Reading the Community and Collective Identity with Amanda Kranias of Blue Manatee

“你可以做任何你想做的事。确保它是喂养灵魂的东西。“-Amanda Kranias，蓝色海牛扫盲项目和书店主任

为什么故事对创新过程有关？分享故事的创新者可以灌输哪些值？创新领导者如何激发创作者告诉和分享他们的成功和失败故事？

我们与阿曼达克拉尼斯说话蓝色海牛扫盲项目和书店about how our communities shape the businesses within them, and vice versa. Blue Manatee donated over 15,000 books in just nine months and seeks to make this number even higher in the future, so as to better serve the children in Cincinnati. Amanda speaks of the power of community for Blue Manatee and their goal of giving back and getting involved, with one-to-one donations and Manatanks around the city. In the first year of becoming a non-profit, Blue Manatee was able to donate over 15000 books in nine months! Find out more about Blue Manatee Literacy Project and Bookstore and how the Cincinnati community can help give back by just buying their favorite books. Amanda Kranias’ innovation story is one of collective identity and the power of human connection.

听播客

TRANSCRIPT

该集发电支持来自Untold内容和数据+ Science的数据讲故事培训。乐动体育足球乐动体育266通过学习数据可视化和技术讲故事的最佳实践，将数据转换为强大的视觉故事。无论您是PowerBi还是Tableau的人 - 或者只是想更好地传达您的数据 - 这次研讨会将激励您查看数据中的故事。了解更多https://undoldcontent.com/dataStoryTelling乐动体育266Trining/.

插入广告

凯蒂[00:00:04]欢迎来到未罗革说的创新故事，在那里我们扩大了不带无国外内容的洞察力，影响和创新的解放故事。乐动体育足球我是你的主人，Katie Trauth Taylor。

凯蒂[00:00:19]Our guest today is Amanda Kranias. She is executive director at the Blue Manatee Literacy Project. She’s also founder of Haverford Ventures and she’s an operations strategy consultant. I’m so grateful to have you on the podcast today.

Amanda[00:00:31]Thank you for having me.

凯蒂[00:00:33]So tell me more about what led you to Blue Manatee and what that’s all about.

Amanda[00:00:39]好吧，我认为生活只是带领我 - 让我到蓝海。它是，嗯，它脱颖而出。我刚刚完成了一份咨询工作，实际上要花了一些时间，只是寒冷一段时间。而且，你知道，生活发生了变化。

Amanda[00:00:58]This opportunity arise. I met Kevin, my business partner, who is wonderful. And it just all fell into place rapidly. Like within four weeks we went from not knowing a bookstore was available to, you know, creating a nonprofit.

Amanda[00:01:16]So, it was – it was a whirlwind for sure. It still is a year later. It still is. It’s all good things.

凯蒂[00:01:23]Absolutely. So Blue Manatee has such a special place in my heart. So for listeners who are not from the Cincinnati area, Blue Manatee is a beloved children’s bookstore in the Cincinnati area. And I have three kids, 5, 3 and 1 in age. So we are there a lot and have just a lot of sweet memories in that space and and it’s a well-loved brand.

Amanda[00:01:48]And we get that on a daily basis like people coming in with their children and their parents brought them. And I mean, it’s – it started as The Blue Marble 30 years ago in Oakley and it’s and it’s remained there.

Amanda[00:02:02]所以凯文和我经常，你知道，说我们不喜欢被称为所有者或创始人，我们有点接管管理，因为它真的在这一点上是一个属于社区的书店。

凯蒂[00:02:19]So so tell us what led you to purchase and uh started in this new role.

Amanda[00:02:27]It was actually a Facebook post that the previous owners put up.

凯蒂[00:02:32]I saw that post too.

Amanda[00:02:33]Yeah and there were a whole bunch of us that, you know, put our hand up and said, hey, can can I inquire about this?

Amanda[00:02:40]And and Dr. Hutton sent out this very great quirky questionnaire and did a wonderful job of – of, you know, having these very serious questions, but also questions that really told him, I guess, more about the person’s personality before.

凯蒂[00:02:59]What were some of those quirky questions?

Amanda[00:03:01]Who is your favorite character in Willy Wonka?

