Ep. 52: Office Party: Your Path to MOA

[00:00:00] Mall of America. For more than 30 years, it has been a retail leader and an international destination, and it remains the largest mall in the U.S. Not to mention it welcomes millions of guests from

[00:00:10] around the world. It's huge, but it's also so much more. In this podcast, you're going to hear the real stories of how it started and why it continues to thrive. You'll hear about challenges

[00:00:21] we faced along the way and what you can learn from them. We will feature guests and experts from all walks of life and business, and along the way you'll laugh, learn, and maybe even change

[00:00:31] the way you look at things. So if you're a fan of the mall, a brand new visitor, an entrepreneur, or a dreamer, prepare to dive deep into so much more. This podcast is presented by the

[00:00:42] Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau. Hello and welcome to So Much More. This is our ever so popular version of Office Party. So sit back in your seats and get ready because we are

[00:00:55] here to talk about all things behind the scenes at Malv America. So when the four of us get a chance to clear our schedules and get together, you get all four for the price of one. So yours

[00:01:06] truly, Jill Renzelow, your host of today's show. We have Dan Jasper, Grant Bungie, and Chris Gropp. So welcome, gentlemen. Hey. Thank you. So today we're going to take a little different spin.

[00:01:16] We're going to talk a little bit more about our journeys to the mall, what brought us here, and what keeps us here because it's a really special place for a lot of people to have careers

[00:01:27] because it's a really unique environment. And we are rewarded with new and exciting things every day. So Dan, I'm going to have you kick us off today to talk about your path to the mall. You've

[00:01:38] been here 18 years if I'm correct. I have been. Yep. And you had a unique pass that brought you here. Well, I think something unique that wasn't necessarily connected to retail and entertainment. So tell us a little bit about your story and why you're still here today.

[00:01:53] What keeps you here? Sure. No, I'd be happy to. I actually, I've been here 18 years, which my original plan was two years at the mall. And then I'd move on to the next big thing,

[00:02:03] right? But every two years here it is the next big thing. There's nothing bigger. Yeah, right. Exactly. Right. Actually, I worked for about 25 years in non-profit nursing homes prior to Mall of America. And you talk about night and day career choices, quiet little

[00:02:17] non-profit nursing home, which I loved. And I learned a lot of valuable skills while I was there. How I got to the place that I am now is through a connection and connections are so important.

[00:02:29] Many, many years ago, a nursing assistant called me up said, hey, never met her before. Want to have coffee? Sure. Talked to her a bit. She ended up working with me. We won

[00:02:37] some national awards. And then 18 years ago she called me up said, hey, do you want to have coffee and lunch at the mall? I said, yes. And during that chat she said, are you interested

[00:02:47] in job sharing? That's a very brief version of how I got here. And that person is our producer for this show, Julie. So, but if you would have told me that a connection that I made

[00:02:58] and to be perfectly honest, she was really good at networking and making connections. I was really good at saying, yeah, I'll go to lunch. That sounds like fun. But that's what brought me here. And I was scared to death, but the truth is that the

[00:03:13] skills we learn along the way are transferable and you can use them anywhere. And I think what's kept me here is that the mall frequently offers people, team members internally, the opportunity to grow, to try new things, to stretch your wings, to fail

[00:03:31] and to pull yourself up, learn from that and try something else. That's why I love it. And that's why I came here. Made a lot of mistakes along the way. And I think the background that you just gave there, there's so many people here that have

[00:03:42] a different background and they bring that perspective. It's like you're sitting in a meeting and you're talking about an idea and somebody has a different perspective because of their job history, where they came from before, what things that brought them here. And in understanding

[00:03:58] that, that's all good ideas come to life. And how things get better is everyone has those different perspectives and histories as well. Yeah, completely different viewpoint. Yeah. And I think it gives people the opportunity to look at career changes that you don't have

[00:04:13] to have a direct linkage to your past skills and experience to where you want to go. I think there's a lot said to have skills to bring to the table, to bring value to the organization, but we are especially here looking for people that have diverse backgrounds

