth mentoring organizations across the world for over a hundred years. Did this mission find you or was it something that you had always wanted to do that you kind of deliberately planned, okay, I'm going to go to Home Shopping Network, build this stage of my career and then make a transition to nonprofit. So was it deliberate or did it just like kind of serendipitously come to you?
• 2:25
  Adam Vasallo: It came to me and it's come to me at multiple times in my life. You know, the first time I became a big brother, I was a, you know, a young employee at, at hsn. So I was very early in my career. I was not married at the time. I was a recent college graduate. I had just finished my career, that very short lived career as a TV reporter. I was at hsn and I, you know, you kind of reach these different moments in life like when you graduate high school, when you graduate college and you have a moment to kind of stop and reflect you first jobs. And I remember when I graduated from college like being so thankful, right? Me and my brother and my sister were the first in our family, the first generation to graduate from a four year college. And so just being very thankful and at the same time being very inspired by my father. He's always inspired me throughout my life. My father was a Cuban immigrant. He, he escaped communist Cuba as a, as a 13 year old. He had to leave without his family because his father was, was, was in opposition to the communist government which then meant that he was in prison for many, many years. So my, my father's mom, my grandmother and my aunts, his sisters had to all stay in the country to, to stay nearby, but my father had to escape the country because he would be in the in. But as part of the communist regime, boys who turned 15 were enlisted automatically into the military and they would serve for, you know, for the majority of her life. So my, my father was a part of a, of a, of a Catholic church led program called the, the Peter Pan flights which aimed to get young boys out of Cuba before they entered that military age. For my father, unfortunately it meant leaving the country without a parent, without a guardian. And so he was, he had to travel to Spain and, and move into an orphanage and live in a, within a, the orphanage at a Catholic church in Madrid. And I always, I always like that, I mean just that alone. As I think as a young person, Once I turned 13, the story started to hit a little bit different and then it always inspired me because I would encounter these different moments right where we have adversity or we face something that feels complicated or something we can't overcome in life. And I'd always think of my father as that 13 year old boy being told by his mom for the best, the best life, for the best outcome. Of your life. You need to leave this country and go live in an orphanage in a far off country where you've never been. And so that always inspired me and my father was the start of a long journey for him, both at an orphanage, all the way to traveling to the union, getting all of the paperwork needed to finally travel to the United States to be reconnected with an uncle. And along the way, there were caring, positive adults who were not part of his family, who helped make sure that he was safe, that he had this sense of belonging, even though he was in a place where he wasn't born, and that he was able to reach his full potential. And, you know, my father always shared the story with me and my siblings and family members. It was inspiration. And so I always thought, you know, how could I one day become this caring, positive adult in the life of a young person who I'm not related to, but because I want to be focused on helping the community, helping society, helping this nation be better. And here I am one day, just sitting at my desk at the home shopping network, and a colleague of mine who I respect immensely sticks her head over my cubicle wall, and she says, hey, Adam, Big brothers, big sisters of Tampa bay is here at the offices today. They're in the auditorium and they are recruiting. They are here looking for mentors, but they really need men to sign up as mentors. And I think you would be a great mentor. And that individual, somebody I respected immensely, has no idea how heavy and how inspiring her words were. Because for her to say, hey, I see you, and I think that you would be a great mentor meant the world to me. And so, of course, my response is, yeah, I'll go check it out. Right? So kind of carrying this wish and this inspiration that I could be that caring adult for somebody that I could kind of repay to this society what was given to my father. I went and I went and signed up, and I remember even going and thinking, like, well, first, they probably won't find the right person for me. I won't be matched with somebody, or it'll take a long time, or it'll be very long process. And I remember signing up that day, completing the interview process. It's still similar today because it's been going on for 120 years. So big brothers, big sisters is very good at finding the right mentor to right match with the right mentee. But I remember just, you know, sharing it was very easy. I shared the things I like to do. I like sports, I liked getting in the outdoors. I liked finding, like, trying new experiences. And so from that day, I went, I went, I learned about it. I participated in an interview to, you know, potentially see if I could be a match. I could be a good mentor. And I was in pretty short order afterwards, contacted by the big brothers big sisters of Tampa Bay, and they said, hey, do you think we have a young person that'd be a wonderful mentee for you? He's in the sixth grade at a local middle school, and if you're open to it, we'd love for you to have an introductory match. If it's a match, then this will be your little brother. And so I went. And I'm not sure who was more