There is a lot of excitement happening around the agency this month! On August 19, Strong will be competing in the Dragon Boat Festival. Be sure to show your support for our team!

Please see the below for announcements on personal life updates, as well as some “pup-dates” from new pet owners from this year.

• Casey Boltz recently bought a house and has begun the process of renovating. She hopes to possibly sell or rent in the future.
• Robin Smith was married on July 15. Her new last name will be Fuller! Carly Corfman was married on July 8. Her new last name will be Smith.

  

  

Kendall Reganall, Anna Sample, Hannah Curran, Taylor Soucy, and Kyle McDonald’s wife Kaleigh are expecting! Kendall and Anna are due in January, and Hannah is due in February. Congratulations to them on the new additions to each of their families!

PUP-DATES

Many people have become pup parents this year. Take a moment to admire these furry faces!

Many SAM employees have traveled far and wide this summer season. We are so excited to share some of their adventures below!

The Junior League of Birmingham, Alabama, is an organization of approximately 2,000 women committed to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

The Birmingham chapter is part of the national organization, The Junior League, which has grown into one of the oldest, largest, and most effective women’s volunteer organizations in the world. It encompasses more than 125,000 women in over 295 Leagues in four countries.

Baylee Clark completed her first year with the organization in 2022. She was double-placed as a provisional new member and was also on the Market Noel committee.  “I always knew that I wanted to join the Junior League,” Baylee said. Her mother was really involved with the chapter in Montgomery. Baylee grew up going with her to meetings, and fundraisers, helping with 5Ks, going to nursing homes, and volunteering with schools.

As she shadowed her mother, Baylee saw how much she enjoyed it, and she knew she wanted to be a part of it. “It was really impactful at such a young age to see that there are issues in our community. A lot of times, you are sheltered when you are small, and you don’t realize how fortunate you are. I grew up wanting to help whenever I could, and when I moved to Birmingham, I thought it would be a perfect way to meet people and become involved in the community,” Baylee said.

This past year, Baylee was chosen for the New Member of the Year Award. Throughout the year, she and approximately 160 other new members completed a curriculum to learn more about the organization locally, nationally, and internationally. She completed research projects discussing the past 100 years of the organization and volunteered with nonprofits like Meals On Wheels and North Star Ministries.

“Shout-out to Strong for allowing us to have flexibility in our work schedules. I completed all of my shifts for Meals On Wheels during my lunch breaks, and I was able to take two hours and make up the time later thanks to our flex hours. I am really thankful to be able to do that,” Baylee said.

New members were also required to learn about the many partner agencies in the area. “We have around 150 different partner agencies. We got to learn about a lot of the nonprofits that I didn’t know existed or even needed to exist. It was a great learning opportunity,” she said. “It was so much fun, and it was awesome to be picked for the award.”

Baylee says she believes the best way to learn more about the surrounding community is to see how other people live. “It’s important to see more than just the highlights of the great city of Birmingham. We need to find what needs to be improved and discover how we can help,” she said.

Anyone who is interested in joining the JLB, please reach out to Baylee. While the class for 2023 is already closed, the fall of 2024 is accepting new members!

Gina Crane began her journey into yoga in the small town of Oneonta, Alabama. She attended classes at a local gym, and when she saw they had an open position for a yoga teacher, she signed up to teach a class. “I had loved yoga, stretching, Ayurvedic healing practices, healthy eating, and everything that’s involved with it for many years,” she said. She began teaching in a similar way to the previous instructor, but she said she felt like there was more she could give.

To enhance her skills, she signed up for a yoga teacher program through Lifetime Fitness in Vestavia. The 200-hour course spanned nine months. She spent one weekend a month doing in-person training to learn the principles of Power Vinyasa and the remaining weeks doing tasks like focusing on her diet, reading, journaling, meditation, and other community-building activities. “Coming out of that training, I felt like I was a better person, and I definitely brought more to the classroom,” she said.

Gina currently teaches a heated flow class at a nearby studio, The Yoga Circle in Southside on Mondays and Fridays at 6:00 a.m. She invites everyone in to relax, find their space on the mat, and notice how their body feels while she explains how to use the props. “I really want everyone to find their peace and leave everything else behind,” she said. “What’s most fun for me is after class, if I’ve cued any challenging poses like headstands or crow poses, some people stay behind and are still practicing them. They want to ask me where they can improve.” Because her class is an hour long, she has extra time before work to help and give tips. “Helping people is really what this is all about,” she said.