[00:04:26] because you want to bring that unique perspective, but you also learn so much on the job. And we've all learned that here that you can't bring the full package to the table because

[00:04:36] what we experience here is like no other and you learn from what we do every single day and you apply that to the future. So I think you have, you're a great testament to bringing a unique

[00:04:47] skill set to the table, but also learning the value along the journey. Yeah, along the journey. And what I think most people don't realize is the pace at Mall of America. And I hear

[00:04:57] this from people when they join the team is my gosh, you and every team in the mall, right? We accomplish so much in such little time. It's incredible. And it's a testament to the energy,

[00:05:09] to the skills, to the very backgrounds. Grant, I think you and I had that exact conversation before you started because we'll shift over to you and you telling your story. But one of the

[00:05:19] things during your interview, I'm like, be ready that we are a very fast pace. You're like, I got it. I got it. And then I think a couple of months later you're like, oh my, you told me but I didn't believe you and we had this conversation.

[00:05:30] You know, I spent my majority of my career in marketing and retail. I worked for a department store. I worked on agency side for 10 years before I came to the mall, focused mainly on

[00:05:42] retail and there's a paste agencies, but there's a lot of doing the same thing over and over again for agencies for different clients, but you sort of get in a rhythm.

[00:05:51] There's a lot. I think starting here, like Jill said, there's like, oh yeah, I can handle a lot, but it's the variety and the speed, right? Like it's not the same thing happening over and over

[00:06:02] again fast. It's curveball from left. It's a new opportunity. Somebody writes you a message and you're like, oh that sounds great. Like how do you move quick enough with those things and balance it all? And I think the people that really thrive here have that sort of need

[00:06:20] to be able to juggle different things and be involved in things and have ideas and have input. There's a lot with the people on our teams where I talk about there is no career path, right? Like

[00:06:33] for so long you're in school and you're like, oh I'm going to go on a career path. I'm going to start here. I'm going to do this. It's a journey. It's a career journey and you're

[00:06:41] going this way and that way and like different things matter to people at different times. And I think that's your example of where you came from. Like there wasn't a path to get here. It's a journey one way or the other to get here. It's an adventure.

[00:06:54] Yeah, it's an adventure. Maybe it's a career adventure. I like that better. A path feels like oh it's paved. It's easy. No, no, no. It's smooth. You need a mishaw. Yeah, it's exactly like it. And a fifth helmet to get through on this one.

[00:07:07] I like adventure. That's truly what it is. Career adventure. I'm going to use that. That's great. So Chris, what was your adventure that brought you here? I mean, wildly, wildly circuitous like everybody here. But my background was in film production.

[00:07:19] I worked on a bunch of terrible movies nobody's ever heard of and some people have actually seen. But really what brought me here at the time I was working in independent film production for the Film Commission here trying to help bring incentives and things back to the state.

[00:07:34] It was because you had the theaters. There was a theater marketing position available and I thought that sounded great. That I thought that was something I could do.

[00:07:43] And I joke with you to this day. I did not get that job. I was given a job as business development specialist, which I was like, I have no idea what that is, but let's give it a shot.

[00:07:53] Here we go. Here we go. Put on the fifth helmet, grab the machete and carve that adventure out. But really it's so much about taking stock of the space that you were in

[00:08:05] and just trying to see everything that was before us and how we could pull some things together. And I remember working extensively with the theaters and identifying like I wanted to leverage community. That was something that was important to me and how can we do that.

[00:08:21] And then starting to work with Nickelodeon and other partners and just trying to coalesce everything into an idea. And I still have this presentation I made. I shared it with you first.

[00:08:32] And then I shared it with you and it's called Tell Me a Story. And I used Roli Crump, an Imagineer from Disney, who started as a sculptor and model maker doing mobiles and different things that Walt saw and then pulled into all these other projects. Haunted Mansion,

[00:08:48] It's a Small World. And it was really about identifying what it is at the core that's important to people and how can we spread that out. And unfortunately for you, it's still thriving to this day. We're doing weird and crazy stuff all the time. But like

[00:09:04] because it isn't linear and it's really hard to understand which way to navigate, especially with guests changing, social media changing. And how do we try and stay ahead of those things? When I started, the tools with which we communicate with guests are so wildly different

[00:09:22] now. And that's something we've all had to adjust to as well. So it is an adventure. Yep. I always laugh when you talk about the business development title because it's still in my title. But I know it now. I know it now.

