Welcome to Episode 2 of the Back to the Roots Podcast!
This time, Alejandro flew to Atlanta, Georgia for a behind-the-scenes visit to The Home Depot's Store Support Center. He sits down with Jennifer Wagner, their Director of Culture and Values, for one of the most honest and inspiring conversations we've ever had.
Jennifer has been with The Home Depot for 14 years. She started on the store floor and worked her way into a role dedicated entirely to making sure 500,000 associates feel safe, valued, and part of something bigger than themselves. In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on how one of the world's most iconic companies has kept its culture alive across 2,000+ stores, for nearly 47 years.
🎧 In this episode, you'll hear:
This is a story about doing right by your people and watching everything else follow.
Connect with Jennifer:
Jennifer Wagner's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-wagner-7a14b350/
The Home Depot: https://www.homedepot.com
The Home Depot on Instagram: @homedepot
Connect with Us:
Back to the Roots: https://backtotheroots.com
Alejandro's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandrovelezramirez
Nikhil's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aroranikhil
[00:00:00] Jennifer Wagner: You will have to pry this for my cold dead hands to make me leave here because what they've done for me and my family, I'll never be able to repay. And so if I can do that for anyone, that's what I wanna do. I wanna do this job, and I want people to feel that connection and feel that feeling of someone is there for you. We've got your back.
[00:00:18] Alejandro Velez: Hey guys, this is Alejandro, and this is Nikhil. We're the co-founders of Back To the Roots. This podcast is for you if you are obsessed with entrepreneurship, if you care deeply about a purpose in your brand around sustainability, and if you wanna learn more about how to build a brand in the lawn and garden space from scratch, we built this from $0 out of our fraternity kitchen at Berkeley to over a hundred million dollars of retail sales, and we want to bring on incredible entrepreneurs that can share their story.
[00:00:48] Nikhil Arora: Join us, let's go together.
[00:00:51] Alejandro Velez: Hey everybody, my name is Alejandro Velex. I'm the co-founder, co-CEO of Back to the Roots. And we are here for the Back to Roots podcast. And first tell me, Jennifer, where are we right now? Right this second.
[00:01:06] Jennifer Wagner: So we are in Atlanta, Georgia, a little behind the scenes. Um, we are filming today for a special that we have here that we're doing for the Home Depot and also for the Milken Center, for the American Dream Project.
So we're super excited to have you guys here, but um, we are in our Home Depot studio.
[00:01:22] Alejandro Velez: Hi. So you were at the, and why stepping back for folks who are not in retail, a lot of our community is they're either gardeners themselves or they're fans of entrepreneurship or sustainability. We're at the Home Depot headquarters, and you call it the SSC, what does it stand for and why do you call it that?
[00:01:40] Jennifer Wagner: Yeah, so that stands for Store Support Center.
[00:01:42] Alejandro Velez: Okay.
[00:01:42] Jennifer Wagner: Um, and we call it that because, uh, part of our, in our founders, when they created our company, did two things. One was create our core values, which is right here on our apron. Um, and it's at the heart if you notice that. So the core values are at the heart of our company, but we also focus on the inverted pyramid.
And the inverted pyramid is basically saying that our frontline associates are at the, the top of the pyramid, that's who we are going for. That's who we do everything for, is our customers and our frontline associates, and we support them. So we are the store support center. Um, we do not call ourselves a corporate office.
We don't call ourselves, uh, headquarters. It's SSC or store support.
[00:02:18] Alejandro Velez: I love that. Uh, one of the things, um, about the Home Depot, I mean, I grew up. Just this, I've only worked at this company since I was 20, and so much of the things that I learned was how the Home Depot operates in store and how Thursdays are a time to walk stores.
Mm-hmm. From where, whether you work in stores or not, you're out in stores and doing market tours, and that's, now I've instilled that back to group. So a lot of our team, a lot of our community knows that I'm personally on Thursdays. Do not put any invites or meetings on me because I'm in stores, and it's all because of you. We're we're very much children of these values in this inverted pyramid.
