This is the full transcript for Episode #348 of the Wild Business Growth podcast featuring Donna Letier – Gardenuity, Patio Gardens & Desktop Gardens. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Donna Letier 0:00
Getting dirty feels good.
Max Branstetter 0:16
Hello. Welcome back to Wild Business Growth. I had a voice inflection there. And this is your place to hear from a new wild entrepreneur every Wednesday morning turning Wild ideas to Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter from MaxPodcasting, and this is Episode 348, today’s guest is Donna Letier, the Co-Founder and CEO of Gardenuity, the creator of all sorts of gardens and wellness offerings, including patio gardens, indoor desktop gardens. Help you find your wellness. Help you find your zen for you or your business. And in this episode, we talk the calming world of gardening, the endless inspiration that comes from Donna’s daughter Jillian, and everything from really, really bad drivers to really not so Aha moments. It is Donna Letier. Enjoyyyyyyyy the shooooooow! Aaaaaaalrightyyyyyy we are here with Donna Letier, a name that rolls off letongue and Co-Founder and CEO of Gardenuity, really, really just in itself, inherently calming business. Donna, so excited to dive into your business and beyond story. Thanks for joining. How you
Donna Letier 1:46
doing today? I’m good, and thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here, of course, of
Max Branstetter 1:49
course. Well, well, thank you for joining. This would be quite the bummer if I was just talking to myself and or like a cardboard cutout of you or something like that. But no, really excited to dive in all things, and before we get to your business. So obviously there’s some sort of passion for gardening here. And I think gardening is such a it’s a popular thing, and also, I think a popular hobby, but I’m always curious, like, how people get into it. So from your standpoint, what was it about gardening that, like, grabbed you by the hand and would just like, come this is a fun path.
Donna Letier 2:27
You know what? That’s a great question, because I am not a Master Gardener, and I didn’t grow up in the horticultural space. I grew up in the retail space and product development. I had always kind of done ornamental gardening on the side, but never professionally. And when Julie and I decided to start a business, we really did a deep dive into the data and recognized that the horticultural industry had not been updated for the way we live today, we knew we wanted to do something in the wellness space. Neither one of us were qualified to do any kind of supplements or anything like that. So we really just spent some time exploring what’s going on globally in the holistic wellness arena, and gardening kept coming up. So we really joined forces with horticulturalists, MDS, people in mental health arena, nutritional health, and came up with the idea that if people can reap the benefits of gardening, we need to make gardening accessible to everybody.
Max Branstetter 3:30
Well, it’s a great mission to get behind. And there’s just something about being outside, or in your case, even inside, and having some sort of little zen, some sort of little garden, that just puts people in a better, more stress free, stress free mood, even if you can’t pronounce stress free. And I think one little moment that I always think about with my family is growing up in Cleveland, and we live kind of like what you imagine, like the suburb of suburbs, like what you imagine, just a neighborhood, you know, oval suburb division looking like and it was my dad’s birthday one year, and he just was spending a lot of time outside, doing yard work and working around the garden, and he’s like, I’m happy as a clam. I think it’s just, it’s brightens your mood. But what is it about gardening and kind of the world of gardens that you think can be so positive for people’s mental health and just overall mood.
Donna Letier 4:20
You know, actually, everything we do is based on science and research, and the research is vast that’s happened globally about the benefits of gardens, whether it’s connecting with the soil, smelling the plants, you know, putting fresh herbs in your tea, misting a desktop garden to grow your practice of gratitude and help you be present. I love science and I love data, and we have been fortunate enough to reap the benefits of the global research that’s happened really everywhere. And you talked about growing up in a suburb and a suburb, and you’ve got an eight and a half month old, so as you get older. Or you’re going to realize, okay, maybe your dad loved gardening, but he also loved a little bit of peace and quiet, kind of away from everybody. But I grew up over all over the place, Alaska, Singapore, London, you know, I moved around everywhere and everywhere we moved. My dad, you know, kind of created an outdoor space that was happy. And in Singapore, I fell in love with the idea of patio gardening. My mother was, you know, everything’s high rise there, so she started a patio garden. So I was introduced to it at an early age, but didn’t really participate until we started gardenity,
Max Branstetter 5:38
Alaska, Singapore, London. That sounds like a hell of a trip there, or a hell of a hell of a childhood. What was the reason you bounced around so much?