nervous, but I got matched with my little brother Adrian, when he again, was in just the sixth grade. At the core of it, they matched us because we both had this incredible passion and love for sports, in particular football. And it was a match in a relationship that just changed my life. Um, to this day, you know, I get to see. As the chief marketing communications officer, I get to see the research. And so I know that of the bigs and the big Brothers big sisters programs, 90% of those bigs say that the mission changed their life for the better. And I've. I've gotten to be living proof of it. And so that was the first time the mission found me. We were matched for seven years, from the sixth grade until he graduated from high school. And Adrian would always tell me, I'm going to be a college football player. And I would say, adrian, that's. That's amazing. You should absolutely set these goals, and you should pursue these goals. And then I would also follow it with the standard mind of. Well, but just remember, like, first you gotta have. You have to have your grades. Then once you have good grades, there's still only so many college, you know, college football positions across the country. There's only so many teams. Then you have to make one of the teams. So what we adults too often do, we kind of try to set expectations. We try to say, hey, you know, temper your expectations. Maybe this might not happen. Well, Adrian proved me wrong, and he did graduate from high school with great grades, and then he went on to be a college football player. So. So that was. That was the official. I would say that was the formal end of my big brother's big sisters match with Adrian. But just earlier this week, he and I were messaging about getting together for dinner. He's now an adult. He is now a father of two. And he's just an incredible Young man. I always like to share that. He once refereed football games in my son's flag football game, flag football league. And I always thought that was so cool to see him like continuing to like, pay this mission forward.
• 9:51
  Kevin Rice: That's a beautiful, like full circle moment.
• 9:53
  Adam Vasallo: I have photos from the day because the first time I was out there, my wife, who got to know Adrian, you know, because her and I would go to his high school football games, she's, we're getting ready to watch my son's first flag football game. And my wife goes, adam, is Adrian a ref? Because that ref looks a lot like Adrian. And then it was the total mind blowing moment of realizing, yes, he's spending time refereeing games on weekends. So it was a great full circle moment. And then I, you know, I, I became, I got married, I had kids, kids, my own. And while I was at hsn, I traveled a lot. And so I would tell my wife, you know, I love, I love this work. I love marketing and I love storytelling and I love, you know, inspiring audiences, connecting them with, with, you know, what they're, what they're, what they need, what they're inspired to do. And I would tell her, but, you know, I just, if I'm going to travel, I'm going to spend time away from you and our three young children. I would really love to do this for, you know, a mission that I had like a real passion for something that was close to like a, you know, kind of a social, you know, passion of mine. And my wife would say, that's, that's great. She's, she knew I was talking about Big Brothers, Big Sisters. But she also said like, but you don't, you don't know where they're headquartered. You don't know anybody that works at Big Brothers, except. So like, like how would you start this journey? You work in for profit, you work at major, major retailer. This is a non profit. Like, how would you ever do that? Jump. And so it was just something we would talk about, but, you know, nothing never happened. And then suddenly, just like so many of us in a career, out of nowhere, you get that one phone call. And it's that one phone call, which was the second time Big Brothers Big Sisters entered in my life that said, hey, there's interest in you to be considered for this role at Big Brothers Big Sisters that oversees marketing and fundraising within your LinkedIn, within your profile, it says that you are a longtime big brother. So that we know there's familiarity of mission. Would you be willing to interview for the role. And that was the second time Big Brothers Big Sisters entered, entered my life. And so that was, that was eight years ago since I joined the national office of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. And I at the time told my wife, I said, hey, if I, if I get this role, if I get hired, I will become a big brother. And so one of the reasons, it's easy for me to say it's eight years I've been match raised because as soon as I became an employee of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, I held my word with my wife and I signed up to be a big brother again. And so eight years ago, I was signed up with. I was signed up and matched with my little brother Giovanni, who was in the fourth grade at the time, and as of this week is going to be entering his senior year of high school. So, so the mission has, has, has definitely entered my life for a third time. So it's, I don't, I don't think I could say it's entered my life now. It's just a part of me. It's a part of my passion. It's a part of my family. So, yes, I have been very ingrained in the Big Brothers Big Sisters mission for many years and, and I'm so thankful. I am.
• 12:48
  Kevin Rice: I love that it's such a beautiful story. I mean, thinking back to your father and how strangers helped him on, you know, a journey of going through so much adversity and then how you've really honored your father by doing the same for other people, it almost seems like the universe was just like, this is your calling. It's going to happen and just put it in your lap at the right moment.