Gina also has training with Reiki. Reiki is an energy healing technique that promotes relaxation and reduces stress and anxiety through gentle touch. In regards to the practice, Gina said “I find that little bit of magic entertaining, but there is a lot to it. Like when you hurt yourself and you care for that wound, you can actually pray for that wound and breathe into that space. It will ease your pain, and bringing that oxygen into your blood will help you heal. For me, the healing is more about who I am becoming, and yoga is my platform to share this.”

Gina believes that yoga is not about being perfect, but it’s about being disciplined. “It’s not about having that perfect yoga pose. Yes, you want your body to feel right in the pose, but our bodies are built very differently. Your down dog won’t look like someone else’s down dog,” she said.

Gina incorporates small yoga practices into her life daily, even at her desk at work, because she says paying attention to the body and what it needs is very important. Sitting on the edge of the chair and stretching out the legs, pulling the kneecaps up, and flexing the feet is a simple routine that can be done throughout the day. “You might walk past my desk and find me with my chin to my chest, and no I’m not asleep,” she said jokingly. She is stretching her neck and vertebrae by breathing in, lengthening the spine, and exhaling to release tension. “The goal is to reset and return to your work focus.”

Through her yoga journey, the one thing Gina likes to be constantly reminded of is that self-love is not selfish. Focusing on one’s body can be a healing process, and it is definitely rewarding!

Hannah Mitchell and Collen Layton are two SAM employees who seem to have an inseparable bond. They have been friends for many years and have followed each other to multiple different jobs – and now, they even live in the same apartment complex!

The real question, though, is how did they end up at SAM?

The pair first met in the 7th grade at Moody Jr. High School. Although they had mutual friends before then, they really began to get to know each other after they shared a class together. They bonded over similar music tastes in artists such as Harry Styles, Joshua Bassett, and The 1975 – whom they’ve seen live in concert together three times!

The career-following story began when Collen and Hannah started working together at Zaxby’s over the summer of 10th grade. “I drove us to get our applications at the new store before it had even opened,” Collen said. “We interviewed on the same day and both got the job.” The two worked there until high school graduation, and then over the summers in college.

Also, while in high school, they worked together at a seasonal calendar store in Leeds. After a former employee was let go, Collen suggested to his manager that Hannah should interview – and she got the job.

Soon after, college separated the two. Collen attended Troy University, and Hannah attended the University of Alabama. But, the two continued working together over the summer, bouncing between jobs at Zaxby’s and the local splash pad.

In February of 2022, Collen began working at Mountain High, with Hannah following shortly after due to the store being short-staffed. A few months later, Hannah was hired at Strong. This was the first company that Collen followed Hannah to – all the rest were jobs Collen was hired at first.

“Collen robbed me of $3,000,” Hannah said, laughing. Collen wasn’t aware of the referral bonus, and Hannah jokes that he owes her the money now. “She talked about Strong and about how great it was, so when I saw they had a position, I knew I had to apply,” Collen said. “We both went through a long period of applying for jobs, so when I saw the graphic design job, I thought it was a crazy coincidence that they were hiring for something I could do,” he said.

Although Hannah and Collen have less interaction now than at past jobs due to the increased responsibility, they still take time to stop by each other’s desks every once in a while. “He’ll come by when he wants to visit the loud part of the office,” Hannah said.

When asked what made her want to recommend SAM to Collen, Hannah noted that the environment was a huge factor. “I don’t feel super stressed out or under pressure constantly. I feel like I can balance my work with the help of the people around me and still keep a positive attitude,” she said.  “It’s the little things SAM does that really make it fun to work here.” For instance, popcorn Wednesdays were one of the first things she mentioned to Collen after she was hired.

“Any stressful times are made easier because I love the job I’m doing here,” Collen said. The pair are both very grateful to be doing what they love and went to school for, and they are happy to be working at SAM together!

What started as a funny pseudonym for TikTok covers quickly turned into a personal aspect of songwriting for one SAM employee. Jack Meadows, known to us as Johnny Mangini, released his first EP on Spotify and Apple Music on March 7, 2023. The EP has two songs in the folk and indie style, a genre he enjoys and hopes to be discovered in.

The first song, “Savior,” is a story of hope. Johnny said he wrote it for people to relate to when they feel stuck and tied down – to know that there’s always hope when they are aching for something better. “I wanted to use Jesus as someone who is personable, but not necessarily as a spiritual or religious figure,” Johnny said. “I wanted to mention his life and what happened in it so people could see the story, relate it to themselves, and know that there are many things you can rely on for hope.”