[00:02:58] Jennifer Wagner: I love that.
[00:02:59] Alejandro Velez: Alright, so one thing just also, Jennifer, what is maybe your background, how did you get to be where are you? What's your role? What do you do day to day? Yeah. Tell me a little bit about, gimme your full name too.
[00:03:10] Jennifer Wagner: Uh, so Jennifer Wagner. I've been with the company for 14 years and um, I actually started in stores and, um, before that I was in retail in another industry, completely different industry. And I got the opportunity to come into the Home Depot as a merchandising execution manager, or met as you may be familiar with them. And so that was a great opportunity, just to get in.
Uh, it's always a dream to work in a company of this size and with this brand, um, that we have here, and the reputation that the company has built. So, really a great opportunity. And I worked in District One here in Atlanta. Got the opportunity to come over to the SSE or store support center to support our MET organization.
First, I've been in a ton of strategy and operations roles. This is actually my first go around in hr. So now I'm the director of culture, uh, which has been amazing. I've been in this role for four months, uh, reporting into Crystal Hanlon, our Senior Vice President of Culture and Values, who's been with this company for over 40 years.
So she is an absolute icon to work for, but the opportunity to impact associates on a daily basis and drive the. Things that wanted me to be in this role in the first place. Just, it's amazing.
[00:04:17] Alejandro Velez: I wanna get straight to almost like just, you brought up just the actual department that you're a part of. I mean, that just, that is not normal.
It's not like every company has a culture and engagement department, which, uh, maybe. Before I even start, questions like the last one there is, what is why a culture department, why do y'all have that?
[00:04:38] Jennifer Wagner: It's absolutely a hundred percent who we are as a company. When our founders created this company, they built this company based off of values.
They'd been with previous companies, previous bosses that had done them wrong, if you will, and they instilled. In all of the associates, the set of core values that are so, so important to us, um, we do wear them on our apron every single day. And all of those values drive who we are today. They have not changed since the inception of the company, and I think it's important that it's like part of our day-to-day life here.
But you also find with our associates that it's normally part of their day-to-day life outside of work, too. Um, we have things like entrepreneurial spirit, doing the right thing, giving back, and respect for all people. We want associates who drive those values. Live them as part of their self as well as when they're in stores working the shift here.
Like that's who we are. And I don't think I would still be at this company 14 years later if it wasn't for those values. It's part of the reason I stay here.
[00:05:44] Alejandro Velez: How do you measure success? You asked me that question earlier. You know how I measure success, or am I successful? Let me ask you that question. Are you successful, and how do you measure that within the Home Depot?
[00:05:56] Jennifer Wagner: It can't be just a number with culture, culture is a feeling. And our goal and our mission is to make every associate feel safe and secure. And that's where our associates, our customers, and our communities. And I think that it's super important that we live that every single day. And it help, it helps our decision making every single day to do things that instill that, um, and to measure that success.
I mean, look at the tenure that we have here. In this company, we have people, you've mentioned people, um, who have been here over 30 years. I've been here 14. Crystal has been here over 40. That is what we wanna see. You don't see that a lot in companies now, where people wanna stay and people wanna be a part of a business.
And the reason that a lot of people stay here is because they understand that we're doing the right thing for our associates. We're taking care of our people. And we're part of something bigger. It's not a me mentality, it's a US mentality.
[00:06:48] Alejandro Velez: I recommend y'all read the founding story of the Home Depot.
[00:06:52] Jennifer Wagner: I'm currently re-listening to it right now, actually.
[00:06:54] Alejandro Velez: You are?
[00:06:54] Jennifer Wagner: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[00:06:55] Alejandro Velez: Built from scratch.
[00:06:56] Jennifer Wagner: Built from scratch.
[00:06:57] Alejandro Velez: If you wanna be lazy about it, listen to the Founder podcast, which summarized it, but I think you've gotta listen to it. You've gotta read it. And this company is founded off people who were, in many ways pushed to the side.