• 13:08
  Adam Vasallo: Yeah, I think that the calling, hopefully answering the calling. I hope I'm, I hope I'm answering it the way I should be, but just to be reflective of that. My older brother is a high school principal and my, my, my sister, who's the middle between my brother and I, she is also a teacher. She's, she oversees a dance program at a school in her community, an arts magnet program. So, so yeah, I think we've all kind of taken that all to be that, that, you know, caring, positive adult in the lives of hopefully many.
• 13:42
  Kevin Rice: It's a family calling. It's very inspiring. I think that's a big part of, you know, our role, whether it's as a business professional, as a marketer. Right. Inspiring our teams and then even translated back to home, like how we inspire our kids. How do you think about, as it relates to like your own children, the role of, like, being somebody who inspires them, who teaches them values. Like, what does inspiration mean to you as a father? And how do you look at, or how do you try to practice inspiring your own children based on your story, your father's story? Like, how does that legacy play out for you?
• 14:17
  Adam Vasallo: Oftentimes names in, in this mission at Big Brothers Big Sisters. You know, the fastest growing demographic of young people we serve at Big Brothers Big sisters is age 18 to 25, which really blows a lot of people's minds because traditionally this is a mission that people think is kind of a kindergarten through senior high school mission. 18 to 25 is that fastest growing population. The reason it's our fastest growing is because more young people are graduating from high school and they're saying, what's next? Right in this, this world where the, with the ever changing landscape of careers and pathways and alternative, you know, there's college, there's trade schools. There's just so many decisions to be made. That's when we need mentoring most. We know that because we've, we've been 18 or 19 or 20 in our lives. I say I share this story because, you know, I think the most important thing is, is if you can see it, you can be it. And it applies when a young person is looking at a potential career field, but it also applies to us parents when we're at home, is that it's the way that we show up for our families. It's the way that our families see us. As everybody can see, I work remotely from home. If I'm not traveling or on the road, I'm working here in an office at my house. So my kids come home from school, they see me. I might be on a call, I might just turn off my camera, I'm going to greet them. But I think it's the way that we show up. It's the way that we find ways for our young people to see us, for our kids to see us, and how we show up for our mission. You mentioned It Takes Little to Be Big. A campaign that we created a few, you know, back in 2023. The campaign was created based on these insights that like, we wanted more people to sign up and become mentors and become volunteers. And, you know, we, we needed to figure out why, why we had this, you know, very long waiting list of young people waiting across the country to be matched with mentors, why it was taking so long. And so we created, we did robust research. We interviewed alumni, BIGS alumni, Littles we interviewed current bigs, we interviewed the littles that are in our program. We interviewed the parents and the guardians, even donors. And what we found out was that there were two reasons that people weren't committing to becoming a BIG they couldn't make that jump or that commitment to volunteer as a mentor. And the two insights were one, it felt like they didn't have enough time that they have, they have a wife, they have kids, they have schedules, they have work, they have traveled. All of those reasons were the reason that I can't commit a couple times, a couple hours, a month in one year. But what we really dug in. What was that second insight? What was the other reason? What were the two top reasons? And that second reason that so many adults felt like they couldn't sign up to be a BIG was they didn't think they had what it took. They didn't think they had what it takes to make an impact on the life of a young person. They didn't feel like they had superpowers. They didn't feel like they had multiple college degrees or that they had this life experience. And nothing could been further from the truth because everybody is life qualified to be a great positive mentor in the life of a young person. The two most important qualities of a BIG are to be present and to be persistent. It translates so well to our role as parents, is that, you know, it's about back to showing up intentionally at work for our kids. You know, I think it's, it's about making sure that whether it's in this industry as a leader or parenting, you know, the magic, the inspiration, the kind of life changing trajectory, it really happens in the small moments. It doesn't happen in milestones or response to a crisis or some kind of planned togetherness. It's those everyday activities, it's showing up consistently. It's, you know, being there for that spontaneous moment answering when it's either your mentee or your own child and they say, hey, let's, let's just go like pass the football for 15 minutes. It's not a grand gesture. It's really just those consistent everyday moments that can have the life changing impact on a young person. And so I feel like that's really, for me, it's about making sure that I'm there, that I'm present, both as a parent and also as a mental.
