Calgon Carbon's Commitment to the Bender Leadership Academy

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender.

All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers.

Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hey everyone, this is Joyce Bender. Welcome to Disability Matters. I am always I am so excited to be with my great listeners, and I want to thank all of you. You are all so awesome. You know, this is my 21st year. Can you imagine that? 21 years on the air with Voice America, and during that time, I've got to tell you, you have been awesome. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have great listeners like you, and I know why. We're all here for one reason, and that is to spread the news for employment and quality of life for Americans living with disabilities. But I also have to thank our listeners around the world, and I today am going to list the recent countries listening to this show. Thailand, United Kingdom, China, Norway, Canada, Japan, Morocco, Singapore, Mexico, India, Afghanistan, Australia, Pakistan, Maldives, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, Egypt, Germany, Colombia, Togo, Rwanda, Poland, Taiwan, Taiwan, Spain, Ukraine, Jordan, Bangladesh, Brazil and Shelley, and to those two people in the Ukraine, you know what, I can't thank you enough. I want you to know we're all with you. And I always say, one single person can make a difference, one person. And all you have to do is spread the news and tell people to listen to this show, English speaking. And I wanna thank everyone listening to the show that was here at the office with Global Pittsburgh. And I know that included some of the people I just mentioned, some of the countries listening to the show. Hey, Richard Roberts, my friend in Brazil, special shout out to you. And the State Department and Gang Yeong Cho in South Korea, and really all of my wonderful friends from the State Department that get me there to help all of you. A special shout out to Yoshiko Dart and the sponsor of this radio show, Highmark. Such a great company they are. Well, today is a great day. You know what? I'm so excited. I have to tell you, I talk about Steve Nolder and Kayleen all the time. I think they are remarkable human beings. What they are doing is going to change lives, save lives. Not just changed lives. Steve Noder is the Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice President of HR and Global Communications and just a tremendous person. Kayleen Ritchie, Talent Manager and Diversity Supervisor, same thing, been with me at all these Bender Leadership Academy classes, and I'm going to make a big announcement today. I can't wait for all of you to hear that, but I decided I'm not going to make that announcement. Steve Nolder is going to make that announcement. So Steve, welcome to the show, and before we start, I want to give you the opportunity to make our announcement.

So thank you, Joyce Bender. We appreciate the opportunity that you're giving us and that you're giving all those people that are living with a disability and trying to make a difference in their world as well. We certainly appreciate your dedication for years and years. As I have known you for 20-plus years in most of my career, you've always been such an inspiration. So today, maybe you built up an announcement that really comes from your own, your own offices. So if you remember back in October when we did the Disability Mentoring Day kickoff, Kaylene and I were both in attendance with some of our other staff members to really get the feel and the excitement for Disability Mentoring Day. And at that time, you talked about a new campaign called #NotAshamed. We were so impressed with that. We were so impressed with the focus on mental health, well-being, that we came back and created a new campaign internally for our organization. Kaylene has been focusing throughout the year and last year on individual initiatives each month. And we really have been building towards the May Mental Health Awareness Month in preparation for launching a campaign internally and taking that to our locations when we go all over the United States and international locations as well for creating a much stronger awareness of the importance of mental health wellbeing. So we have campaign posters, we are encouraging our employees to not be ashamed and to sign a pledge of not being ashamed. We're encouraging them to create videos of what mental health awareness means to them, the stigma that comes along with it, in an effort to try to overcome some of those concerns and really open up the discussion around mental health awareness. So we have been designing, we've been creating the banners, we've been putting them in locations as teasers for our employees, we've been starting to throw out some initiatives around, and discussions around the importance of mental health, and we've been looking at our internal resources as well as what we have available for our staff. So we're excited to take these banners and encourage our partners, our suppliers, our employees, our customers to join with us in a large campaign towards #NotAshamed that you have created within your own organization. And we're hoping to breathe a little bit of life into that within our own corporate organization. Here at Calgon Carbon.