凯蒂[00:03:06]What did you say?

Amanda[00:03:06]Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I picked Grandpa.

凯蒂[00:03:09]Aw, good answer.

Amanda[00:03:14]And it was – I don’t remember what all my answers were. It really was rather quick.

Amanda[00:03:21]但这只是一个非常有趣，有趣的过程。我之前不知道凯文。胡顿博士将我们放在一起，说，你知道，你们两个都有很好的想法，把它们融合在一起。非营利性是凯文的想法。当他投球并在谈论它时，我就像，哦，我的天哪，这很棒。喜欢，当然，我们应该这样做。然后在接下来的我们 - 三个月 - 我们完全关闭了利润下来，重新开放，因为非营利组织恢复了书店。然后去年只是惊人，就像我继续使用那个词和它 - 我 - 我知道人们一直在使用这个词，但我真的很可怕的是，这就是我的旅程，你知道，让我感到难过去年1月之前，我刚刚不知道。

凯蒂[00:04:19]Yeah, so –so at that time you were in venture, right? Tell me more about that – that life and how it sort of prepared you for this moment.

Amanda[00:04:27]我 - 在此之前我 - 我必须用完整的套装工作，这是一个辛辛那提启动。伟大的。你可以想象的最好的团队。只是很有趣。这都是关于收藏品。就像星球大战一样。我的意思是，每天只是一个极客节。太奇妙了。

Amanda[00:04:50]And they have these great ideas and lots of energy, positive energy in there, in the group and that was – that was a wonderful experience. I worked in operations with them. And and it was – it was great to meet meet that group. And I’ve, gosh, I’ve done quite a few. I’ve done a lot with non-profits, whether it’s volunteer or, you know, as an consultant. I love Cincinnati’s ability to –You have this startup Cincy ecosystem, right? Like everybody’s #startupCincy.

凯蒂[00:05:31]我正在抬起手。我承认成为这一旅程的一部分。

Amanda[00:05:36]And it’s – it’s a – it’s so wonderful because you have these people that are focused on, you know, entrepreneurial lifestyle and building these businesses, whether it’s tech or – or a H.R., whatever it might be.

Amanda[00:05:54]But they’re taking that. And, and there’s just this underlying current of creating some kind of difference in the community in Cincinnati. And almost everything, whether intentionally hasn’t has a desire to or not.

Amanda[00:06:12]它有一个社会影响因素，因为这一切似乎是一个关于我们如何建造辛辛那提的故事，我们如何使我们变得更好，我们如何加强我们已经拥有的伟大的东西？所以...

凯蒂[00:06:25]我觉得它是我们集体DNA的一部分。

Amanda[00:06:27]是的。

凯蒂[00:06:28]Maybe even if our sights are set on scalability and investment and financial gain, there’s – I don’t know that I can think of a single startup, even, you know, tech startup or not coming out of Cincinnati that hasn’t given thought to its impact from a social – on a social level.

Amanda[00:06:47]Absolutely. And and I think that’s true. You’ve got, you know, flywheel social enterprise.

Amanda[00:06:53]现在，这就是社会影响和寻找为其是辛辛那提或世界做出伟大事物的公司。

Amanda[00:07:02]But just working to make businesses that give something back.

Amanda[00:07:09]但我有这么多。如你所知，作为一名顾问，我会走进去。我会像，我不知道。不好了。喜欢，你应该在这里做什么。而且我从来没有一次，我可以思考我伸出手或用于指导或指导，并被告知，你知道，不，我没有时间。

凯蒂[00:07:28]That’s right.

Amanda[00:07:28]I feel like it’s such a nurturing ecosystem.

凯蒂[00:07:32]我完全同意，是的。是的，我。

凯蒂[00:07:36]And I want to. I think that’s forming us. We’re both young women founders.

AmandaAnd thank you for saying young, young ish.

凯蒂[00:07:46]I mean, we’re not Gen Z or anything, but. Yeah.

凯蒂[00:07:51]I think that’s forming something in our value system and in our hearts as we continue to take on more leadership roles and manage more and hopefully create opportunities for other people to always keep in mind how important it is to mentor. And if we’re open to that and we keep modeling the behaviors we see from other senior people who are senior to us. I think it’s it’s such an important part of nurturing this kind of ecosystem.