• 18:49
  Kevin Rice: Yeah, I like that you named persistence because we, I often talk about presence and intentionality as the, the important aspects of, you know, being a parent. And it's really difficult when you're managing high pressure career or you're starting a company, it's hard to be present when you walk through the door. But I love that you named persistent because that's something that, like, I haven't really named that or haven't included that in, like, how I describe fatherhood. But it's, it's really important because you might slip up one day. Like, I caught myself saying something that I wasn't proud of to my kids the other day, and I talked about it with a friend and I was like, okay, I'm gonna show up better next time. I'm gonna show up better next time. And it's like just the persistence or, you know, how many times have I had to remind my kids to close the door so our cats don't get out? Right. They're kids. Like, they're gonna do that. And so it's just being persistent and showing, you know, in our presence and in our intentionality. And that's. Those are the characteristics that matter, whether in the office or at home.
• 19:53
  Adam Vasallo: That's right. I mean, in that example, to not get it wrong means perfection. And that is not what works off the ebo. It's that, it's that, you know, it's that you can overcome the imperfection, you can overcome that mistake. And it becomes that, like, repeated showing up, that repeated reminder that that is where that consistency. And it really comes down to kind of that trust that gets built that ultimately allows us to be vulnerable, allows us to be human, and allows us to open up to each other.
• 20:26
  Kevin Rice: Hi, Kevin here. If you're enjoying this conversation and you know someone else who's working to grow in their career while staying present at home, I'd really love it if you could share this episode with them. It's one of the best ways you can help us and help more leaders build their careers in a way that they're proud of without missing the moments they that matter most. You talked a little bit about your father and his journey is one very much of adversity or overcoming adversity. Right. And I could, I could just imagine being your you as a child. And, you know, anytime I'd want to complain about something, I'd just be reminded of the fact that, like, I'm complaining because I can't have something I want for dinner. But, like, my dad probably went without dinner, you know, on multiple nights. And I can imagine that was probably tough. But like, when you were growing up, what was something that your father or your mother, you know, kind of like, taught you or gave you that you now want to pass on to your own children.
• 21:26
  Adam Vasallo: I would really say my father, he went on to his first job in this country. He was. He had a lot of different jobs. One of them was blessing tables at a restaurant. And he went on to be a kitchen manager at the restaurant, be a dining room manager at the restaurant, eventually a manager, a gm, then a part owner of the restaurant. So he really kind of climbed that ladder. And I think doing so for anybody that's had a family member or a parent that's worked in the restaurant industry, it's nights, it's weekends. It's a lot of time away from your family. It's a lot of time pouring into this place, to this restaurant, to any really kind of any hospitality field, because it doesn't. Hospitality doesn't end. It's always on. And so even as busy as my father was, even as busy as, you know, my mom would kind of keep it together. Whereas at home, my father very focused on his career and success. But at the same time, you know, he was still there for every big moment. You know, he kind of found a way to be in two places. If it was a sporting event, if it was an arts performance, if it was a school activity, if it was winning an award at school, my father was there for all of them. And I consider him, yes, being one of the busiest people ever running a restaurant. But I think it was that ability to show up and to always prioritize his family and his young people, regardless of what it costs, regardless of the time that was required of it, he was there. And there was never a question of if we were being supported. We were just surrounded by love, by support. We were rich in relationships, and to me, that meant the world. And so, you know, carrying that forward. The irony is that my wife also is. She's the daughter of a restaurant manager owner. So I think we kind of have the same experiences that, like, we had these fathers that were incredibly busy, import everything they had a hundred percent into, into work, into their establishment, into their restaurants, and they found a way to pour 100% also back into their family. And so for us, it's about always making sure that we're showing up. It's about not missing a kid event. And. And we've gone to far, far lengths to make sure that that doesn't happen. So I think it's just that, you know, always being there. It doesn't have to be perfect, won't always be pretty, but you're, you know, my kids will never doubt that they're supported and that they have us in their corner.
• 23:59
  Kevin Rice: For somebody who's listening, who's really struggling with this, like, they're feeling the tension of their kids need their time, their work needs their time. It feels a lot of pressure because a lot of people I talk to just feel they're carrying the weight of the world between those two aspects and let alone any sort of, you know, friendships or personal interests that they don't even have time for. For somebody who's kind of feeling that weight, what would you want them to hear?