Oh, are you all understanding this? Do your listeners understand this? Okay, I was with Steve when I told him, as he said, about #NotAshamed, and he looked at me and he said, wow, you know what, that would be a great campaign for Calgon to push forward. And when he said that, I thought, oh, that is so great. He thinks that that's The last time I thought about it. Then one day, he wants to see me and I, I walk to the conference room and here are those huge signs, you know, about the #NotAshamed campaign, the Mary Brooker Mental Health Initiative, giving us a suite one night for a Pirates game. He When he came in and did this, like, I just, I couldn't believe it. And everyone I tell that story to, and everyone that sees that, can't believe what a great thing you did. I mean, it's not done. It's unbelievable what you did. Unbelievable. I will never be able to thank you enough. Steve, you're that One man, one decision that will change lives and save lives. That is so powerful. I can't thank you enough, Steve.

Joyce, you know, remember, this is giving— this is just us breathing life into your campaign. This is, you know, an incredible brainchild and so needed in today's world. It is so needed for people to understand an area. This is an initiative that our company, while we provide resources, has not really openly spoke about. This gives us that opening to now launch and join forces to say, what can we do? We're only one company, we're only one person, or, you know, a few people that begin to get that ball rolling, but if we can make a difference, that's the importance.

Wow, it is remarkable, as I said. And my listeners, you know, I've been on, as I said, 21 years. I know you, a lot of you knew Mary Brocker very well, who was the president at Bender, um, really just, you know, by my side everywhere, including around the world. A true, just energetic ball of fire everyone loved. I've never, never had so many people reach out to me than after, uh, they found out Mary had died. I know it will be 3 years, so hard for me to believe, but what happened is Mary was, uh, hiking and she had a tragic accident. And it's terrible. You know, grief is something without an expiration date. But I want to tell you, Mary lived for 40 years with depression, and her thing was she loved helping young people living with mental health disabilities. And after this happened, you know, I talked to Eve Hill, who is the chair of the board of the national prestigious Bazelon Center on Mental Health Law. I told her, you know what, I'm gonna do something. I'm gonna do something for this Mary Brogger Mental Health Initiative. And I'm thinking what? And she said, well, you know, Joyce, people, young people with disabilities, and I will say, as Steve said, adults, are ashamed and don't want people to know that they have a mental health disability. And I thought about this and I thought, there it is, hashtag not ashamed. And we are doing it. Just go to benderleadership.org. I mean, this is a phenomenal thing. And go to Kellogg Carbon and tell them how awesome they are, and Steve Nolder. And Steve, before we go any further, when I have people on, I hear from people everywhere, including around the world, wondering, oh, that person was awesome, but could you tell me more about them? So what I started doing is having the person, the guest, tell people first a little bit about them, like, you know, where you grew up or went to school, a little bit about your family, uh, education. So I'm going to turn it over to you if you don't mind sharing your story.

No, I don't mind at all. Thanks, Joyce Bender. Kayleen, you want me to take it first?

Yeah, that's fine.