Amanda[00:08:23]I agree. And I I think the university’s being involved like UC, Miami University. I know Northern Kentucky University has a great program as well. But having those, like you said, as people and leaders, your professors, the people that know that have lived a life and have this experience. And then turning around and not just teaching a class, but actually creating programs outside of, you know, regular curriculum that’s, you know, grounded in networking and bringing people together. And how do I take these students that are getting ready to go out into the world and have this drive to do something and and get them set up for a win?

凯蒂[00:09:06]Yeah, I agree. I’m seeing a trend. And this is not just a Cincinnati trend that’s around the nation, but more universities are creating entrepreneurship programs and trying to help students see it. More students are demanding that kind of thing, too. They want to be entrepreneurs or think about having their own companies or creating something new. And I think it’s really great that more universities are starting to create programs like that and create relationships with industry and with other, you know, startup founders in order to help students get real-world experiences at that. So tell us about the nonprofit and its mission.

Amanda[00:09:48]So the Blue Manatee Literacy Project….

Amanda[00:09:51]是专注于扫盲。我们专门针对四至八岁的儿童和UH社区，这些社区主要是人们会考虑需要一些援助的弱势或社区。我们有13所合作学校，合作伙伴学校是其中的大部分。在自由或减少的膳食计划中，学生机构是95％或更多。学校往往没有在课堂图书馆，图书馆一般，你知道，永远是公共图书馆系统的一个如此巨大的粉丝，因为很多社区，那就是孩子对书籍的进入。

凯蒂[00:10:38]是的。是的。

Amanda[00:10:40]So the gist of the program is that for every book you buy through the Blue Manatee, we donate a book to a disadvantaged student. Last year, the community responded great. We donated over 15000 books in nine months. And hopefully this year that number gets blown out of the water. It’s such an important part of making sure when we’re talking about, you know, how we how we tell our story is.

Amanda[00:11:09]You know, Kevin and I, we we push the paper and, you know, pay the bills, that kind of thing.

Amanda[00:11:15]但如果我们没有社区的合作伙伴组织的支持，这座城市，就像我们没有那样，这不起作用。正确的？它不起作用。

Amanda[00:11:29]If people don’t buy books, we can’t give books because that’s how we afford to give the books. So that’s been just.

Amanda[00:11:37]你知道，这是一种祝福你的灵魂。就像，如果我们能够得到这个词，如果我们可以继续谈论我们可以作为一个社区所做的事情，就像一个团体一样，我们可以做些什么。我希望并祈祷，你知道，我们今年捐赠了三万本书，或者更多。

凯蒂[00:11:58]是的。

凯蒂[00:12:00]Absolutely. I think there’s such an important lesson to learn from this pivot and the Blue Manatee’s identity. And it doesn’t matter if you are in a for profit or in a nonprofit where your impact lies, but being able to consider the power of empathy and the power of generosity.

凯蒂[00:12:22]I don’t think that you have to be very wealthy to have a generous heart. And…

Amanda[00:12:28]Absolutely.

凯蒂[00:12:28]即使是从创新的利润方面看到更多。人们，特别是消费者，了解有社会使命的品牌，特别是一个型号的品牌。而汤姆的鞋子就像原来的呃，我不会说原来，但喜欢。

Amanda[00:12:47]That’s the first one everybody thinks like, oh, Tom’s shoes, right.

Amanda[00:12:50]是的。就像汤姆的鞋子一样。是的。

凯蒂[00:12:53]And there’s another.

凯蒂[00:12:54]我认为甚至在这个城市中有很多非营利组织，就像我喜欢社区问题，并且他们跑了避难所。和较低的价格山。当你在那里举办商业活动或在那里婚礼时，他们会免费为社区中的一个人提供。是的，这太棒了。而不是选择只是最漂亮的。它实际上非常漂亮。这太好了。但是，就像说，我只是选择某些东西，你知道，选择你一直选择的东西。思考消费者越来越多的人想要从拥有的品牌购买，这些品牌都将其努力提供给特定的社会原因。

Amanda[00:13:35]And I – I do truly believe that that is where we are headed as – as a people. I think collectively, no matter what background where you’re from, I do think people are being more aware of how their money is spent.

