Behind the Scenes: Greyston Bakery on The Today Show!
Just as millions have done for decades, America sat down this morning to watch the Today Show on NBC. But it was anything but an ordinary Tuesday morning for the Greyston Bakery team. Just after 9:30, our story was featured on the Today Show. The segment, “Hope to It”, told the inspirational stories of three of our bakers, Raymond, Dion, and Margarita, as well as the mission that fuels our passion to bake brownies.
Last week, producers from the show came by our bakery to learn about our bakers, our story, our facilities, and of course indulge in some samples. President and CEO of the Greyston Foundation Steven Brown happily shared what makes the Bakery so unique. After describing our Open Hiring and Pathmaking initiatives, he emphasized what it means to work at Greyston Bakery.
“Our philosophy is to help people who are disadvantaged and left out. Give an opportunity that others don’t give as a way to show those who have been rejected [that he or she] can not only do good work but create very high quality products.”- Steven Brown
After the producers washed their hands and fastened their hair nets to explore the bakery facilities, they had the opportunity to hear and film the amazing stories of Raymond, Dion, Margarita, and some other Greyston bakers.
Raymond shared how much he has learned from working at the Bakery. After walking through our doors every day for two months with the readiness to work, he was eventually accepted into the apprenticeship program. Since that time, he has begun to understand the importance of patience and perseverance, and how to build off and learn from other people’s feedback and criticism.
An emotional interview with Dion showed how meaningful working at Greyston is to our bakers. After realizing it was time to turn his life around and “make my mom smile for the things I’m doing”, he spent nine months searching for work until he found an opportunity at Greyston. Since then, he has been nothing but a hard worker. He mentioned how everyone at the bakery feels like friends and family, and that this sense of community inspires everyone to go “straight to the top.”
“For six years straight… nothing but good every day.”- Dion DrewNot only did our bakers express their gratitude for the Open Hiring policy Greyston follows, but they wanted to inspire other companies to follow the same model. Raymond said it perfectly,
“Give a second chance… You never know who people will turn out to be.”
We could not be more proud to see our bakers so passionate about the work they do at Greyston Bakery. And we could not be more honored to have our story so beautifully shared on the Today Show. Thank you for a truly wonderful segment!