They were kind of mm-hmm. Said, you're not, you're you fired. You're not good enough. And it is the entrepreneurial energy that comes to mind. Like if you're actually listening to it right now, uh, maybe as you kind of, I'd love to know how is that culture of entrepreneurship instilled into every single decision that the Home Depot makes today.
[00:07:37] Jennifer Wagner: I mean, it's literally why we're here today. So our founders, Bernie and Arthur, came in, as you mentioned, they had been fired from their most recent jobs. Um, they had no money to their name. They had to gain funding, they had to do all of these things. And entrepreneurial spirit is how they did it. They saw a gap in the market, took a risk, and built this amazing like, look how big this grew.
We started with two stores, now we have over 2000, um, just in the us and it's phenomenal to see the growth and the drive that it took them and all of those associates who were there in the beginning to, to really see the vision of what it could be and make that happen and make it a reality.
And they do that by sparking this entrepreneurial spirit, and this want to be something more. And I think it's really cool to hear it in Bill from scratch because that book was, I don't know, 1999, something like that when it was published. And I could literally take things from that book that are being said right now, and I could repeat them word for word today, and they still remain true.
Not all of it. There are certain things like we don't do wild numbers. We have to do aisle numbers because people use their mobile device to look for items. Right?
[00:08:48] Alejandro Velez: Wait, like, wait, what? What is wild numbers?
[00:08:49] Jennifer Wagner: Uh, aisle numbers. Sorry. Aisle numbers. Aisle numbers. Got it, got it. When people, when people look at aisle numbers, yes, we didn't have aisle numbers. That was a nono in the book, but now we have why.
[00:08:57] Alejandro Velez: Why was it a nono at the time?
[00:08:58] Jennifer Wagner: Because you can, you can point to it and say, Hey, go to this aisle. Um, and they didn't want our associates to do that. They wanted someone to walk them to the aisle, show them the product, talk about it, and engage with the customer.
So, now, obviously customers shop differently, so there are things that we've had to change along the way, but the core values haven't changed, and how we interpret those core values haven't changed. So we have to edit and pivot with the market, with the customer, with the times, with the technology. But we always stay true to who we are deep down.
And I think entrepreneurial spirit is the root of that. It's us saying, we're gonna get scrappy. We're gonna do this stuff. We're gonna figure out a way to pivot to make it work for the environment for our communities. Our customers. And that's like one of the main reasons our company has lasted 46, going on 47 years, is because of entrepreneurial spirit.
[00:09:49] Alejandro Velez: Yeah. And you feel it. I mean, I listening to you and you've been there, you know that Don before 10 years, but you, when you walk stores, and you talk to associates, like there's this, everybody speaks the same language. Uh, and it's pretty rare. It's pretty rare to see that, but. I'm gonna kind of double-click on your comment that you slid past. Sure. Which was I started in stores.
[00:10:15] Jennifer Wagner: Mm-hmm.
[00:10:16] Alejandro Velez: So, kind of walk me through. I wanna know what that first day was like.
[00:10:21] Jennifer Wagner: Uh, oh God. The first day, I was so overwhelmed.
[00:10:28] Alejandro Velez: Uh, first of all, from just which department?
[00:10:28] Jennifer Wagner: Uh, well I was with met, so it's all departments. Right? Okay. So you come in, did you
[00:10:32] Alejandro Velez: So you come in, did you work met for every department?
[00:10:35] Jennifer Wagner: In my district. Yeah. Okay. So, um, I had 10 stores in the district and at the time, met was only, only maybe like two going on, three years old, so it was still new. It didn't have all the, all the vendors that it has now. And we started with maybe 20, 25 people on the team. So, first day I am walking in, and the scale of Home Depot was huge, and the average store is about 75,000 square feet.
So just the mass of everything looking in. I also. I'm young, and I don't know anything about hardware or do it yourself. Um, I had never done anything by myself. I'd always had my dad to do it for me, right? Hmm. So this is the shock of coming in on the first day. But everybody was super welcoming. Everyone was excited to have me there and wanted to know like, where did you come from?