[00:09:35] That's why we always say it like it's not about the title. We've always said that within our organization because we do so many things outside of our titles. But who knew that we would take

[00:09:44] a cinema, a movie theater guru and turn you into this creative maven that you have really set the stage here at The Mall and created this experiential team and opportunity for our brand because it's really changed. It has. And I think going back to what everybody said,

[00:09:59] that's the beauty of this place is you have the opportunity to try certain things or see things that you think maybe can be used a little bit differently. Certainly our teams have evolved

[00:10:10] over time too to adapt to those things. And that's the fun part of it. That's really exciting. Well, listen to all of your stories and then I look at mine. And I've been here since day one

[00:10:22] of my career coming out of not day one of The Mall, but day one of my career came as college intern. And we've all heard the intern story, but I really wanted to stay close to home,

[00:10:33] but I also wanted I was inspired with Disney to look for a company that was similar to Disney. And this was the Disney of the Midwest. And I remember calling and getting the opportunity for a part-time internship. And I'm like, this isn't going to work because I need

[00:10:47] a full-time internship to get credit for school. So I fought back and forth with the events manager at that time. And I'm like, I can't. I need a full-time position. And

[00:10:57] we went back and forth for weeks and eventually was able to get the full-time position and did that for the fall semester. And then winter semester, I was going to go back to school and I was going

[00:11:06] to school in St. Cloud, but they needed help here during the winter season for holiday. And I'm like, how am I going to do this? I had to drive back and forth from St. Cloud

[00:11:13] multiple days a week for the internship. But I'm like, I love it here. I just, I want to stay. And then it was great because I came upon graduation and there was an opening

[00:11:22] on the events team. So I didn't even have to interview. I never interviewed for other companies. So I'm like, this is my home. This is where I want to stay. And I haven't left. So I'm still here

[00:11:31] 26 years later. And it's been an adventure. It's been an adventure. And I think the one example that I have of just the advancement and opportunities is to go through every door that opens. And I realized that it wasn't always an upward movement. I always talk about

[00:11:49] jungle gyms that I definitely had. There's a common theme here that nothing's linear. And it was just the fact of going through those doors that gave me different opportunities, even if it was a lateral

[00:11:59] move, because I learned something. I always challenged myself to be uncomfortable, to try those things that I didn't know how to do, that I had to teach myself or I had to learn from others.

[00:12:10] And there were so many great mentors throughout this organization and even through our ownership group that I learned so much. And I continue to learn today. And I think that goes to my next question of what's keeping us here. I mean, we've all been here for years now.

[00:12:24] And for me that is it's a constant challenge. I'm learning every single day as much as we repeat different things through the seasons that we celebrate and the retailers and the entertainment brands that we work with. There's always something new. And that's what I love

[00:12:39] because I love change. I am a product. I love being introduced to new things and working with different partners and different brands. So what is it for you guys? What's the stickiness

[00:12:51] that keeps you here at Dan? Go ahead. Well, I think there's a couple of things for me. One is my role has evolved over the years and similar to yours, similar to pretty much everyone's,

[00:13:01] right on this panel is we take on new challenges, we try new things. Some of them work really well. Some don't work as well. So I love that aspect of it. In my current role,

[00:13:12] I get to do a lot of storytelling and I really enjoy that. It brings me life and it brings me energy. Part of what keeps me here is the people that I work with. You make connections with people

[00:13:24] and it feels good and you care about them. But then the thing that really keeps me at Mall of America is when I walk through the mall and I interact with our guests and realize the difference that we make with them and our producers giving me a nose.