Okay, so I was the second son of four, born to working-class parents in central Pennsylvania. They were— my mother was a beautician, worked in a factory. My father was a welder at the railroad. We grew up in a very rural area. I will often tell everybody I grew up in the hicks. I was a hillbilly. We, of course, we're very strong in our faith. We also were very open in helping others. My parents set a precedent early on to helping children through the foster care system. And so I am one of 4 children. The youngest of my sisters is adopted through the foster care system at that point. So we grew up very backwards. I wanted to try to do something different. I went to Penn State University in the late '80s where I got my degree in logistics, or today we would call it supply chain. Following that degree in the early '90s, I moved over to Pittsburgh and began working for Bayer Corporation. Not having a lot of expectation in that role because my parents were all working class. My expectation was to try to do better than them, to try to become a manager someday so that I could help make a difference. And as that situation began to progress at Bayer, I found myself always being put in a higher role without being asked or, or pushing or even applying in many cases, just being pushed up the chain based on the hard work and dedication that my parents had taught us as children. So I left Bayer Corporation when it spun Bayer Chemicals out into Lanxess and began to work with another very, very fascinating individual, strong leader named Randy Durth. So Randy and I began to develop and build a strong relationship supporting the organization. When he came to Calgon Carbon, right before he came to Calgon Carbon, he asked me, "How do you feel about taking over HR?" And I was a little bit surprised and said, "Why? I'm a supply chain guy." And he said, "Because you're a natural leader. I need you to lead a group of experts. They have the skills, but they need your leadership." I have my own mental health demons and insecurities and growing up issues of not feeling worthy or not good enough. And I was very nervous about it. But 2 years later, my HR team nominated me for an HR Leadership Award here in Pittsburgh. And I was absolutely floored because that gave me the validation of what I was trying to do. And I don't love to be in the spotlight at all. I'm a behind-the-scenes guy. I'm better off behind the scenes helping others and putting them, pushing them forward. So I did follow Randy when he came to Calgon Carbon. I followed him here to work with him and continue some of the initiatives in building more inclusiveness and DEI awareness and organizational design, stronger organizational design. So I moved over to Calgon about 11 years ago and have been in their HR department as their Chief Human Resources Officer, where I have also been really growing my knowledge and expertise in global human resources. So I currently have human resource departments within Calgon around the world that are reporting to me and focus on the core here in the United States at the headquarters, focusing on those initiatives and rolling them out with within the various countries to also keep alignment with those initiatives. So I have been married for 32 years. My best friend agreed to be my wife 32 years ago, and we have raised 4 children, most of which are adults— well, all of which are adults now. And we have recently, about 1 year ago, become grandparents. So now we are the proud grandparents of a 1-year-old later in April, granddaughter, and we are looking forward to the next stage of our life in being grandparents while we continue to focus on, you know, giving back to our communities. And of course, inside here, inside Calgon, what can we do here to keep the initiatives rolling? I've been supported by a fantastic team. Kayleen is one of our superstars here in HR, and I've been supported by a really fascinating and strong leader as the CEO of the organization who really listens to what we have to say and supports us and takes our recommendations even though he may not understand what it all is and what we're doing it for, but really encourages it and travels and promotes it on our behalf because he knows that we're doing the right thing and that we're giving a voice to the employees who are reacting in such a positive manner to all these initiatives and working with our veterans and working with the Bender Leadership or Disability Mentoring Day or all the other external initiatives that we focus on to try to give them the opportunity to give back into the communities in which we live and work. So that's my story.

What a story. You know, for all of you with disabilities, especially young people with disabilities listening to the show, I tell you at the Bender Leadership Academy, how important developing leadership skills really is and how there are opportunities you may not think about. Do you all understand? He went from the head of logistics to the head— now he's Chief Human Capital Officer, which is two totally different areas. But the CEO saw leadership in him. I must say, Steve, you're really smart. Because what a move, learning a new area quickly. You really, uh, really do have great leadership skills.

Thank you, Miss Kayleen.

Kayleen, I have to follow.

So, um, a little bit about myself. Um, I grew up in Raccoon Township. I have wonderful parents. I'm blessed with fantastic deaf parents. I also have 3 amazing older brothers who I'm very close with. You know, they all have been a consistent source of support and inspiration in my life. In addition to that, I have 2 cats. They're tabby cats, Dexter and Hunter, who are certainly my world. Anybody knows me, they know I love my boys. So, as far as the educational side, I went to Keller University where I earned both my MBA in project management and my master's in HR. My decision to explore the side of HR was really a combination of multiple things. Throughout my career, I've switched my degree several times. I've learned, you know, my strengths and my weaknesses, and learning more about HR, you know, there's— we offer such a unique blend of opportunities with employee development and recruitment and DE&I, and I really just think all of that aligns with with my passion, and that's how I ended up, I ended up in HR. So prior to Calgon, I was with Veolia Water Technologies for about almost 10 years, again with recruitment, and then I, I joined Calgon. So I've been here for about 6 years, and I love it. I love working with Steve. He's a fantastic leader. He's great to bounce ideas off of. He never shuts me down. He always welcomes my ideas, and he's just, he's great to work with on that area.