What do you know? What do you not know? I'll never forget. It's, it's very jokey type of, um, environment. And people are, you know, I'd be like, oh, how do we do this? And I would learn things about Home Depot and product specifically from associates, from customers. I remember this one time I had a customer in plumbing.
And he was like, do you know why, um, this tape is marked with blue and this tape is marked with red? And I was like, no, I, I don't know why, why don't, why is it? 'cause he was a plumber, and he was like, oh, well this is for cold water, and this is for hot water. And I went around for probably a week before someone was like, that is not actually true.
It's about the thickness of the tape. So a little trial and error, but it's a fun environment. And again, as overwhelming as it is, it was so exciting.
[00:12:04] Alejandro Velez: Take your work seriously, but not. Yeah, have fun,
[00:12:06] Jennifer Wagner: And have a good time. And the customers have a good time in there. The associates have a good time, and it's about those connections that like I really liked when I was in the store.
I miss being in stores, honestly, one for the steps because you get so many steps in a day, but just the interactions, very large teams, the interactions with customers. It's so nice to be able to help someone solve a problem when they're like, Hey, I kind of wanna do this, but I'm not sure what. What do you think I should get?
Or what type of product do you think would work for this? And then you can be like, Ooh. And you kind of create something together. I like those moments.
[00:12:39] Alejandro Velez: That's so cool. Uh, and I'm gonna fast forward now 14 years. How is that experience in stores relate to what you do today?
[00:12:49] Jennifer Wagner: I think it's important, and it was extremely foundational for me personally, to work in stores and to gain that experience because I definitely know that I think about decision making in a different way because I think about the end customer of who uses it as well as, okay, if I'm next to a customer and I'm trying to explain something, or if I'm at a system and I'm trying to work something, how can I make this easy for the associate?
Who then makes it easy for the customer, right? But when I think about how that impacted how I got here, there's so many steps along the way. I mean, there's leaders who have helped me, there are friends that I have gained through this company that don't even work here anymore, that I'm still friends with.
And the skill sets that I've learned, I can't even fathom. Even my family is like, I don't believe that you do these things. Like that's so crazy that you learn that at work. But the real reason I'm here is because of the culture, specifically. 11 years today, actually. My brother passed away very suddenly, and it was very unexpected.
I'll never forget where I was in this building. I'll never forget the associates who talked to me and kind of calmed me down. They offered to drive me home 'cause I was crying and that action that people took to support me and my family is phenomenal. So I don't know if you're familiar with the Homer Fund, but the Homer Fund is our associate-driven nonprofit that helps associates in times of need.
The Homer Fund fully funded my brother's funeral, and I don't know of another company that would do those types of things for. Associate. And not only that, but it's your fellow associates who you know, pass the hat, and give money. It's the Homer Fund matching grant. It's all of those things. And when they come together, you just build this culture that I can't fathom leaving.
Like I can't. You'll have to pry this for my cold dead hands to make me leave here because what they've done for me and my family, I'll never be able to repay. And so if I can do that for anyone. That's what I wanna do. I want to do this job, and I want people to feel that connection and feel that feeling of someone is there for you.
We've got your back, like we're here for you. And if you're in an apron, you're one of us.
[00:14:57] Alejandro Velez: Wow. Um, I take this in so many ways, our community is used to hearing back to the roots. Talk about mission values. Yeah. And sustainability. Things we care about. But to hear it come from, I mean, just what you just shared and, and, and have it be part of the Home Depot, this massive organization that is so powerful, so unique, and because it's taking common sense, but at massive scale, that is so hard to do, to just do the right thing because it's the right thing.
[00:15:37] Jennifer Wagner: Doesn't sound hard, right? Doing the right thing doesn't sound hard. It doesn't sound hard, but it's every associate doing it on a daily basis. It's those small, small moments that you have no idea may impact someone in a way that could change their whole trajectory, could change their career, could change their personal life, could change.
Anything about them, but it's those really small moments that you have no idea that you're, you're making an impact. And so every moment matters.