The second song, “The Dam,” is about a love story gone awry. “If you’ve ever been in a relationship before, or have a close relationship with a friend or family member, it’s hard to lose that connection,” he said. “Throughout the song, you understand the connection is being lost, and the dam is a metaphor for the heart being broken by one of the people in the relationship.”

Johnny has been writing songs for around three years, but he decided to take his hobby more seriously in 2022 when he began writing for the EP. He soon connected with Justin Miller, a producer with Five Points Recording Studio in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama. He began recording in January of this year, and it took around 10 hours for two other musicians and him to record both songs. Ethan Shattuck, the violinist, and David Cowart, the drummer, are two of Johnny’s close friends from childhood. “I was really glad to have both of them; they’re really cool dudes.”

On the EP, Johnny recorded the vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and bass. However, as a child, he never played any instruments. “I tried to learn when I was about 11 years old,” he said. “On Christmas Day, I tried playing with a Home Shopping Network guitar… I gave it up after the first few days. It was just too hard.” Around the time he started writing three years ago, he picked it back up.

Johnny draws his inspiration from a variety of bands and musicians in the folk, indie, blues, rock, and alternative genres. “Kaleo, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Nick Drake… they all shaped my sound and how I write,” Johnny said. The first year of writing was a small stepping stone compared to where he is now. “It took me a while to get a good grasp on it – trying to figure out what I like to write, how I write, and how to find my voice.”

Johnny shared that he would love to book a few gigs to perform his EP and future songs. “I’ve been going around to bars, breweries, record shops, and coffee shops in town with promo cards and posters to promote the EP,” he said. He has sent his songs to some of the hotspots across the country for indie music, as well as submitted them to playlist curators on Spotify.

When asked who his biggest supporters are, Johnny said it would have to be a three-way tie. “My mom, dad, and sister – they have supported me through the music process since day one. They’ve never stopped, and I appreciate everything they do for me.”

Starting in 2023, SAM transitioned from monthly squad challenges in the office to quarterly team outings in an effort to allow each department to bond in a different environment. For the first quarter, each team went to Breakout Games and participated in an escape room. There were nine possible scenarios, including a museum heist, bomb squad, and island escape.  Each team attempted to break out together and beat the buzzer in under 60 minutes.

While everyone values time spent together in the office, a change of scenery was welcomed for the teambuilding activity. “I really enjoyed getting to know how each person thought about different challenges in the room,” said Hallie Guinn, one of our Graphic Designers. “In a completely different setting, we were able to learn more about each person on the team.”

“I enjoyed it because we were not given the option to talk about work,” said Casey Boltz, Accounting Specialist. “I know we all enjoy our jobs, but when we eat together, we still talk about work. This gave us a chance to let our brains move away from the office.”

One person felt like certain aspects of being in the office carried over into the action. “We enjoyed each other’s company, but we still felt the time pressure,” said Andrea Kring, Traffic Manager. “In all, it still felt like the office because we were in hustle mode.” The production department created 255 jobs in March – the most jobs produced since pre-pandemic numbers in 2020 – so they definitely know something about “hustle.”

Andrea also noted that collaborating directly with her department was not something she was used to. “Most of our work in the office is done individually, then passed to the next person,” she said. However, since the breakout room requires everyone to collaborate on the same tasks in order to escape, it brought her team together in a positive, yet unexpected way.

Participating in an activity like this also allowed each team to rely on each other’s individual abilities and problem-solving skills. For some, it was no surprise that they were able to succeed. Misty Bivens, one of our new Co-Op Specialists, said, “It showed how well we already work together and communicate. We were able to feed off each other’s ideas, and that led us to come up with solutions or more ideas to work with.”

Suann Hunter, Accounting Director, said she felt like the whole experience fostered camaraderie and trust. “The most rewarding part was being able to listen to and trust my team,” Suann said. The escape room also gave departments an opportunity to grow closer in a more personal setting. Bethany Alexander, Accounting Specialist, said she was glad to work with people in the department that she normally doesn’t spend much time with. “It was nice to have a shared victory with my teammates,” she said.

Most department teams were able to break out and feel the relief of a calculated escape. However, Andrea thought it must be too good to be true. “I didn’t feel like we broke out,” she said. “I thought there must be something we forgot to do. It was almost like a constant feeling of ‘What’s next?'”

What’s next for our second quarterly outing at SAM? We’re waiting for it to be unveiled, but one thing is for sure – there will definitely be an opportunity for connection and teamwork!