• 24:24
  Adam Vasallo: It doesn't look perfect. And it's back to that. Like. Like, remember that it's those everyday. It's those everyday moments that can have a really big. One of our favorite family traditions. And it was started. It was a project that came home from school with my oldest daughter when she was in either kindergarten or first grade. But she was given a. It's like an old crystal light box, the wrapper removed. And inside there were like, there's about seven to eight prompts. But one of them was share the three things, your three favorite things that you experienced today. And she was supposed to ask these at dinner. And so we did it that day. We did it for like a week, which was like the project. She was supposed to go back to school and report on it. But we all latched on to that one question. Tell us about your three best things that happened to you today. And so while we might not always be at the dinner table at dinner time every night, while often with three kids, my wife and I, I feel like during the week we divide and conquer. Especially if I'm. If I'm off on a trip, it's my wife with the three children. But wherever we are, however we're having dinner, it might just be one of us on the way to dance class, stopping to grab a bite to eat. It might be three of us here at home while somebody's at an open house. But whatever that dinner setting looks like for our kids, we're going to ask those three questions. What were your three favorite things that happened today? I think it brings its. It's one a low. It's just an ask. It's just a question. It's just a conversation. But it also brings consistency. So our kids know, hey, at some point in the day, mom and dad are gonna ask us what's their favorite. What are my best three favorite things from the day? And I'm gonna be able to share with them. And as parents, we have to also share. So I gotta Dig out my three and share them. But I think it's finding those little ways, those really easy, accessible, kind of low barrier entry ways to stay connected and be consistent is what I would recommend. We've, I've done it via phone before because I'm on the road and I just want to check in before bedtime. I'll say, hey, Zachary, tell me the three favorite things you had today and we'll get to do it. So I'd say look for those, those kind of small, again, everyday moments that can be consistent and are easy to replicate.
• 26:47
  Kevin Rice: I like how you phrase that too, because we all know that if your kids come home from school and you say, how was school today? You're going to get a single word answer and it's always good. But if you frame it up as like, what was the most exciting thing that happened today? Or what was the funniest thing that happened today or did anything silly happy. Did you, you know, what, did you, what's one thing you learned today? Right. These are ways to elicit more connection and response and, you know, connection with our kids.
• 27:17
  Adam Vasallo: There's times that like, she, my five, she just turned six. So she was five until July or fifth, but she just turned six. And so it's great because sometimes she'll bring us to the table for dinner to say, hey, let's do it. What's everybody's three favorite things? Because she has something to share. So it's, it's great to see that there's, that they like, that they enjoy the activity as much as mom and dad do because we're getting information on their day.
• 27:39
  Kevin Rice: Yeah. If I reflect back honestly on my own career, at least for the first half of it, I would say that wasn't a part of how I showed up as a leader. For me, it was all business. It was if people started talking about their personal lives, I'd redirect it back to work. We'd be, you know, say, on a car ride or on a plane flight and I would be, you know, on my laptop working, you know, from wheels up to wheels down. And I just didn't really put enough value on it until later in my career. I realized, like, that's what I'm actually doing this for. Like, that's, that's the whole purpose behind, you know, what gets me out of bed every day is to like, help my teams grow in their career, help our clients succeed. And so it was kind of this reframe of, you know, how I saw myself as a leader early in my Career and how I saw myself as a leader later in my career. Now you're at a point where you are, you know, at the height of your career as a chief marketing officer. Was this something that was always part of your leadership philosophy or did it evolve over time?