[00:16:00] Alejandro Velez: You're listening to, obviously, as a co-founder, I'm absorbing and learning so much about how the Home Depot operates hundreds of thousands of associates. Now.
Today, we're a much smaller company. Our community's much smaller. But there's so many themes that just continuously kind of brings me back to, we are such a child of the, and the a byproduct of that spirit that the Home Depot has and it spreads across beyond just the associates. It spreads to how your partners talk, walk, and interact, and how we treat our team.
[00:16:40] Jennifer Wagner: Mm-hmm.
[00:16:40] Alejandro Velez: Um. That's so cool.
[00:16:42] Jennifer Wagner: Yeah. I loved in your interview for the, um, that you just completed, you talked a lot about like, I learned this from an associate, and now I go into stores, and I do this type of thing, and like it's a learned behavior, but not really because that's kind of who you are as a person.
Right. But like it instilled it further that like, this is how it works for Home Depot. It can work for other companies.
[00:17:05] Alejandro Velez: Yes. I, and this is, uh, nicely, this is our podcast. So this is, I can say this for my podcast and, but obviously this is, will be y'all look at, but I, I'm so much about the people around me, and so as I think about it, I'm one piece of Back to the Roots, right?
But I started this at 20 meeting so many, and I met so many of the depot associates around.
[00:17:28] Jennifer Wagner: Which is phenomenal by the way that you started this at [00:17:30] such a young age like this is, that's amazing.
[00:17:32] Alejandro Velez: I, well, and I, if I was, I feel like if I'm surrounded by bad people, I would feel I would become a worse person.
[00:17:39] Jennifer Wagner: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:40] Alejandro Velez: So the fact that I'm in stores with people who [00:17:45] just think with just values first every day, and that just gets. Part of my DNA and how we operate. And it's like, well, of course that's how you do business. Just 'cause that's what the Home Depot does. Yeah. And that's what, that's how we should operate.
And then that becomes the norm for us. So I don't have anything else to look up to or look at. So, so it makes it, so, of course, we operate this way, but like even, there's so many things that, um. Y'all do that just is natural for my team that think like, oh, well this is Alejandro and Nikhil because of Housley nos, because we just were in stores nonstop and would just get I picked it up.
That's how I picked it up. Exactly. So, um, you know, and people like who don't understand, and this is kind of getting into the weeds, into retail, kind of retail. Yes. It's about, you know, you get to. Have products and you know, put them under four walls and digitally, but there's so much more going on behind the scenes.
[00:18:44] Jennifer Wagner: Mm-hmm.
[00:18:44] Alejandro Velez: Uh, and I'm such a believer in capitalism. I talked about it earlier that it's a way not, uh, I always hated how Google, at first would say, make money and don't do harm, is when I kind of, those our values. And I feel like, I'm like, no. I'm like, I think you should. You know, make money and do good. Like, I think it's a requirement for companies to do that.
And maybe it's me talking because I've grown up under the Home Depot, so maybe share examples in which the Home Depot has made money and done. Good.
[00:19:21] Jennifer Wagner: Yeah. As I said, it's not just about the numbers; it's not about the sales transactions. Um, one thing in the culture and value spectrum and organization is that we have the Homer Fund and the Home Depot Foundation, which I know you've been a part of our foundation events, which are absolutely phenomenal events, and we'd love to get back. It's again, part of our core values, but. It makes it tangible. It makes it actionable for associates.
[00:19:44] Alejandro Velez: Can you tell me a little about the Homer Fund, just in more detail on how an associate would apply for this?
[00:19:48] Jennifer Wagner: Oh yeah. It's super easy to apply, honestly. Um, when something happens, let's say you. Your HVAC goes out and, um, you can't afford to replace it, but you need the HVAC because you live in the south and you've got your elderly parents who live with you.
And so an immediate replacement is, is needed, right? So there's a couple different ways that we can do it. We can do what we call a pass-the-hat or an associate donation. Direct donation, which is when you're friends in your store or people that you know. Give money, and it goes to that cause. But we also do what's called a matching grant, and they can apply through the Homer fund to match the same dollar amount that the associates gifted.