Donna Letier 5:45
My dad’s job, and I loved it. You know, we always had a family vote whether we should move or not, and I always voted to go. My sister, on the other hand, really likes things kind of steady, and so she always voted to stay. We later in life, learned that no matter what we voted, we were going because dad and mom’s vote counted, you know, 10x but I loved meeting new people, being immersed in different cultures, and everywhere we lived was at the right time. So it’ll in Alaska. I was a kid, and I skied to school and I skated at recess. I was in Singapore in high school, so I got to go on sporting trips to Kuala Lumpur and to Hong Kong and, you know. So it’s every time we moved it was at the right place at the age we were
Max Branstetter 6:32
at. And in London, you learn to speak English. So here we all full circle.
Donna Letier 6:37
I learned that I’m not great in a whole bunch of rainy weather. I’m kind of powered by the sun.
Max Branstetter 6:42
Yeah, I don’t know anything about that. Growing up in Cleveland. Let’s get to your business. Let’s get to guard annuity. And you hinted at the start a little bit, but how did you actually get the wheels in motion? So you kind of you found that there was a market opportunity here, but it’s a big jump to go from idea to actually. Here’s how do we get something that’s
Donna Letier 7:05
sellable? You know what? Sometimes, and I say this to entrepreneurs all the time, do your homework and go before you’re ready to go. You know? I think that that’s sometimes you want to wait till your pitch deck is just right, so you miss an opportunity, sometimes you just have to push go and be willing to try a whole bunch of different things. So are one of the things that’s interesting is gardenity means ingenuity in the garden. And if I look back at our original idea, first of all, I’m embarrassed, and second of all, I’m like, Okay, we learned this, we learned that, but that’s not really where we were or where we are today, so be willing to kind of listen to what’s going on around you. I knew I wanted to be in the wellness space. I knew that gardening had a place in the wellness space. We just needed to make it bite size for the entry
Max Branstetter 8:00
level grower. Bite Size is great way to describe it. So if you look at your site, there’s so many different options or or SKUs that you have for those in the business. You always feel so fancy with that word. But, yeah, I mean, there’s so much creativity there. But if you look kind of like at the start of the business and then look at it today, how has it changed in terms of, like, what are those most popular SKUs are kind of what you’re known for.
Donna Letier 8:22
You know, really, interestingly enough, changes by season. So certainly, in the spring, people are looking for outdoor edibles, whether it’s a taco toppings garden a pizza garden where they’re planting tomatoes and peppers and leafy greens. In the winter, it might be more seasonal. Amaryllis is and paper whites. Year round. It’s microgreens and desktop gardens. What we’ve done that’s different is it’s not one size fits all. So different plants need different soils and different nutrients. So the industry was pretty complacent that 90% of first time gardeners fail. So we said, Surely with technology and marrying that with horticultural sciences, we can find success for these new growers. So we do have patented technology called Garden moody match, built on an AI platform before AI was a buzzword, but we look at for our outdoor gardens, predictive weather, time to harvest, all these other attributes, we match every plant to the nutrients in the soil they need, pre measured, pre kitted, so everything comes with fully rooted plants. So you have your whole garden ready to go, whether it’s indoor or outdoor, in 30 minutes.
Max Branstetter 9:33
Yeah, that’s so cool. And for those that think of gardening, it’s kind of funny, because you think of unplugging and being so away from technology. But actually, in your case, obviously, you know, there’s a lot of that you promote that, but some of the coolest things about your company are tech driven and AI driven. So, so basically, you invented AI. So thanks for doing that. But what can you share a little without revealing all your secrets? Can you share a little bit about this technology? Year, how it works and how it improves experience.