• 28:43
  Adam Vasallo: No. I'm extremely thankful to have really great mentors throughout my career. When I was as, as a TV reporter, I remember, unfortunately during that time my grandfather passed away, tried to get some time off, you know, a couple days, and I was given one day. And that was one of those moments where I was like, this might not be the industry for me at the end of the day. So that was kind of like in first place, like I'm going to find a place that's a little bit more understanding of these types of needs that we have as humans. Right at the end of the day, we're not just, you know, robots executing these, these, these, you know, these careers, these jobs, these roles. Early on in my career I had managers and, and you know, so often what we say, like the benefit of a young person having a big brother or a big sister in our program is that, you know, maybe they're not going to stay connected with their big or low. They're big for their entire life. But what they're going to know is what a positive mentor looks like. And as they go throughout their life, they're going to find more positive mentors and they're going to, they're going to know what a great, positive, caring mentor looks like, right? Because young people can kind go one of two ways. They could find a good mentor or negative. So, like, one of the things we always say is finding those right mentors. So as a young person growing up in the marketing industry in, you know, in my career, I would come across both, yes, those good example mentors and also those other mentors that are like, huh, I don't want to be like that when I'm, when I, you know, hopefully in a leadership role. And so I was very lucky. Like, my very first manager that I had was a mom, mom of two children. And you know, I kind of as a young, young single guy just out of college with no kid, I would just sit back in awe of the way that she both showed up. I knew for her kids because she was at every game, every sporting event, and that she also showed up for work, right? She could command a room. And I remember I was just thinking like this, like, this is amazing. You know, one day I hope I can be as amazing as her. And then also Kind of similar again, but, you know, you move and you stay, especially within a corporate setting. You have different managers and leaders over time. And so you find those and say, that's not the path I want to take. But I do remember my last manager at HSN was a father, his children older at that point. I was very ambitious. I just wanted to, like, kind of do everything and ascend in the marketing career and industry. And there's a conversation we had one day. It was like one of those icebreakers. Like, if you had a superpower, would you super rv? I would like the power to not get tired, to not sleep, so that I could just keep going. And, you know, I, I, he pulled me aside and he said, adam, that's, that's insane. He's like, you need to recharge. You need to step away from this work. You need to find ways to, like, connect with something. This is like, life is not all about work. It's not all about this organization. It's about, you know, at the time, I think I was married at the time, I didn't have a kids. But he's like, it's about spending time with your wife. It's about finding joy outside of work. This is not going to bring you the ultimate happiness here. This is a part of it. But you're so much more than just an employee at this organization. And so that's one that always stuck with me was like, you have to, like, you have to stop, you have to rest, you have to recover. And so much of that is what we do outside of our everyday careers and our everyday work.
• 32:09
  Kevin Rice: It's so great when you have a mentor that pulls you aside and calls you out on something that you're totally off on.
• 32:16
  Adam Vasallo: Especially because to your point is, right,
• 32:18
  Kevin Rice: like to be great in your career, it takes the outside context, right? You mentioned, like, you're at the movies and you see something, you're like, oh, that's a great campaign idea. But if you're always in the work, you're never getting that outside experience. And that's like what we bring to our roles. So, yeah, it's important. That's living a kind of richer, fuller life with family and travel and experiences and, you know, giving back, that that's what makes life worth living. And in turn, it actually makes you, you know, better as a professional and better as a parent.
• 32:52
  Adam Vasallo: And even the question you asked about, like, you know, how do you connect with how, like, how do you connect with your employees and how do you connect with your teams?
• 32:58
  Kevin Rice: Right.
• 32:58
  Adam Vasallo: And do you do you put up a wall or do you allow yourself to understand them as a person and what's going on in their lives? And it was those experiences I had with those mentors who looked beyond me as the team member and they said, I'm going to invest in you is how do I make you the best person, the best husband, the best future father I can? And because they poured into me the knowledge and the experience that they had because they too had those great mentors throughout their careers and those other mentors that were like, I'm going to stay away from that model. I don't want to follow it. So they poured into me. And so now I feel, you know, I can sense for myself with my own team members, with my own colleagues. You know, I can see if they're going through like, I, you know, I try to be perceptive, just like I was so lucky to have mentors in the workplace that were perceptive to me. And, and then I try to instill just maybe those little nuggets often framed as advice they can take or keep. But it, it is, you know, it's part of that pay it forward, and it's also part of that ripple effect that so often comes with, with mentorship.
• 33:57
  Kevin Rice: Yeah, I mean, speaking of paying it forward, if you look at your own children and kind of how you're showing up for them as a father, what are some of the values or what are the things that you're hoping to like, pass on to them as they eventually grow up and, you know, become adults themselves, you know, to always look
• 34:15
  Adam Vasallo: for, for the good in others, but also, you know, try to put themselves in somebody else's shoes. I want them to, you know, have, have that ability to, to really look beyond themselves from their own, beyond their own experiences, beyond their own, their own world and just look for where, where they can be positive, where they can make an impact. Um, you know, one of the things I love to do most with my kids as it relates to, you know, being a professional within the Big Brothers, Big Sisters mission is we have a national conference every year that takes place every June. It's like a four day conference, 2,000 attendees. It's big Brothers, Big Sisters, professionals from across the country. It's staff members from the local Big Brothers Big Sisters. It's partners, it's supporters, donors, and they come together in one city. Right. So we just did in Atlanta. And so I take my kids with me every year to this conference because I'm there working 24 7, but my wife and my Kids have joined me and they'll get to kind of come down and experience the conference, especially like in kind of the more kind of community moments. It's great because in my eight years at the national office, they've gotten to know like the local Big Brothers, Big Sisters team members from across the country. They're familiar with the stories of, you know, these incredible stories and inspirations from the Big Brothers, Big Sisters mission. I want them to see that there's this world where, you know, human connection can really overcome anything. And that's, you know, so I want them to see, I want them to identify, I want them to understand that there's, there's, you know, that there, there's power in these relationships that they create in school, that they create in their social activities, and that they create amongst their friends. And I'm a firm believer that a young person can't have any too many caring, positive adults in their life. And so my wife and I were very intentional that they spend time in sports, that they spend time in dance or gymnastics, time with their teachers at school. These are things that are really important to us to just make sure that our kids understand they have to be empathetic. You want them to know that they can make a positive impact in everyday life and also at the same time, just understand that we all have different backgrounds, we all have different experiences, but there's really goodness inherent in all of us.
