Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristi Pastore.
Kristi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story is about work. I figured out early on that work was not an option for me, it was required to survive. I learned that more often than not work is hard. Most importantly I discovered that if I worked hard towards a plan, that it would pay off in more ways than I could ever have imagined.
The value of work ethic comes from my mom. She was co-owner of a weed control company and I watched her work her ass off, building that business, but always working 2-3 jobs at once in order to provide my brother and me everything she possibly could.
I grew up on 80 acres in Northern California and where I helped tend to the farmland. We had a virtual neighborhood on our property that consisted of chickens, ducks, a horse, go-carts, motorcycles, ponds, a garden, lots of forts, and, at one point a pack of 25 dogs. I loved how I grew up and appreciate everything it taught me… the importance of hard work, the value of that type of lifestyle, and unforgettable memories.
At 13 years old, I started selling oranges at the swap meet… and that was it. I entered the workforce. In short order I was cleaning houses, flipping burgers at Carl’s Jr, making Subway sandwiches, running a video rental store, waitressing, making computer chips, served on a hazmat team, held numerous sale positions, hired as a U-Haul reservation manager, tended bar, guiding model home tours, a facilities manager, a receptionist, a financial services marketing rep, a financial services assistant, in accounting, management and operations… to name just a few.
I am passionate about HR and Organizational Development which is crazy, because, it was almost happenstance on how that came to be. While working in a marketing role in financial services I earned my insurance license only to realize, very quickly, that it was not for me. I loved the marketing aspect but wasn’t passionate about the product. When I went to HR to submit my resignation, the VP of HR hired me on the spot and went on to mentor me for the next several years.
While working, I attended college for 11 years which results in earning my BA. In addition, I had enough credits to be a double major. Graduation day was especially moving for those close to me as I was the first in my family to get a college degree.
I went on to earn an MS in Human Resources which was super fun because I met so many cool professionals. By the way – just to keep things interesting – I pursued my MS while pregnant. The Organizational Leadership and Organizational Development classes were my favorite and brought it all together for me. Everything that made sense in my head was actually a thing and could be taught!
The most impactful courses I studied in the last 10 years were around Emotional Intelligence. It has literally changed my life and acts as a continuous improvement plan that provides awareness and gives perspective. Emotional Intelligence has been a great foundation in my journey to co-found Equal Parts. Successfully leading the San Diego branch of a publicly traded management consulting company was the last position I held before Equal Parts where I worked with Michael Valenzano, my future co-founder.
There is no way in hell I would have taken the leap of entrepreneur faith without Michael. He really helped me recognize that I wasn’t fired up anymore with what I was doing. I am an all or nothing type of chick that once that condition was uncovered, I would stop at nothing to figure out a better path forward. I realized my personal and professional values were misaligned. Bottom line is that I realized I could have it all. I wanted value alignment, happiness, and the life I have always envisioned.
After I figured that out, my life journey became exciting again. I am forever grateful for every company and every person that took a chance on me and provided me with the opportunities, training ground, and experiences I have had. I wouldn’t change a thing!
But I come from a family of small business owners and I truly believe my whole work and life journey (so far) got me to where I’m at, and it finally feels like it’s where I’m exactly meant to be.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? Hell no. Who likes smooth? Smooth is boring! Honestly, I don’t put many expectations into how the journey goes but I do put a lot of thought into what client success and/or endgame should look like. Ironically, most of the pressure right now is self-generated based on the fact that Michael and I have high expectations and hold ourselves to the highest of standards.
The Equal Parts journey has been scary, exciting, fun, exhausting, rewarding, humbling, and totally worth every second. I think the biggest struggles have been on a personal level. Fear was one of my bigger struggles. Even though I love overcoming obstacles, I had to overcome the fear of how this journey may impact my lifestyle and my family.
In our first year as a business, I was fortunate that Michael often reminded me that everyone around us did it, so why couldn’t we. It was really scary… I mean, who leaves something good to go do something so crazy… at 40 no less! I’ve always been a believer in conquering your fears and overcoming obstacles, but I honestly don’t know if I could have overcome this one without the support and encouragement of many family and friends.
Not surprisingly, one of the bigger struggles was around money! It’s not every day you resign from a decent income generating position, take out a 401k loan, and watch your husband offer to sell his beloved 1974 Chevy Nova. In the end, we did it all as a way to survive the first 6 months with no income. It was a big delta from where we were to where we needed to be. We got through it by keeping the lines of communication open.