Well, Kaylene, I have to say this. You are really are all so great. I have to tell you all, all these years since I've been teaching the Bender Leadership Academy at CalGard, she's been at all the classes, every class. And then poor Kaylene, I'm always calling her out. Kaylene, you're in Human Resources. Tell everyone what you think about this. And you know what? Yeah, she always gives a great, uh, answer and really believes. You can tell how much she believes in these students. So Kayleen, you are important to us also. And may I say, what a kickoff May 3rd in the follow-up for Mental Health Awareness Month that you are taking Joyce Bender leadership academy students to a Pittsburgh Pirates game. That is so awesome you're doing that. And we're going to be talking about that everywhere, including to the media. I mean, what a great thing. I mean, you know, how could you have a better kickoff? So I want to thank you for that. And Kayleen for all of your efforts of what you're doing. Steve, one thing I do want to ask you, you were talking a little bit about where you have these signs, stand-ups. Where all do you have, where will you have those out at Calgon?

So we had created a couple different sets of them with the intention of Putting them in different various areas within our building. Now we don't own the building, so we have to follow our building rules. There are other companies within our building, so we have to be careful of that. We have right now rearranged our lobby in the— as you come into the HR department, we've basically rearranged our lobby to start the awareness. People are coming down to talk with us, are passing the banners and saying, "What is this about?" We're like, "Oh yeah, that's— read it. Read, it's coming." Our expectation, Joyce, will be to keep some of them sedentary, maybe in HR, but we have what we'll call a traveling set. And that traveling set is going to go to things like board meetings, like on different floors in different locations where they are movable. We can take them down. We can wrap them up. We can transport them to different places and make sure that we can continue to speak it throughout the month. We place heavy emphasis throughout the month to make sure that we're really building and meeting our expectation and/or exceeding it. So we're going to have those banners positioned in different places. We're going to have one stationary and one mobile that we're going to move around. And then of course we gave you a set for also your own organization and, you know, to do with what— as you see fit. So ours will be a little bit of everything. When we have plant visits, people can take them to the plants. They can talk about the campaign. They can talk about the importance of that mental health awareness and being open and seeking, you know, help when necessary or when urgent. So that— our plan is right now to really focus that. We're going to map out the final logistics in— April, as we approach May. But we have done for this campaign something that we've never done before, is we've been teasing it for almost 2 months in advance. We've been setting things up and sending out reminders about an upcoming campaign.

Well, Jonathan Capehart from MSNBC is going to be on my radio show later this year in June for Pride Month. And one of the things we'll be talking about is the mental health, Mary Brocker Mental Health Awareness Initiative, Not Ashamed. And you can be sure I'll be talking about you and Kayleen and Calgon, because Steve, when you're saying all that, I can barely not start crying right now. I mean, hearing all these things you're doing is unbelievable. I mean, it really is. It's overwhelming, and it is going to— a lot of people are going to be impacted by this, Steve and Kayleen. A lot of people. And I'll never forget that you did this. I, I cannot I cannot possibly convey to you that what you're doing for students with mental health disabilities who now live in shame and stigma, I wanna tell you, I lose, we lose a lot of them to suicide in this country, which is referred to as bullycide because so many people with disabilities are bullied. Kayleen, Joyce Bender, you were at all these classes for Bender Leadership Academy. Remember when I would say, "Okay, who has been bullied?" and every hand goes up?

Yeah, it's all of, all of the students, you know, they, they all brought such incredible heartfelt stories and all of them involved bullying pretty much.

And that bullying leads to depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and sadly, you know, it leads to suicide in some cases. And that's why this is so important. Hey, if you're listening right now, you're a young person, remember, I live with epilepsy. I'm not ashamed. You should not be ashamed ever. I know Demi Lovato has special concerts where afterwards she meets with high school students and young people living with mental health disabilities, as she lives with bipolar disorder. And one thing, not just Demi Lovato, but senators, different people I know, and executive roles, what do they tell people, young people? Don't be ashamed. You should never be ashamed. And you know what you all have to do? And Steve, I'll get this information to Kayleen, but you've got to get this podcast and send it out everywhere. Absolutely. Yeah. And you listening to the show now, go to Spotify, go to Apple, go to benderconsult.com, go to voiceamerica.com. Really, this podcast is on almost every social media venue, share it, share it, share it, share it, share it, because then more people are gonna hear about why we're doing what we're doing, which is to encourage high school students with mental health disabilities to be not ashamed of who they are and what they do. I have to ask you this, Steve, You know, all I did is tell you this idea and, and then it came to this. I mean, what caused that? Like, this is, this is huge.