• 36:30
  Kevin Rice: Yeah, Big Brothers and Big Sisters is such an amazing organization. I feel like almost everybody has at least a first or second degree relationship with somebody who's involved in the organization. My own father, he was a Big Brother for about, I think, three years or so after I left the house. One of my closest friends just recently became a Big Brother here in San Luis Obispo. It's such a just a meaningful organization that just enriches lives of children all over the world. Just to kind of summarize this all up, like, I'd love to hear how has this program, specifically being a Big Brother, enriched your life?
• 37:12
  Adam Vasallo: Just like those, those 90% of alumni bigs that say it, it changed my life for the better. I think there's a lot of volunteer Bigs like myself that sign up and think I'm doing this because I'm going to help, I'm going to help a kid in our community. And what you quickly find out is that mentorship is a two way street. And we can learn so much from our young people. So much so that I would say my time as a Big Brother to Adrian and My time is a big brother to Geo. You know, it's made me the father I am today. I hope it's, I hope I'm a good father, I hope I'm a great father. But it was the time that I had spent with Adrian and Gio where, you know, they taught me lessons that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The importance of being consistent, the importance of looking at things from different perspectives, the importance of putting yourself in somebody else's shoes and also that, you know, maybe that perception of what you think is right isn't, isn't always right. It's translated throughout my life. I mean, I can't think of a better, bigger example than making me a better parent, but it has, but I would say that it's also opened my door to other opportunities. You know, they've opened my mind to new things. Today I'm a flag football coach for my 11 year old son's flag football team. I've been doing it since he was 5 years old. If somebody had found me in college or high school and said, hey, one day you're going to be your kids flag football coach for years and in doing so you're going to coach and come in contact and create experiences with 10 of your kids friends like I would have never, ever imagined this for my life. But you know, I saw that, you know, just like we saying takes a little big, these little moments have far reaching, significant impact that changed not just the life of a young person, but of myself. So much so that, you know, a year ago, so I've been coaching my son's flag football team for years. My oldest daughter, who's only ever been inspired by dance and gymnastics, she came to me, she said, hey, I want to try flag football. If I got some of my friends together, would you coach the ft? And so last year I coached my then seventh grade daughter's flag football team with all of her friends and I learned so much. I get just, just like my mentorship relationships to big brothers, big sisters. I've learned so much in interacting with both my son and daughter on very different places. Right now I'm, I'm infused into their social life. These are their friends I'm coaching. I'm having to use a completely different form of strategy and at the end of the day it's to be successful, right? It's to be successful that yes, you would like to win the game but along the way I hope we're making each other better. I hope we're acting as a team I hope we're looking out for each other. I hope we're encouraging those around us. That's what wins right for me in sports. And I found that the teams that do that the best and the teams I coached are the ones that have the best outcomes and have the best seasons. And so this is just a small example that I would have never taken a leap from being a parent to then coaching other people's children on the field. And now it's one of my favorite pastimes when somebody says, hey, what are your, what are your hobbies, Adam? One of those things I will list is coaching flag football for my kids teams. And, you know, as my kids get older, I've started to now think like, well, what happens once they're out of this age where it's like, you know, the dad can coach the teams or it's a parent coach, like. And, you know, I think it's my experiences with Adrian and Giovanni as a big brother that make me think there's no limit. I can go discover something new. I can make an impact somewhere else, you know, thanks to the confidence that I've learned by being a mentor and also by the willingness to kind of open ourselves up and try something a little bit different, which sometimes we learn that from our mentees.