[00:13:44] And I'm just going to say that right now she wants me to tell a story. So I will tell that story very quickly if I may because I came from a nursing home. I never pitched media in my life,

[00:13:54] right? And I was told to pitch the today show and a guy named Ross, the what was it? Tonight show, the tonight show. Sorry, the tonight show. That's right. It was the

[00:14:04] tonight show. And so I wrote a pitch. A pitch should be three sentences. Mine was about 14 paragraphs long. Pitched everything, didn't hear, didn't hear. They came and they did the segment off of my pitch.

[00:14:18] Really? Yes, it was so much fun. And it turned out they was awesome. Ashley did more than one segment with it. So did you change the way? Did you write pitches like 14 paragraphs from

[00:14:28] that? You're like, it's working this way. No, I didn't. I was told very quickly that's not how pitches work. But for me, it's the connection with our guests more than anything. And when I

[00:14:40] interact with a guest and surprise and delight them or just talk to them, it feels good. Yeah. I think Jill touched on a thing for me where I'm like, I just really like to learn. And

[00:14:53] it's the ultimate sort of playground to learn where there's different things coming at you in different ways. Or I learned from each of you and your expertise all the time, taking a campaign that we're doing and hearing your perspective, your perspective,

[00:15:12] and a lot from our younger team members. We are just having a meeting today where I'm like, it is really important that we're sharing ideas and teaching each other, especially because marketing in my role, it's really moving in a different direction. And what marketing meant

[00:15:28] today is way different for somebody who's 23 and getting most of their information on social and being influenced in different ways than I am as well. And that's where it's a combination of learning from my peers, but also learning from people and learning from guests. I think

[00:15:47] I walk them all a lot and just sort of observe. And there's not that many jobs where you have that interaction outside your door where I can go out there and get a pulse on people

[00:15:59] and talk to people. And that is just a great, great thing that doesn't happen in every place. You bring up a great point because I think that's very unique for our brand and just for

[00:16:10] our company is the fact that we can walk outside our office doors and see on any given day how guests react to the applications, the activations, the brand element that we create. It's instant gratification. And it also is, it's almost addicting to like, okay, we want to see

[00:16:27] more of that. We want them to react, have those smiles, have the positive memories. So how can we do more to get the frequency for them to come back and visit for them to create those memories?

[00:16:36] And sometimes we're the guinea pigs as well, right? Like, it doesn't always work. So Chris has this brilliant idea in the last couple of months, we've been doing slimes, Nickelodeon slimes for I guess. And they had the stage all set up and like, oh, we need someone

[00:16:54] who can get filmed for it and used in some promotions. And it happened to be my eight-year-old son's birthday. So I was like, I'll go and do it with you. Knowing that there was going to be,

[00:17:06] you know, a little stage act and different things from there, but like being that guinea pig. And then now I go down there, I see it all the time. I was like, oh, I got to experience it

[00:17:14] and do that. But my eight-year-old son, I mean, he still talks about it all the time. But now I haven't even told you guys this. I was putting my three-year-old daughter to bed

[00:17:26] a couple of days ago, and she was talking about her birthdays in August. And she's like, Dad, on my birthday, can I get slimed too? And I was like, of course. We got you. Yes, yes. So I haven't even talked to you about it, but it was like,

[00:17:37] We got you. I didn't know they were sliding out there. Pretty sure. But I mean, that's the thing is like we're out there, we're interacting, we're, you know, seeing people. And now we get to see the people out there doing it. And it's like

[00:17:47] the joy that I felt doing that and being that first person. Now I see what the guess which is great too. It's a living lab. Yep. That's great. Chris, how about you? What keeps you here?

[00:17:56] Ideas are easy and execution is difficult. And I think it's fun to have all the what ifs and work together to come up with how you're going to do it. And I'll go back to

[00:18:09] my days in movies. It's the difference between watching something on screen and stepping through the screen since I've worked here, like my view has opened up significantly to not just career path, but what's possible with collaboration. And I think when those things

[00:18:29] all work together, like it's taken me very far in a career I didn't know was possible. I'm fortunate every day to work with team members who I consider friends as well as co-workers.