Amanda [00:13:53]这已经不是什么秘密,独立书店,他们圣ruggling, right? Like we’re in it to win it. All of us. We have such a great. We just have this great collective, I guess would be appropriate word of independent bookstores, and if you got down bound books, you’ve got Roebling, you’ve got, you know, Joseph Beth and I feel like, you know that those people. OK, maybe Joseph Beth. But none of those people got into it because, oh, I want to make, you know, a ton of money. There’s some kind of passion about giving back and about being a gathering place for people to come together and share ideas and – and, yes, buy a book. But there’s so much more to it. And I think that that mentality actually is circulating more and more within just different – different groups, different people and different ways they’re coming together.

Amanda[00:14:53]和。我喜欢它。你知道，我们在一个孩子的创意角落里。我希望我昨天对克利夫顿大道的权利说。我们把一个法力坦克和一个法力坦克在书架里放入书架，然后我们用书籍填充货架，孩子们可以自由地拿捐赠的书是免费的，把它们带回家。如果书架开始空空，他们可以将它们带回另一个人，我们只是带来更多的书籍并填补它。而且我站在这就像可爱的空间。

Amanda[00:15:31]And it just. There’s this person, Emily, who’s there, and she’s working this every day. And, you know, she’s. I don’t know how much money she makes, but I know nonprofit world and I know that she’s doing this out of, you know, some kind of passion and compassion and just being in that space, in these the space for kids to come in. And, yes, read a book and and sit. It’s safe and it’s secure. And there’s so many people just here in this city that that’s what they do every day.

凯蒂[00:16:02]是的。

Amanda[00:16:02]他们只是想给孩子这样的,你知道,great start.

Amanda[00:16:08]You know? Yeah, you’ve got some hurdles in front of you. But we’re here to help. And how can we do that in any way possible?

凯蒂[00:16:14]是的。

Amanda[00:16:14]是的。

凯蒂[00:16:15]How did you come up with the your launch of a new identity for for Blue Manatee? Because prior it was a for profit bookstore. Right. Independent bookstore. For profit. And so there is a sort of period of adjustment and change.

凯蒂[00:16:31]And then you sort of re open the doors in this new way. So can you tell us about how you arrived at a new sort of rebranding, but that also kept the heart and soul of what it already was in the community.

Amanda[00:16:46]我觉得这有很多。胡顿博士和沙质总，约翰和桑迪，他们做了我们现在正在做的工作总是在他们的心中，然后是蓝色海牛的一部分。

凯蒂[00:17:03]是的。

Amanda[00:17:05]我们刚刚拿起那个球，他们已经和它一起玩并跑了。因此，这一点已经存在这种基础，这是我们的基础。

Amanda[00:17:22]和赫顿博士是,你知道,还是我的人would turn to you and say, you know, this is what we’re trying to do. He lives and breathes literacy every day at Children’s, so at, uh, Cincinnati Children’s. So he’s a great resource. I would say we are still facing that challenge of getting the word out.

Amanda[00:17:44]When you’re a children’s bookstore for 30 years, it’s very hard to get people to recognize you as anything else. And we are still very focused in this store and obviously outside of the store on children. But we sell books for everybody and the bookstore carries books for all ages and, so we’re still overcoming that and and I think it will be a journey. I don’t think it’ll it’ll be an easy thing to overcome. There were pros and cons to keeping the name. You know, we wanted. It’s such a recognizable logo and name and you don’t want to give that up. But at the same time, it does create a little barrier to flipping that switch.

凯蒂[00:18:43]Sure, sure. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah.

凯蒂[00:18:46]那么明年举行蓝色海牛举行的是什么？

Amanda[00:18:49]Oh, goodness. There is no telling. Hopefully more of what we had last year.

Amanda[00:18:57]Lot events, a lot of events inside this store, a lot of events outside the store, but more importantly, just. More Mana-tanks, more literacy programs. You know, we’ve we’ve started three different literacy programs.

Amanda[00:19:15]That are, you know, Oyler’s, a great, great school, too. Yes, they’re so.