• 41:20
  Kevin Rice: In the short time I've gotten to know you, you are a fantastic, brilliant, like, storyteller and inspiring marketer. But you are a father that I'm sure is making a big impact both in your own children's life as well as, you know, all of the littles that you've been in their lives and many children beyond that. For anybody who's listening, given that a lot of our audience is business professionals, of course I know the message is like, it takes little to be big. So I would encourage anybody as you have, to get involved. But from a business perspective, like, how could they get their companies involved? How could they get involved from a partnership level, or how can their organizations get involved to support big brothers and big sisters, there's two routes.
• 42:10
  Adam Vasallo: There's this route that we consider to be community. So I'll stop and say, if you don't think you have time, you have time. I have three children. I've been matched with my little brother Giovanni. For eight years. We have been what's considered a school based match. And this is innovation by big brothers, big sisters to meet our mentors.
• 42:26
  Kevin Rice: That's what my father did. Yeah.
• 42:27
  Adam Vasallo: Yeah. And so I, I have lunch every other week with Giovanni. We've done it for eight Years. I always thought he would opt out after like a year or two, he continues to opt in, which is very inspiring to me. But we have lunch every. That's weird. Stool based match every other week. We show up, we support each other. I do not take any time away from my, my, my biological kids because they're in school at that time. This is just me spending the time with one more young person and finding that time to do it. That's one for your audience. You know, I'll go back to that. I shared earlier a little bit about our Big Futures program. It's our college and career readiness program. It's what helps us in that fastest growing demographic of kids. We serve 18 to 25. Look at the young people in our program as your future workforce. They're your future consumers. They're your future if you're in advertising or marketing industry, they're your future advertisers and marketers. But they have to see it to know that they can be it. And we are the largest provider, Big Brothers because it's the largest provider of workplace mentoring. It's a part of that umbrella of big futures, bringing young people into the workplace, allowing them to discover a career field. We have countless stories across the country. I like to point that the NFL has a workplace mentoring program with Big Brothers Big Sisters at their headquarters. And then you go all the way across the country. Disneyland in Southern California as a workplace mentoring program with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange county and the Inland Empire. Bringing young people into a workplace setting, allowing them a one day experience. These are all part of the big, Big Futures program. It doesn't take a lot to bring a young person in, introduce the career. It's incredibly engaging for employees to welcome young people in, to get, to give back to their community while they're on the clock, while they're logging their hours in their office. It's an incredible employee engagement perspective, our Big Futures program. But what it does is unlocks the future for young people. It shows them, it breaks down the barrier. It creates an opportunity for them to come in. It creates access for them to picture themselves discovering what it looks like in a legal department, in a marketing department.
• 44:31
  Kevin Rice: These are all.
• 44:32
  Adam Vasallo: This is an incredible, powerful platform that corporations, that companies hold, that employers can provide both to their current employees and also to their future employees. So I would say considering engaging with Big Brothers Big Sisters. I would love to hear from you. Our Big Futures program is a, is a clear cut way to quickly not just engage your employees, but also, you know, create a powerful platform for young people across America to really discover their future, be inspired and reach their full potential.
• 45:06
  Kevin Rice: And what's the best way for somebody to reach out and get involved? Is there somebody to reach out to?
• 45:11
  Adam Vasallo: Yeah, visit. Yeah, you can visit vbbs.org that's our website. You're going to find ways that you can volunteer immediately. You can always reach out to me if you want to connect with the person. When you go to VBS.org you can type in your zip code and it will connect you with the local Big Brothers Big Sisters in your community. And we'd love to start this journey. There are young people across the country waiting to be matched with a mentor at the national office of Big Brothers Big Sisters. When you want to create something at scale, when you want to look at how we can engage your entire organization, your corporation, we can create those opportunities and those missions and work very closely with those local Bing Raj Big Sisters across the country.
• 45:49
  Kevin Rice: Amazing. Well, as our way of saying thank you, CEOs and ABCs is going to be making a donation as well. So hopefully we can contribute in some small way. But Adam, thank you so much for being here today. I loved hearing the story about your father, his immigration journey and how that's kind of inspired you to show up for people in your family, in your career and across communities across the country. So thank you so much for joining us today.
• 46:15
  Adam Vasallo: Kevin, thank you so much for the opportunity. Thank you for having a platform that celebrates that balance that exists that so needed between the C suite and our everyday lives and those that are surrounding us in our life outside of the workplace. Thank you so much.
• 46:29
  Kevin Rice: If you've enjoyed this conversation, make sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. CEOs and ABCs is all about helping you grow in your career and show up at home. We have many more amazing guests coming up, so tap, follow and stay tuned.