So it's a good question, Joyce. So I was on the board of Special Olympics Pennsylvania for more than 10 years, and during that time I also learned so much about the stigma around things. And one of the campaigns that we launched years ago was the Spread the Word to End the Word. You know, the word retarded is very, very offensive, and it's cringy to people to hear, especially those that feel or have been bullied with that word. And years ago, we launched a campaign with Special Olympics around Spread the Word to End the Word, and I was overwhelmed with the banner signage idea that we did then. I was overwhelmed at the Polar Plunge in Pittsburgh at how many people lined up, people that didn't know anything about Calgon or anything, you know, were there supporting a Polar Plunge and signed that banner. We had mascots coming up to sign that banner saying, "I will not use that word anymore." You know, we started just as a brief employee campaign, but we were able to take it out into the community and really help make a difference. And I hope that's exactly what struck in my mind is what needs to happen here for this overcoming this type of a stigma and the negative feelings that people are afraid or ashamed to talk about. It is so important to me personally. It hits me very personal. And I think it hits more people than are willing to talk about it. It's such an unknown or undiscussed issue. That I felt the same, I immediately thought that's the campaign approach that we need to take because it generates such strong awareness. And when people give you a video saying, "I'm not ashamed to talk about my own mental health concerns or those of my family or how I've been impacted," when people sign their name, they know they're making a commitment. And that commitment can start to grow and change and make a difference then. And so that's what— led us to that. And Kayleen is the most creative person I've ever worked with and has begun to just breathe life into that, along with our communications department who really jumped on board with the design and the look and cleaning up some verbiage and helping us all working together and so dedicated that we got this stuff turned around so quickly to be posed and prepped ahead of time. It was such a team effort and I was so proud of it and I'm really excited to see where it's going to go in May.

Me too. I am— well, it's going to go national, that's for sure. And I am so excited about it. I was thrilled about it. One thing I wanted to ask you, Kaylene, for young people with mental health disabilities listening to the show. I know over the years now you've seen many of them because of the Bender Leadership Academy. Oh, that's another thing Calgon has been doing for years. We have our classes at Calgon. I mean, it's amazing. And Kaylene, talk about leadership and confidence and why you shouldn't be ashamed What did you observe from when they spoke at the first class up front to the last?

You know, I absolutely love this question, Joyce. So, I've been involved with about 6 classes now, both in person and virtually through the Bender leadership classes. And, you know, as I mentioned a couple, a couple minutes earlier, you know, every student is just so unique. And they do, they just bring these incredible stories. And a lot of them involve bullying, which it always breaks my heart listening to them and their struggles. But, you know, in the same sense, I have been so fortunate to observe their indivi— like their individual growth, their confidence, their communication skills, their teamwork. I love working with these kids and just witnessing all of their growth throughout the program. You know, there has been several situations where you have a student who is just so, so shy on day one, where they will actually leave the classroom several times, have to leave and step out and compose themselves and come back in, to being a guest speaker for graduation, or just really standing up, you know, towards the 4th or 5th class and presenting proudly. The students they come together and they feed off of each other's energy. And when someone seems nervous, another student will say, "Don't be nervous. I just went up there. I did fine." And it's just, it's incredible. I admire all of these students.

Yes, and just two examples. I know you both attend the Disability Mentoring Day VIP kickoff at Heinz History Center, and I wanted to mention that This past year, just what you said happened. This young Bender Leadership Academy graduate was going to give a speech, and this person was going to talk about her mental health disability, and all of a sudden she walks away. She can't speak. She walks away toward me, and I walk over, and she said, "I really can't do this. I can't." And I said, "Okay." Okay, that's all right. She said, I really can't. I said, all right. She starts to walk away and then she comes back and says, I'm going to do it. And she went up and she spoke and she was totally fine, confident. I mean, wasn't that amazing?

