Awesome time at Okemo skiing last weekend with three lovely ladies from Fairfield Warde High School (daughters of my friends) Darci, Beca and Sophia. Oh and look what they are drinking….it’s Bigelow’s I Love Lemon.  Oh yes it was a good day!!!

Cindi Bigelow

What a crazy hour! I just held my first Facebook LIVE chat and it was really fun.  I could not type fast enough.

I thought our Facebook friends were so kind and came to our chat with very good questions.  We actually had five of us on the Bigelow team working non stop to make sure I was able to answer everyone: if I didn’t have an answer at my finger tips, we had a person going to the appropriate company personnel to get the right answer, we had individuals checking to see how many people were asking questions and directing me where to go (it is hard to go in order but we tried), and we had someone checking all my responses for spelling errors…it was like this amazing swat team!

Wow that was crazy….I can’t wait to do it again!

Cindi Bigelow

I am so excited to share with you that we have been fortunate enough to win the Connecticut Green Coast Award for the fourth year in a row.  Clearly our ability to win this award is based on the unwavering commitment of each and every one of our employees.  It is because of them we have done things such as saved 1.9 million kWh of electricity since 2005, saving 100,000 gallons of water annually and are currently reducing our solid waste by 5 tons per month all just from our Connecticut facility.  I am delighted to say that similar work is being done by our employees in Boise and Louisville.

I have a great team, and winning this award reinforces all of their great work and commitment to the environment. Great job Fairfield, the award is well deserved.

Cindi Bigelow

David Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Chris Evert join Cindi Bigelow at Sports Illustrated 2011 Sportsman of the Year Awards

"Big Papi" (David Ortiz) with Cindi Bigelow

I was so excited to be able to attend the Sports Illustrated Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year event in NYC Tuesday night.  I met incredible athletes including Chris Evert, Sugar Ray Leonard, David Robinson, Wayne Gretzky, and David Ortiz (Big Papi).

I was honored to be in the presence of this year’s honorees, Pat Summit and Mike Krzyzewski.  Their acceptance speeches captivated the entire audience as they reflected on their life journeys and spoke about commitment and dedication to the principals of teamship and excellence. Most important was that they honored the players they met and worked with throughout their careers.

I’d like to extend my heartiest congratulations to Coach Summit and Coach Krzyzewski!

Cindi Bigelow

What a beautiful Saturday morning yesterday was.  We decorated Bigelow Tea to look like the “North Pole” and invited all of the employees to bring their children and grandchildren for a festive event.  Great food, a very funny magician, and of course a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus-it was absolutely wonderful!  The kid’s huge smiles and the parents’ and grandparents’ overwhelming joy was what the holidays are all about.

We have a team at Bigelow Tea that takes months to plan this day and what was so fantastic was I wasn’t sure who was more delighted with the morning, the North Pole team or the little children!  It was a the perfect way to start the holiday season….HO HO HO

Cindi Bigelow

What a great day!  Avon Old Farm, a very prestigious private boys school, sent eighteen young men to visit Bigelow Tea. The boys from the Entrepreneurial club from the school took one of their vacation days to see our facility (are you kidding me!).

My father graduated from Avon many years ago and has a wonderful relationship with the school to this day. Last year the school awarded him the Avon Old Farm Alumni award for his contributions to society.  At that time, my father invited the club to come down to Fairfield, CT for a visit.  Today was the day…and what a day it was.

These young adults were very impressive on so many levels.  Their engagement, thoughtful questions and overall curiosity in how to run a successful and ethical business was enlightening.  Each student was eager to learn and genuinely interested in how my father and our family run this organization. We showed them the production floor, the teabag machines hard at work, and the blending operation.  We educated them on tea, had them drink different tea products and shared our sustainability efforts.

I cannot tell you how fantastic those high school boys were on their four hour tour and presentation.  Their bright eyes and inquisitive minds really reassured me; if this is the generation which we will depend on in the future, we are in good hands.  No, let me rephrase that, we are in GREAT hands.

Thank you Avon for a field trip we will all remember!

Cindi Bigelow

Additional note: Daniel Seiden, Director of Annual Giving at Avon Old Farms School, shared a link with us from the entirely student run and very popular blog, Avon Record.  Mr. Seiden says, “The boys are still raving about the field trip to Bigelow Tea and the Entrepreneur Club has quickly become one of the coolest groups on campus thanks to all the “Bigelow Buzz.”

Thanks once again.  It was a very positive day all around and Avon is quite the school!  Cindi Bigelow

From my home to yours, wishing you a warm and happy Thanksgiving!

Cindi Bigelow

Yesterday I spent the day with my team helping the Kennedy Center maintain one of their sixteen residential homes.  The Kennedy Center is a wonderful Connecticut based organization that supports individuals with special needs.  It allows those in the program to have a permanent residence which gives them a chance to create a life for themselves with a real sense of independence.

This is the second year in a row that our team was part of the “adopt a home” program.  Basically that means that we are assigned a home to which we, “do whatever the house needs.”  This year it was all outside upkeep.  Well we were a lot dirtier, our backs quite sore and we had a few scraps on our bodies, but we all came back to the office around 3:30 with huge smiles.

The sense of accomplishment was apparent in each and every one of my teammates.  It was truly enjoyable to have a day of simply using your hands to make a difference for the residents of this fine program.  The project ended up working out just super.  The yard looked quite spiffy if I must say so myself!  Great job team and what a joy to be able to work with each of you in that capacity.

Very fun and for a great cause.

Cindi Bigelow

It was an honor to spend two hours on the stage with Laura Sen, CEO of BJ’s, Paula Price, VP and CFO Ahold, Ken Romanzi, COO of Ocean Spray.  Kim Zilliox was the panel moderator and I have to say was brilliant at it!  The audience was completely engaged and asked some superb questions when Kim finished her line of questions.

The event was held in Newton, Mass. and the drive up and back was crystal clear.  The energy in the room was upbeat and the panel had fun playing off each other.  It was a great day that I know I will remember for a long time.  I hope the audience picked up some interesting and valuable concepts that they can apply to their business lives that will indeed make a difference.  From the people I talked to afterwards, I think we might have just done that…that is good!

Cindi Bigelow

How exciting to get a visit today from radio WICC 600’s Tony Reno and Alissa Balouskas who toured the Bigelow Tea Headquarters for part of Tony’s Town Tour series. What a treat!

As everyone in the Greater Bridgeport, CT area knows, Tony hosts Tony & Mike in the Morning with Mike Bellamy and the Italian House Party on AM Radio 660

Great guy!  Great shows!!

You can listen in every Monday through Friday from 5-10am, on Sundays from 9am-2pm or visit Tony’s Town Tour at wicc600.com.

Cindi Bigelow