凯蒂[00:19:21]Oh, my my dissertation research was in…

Amanda [00:19:23]天啊。

凯蒂[00:19:24]牡蛎学校或价格山，因为我 - 所以我的一些研究是在Urban Appalachian身份附近。某些城市政策将支持或忽视该社区。

Amanda[00:19:35]是的。They they’re just so welcoming to we show up with an idea and they’re like, well, maybe not, but we can do it. Try it this way.

Amanda[00:19:45]They’ve been very beneficial in helping us structure the different programs. And now they’re starting to you know, these programs are starting to branch out and and reach more children. So I would say, you know, those are our top priorities. How many children do we get to, you know, help this year? And and everything else is just making that happen. Making that work happen.

凯蒂[00:20:09]Can I ask you maybe you might feel like a strange question?

Amanda[00:20:12]好的。

凯蒂[00:20:13]你会给什么建议创新者,其他佛unders, whether that’s at the startup level or even people who are responsible for innovating inside of big companies – what what advice do you have for them? What perspective can you lend them when it comes to thinking about how to reach someone with story at an emotional and social mission level?

Amanda[00:20:40]I think you have to look inward first. What would speak to you? What moves you? You know, it’s two different things.

Amanda[00:20:51]如果你正在做一些事情，那就是你的热情。讲述这个故事并创造你的故事是在一个大公司内部的时候更容易，你已经在你身边有他们的界限，你正在研究他们的项目。发现这个故事可能会更困难。我们如何进入公众？我们如何联系我们的消费者？

Amanda[00:21:15]但是我认为如果你能花点时间看看inside and say, OK, I am the consumer, I’m not necessarily just this employee. Right. And and find out what would connect me to this. I think that’s the best thing to do.

凯蒂[00:21:34]One of our clients this reminds me one of our clients from last year is forming a startup around the idea of bringing your soul with you to work.

Amanda[00:21:43]我喜欢那个。

凯蒂[00:21:44]I do, too. I think there’s actually sort of a cultural narrative forming, perhaps not just in Cincinnati, but I hear it in our city, which is I was in a big corporate and my soul went away.

Amanda[00:21:58]That’s me!

凯蒂[00:21:58]So I left. Is it? Yeah. Yeah.

凯蒂[00:22:01]I left in order to pursue my my other passions and and those individuals, often the story is OK. So I founded a startup or consulting company or something like that. But it’d be interesting to see how we can keep trying to even how large companies can continue to remember to put the soul and put empathy in to all that we do and to bring our employees, allow them to bring their lives and their passions with them to work.

Amanda[00:22:31]Well, I I spent 12 years in finance and I had no idea what I wanted to do. But I knew that I was dying inside being there. Like I didn’t belong in the culture. I didn’t fit in that culture. It was not enjoyable to get up and go to work every day. And so I quit. But I didn’t know what my next step was going to be. I was living in San Francisco. I worked for a wonderful company. I made a great paycheck. And it just you get to that point, it’s like I I can not get out of this bed and go to that place again. And I know I have two young daughters and I continually try to instill in them like you can do whatever it is you want to do. Just make sure it’s something that feeds your soul. Because. You know, you’re young and you feel like you have this whole great big life in front of you.

Amanda[00:23:33]But you reach a certain age and realize, dang is a short amount of time, we have to be on this planet and and making sure you spend you know, this is the place you spend the majority of your time.

Amanda[00:23:45]Why be somewhere that sucks. That’s you know, I don’t know how else to put it.

Amanda[00:23:51]I agree. Even if you don’t make the biggest paycheck or or you know that you’re not driving the best car, living in the biggest house. It’s so much better to put your head on your pillow at night and be like. And smile and to know you. You did something that day that whether it impacted other people or just yourself, it it made a difference.

凯蒂[00:24:17]而且我的意思是，不要把这么多的商业叠加在这一点之上，但消费者期望越来越多。And we not only want to bring our souls with us to work, but we also expect that the companies and the brands that we will love and cherish will have will allow us to bring our souls with us to the things that we buy so that there’s transparency around where it’s coming from. Was it ethically sourced? Is it healthy? What are the long term impacts on the environment? How does this you know. Is it evidence based?

Amanda[00:24:48]我们可以在这里超级超级。

Amanda[00:24:50]Yeah, like it affects everything around us.