Yep. I've seen that so many times in these classes.

Yeah, and I mean, it is, it is amazing. What confidence does for everyone. So Steve, what do you think we're going to be able to accomplish? 1 in 4 high school students felt personally sad and hopeless, 1 in 10 considered suicide, and 1 in 5 attempted suicide. What do you think we can do with this Not Ashamed campaign?

So, you know, Joyce Bender, I, when I run a campaign, I honestly, I want to make a difference. I want to make a change. In the intent of the campaign. But you said it yourself at the very beginning of this podcast when you said, "If we can make a difference just with one person, if we can prevent one suicide, or if we can change the life of someone, if we can open up the discussions within families about how mental health affects them," and the— within the family unit or how the family unit can be affecting the other family units around them or within their communities, then we're a success. It's worth every penny that we invest into it. It's worth all the time if we can make a difference. These are life and death situations. These are where you can really have an impact if you can get that young person to open up and talk about it and know they have a voice and know they have maybe adult or other peers that are willing to have that conversation with them and help build them up. That's what the world needs right now. So if we can just make a difference in one person or prevent one suicide or open up more conversations, I will consider the campaign a success.

Yes. One life. What price tag can you put on that?

Exactly.

There isn't anything really more powerful than being able to save a life. And so, you know, if you want to make a donation, go to benderleadership.org to the Mary Brocker Mental Health Not Ashamed, hashtag not ashamed. And that means go make a small video from your phone, who you are, If you have a disability, you know, my name is Tom Miller. I live with depression, not ashamed. If you don't have a mental health disability, hello, my name is Tom Miller. I'm a manager in HR. I support high school students living with disabilities. And as I'm sitting here, I'm looking at this book, Finding My Voice by Valerie Jarrett. My Journey to the West Wing of the White House. And if you go to Bender Leadership Academy, she's there, number one advisor to the president, but so is all of these wonderful people. I mean, so many, including country stars, everyone, And Kaylene, are you there? You and Steve?

We're here.

That's good. I mean, are you participating in getting your little video out there?

Mm-hmm. Oh yeah, yeah.

So our plan that we're working on is really actually we're going to set up little locations within the organ— within certain times throughout the month of May for our employees to do that, to record a video for themselves, give them a background. So we're gonna— that's part of our rollout campaign is to say, hey, you signed your name, hey, let's give me a few comments. What does this mean to you? And we would love— and Kaylene's pretty convincing— we would love to flood that campaign, those videos into that campaign to give so much support for the overall national campaign.

Oh, that will be great. That is wonderful. Once again, if you're listening and saying, who are these awesome people? Uh, Steve Nolder, Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Global Communications, and Kaylene Ritchie, Talent Management and Diversity Supervisor. And as you can see, Miss Creativity. And is this awesome what they're doing? I've got to say again, #NotAshamed, high school students with mental health disabilities, no shame. Believe in who you are. That's what we're trying to do. It's called breaking down stigma. It's called having high school students with mental health disabilities not be ashamed of believing in who they are. #NotAshamed, vendorleadership.org. Steve, you do walk the talk because you had an intern at Calgon Carbon with a mental health disability, and of course, anytime we meet any high school student with a mental health disability, Kayleen will be forwarding them I'm going to go on to you to see if you have an internship, but you really did do something. And Steve, I would appreciate it, would you mind challenging other people to do the same?

