The 25th annual Bigelow Tea Community was held this past Sunday at Wakeman’s Boys and Girls Club in Southport.

For a few days before, the weather was looking very unfriendly. The preregistration numbers were slightly down and I was uncertain as to what would be the outcome of this day that has been the focus of a lot of people’s efforts in this company for almost a year! So as it got closer, I just kept my fingers crossed. Well, as fate would have it, that morning turned out to be a runner’s dream…little overcast, not too hot but no chance of rain. As the day progressed, the sun kept shining down on us!

The numbers dramatically moved from “a little light” a few days before to our best race ever.

The money raised was the largest amount ever!

And the community support was clearly the most ever.

We had two outstanding proclamations given to us both claiming this past Sunday as the Bigelow Community Challenge Day. Both the city of Bridgeport (presented by Mayor Finch of Bridgeport) and also for the state (sent to us from Governor Malloy) each gave us a proclamation. We had all walks of life there, spanning many generations. We even had a dog in the race wearing one of our T-Shirts. The comments from the participants when we finished the event will linger in my mind for a long time…people in our community just love this special event.  The race committee was proud, the Mayor who read the proclamation was proud, the members of our community that participated were proud and so was I.

A reporter asked me that day, “Did you ever imagine this event would grow to the size it is today?”

I thought about it for a while then turned to him and said, “You know, when we started this race 25 years ago, we just wanted to do something for the community. We raised $3000 and had 50 participants, mostly from our company. And from there, we just wanted to continue to do good work. So that has been our focus, how can we do it better each year? What more can we do to make this event special? And it was in pursuing those answers that this race continued to grow. That philosophy has served me well my entire life, just do the right thing and good things will follow.”

The reporter nodded his head and smiled. What more can I say?

Cindi Bigelow
President

Wow an amazing evening!  A couple of nights ago we had our 25th Bigelow Tea Community Challenge Sponsor Party where close to twenty of our sponsors and nine of the charities we support attended. It was two beautiful hours together honoring the great work that the charities do as well as the wonderful generosity of our sponsors.

What really struck me during the event was how blessed I am to be able to do what all of us at Bigelow love doing and that is giving back. I have an amazing race committee, extremely supportive sponsors and truly appreciative nonprofits, a real trifecta.

The 5k Road Race, 2-Mile Fitness Walk and Kids’ Fun Run is going to be this Sunday, rain or shine.  Whatever the weather, in my opinion the 25th annual Bigelow Tea Community Challenge is already a huge success just based on my experiences at the sponsor party. I really can’t thank all the people enough in my life that make this event happen, I really am lucky, wow!

To get a glimpse of what I am talking about for the actual event, check out this video and enjoy!

Cindi Bigelow

SO EXCITED…we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year of holding the Bigelow Tea Community Challenge. This little race began on September 10, 1988 ( yes, my wedding day) and it was about 50 people (made up of all Bigelow employees with a few friends). I remember I blew the whistle then turneded around and ran in the race (my first and only road race I ran in). It was so special. All the proceeds, which was about $3000, went to the Norwalk High School. We created a scholarship for an employee’s son who had died a few months earlier in a car accident (the young man, Dave, went to Norwalk HS).

Today, we have raised over $100,000 and we have almost 1200 people participate-it is truly a family affair. I love this day-rain or shine. So many people smiling away, enjoying themselves and doing good things for their body and spirit.

Oh yeah, here comes the 25th Challenge: who could have imagined this many years later, that that little race we started so many years ago would be what it is today! Brings a big smile to my face!

Cindi Bigelow

Good to be home…but oh what a moving week I just had!

Just got back from an amazing week down in Johnson City, TN. Wow-I was with 70 outstanding humans in VERY warm conditions. We were part of a group from our area in Connecticut (actually 210 of us in total) that goes into the Appalachian mountains the end of June every year and works on homes. The conditions this year were challenging and the job was a little more difficult than usual but it did not stop my team of two other adult advisor, Barbara and Brendan, and 5 super hero high schools kids, Tommy,  Sarah, Sarah, Dan and Kimber.

We stayed at a church and each morning headed out around 9 (woke up at 6:40 to load up the vans with supplies) and worked on a home till about 4 ish. We had many laughs, lots of tears (of love and compassion) and worked hard to help this little home and wonderful couple get a “to a better place.” Often we were working in temperatures that was close to 100 degrees. But we did not care…we were excited to get things done!

