"The response from our ENTIRE organization to Gina's address has been overwhelming! We knew that the idea of our folks hearing about the world of hardware for Gina's perspective would be valuable but we did not anticipate how they would react. Gina made it personal. Her personal story and her honest detail of the daily opportunities and struggles of an entrepreneur launched a sea of ideas from all of the E.A
Gina Schaefer
Developing urban markets, supporting small businesses and helping women to succeed
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Gina Schaefer
Biography
When she moved into a forlorn neighborhood that needed a hardware store, she built one. When she thought the recovery community needed businesses to believe in them, she became one, and when she suggested that inequality could be helped with business ownership, she began selling hers to her team.
Gina Schaefer is the Founder and Co-Owner of 13 hardware stores located in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, MD, and their suburbs. She and her team of 300 have helped millions of customers shop right where they live, in their urban communities, despite continuous pressure from bigger, stronger competitors.
Gina is a professional speaker and storyteller, engaging audiences on topics that include competing in a male dominated field, building a strong corporate culture, business succession planning, and all things small business.
In her book, Recovery Hardware, Gina chronicles her experiences building a business while learning from non-traditional teachers like folks from the recovery community and returning citizens. She serves as an advocate and spokesperson for causes directly related to raising wages, anti-monopoly legislation and small business development.
She draws her inspiration from fellow entrepreneurs who strive to be creative, think differently and help make a difference. People like Judy Wicks, founder of the White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia who inspired her to use her voice as a force for good; Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, founders of gourmet food group Zingerman's Community of Businesses in Michigan, from whom Schaefer learned innovative business strategies and Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, who taught her that nonprofit organizations need to think beyond simple charity.
Gina serves as board chair for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and is a member of CCA Global Partners’ Board of Directors. She spent 9 years on the corporate board of Ace Hardware and 12 with the House of Ruth. She relaxes by making greeting cards (she's a big believer in the power of the written note), kayaking, traveling, and reading.
Gina’s guiding principle comes from a treasured quote “I always wondered when somebody would do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody”.
Gina Schaefer
Featured Keynote Programs
Just Because the World Underestimates Us, it Doesn’t Mean our Fate is Pre-written
Gina Schaefer spent 20 years as a woman in a “man’s world.” She started with one hardware store and grew the business to 13 locations and multiple millions in revenue. Her successes, failures and favorite bits are all fodder for discussion in this engaging 45-minute keynote address.
Gina’s message resonates strongly with anyone defying the odds or seeking entrepreneurial endeavors, especially women. She believes strongly that all fields are “male and female fields” and has helped lead the way in the hardware world for more women in leadership and ownership roles.
Audience member takeaways include:
1. How to find your inspiration and voice
2. How, when and WHY to self-promote
3. What steps to take to overcome the voice of doubt that might be in your head
Sm(ALL) Business Succession Planning from an Accidental Expert
Have you been focusing on the day-to-day challenges of your business and neglected putting time and intentionality into your succession planning?
You might be at the helm of a small family-owned enterprise or a large national one. Either way, the critical steps to craft a great succession plan are the same for all businesses.
As a board member on two multi-billion-dollar companies, Gina Schaefer had a front row seat to CEO and executive succession plan development that taught her valuable lessons about this important transition in business lifecycle.
Gina went on to sell her own business in a well thought out and successful exit strategy that aligned with her values and put the employees at the center of the plan.
Gina energetically delivers a 45-minute keynote about the costs, pitfalls, and triumphs on her transition to succession success. She’ll also walk you through the steps needed to craft your own succession plan, regardless of the size of your business.
You will:
• Learn how to draft a succession plan that fits your own financial goals
• Discover how proper planning can help eliminate the emotional complications that succession planning can create
• Hear about succession and exit options from liquidation to private equity to a sale to employees
• Begin to document the timeline to make all business succession a success
• Hear Gina’s transition story including the costs, pitfalls, and triumphs
You Are (the) Somebody
Steps to building the right culture for your organization with everyone’s help
Are you looking to change or improve your company’s culture but aren’t sure where to start? You might find the perfect tools in unlikely places.
When Gina Schaefer moved into a forlorn neighborhood that needed a hardware store, she built one. Then, when she noticed the recovery community needed businesses to believe in them, she transformed her business into that business. When she realized inequality could be diminished through business ownership, she figured out how to sell her business to her team.
Building a positive corporate culture takes dedication and nurturing. It starts from the top and permeates the entire organization when it is given the proper attention. In this engaging 45-minute keynote Gina shares what she believes are the tenets to build a great culture – lessons she learned while employing some unlikely teachers. She learned these tenets from returning citizens, men and women from the local recovery community, and a whole host of memorable characters now celebrated in her book Recovery Hardware.
Audience member take always include:
1. Knowing what data to measure and how to act on the results
2. How to infuse trust and transparency into your organization
3. How to use curiosity and storytelling to bring your culture to life
Gina’s guiding principle comes from a treasured quote “I always wondered when somebody would do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody”. She hopes her audiences leave feeling the same way.
Gina Schaefer
Featured Book
Recovery Hardware: A Nuts and Bolts Story About Building a Business, Restoring a Community, and Renovating Lives
by Gina Schaefer
Determined to bring her neglected neighborhood back to life, Gina Schaefer opened her first hardware store near Whitman-Walker's Addiction Services program. What began as an effort to help her community recover evolved into a safe space for countless people in recovery to rebuild their lives.
Recovery Hardware shares A Few Cool Hardware Stores CEO Gina Schaefer's path to building a business that revitalized her neglected urban community and provided opportunities for everyone to thrive, no matter their past.
You'll discover:
- Lessons from resilient employees who struggled with substance abuse.
- Surprising skills from unconventional backgrounds that you won't find on a résumé.
- How to put bravery into the backbone of your business.
- Humorous insights into retail ownership, like how to choose the right store dog.
- Workforce solutions to remove obstacles for people in recovery.
Second chances transform communities and change lives-and it starts with one store at a time. Read Recovery Hardware and start building a better business where growth gives back.
Gina Schaefer
Featured Reviews
Gina Schaefer
Featured Articles & Resources
At the Intersection of Root Beer and Christmas Trees
Sometimes all a business owner needs to do is stop and listen to what their customers are saying - to try the unusual or recognize they may not have all the answers.
In 2009...
Recovery Hardware
The 2021 National Recovery Month theme, “Recovery is For Everyone: Every Person, Every Family, Every Community,” reminds people in recovery and those who support them that no...
Throwback Thursday: A Grand Opening to Remember
Sometimes the unconventional store openings are the ones that are most memorable.
Over the years we have operated 14 locations. Four of them were...
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