Absolutely. I think it's part of the inclusion aspect of our DE&I initiatives, right? Inclusiveness, getting, you know, opening and creating that culture, you know, where a mix of people can really come together, work, be comfortable, and as you said, exude the confidence they need to be themselves and deliver, you know, on their business results or expectations. I think it's extremely important. And Jocelyn has been here for many months helping us organize. She's been a part of our team working, providing her expertise. One, personally helped me reorganize my office to be more efficient because those are such strong skill sets that she has. The group is thoroughly impressed with her and what she can do, and we were happy to support her when she also presented at the Bender— the Disability Mentoring Day kickoff and VIP reception. We were so excited to go down and support her and show her, you know, that we're here, we got her back, you know, because she was very nervous about it as well. I mean, Kaylene has done a phenomenal job working with her and helping her along and building her confidence. Kayleen, do you have any comments with respect to Jocelyn?

Oh, I think the world of— I just think the world of Jocelyn. She's fantastic. And just seeing her confidence boost from, you know, the very beginning until now. I mean, she went from when she first came on board kind of hesitant and nervous to participate in one of our luncheons that we had, a little shy. To my goodness, standing up in front of Disability Mentoring Day kickoff reception, presenting in front of a bunch of people. I, I couldn't have been more proud of her just because I truly know, you know, from the beginning till the end. And, you know, she's a mentor now through, through Bender's mentoring program, and she helps, you know, throughout the office and with the Bender students. And organizational skills is fantastic. She's always asking for more, and she's very creative too. If I give her a task, she'll come back with, "Why don't we do it this way?" And I'll take it. I really like that she does that. I really enjoy working with Jocelyn.

Joyce Bender, let me give you an example of confidence. Jocelyn came and Jocelyn did what we asked her to do, but over time she not only succeeded or exceeded the expectations, Over time, she began to get so confident she had no problem walking into my office saying, "You know, why don't we do it this way? Why don't we think about doing it that way? Or maybe we could automate that aspect." You know, I have seen or heard about this. Okay, we have a digital transformation initiative going on as part of a 6-year program with our global organization, and here is our temporary student who's coming in there and helping us with creative, innovative ideas.

That's it.

That's exactly the type of organization and culture we're looking for here at Calcon Carbon.

Wow. Yeah, that does say confidence.

Yeah. Very reliable.

Very reliable. That's the thing about people with disabilities. When you give someone a chance, that has never had one, oh, employment is a treasure, a treasure. Now, Steve and Kayleen, Kayleen, I'll start with you. You're this unbelievably wonderful person. So something influenced you, whether it's in history, work, your family, who is your role model?

Oh, this is a great question. So, you know, I actually believe that role models can come from various backgrounds and walks of life. You know, each person can— that steps into our life brings something of value that we really learn from. And that can be a family member, or a mentor, or a colleague, or a friend. But, you know, my parents and my older brothers have always been my foundational role models. They each have such unique strengths and qualities that I just admire and I learn from, and I truly believe that they have shaped me into the individual I am.

Yeah, well, they did a great job. How about you, Steve?

Yeah, so this— that's— I agree with Kaylene. I think role models nowadays are bits and pieces of multiple people, but I would say my strongest role model has been my uncle. My dad's brother, it was his youngest brother, my Uncle Don was a Methodist minister for his entire life. And I watched him as he proceeded through life to make such commitment to the young people he was working with in his perhaps lower income school areas and things, making commitments to them meeting with them, helping them make a difference, keeping them out of jail, you know. And I remember one year even he coming to a reunion or something we were visiting, and I said, "Uncle Don, you lost so much weight. What's going on?" And he said, "I made a commitment to one of my students. I made a commitment that if he could stay away from drugs, I would stay away from sugar." And it was just simply avoiding Sugar Steve. But my takeaway there was he was willing to make a personal sacrifice for someone that he didn't really have a familial relationship because he could make the difference in one student, one young person's life. And that really set the pace for how I've been treating staff or others in my own life or in my work life, in my personal life or work life, trying to make a difference, using my knowledge or position power to make a difference, because that's the most important thing I can do with the skills that I've learned and the opportunities that I've been given. But he, I would say, has been my role model. Unfortunately, tomorrow I'll be attending his funeral, but he has left such a legacy on our family and on me in particular. So I would say He has been my most influential role model.

Wow, what a tribute. I'm so sorry, Steve, but may I say, you're following him. You are helping the least of these, so you are following in his footsteps. Hey, I think we have a caller on the line right now on this show. We haven't been taking callers. But we are taking this caller. Scott, are you there?