We talked a lot and prepared for it but, truth be told, the struggle still existed. Talking about it up front helped during the struggles because then we weren’t surprised by issues that popped up that we had predicted might happen.
An ongoing struggle, that I may never overcome is a life-work balance. I love working in the business – and sometimes my laser focus can make it all-consuming. I have taken steps, however. I have acknowledged this struggle, continue to learn, and am constantly thinking of new techniques to balance my work and family life. I used to practice extreme compartmentalization and time blocking but I’m getting better at just figuring out how to balance it all. I still use timers a lot at home so I can work in spurts and disconnect for a family time. I also love doing split shifts in my long days so I disconnect for a couple hours to have family time.
The problem I need to overcome is that as I get better, more efficient, and work smarter at one thing, I’m tempted to use this “extra time” on other work items. In times like this, I consult with my mom and grandpa’s belief that “you can sleep when you’re dead.” So yes, definitely a struggle for me but I’m also learning that my family actually likes the work side of me and hearing about things.
All things considered, I am very proud of the working mom that I have become. We talk about working hard and playing hard a lot. More importantly, we are not just talking about it, we are living it. I’m very excited that my seven-year-old son is getting old enough to where I can start teaching him about business, the value of hard work, and the importance of work-life balance. If you have the optimism, faith and hope during struggles you can overcome them a lot quicker and more successfully.
Sometimes shit sucks at the moment and I struggle to find the reason why but then I remind myself that shit always works out the way it’s supposed to. Everything happens for a reason so when something goes south, stay adaptable, flexible and get creative.
Kristi Pastore – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
When I was bartending, I asked the owner if instead of a regular hourly wage I could collect my earnings as a running beer tab for my family and friends when they came in to visit. I was young at the time and just wanted to make my tips and drink beer with my friends, on the job. I did that for 3 years as a night job. I walked home or stumbled some nights. It was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. When I moved on I never filed wage and hour complaint, I never sued for overtime, nor filed a workers comp claim.
The owner of the bar and I are still friends to this day and when I worked there he trusted me, supported me, and took care of me. That’s the culture I wanted and needed. When values and culture are aligned between an individual and company, you have a lot better chance of surviving as an Employer, and more than likely you will have a super engaged and happy workforce. That’s a win-win! So, what’s my point? My point is that while times have changed, and laws have evolved the value of cultural alignment between a company and their workforce is still just as important.
That is what sets Equal Parts apart. We all geek out on HR but what truly differentiates us is that we believe HR is more than a paper trail and it really only works well through alignment between Culture and Operations. Everyone on our team is passionate about HR, Culture, Operations, Recruiting, People and Processes. That’s our jam and that’s what makes us Culture Operations Specialists. We view HR as a resource, a partner, a development team who specialize in people and processes. We’re not the service department here to clean up. We are HR professionals that truly understand the impact a positive culture, engaged leadership team, and efficient operations have on the overall company and team success.
As Culture Operations Specialists, we partner with stakeholders, supervisors, managers, leaders and owners. We don’t come to service the dirty work, we come to help operationalize a company’s culture. We integrate and invest, hands-on, into each and every company, like a true partner and resource would. We partner with leaders to build strong teams, in an effort to protect the company’s goals and purpose. While we have set standards for, and practice, quality service and responsiveness, we provide more of a support system, resource, partner approach with a culture-operations focus.
Every team member is a culture operations specialist in their role which means they take the company’s vision and operationalize through culture, Leadership Teams, HR and Operations Infrastructure, Training and Development and Recruiting efforts and strategies.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least about our city?
Definitely the weather and the Mexican food. Oh, and Fishing because my husband brings home the best grub! I love all the stuff there is to do… we have endless activities and places to go. Most importantly, I love the people… it’s not stuffy, not too corporate, it’s more chill for a big city. As big of a city it is, the business community is small and pretty connected.
What I like least… housing prices! I’m waiting for the successes to pay off so we can get our dream compound where all the people I love can be together, so we can just hang out every day… and work (just kidding).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.equalparts.co
- Phone: 619.602.0093 mobile, 760.487.8664 office
- Email: kmp@equalparts.co
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