[00:18:42] But I think that the thing that beyond that that keeps me here now is being able to give hopefully confidence and opportunity to younger team members to do those same things, to try those same things and know that it's okay and we can work together to do those

[00:18:57] things. Hopefully see something in them that maybe they don't see in themselves yet and give them that opportunity to do just that because that's what worked for me. So you not only have made friends

[00:19:08] here at Moll of America, but you also found your bride here. I did. Yeah, I did. I did do that. Yep. I sure did. And it's one of my favorite stories because it was day one and I read

[00:19:22] my wife gives me grief about this too. I read instructions, I read everything. So I read the employee handbook and I went through it and it was like, oh man, can't have facial hair. Got it.

[00:19:30] Okay, look like a weird little kid. Great. Put on a shirt and tie and all these things and I walked in and nobody was dressed that way. Nobody was clean. So I feel awkward,

[00:19:42] like all hot and sweaty and weird. And then I'm stacked in this office with strangers and then this Disney princess floats in to say hi to one of her team members and I

[00:19:53] immediately thought, I am in trouble. I am going to look foolish in front of this person forever. That is my path moving forward. But yep, Sarah was just kind and sweet and that's another thing.

[00:20:08] We have a fashion expert named Sarah Rogers that we work with and I heard the people in our cube talking about Sarah and her fashion and everything. I just assumed it was Sarah then she met now Grop like clearly that's her because she has put together very well.

[00:20:22] She dresses great and she must be the fashion expert. But yeah, and then we connected. Turns out we both had rescued pit bulls and we had conversations and coffees from there and

[00:20:34] I truly, she is not working here right now but I loved coming to work every day with her. We had so much fun but also when things were difficult and challenging it was like we both had that

[00:20:46] too but more often than not to be able to share those experiences was a lot of fun. So yeah, I'm very fortunate. I'm not the only one to have found a spouse here but yeah that's

[00:20:57] part of the magic for some of us in all of America too. Absolutely. You talk about memories obviously that's a fantastic memory and just a keepsake that you always have since you guys met here.

[00:21:07] Dan how about you? What was one of your most memorable moments or projects maybe that you worked on and you're not allowed to talk about gingerbread on this cast because we're bringing new stories to the table so many of you listeners have heard about the gingerbread

[00:21:20] house but we're going to pry and dance. No I appreciate that and I love talking about that but I won't, I shant, I will not and I've been here 18 years still waiting for love to hit

[00:21:31] but it'll happen one of these days. I'm going to share with you my very first Black Friday which is the day after Thanksgiving and this was 18 years ago when it was not what it is today

[00:21:45] right so it came up with this genius idea that we're going to call it toss the turkey right so it's like hot potato with a turkey and I think the winner got a $250 gift card or something

[00:21:55] it was incredible and in fact I remember a colleague of mine who shall remain nameless but maybe a producer in this room I think suggested using either a frozen or alive turkey at which

[00:22:06] I replied no so I found I still have that turkey by the way here and I will show it to you and so we played this game but afterwards a family came up they did not win the prize

[00:22:18] and they introduced themselves as the clink hammers and just said we want to thank you the next year before in October they emailed me hey you're going to do toss the turkey again I

[00:22:26] said no but we're going to do Lucky Bag please join us and so I had a little gift for all of them up until COVID hit every year I had lunch with the clink hammer family from around the

[00:22:37] country every year their tradition was here during COVID they called me on Thanksgiving and said we're thinking of you Dan so that's my most memorable thing because it shows that connections

[00:22:49] are made in unique ways and I had lunch with them again this year about two months ago and we had lunch at Nordstrom Cafe and I have a photo which I'll show you as well I love that I love

[00:22:59] that's but this place can do that right absolutely it's cool that's great Grant how about you what's a memory I mean one of the things the top of mine right now is we were just a couple weeks

[00:23:10] ago talking about some of our creative campaigns and we do style initiatives where we highlight sort of the the latest styles and fashion across all the retailers and actually during COVID we

[00:23:22] did a campaign that we didn't use models and we went out in the community and found people making an impact a entrepreneur a teacher a first responder and met with them interviewed them helped them shop on property took their styles and then amplified it with other products and