I am, Joyce. Hi, Steve. Hi, Kaylene. I had to call in when I heard you were talking about Jocelyn. She is just an amazing person and just one of the many amazing students that we had at Bender Leadership Academy. And I know she is thriving at Kellogg Carbon. So, but I just wanted to call in to thank you for Jocelyn, but also supporting Bender Leadership Academy and all of our programs, such as student Leaders or Disability Mentoring Day, and of course, the Education to Employment and the upcoming Not Ashamed campaign. So I just wanted to call in to say thank you to you both and everybody at Culver and Harbin. Thank you, Scott. We appreciate it.

Thank you, Scott. Thanks for calling in.

You bet.

Sure.

Bye-bye.

Thank you. Thank you. And I believe through this campaign, Kaylene, There will be Bender Leadership Academies everywhere in this country. I really do. I believe that's going to happen. And I don't remember, Kayleen, if you and/or Steve were there when Hero played the piano. Were you there?

Um, yes. Okay.

Hero is a graduate of the Bender Leadership Academy, one of the Bender Leadership Academies, and He lives with a mental health disability. And when we— remember how I said people change? Oh, this was during COVID on Zoom. And the first time he was on, uh, slovenly in appearance, acting not interested. And each class he changed and got, you know, totally more confident, more professional. Well, as Kaylene knows He is a pianist, and he played part of the Moonlight Sonata at the VIP event. And by the way, we're going to do that again because, believe it or not, this year is the 25th anniversary of Disability Mentoring Day, the third Wednesday of every October. What was he like when he played, Kayleen?

Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

And he is studying, uh, he's a classical pianist, but once again, he was ashamed. He's not ashamed. He's out there. And this year, folks, 25th anniversary here in Pittsburgh, we're going to have as our guest Jonathan Young. Bender, who when he was at the White House called me and said, Joyce, we need a day. This is during the Clinton— he reported President Clinton. We need a day. We need a day for the disability community. We won't get a month, but if we could have a day and have it focus on employment. And so it began with Jonathan in Washington, D.C. and the White House. And Pittsburgh. And guess what? There were two companies in Pittsburgh that participated. One was Highmark and the other was Bayer Corporation. So, a lot of people don't know this, but we were the city that really got this going with Disability Mentoring Day. Now it's all around the world and it's huge and Bayer always, always was a great supporter. So, Steve, what message do you have for our listeners today?

Thank you, Joyce Bender. So, I guess my message would be that mental health is a fundamental aspect of our overall well-being. And as I said already, in today's world, so fast-paced with the pressures of work and life, they can really sometimes take a toll on mental health. Mental health challenges can affect anyone regardless of their role or position within the company, and therefore, as a leader, I feel it's my responsibility to create a workplace where employees feel comfortable to seek help, to talk about their mental health concerns, and to do that without fear of judgment or reprisal. For me, fostering open communication and promoting mental health initiatives, we can create a more supportive and resilient workplace. So that's why I think it's crucial for us all to openly discuss mental health, mental health stigmas, reduce the stigmas, and promote a culture of understanding and more importantly empathy. So I would encourage all listeners to take the time to really prioritize your own mental health and well-being, whether that's through some self-care practices or seeking support from other colleagues or professionals, or just simply taking a moment to check in with yourself or with your, your family, because your mental health matters. Together, I think we can all continue to create and promote mental health awareness, break down the barriers and stigmas, and create a culture where everyone will feel empowered to prioritize their own personal mental health well-being.

Great words. I hope you all listen, and I know you're thinking, oh my goodness, I wish this other person had heard the show. Oh, you can share it. Just go to Spotify, benderconsult.com, Voice America, Apple, any, any of your social media venues, any of them, and share this show because you also can be a person making a difference in a life. Don't forget how important that is. We end every show with a quote, and today the quote quote is, "Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all." In the words of Mary Brooker, choose joy and #NotAshamed. Talk to you all next week. Have a great day.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America variety channel.

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