Um, and then Home Depot will donate that as well. So we also do a direct, um, donation, which is when we just, you apply, and we send a direct donation without the additional associate, um, engagement.
[00:20:40] Alejandro Velez: And is there a limit every year to how this is done?
[00:20:43] Jennifer Wagner: Nope. Um, it is all self-funded though, so, um, all of the associates, uh, like personally, I do a payroll donation.
[00:20:52] Alejandro Velez: But you can do a, so you give part of your?
[00:20:53] Jennifer Wagner: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I give part of mine.
[00:20:57] Alejandro Velez: Are you the only person at all the Home Depot that does this?
[00:20:58] Jennifer Wagner: No. I hope, I wish I could say all 500,000, um, but we hire new people every single day. Right. So, but um, in orientation, we talk about this and talk about how it helps people, and it's super easy.
We have a QR code that you can scan, and you can do a payroll donation from anywhere from $1. So it can be less than a coffee, less than a bus fare, um, for you to do this. And the amount that it helps associates is just absolutely phenomenal. And I think when people see an example of this, it really inspires them to want to participate in the Homer Fund.
We also are currently just this week launched our Orange at Heart campaign which is, um, us talking about Homer Fund all throughout the month. We do posts, we do, uh, videos, and we talk about how the Homer fund helps associates to really get the message out there.
[00:21:44] Alejandro Velez: Is that because a lot of associates don't even know you have a homer fund?
[00:21:46] Jennifer Wagner: Some, some they normally know we have Homer fund, but do they see the impact? And you never know what's gonna touch somebody and inspire them to do something. So it's nice to highlight. Specific stories. Um, but it's also again, a time for us to just collectively come in and say, Hey, what can we do for the Homer Fund?
Um, so again, we do the videos, we have merchandise that associates can buy that says Homer Fund on it through.
[00:22:10] Alejandro Velez: And that goes towards the fund.
[00:22:11] Jennifer Wagner: Goes towards the fund. Yeah. And so again, it's all self-funded for us to be able to do this, and our founders set that up years ago and we've just continued to expand on that every year.
[00:22:20] Alejandro Velez: I think I like back to the res needs.
[00:22:23] Jennifer Wagner: You should.
[00:22:23] Alejandro Velez: Yeah, we do need to do this now. I'm gonna have to look into this right after, like love it. Culture is easy to talk about, but hard to operationalize. What does culture actually look like in action inside a store?
[00:22:36] Jennifer Wagner: Culture is alive in stores. I, I, again, you just get a vibe when you go into a store, and I love that, but it's stuff that you see every single day.
So we talk about a Team Depot event, a foundation event. I think that. When you talk about it being alive, it's the small things that we do that we don't talk about. Home Depot doesn't really talk about a lot of the really good things that we do for our communities and for our associates and our customers, but it's those moments that really make a difference.
We stand up, we show up, we give our time, we give our resources for disaster relief, for foundation events, for our charitable groups with veterans, and things along those lines. Like we're, we wanna be there. Um, we just don't normally advertise it a lot, but we do talk about it a lot internally for us to be able to support our communities. And it's such an important part of who we are in the center of who we are.
[00:23:30] Alejandro Velez: I mean, as I even talked to you, there's things I learned. Here right now. And I've been working with you for over a decade and I'm, I feel so fortunate that you get to share this. And, part of me is because it increases the responsibility for us as vendors.
Like I want everybody to listen to this and realize that these are the type, this is the partner that you're with. And selling a product is just one piece mm-hmm. Of working with the Home Depot, and you've gotta keep stepping up. So I feel like this is, uh. It's a call to action, what The Home Depot does and how, how it brings products to shelves.
It's so much more than just selling a product. I got this as two final questions. Sure. For a young associate working a shift today, what's possible for them inside this organization?
[00:24:19] Jennifer Wagner: So if you are a young associate working at the Home Depot right now, I want you to know literally anything is possible. I did not think I would be here 14 years later.