Amanda [00:24:54]And I used to. Not make fun of it, kind of like, what the heck? What the. The tests. My friends, we go to some corporations to do interviews and they say we had to take a personality test and we had to do this. And and I’m like, well that’s weird. Like, why would you have to do a per-? Like, they’re gonna interview you. They’re gonna talk to you. Right. And and it’s not until I got older at this point in my life that I’m like, really, people were touching on this way back when. You know, like there’s a reason for that. We don’t if you love what you’re doing, if you’re at all passionate about what you’re doing day in and day out at work, you’re going to be a better employee. You’re going to be more productive and efficient. And if you’ve got, you know, a bunch of people with sad mugs on all day and, you know, just sitting at their desk waiting for those moments to tick by, you’re not getting. You don’t have the best workforce.

凯蒂[00:25:52]正确的。是的。如此真实。我认为从区域和经济发展的角度来看，我们看到更多的城市支持创新。在其所有形式中，不仅是在可扩展，可投资的科技界，而且在创造性和生活方式的业务中，我们也看到这是一种趋势，人们想要携带他们的激情。因此，试图创建支持该系统，并授予支持该系统和企业家集线器启动中心的机会，为人们提供合理的地方，以便远程协作和工作。而这些是我知道的事情，因为我试图开始一个创意咨询公司，让那些在地上，我需要那些在没有贫困的情况下成功地做到这一点。

Amanda[00:26:44]Exactly without thinking yourself into debt.

凯蒂[00:26:47]正确的。正确的。是的。是的。

Amanda[00:26:49]It’s nice because you don’t have this whole us and them kind of mentality anymore like it used to be. Oh the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Oh, the corporate lifestyle.

Amanda[00:26:58]And you know, never the two shall meet. But that’s not true anymore. You know, you’ve got the Kroger and P&G doing these great in-house think tanks and and.

凯蒂[00:27:13]And being open to pilots with startups.

Amanda[00:27:15]是的。

凯蒂[00:27:15]也。因为我认为辛辛那提在进入该地区的风险投资量最令人难以置信的增长的地方。And the amount of support for the startup ecosystem has come in to some large degree from the big Co.s in our region saying, yes, we know we need to embrace disruption by collaborating with startups vs. getting disrupted.

Amanda[00:27:41]正确的。是的。I mean, Centrifuge has built quite a presence based on that.

凯蒂[00:27:46]是的。是的。

Amanda[00:27:48]这是我认为这就是让辛辛那提在一个非常嘈杂的，拥挤的人中脱颖而出的东西。

Amanda[00:27:58]And media. Right. I see you have so many stories every day, media stories and coverage on on startup life and innovation and all this. And there are these articles that keep popping up about, you know, what’s happening over here in Cincinnati.

Amanda[00:28:17]是的。好的。

Amanda[00:28:19]I can’t even fly there direct. It’s you know, it’s it is strange.

Amanda[00:28:25]But I think that’s what makes the difference is these key people came in or are like we can do something different here and have just worked at it and kept building that network of people. And, you know, our size is substantial now. And and when you’ve got the universities and your corporations, plus your little tiny, you know, just getting started, students out of out of school all working together. That’s something impressive to talk about.

凯蒂[00:28:55]I love that we’re ending on this note of the importance of community and collective identity because it’s where we started. So where can people find out more about the Blue Manatee Literacy Project?

阿曼达[00:29:07]Bluemanatee.org.

凯蒂[00:29:09]Awesome.

凯蒂[00:29:09]And you can follow them on social media @bluemanateebooks. Amanda and your @ handle is Amanda Kranias?

Amanda[00:29:17]是的。完美的。

凯蒂[00:29:18]So, Amanda, I’m so grateful for this conversation. It’s really inspiring to hear how you have pivoted a few different times in your career and ultimately ended up embracing a one for one social impact mission now. Very cool. Thanks so much.

Amanda[00:29:34]Thanks for having me.

凯蒂[00:29:37]Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. Be sure to follow us on social media and add your voice to the conversation. You can find us at Untold Content.

你可以听更多的剧集Untold Stories of Innovation Podcast.

*Interviews are not endorsements of individuals or businesses.