The improvement to the home was solid but what made the trip extraordinary was the connection to the family. This couple who owned the home really bonded with the team-we had some very meaningful conversations and lots of laughs (and of course lots of tears too). When the week was finally over, we loaded up our vans to come home on Saturday and drove back to our sweet hometown. It was wonderful to be back but we also carry a sadness with us-we miss each other and we miss our family in Appalachia.

It is a week than transforms you, and it is not easy to transition back. But I am so delighted to have gone and made the connections I made. I am already gearing up for next year…got to go…time to make some more teabags and carry around a smile on my face with the thoughts of my experience from  last week.

Cindi Bigelow

Next For Women, the online community of vibrant professional women that is consistently on the lookout for entrepreneurs and businesswomen with abundant experience to offer, recently tapped into our own Cindi Bigelow for advice.

The organization, which provides women with timely advice and subject matter to help them learn, connect, and grow in their professional lives, interviewed Cindi and is sharing segments of the interview throughout the year. Three videos have been released to date with more to follow.

In NEXT’s first video, A History with Tea, Cindi recalls how she got involved in Bigelow Tea. She talks about how coming home to a house full of teacups and people tasting tea influenced her… and how she “always wanted to run Bigelow Tea.”

In this second clip, Do What You Do Well, Cindi talks about the importance of finding and using your particular “skill set.”  She advises women to figure out what they bring to the table and to use those skills “to round out the team and move the team forward.”

The third video in this series, What We Need To Succeed, Cindi encourages patience.  Education and the development of skill sets matter but, like fine wine, you can’t truly lead effectively until you combine all elements with time.

NEXT For Women will continue to publish additional segments of their interview with Cindi. We hope you’ll take the opportunity to watch these … and stay tuned for more to come!

Wow…Housatonic Community College just honored me for my support of the school and its fine work.  They brought me a “Beacon” award which was truly a surprise. It is easy to be a supporter of such a needed and worthy institute like HCC which services over 6,000 students a year. As we all read about often, the demand is increasing threefold for reasonably-priced education and HCC does a great job in all departments.

Geez, I received the Beacon award but Housatonic Community College are the true beacons for the students of Bridgeport and the surrounding area.

Photo from left to right is Bigelow Chief Financial Officer Don Janezic, Bigelow Tea President Cindi Bigelow, Housatonic Community College President Anita T. Gliniecki and Director of Institutional Advancement & Executive Director for the HCC Foundation Christopher R. Carollo.

Cindi Bigelow

I just love the people I work with-walked into our cafeteria this morning and what did I see? …a very loud orange color outfit enrobing this wonderful person who I work with!  I felt compelled to then place our fantastic Pumpkin Spice tea in front of him and snap a photo-hope it brings a smile to your face, it certainly did mine…..

Cindi Bigelow

What a wonderful treat….Governor Dan Malloy came out to visit Bigelow Tea!  We had invited him to our facility a few weeks ago while he was speaking at the train station opening next door.  He graciously agreed and stopped by for over an hour to meet all of the employees, tour the facility and get to know more about our family and our tea company.

Both Governor Malloy and his wife are tea fans (she drinks “Constant Comment”), which we were excited to hear about.

The Governor could not have been kinder to all of our employees who quickly lined up to shake his hand and take a photo or two!  It was really important for him to take the time to learn more about our organization and some of our issues as a manufacturer in Connecticut. Gov. Malloy quickly understood we love this state and are very committed to being here.

It was a great visit and he left with a lovely bag of Bigelow Tea which he will be able to share with his staff back up in Hartford!

Cindi Bigelow

I spoke at the Collegeof New Rochelle where I was invited to be part of a panel put on by the Westfair Communications.

This was the third year they had a one hour panel discussions with professional women from Fairfield and Westchester Counties.  Almost 300 women attended and the panel, in which I was a part of, could not have been more impressive (that does not mean I am including myself in the impressive part).  Questions were raised about what young women need today to increase their chance of success in the work place, how do we balance family and business, how to deal with being assertive versus “too aggressive”-you name it, we were asked the questions.

And it was so much fun.  I absolutely loved the answers that the other panelist shared with the room.  We were even asked questions that had us asking ourselves questions we had never thought of before, so we had to really dig down deep to think about “why”-very thought provoking.

It was a great hour, fast paced and extremely rewarding for me.  Glad they asked me to be a part of it!

Cindi Bigelow

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