Q: Are you pretty handy at putting together furniture and other items for infants?
A: Yeah, I'm pretty handy. I grew up with my dad, who did everything, so if I couldn't work a screwdriver, a hammer or a saw, then I wasn't gonna make it.
Q: Was there a favorite project you did with your dad?
A: Even to this day, I always enjoy him coming and really showing me how to do things. But I think there's a couple stories that I have of him. He had this old truck he bought from our neighbor who passed away. And it's like a 1920 Ford truck. It's beautiful and it sits in the garage a lot of the time, but in the summer, he'll take it out. It only goes about 35 miles an hour. He would always teach me how to change the oil, do the wiring and look at the gears. He's one of those people that, if I ever have anything at my house, he's like, 'Don't call anybody. I'll come over.' So then he comes over, and he'll teach me how to do it, and he'll end up doing the whole thing, but he'll show me how to do it, and I'll just sit there and help out. He's just like, 'You've got to play. You can't be doing this right now.' And I'm like, 'All right, Pops, I'll be your second hands, at least, if you need something.' It's incredible to have a family like the one we have. I'm excited to be able to start ours and kind of be able to do that same thing.
Q: How does his work ethic continue to influence your approach?
A: It's big. My dad started as a truck driver at Hy-Vee. It was actually Blue Bunny at the time. He drove trucks from store to store to deliver the ice cream and everything that Blue Bunny had, and then Hy-Vee bought Blue Bunny. I think he worked at Blue Bunny when he was 18 years old. By the time he was 35-40, he was a VP at Hy-Vee in distribution. Stories like that don't happen as much anymore, where you work from a truck driver to become an office manager, and then to run the entire distribution of Hy-Vee. It's crazy thinking about it now, but that's what I grew up with, watching his evolution through that, and his work ethic, going to work at 6 a.m. and not maybe coming home till 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. because all the stuff he had to get done. Work ethic was kind of built in me. Seeing that at a young age was truly incredible and had a real impact on me.