I am sure that my boss, Crystal Hanlon, would say that she was not sure she would be here 40 years later. You can turn this into an entire career. You can go up the ladder. You can go across the ladder, you can do whatever you wanna do. We have different organizations for people with different interests, merchandising, asset protection, hr, and literally all of that is open to you, and all you have to do is reach out and grab it.
You've gotta want the wanna do the things. You've gotta have the drive. You gotta work on your self-development. You've gotta ask for help when you need help, but it is an endless opportunity for you to go out and do whatever you want within this company.
And our founders knew that. Our leadership team knows that. And when you do it. Bring someone with you. Tell your story. Tell someone else how you did it so you can help future generations stay here for 14 years, for 40 years. Because without knowing that it's possible, you will think that this is just a job and not a career, and not a life experience that you can gain
[00:25:33] Alejandro Velez: Amazing advice. So, I mean, why part of here I was, I was interviewed by your team about
[00:25:43] Jennifer Wagner: Yes.
[00:25:43] Alejandro Velez: My story with Back to the Roots.
[00:25:46] Jennifer Wagner: It was beautiful, by the way. You did a great job.
[00:25:47] Alejandro Velez: Thank you. And hearing you talk about that is, there's so much similarity in like the idea that if you don't, if you're not present in your work, then you don't realize the incredible opportunities in front of you.
Mm-hmm. And coming here as an immigrant. The difference of opportunity, this is like a kid in a candy store, and the Home Depot is the absolute best. Amongst the best already. So I love that. And maybe the last, absolute last question, you're talking to a, a founder who's kind of gave up everything and had no clue what, what, what he was doing.
You've got a lot of folks, associates today who say, I wanna actually start my own company and sell into the Home Depot. In the future, I'll have, you have different customers who are walking in and wanna sell of the Home Depot, what advice do you have for other founders, entrepreneurs, startups of particular around how and why build a culture in a company?
[00:26:53] Jennifer Wagner: I mean. As I mentioned, the Built from Scratch book, which is the book that our founders wrote, they talk about the entrepreneurial spirit of what they did and why they wanted to do it so bad when they saw that gap. I actually just asked my team this the other day when we were, we were having lunch together, and I said, you know, what's one thing you wish you could've created in your lifetime that like.
You would've been able to retire on mine, unfortunately, is gel polish for nails. So, not related to home improvement, but everybody has a problem. And the same thing with Back to the Roots. You saw an opportunity, you saw that people needed a sustainable way to have seeds and food and soils and things like that.
It's great for the inner city, so you can do this in your home, um, not a, not just in a garden. And so you saw this opportunity, and you took advantage of that. Which is what everyone should do. That entrepreneurial spirit is super important, but I think that when you bring it back to the core values of how you're doing it.
All this stuff is gonna change. Customer base is gonna change. You're gonna expand from one store to 2000 stores, but you can't change. You've gotta stick true to who you are. You have to stay true to your values, so your associates and your customers know who you are. That's how you build brand trust.
That's how you build brand loyalty, is because they know what to expect from you. And our core values drive us to be who we are every single day. And if we were to falter on those, we would lose some of that brand trust and brand loyalty. I believe if we didn't do that, and I think that as an entrepreneur, as a CEO of a company, as a growing company, that's something you have to decide early on is who do I wanna be and how am I gonna maintain that person?
[00:28:30] Alejandro Velez: Yeah. It's a world that is always changing, so there's this really important piece that needs to be protected and that, mm-hmm.
[00:28:38] Jennifer Wagner: That's the values.
[00:28:38] Alejandro Velez: Something that should never change, and that is what, what brings you all together. Any final thoughts? No comments.
[00:28:45] Jennifer Wagner: Uh, like I said, I really appreciate you coming here today, coming to Atlanta to do this interview for the Milken Center for, um, our Home Depot Associates as well.
And for asking me these questions. I think, again, sharing stories is how people realize that you can do something differently and how you can change your trajectory. And so I appreciate the questions that you asked, the thoughtfulness that went into that, so thank you so much.