[00:23:44] it's one of those things where it feels a long time ago and when I honestly had forgotten about it but it was like oh that was like just a really cool thing to do at the right time and I think

[00:23:53] it really resonated so um that was just a memory that this is more top of mind than anything else but it's great cool Chris I'm gonna have you attach your memory to a celebrity oh what's your favorite

[00:24:04] celebrity interaction meet and greet performance I mean it's default but about four months into my time here Arnold Schwarzenegger was coming through with a book signing and I jokingly said well

[00:24:17] if nobody else will do his intro I will happily and somehow I ended up being able to go up on stage and introduce Arnold Schwarzenegger to the guests and it was packed we had the rotunda was

[00:24:31] full queue line I think it was something like 800 people for the books but I remember thinking like oh I wanted this and now I have to do it and please don't fall apart and he was late so I had

[00:24:42] to go out and tell the crowd that he was late he was on the way but it was it was awesome it was so much fun and my entire like my entire family all my siblings and friends were there in

[00:24:53] the audience too to be able to do it and it was it was super fun I love it one of my favorite memories and projects I'd say a lot of our community engagement a lot of those events fundraisers are just

[00:25:07] our ones that I hold close to my heart because I think it's amazing when our brand can make a huge difference in the community whether we're donating space or we're getting our team members together

[00:25:15] where there's repelling off the the side of the JW if it's jumping in frozen water for Special Olympics but honestly one of my most proud moments was community comments and being able to

[00:25:28] talk the owners into donating space to businesses that were shut down after the unrest that we experienced after the murder of George Floyd downtown Minneapolis and being able to give that space to small businesses that needed that to just thrive and be able to survive I should say

[00:25:47] more survive than thrive at the beginning but just the emotional impact that that made on those business owners was just unbelievable and being able to do multiple rounds of that retail experience

[00:26:00] so that was very rewarding and it just showed what our company is able to do because we can't always write a check and a check isn't always the right solution to different situations that

[00:26:09] are out there so it definitely shows the uniqueness of what we can bring to the table so absolutely love that so we're gonna wrap this up with a little bit more of insider scoop but I want you to share

[00:26:20] with our viewers and listeners what you share with your closest friends and family when they want to know kind of the insider scoop at the mall like where's that place that you recommend for them to go

[00:26:34] maybe a service or something that's unique that other people might not know of so what is that insider scoop Chris I mean for for right now it's north surface line it is the best easiest

[00:26:46] parking that we have and it's a great way to start here at mall of america so there's that and then obviously the coffee at fuel space at lululemon is the next pro tip um I'm this winter I feel

[00:27:00] like I introduced all my friends to valet like where they're like there's a valet where you get to park underground and only costs you know ten dollars and you can go in there and

[00:27:10] you don't have to park outside or whatever like especially I have a lot of friends with young kids and they're like oh man it's just such and then it right upstairs for me I love bubble tea I

[00:27:20] tell them to go to nico nico and get bubble tea it's true people here are creatures of habit I mean parking is a big deal and we listened to our guests years ago when they were complaining

[00:27:29] about parking on saturdays we loved to be busy on saturdays but it's it's a pain point for some of our guests to find the right parking spot and that's we listen we put in park assist and

[00:27:38] that was a game changer and really helped create a better guest experience well and there is one other parking act there is moa insiders our loyalty parking now we have first level first row parking

[00:27:50] on each of our ramps for insiders members so there is that benefit and we've talked to a lot of our guests they're like I joined insiders just to have that front row parking spot as

[00:28:00] well so that is fully I had enough points yeah so one day that was a good one day that's well believe it or not that is going to wrap it up for this episode of so much more so follow us

[00:28:12] where you listen and watch your favorite podcast so that's going to do it for today thank you for tuning in to today's episode of so much more if you want to hear more be sure to subscribe

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[00:28:35] ask a question or give us an idea for the show until next time thanks for listening so much more is presented by the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau the official destination marketing organization for the city of Bloomington Minnesota before your next trip to Mall of

[00:28:51] America visit Bloomingtonmn.org for answers to all your travel questions deals and packages for hotel stays and so much more