Donna Letier 10:02
You know what? What we didn’t want to do is, let’s say somebody is in Cleveland, Ohio, and it is in February and they want a taco, toppings, patio garden. Nothing’s going to grow outdoors in Cleveland, Ohio in February
Max Branstetter 10:18
and about seven or eight other months of the
Donna Letier 10:22
year, yeah. So we wanted to make sure people had a rewarding first time gardening experience. So our technology first looks at predictive weather and time to harvest, and then it’s followed up. Like for our outdoor gardens, we know the pH level of the water in every zip code across the country. We also track weather by zip code. So let’s say you have a garden, and you are in Austin, Texas, and you have basil in your garden, and weather is expected to drop below 52 degrees, you get a text message that says, Hey, move your garden inside. Tonight’s going to be a little cold for your basil. So we’re connecting via technology, but we’re not doing the work for them. You know, we include everything in our gifts except gloves. The wellness benefits that come from actually engaging in soil and touching it are vast, and that science has been documented forever, globally. So yes, we’ve got, you know, a whole lot of technology we send, you know, recipes. We send from weatherers to recipes to micro moments of how to let nature nurture you. But we’re not doing the work for you. We invite you to let this little piece of nature nurture you, but technology can’t do that for you. You know you can sit next to an herb garden and put fresh herbs in your tea, and all of a sudden you’re going to smell the scent of fresh herbs on your hand as you picked it and put it in your tea, and you’re sitting there, and you’re kind of, I think I talk a lot about being present, and that invites you to be present, just like our desktop gardens.
Max Branstetter 12:06
You stole the story from my mind because my brother would appreciate your basil comments and the scent on the finger comments. There was a story a couple years ago we were at my wife’s uncle’s garden, so my brother Andrew was picking basil, and he comes back inside, and he’s like, I just love this. Like, smells his fingers. He’s like, ooh, basil.
Donna Letier 12:26
Fingers, basil. Yeah, that’s a good one. I feel like I will tell you making our so our mission has been the same the whole time to make gardens and gardening experiences accessible to everybody. So when I see my youngest daughter roll her little wheelchair out to our patio and pick a tomato and pop it her mouth right, still warm from the sun, her joy is real. It kind of grosses me out, because I don’t like tomatoes, but she’s just so happy, and it squirts and pops, and she thinks that’s the greatest thing, that joy is real. We’re meant to be connected with nature. We just want to make it easy for people
Max Branstetter 13:06
and shout out Jillian. We’ll talk a little bit about Jillian in in a little bit, I’m just going to set a record for saying a little bit. But before that, I do want to I’m intrigued by some other aspects of your business, so I think some examples you shared are really cool, and as a food lover, really speak to me. So like the pizza toppings garden, the taco garden, there’s almost like this whole subset of food and food toppings. What was the behind the scenes of that? Where did that insight come from? And this is something people have actually an appetite for.
Donna Letier 13:38
Yeah, I love to cook. I’m part of the Culinary Institute of America
Max Branstetter 13:42
CIA, the actual CIA. Tell anyone that’s right. So
Donna Letier 13:47
I literally watch food trends pretty closely. My husband’s an incredible chef. And so I thought, how do people eat today, and when you look at nutrition, right? So I’m a busy working mom, and if the best I can do is pick up a pizza and bring it home, but I put fresh herbs on top of it, it’s a home run. Man. I call that homemade dinner. So it’s incorporating how we live today. So our three pillars in nutritional health, mental health and the health of the planet. Nutritional health, when you think about it, even just adding fresh herbs to top your pizza or in your omelet or where whatever it is you’re eating actually adds some nutritional density. That’s a win the way we live today, my husband would say, I’m not a foodie because I’m so picky, I cook more than I actually eat. But we really do look at food trends and how people what’s growing it from a culinary trend across
Donna Letier 14:54
the globe, but then
Max Branstetter 14:55
when he says, You’re not a foodie, you just flash him your badge from the CIA and be like. Hold on, mister.
Donna Letier 15:01
I do actually. I’m like, Okay, hello. I don’t see your name on there. When I, when I got in, I will say he had a really good laugh. He’s probably a better chef than than me.
Max Branstetter 15:15
Don’t tell myself. We won’t tell him he’s if he was listening or watching. Up to this point he will kick him off. Thanks for tuning in. So if you, if you look back over the years now with the business, what’s like a key inflection point, or maybe decision that you made that turned out to be really fruitful for the business,
Donna Letier 15:36
taking a call from a national insurance company who we work a lot with corporations, so we’re both B to C and B to B, and an insurance company called and said that their CEO had done a deep dive on loneliness, depression and anxiety in the workplace, and they would wanted to talk to us about bringing gardens to some of their larger clients, and so six months of meetings and presentations, we are now a covered benefit for wellness
Max Branstetter 16:07
dollars. Congrats. That’s incredible. I had no idea where that story started sharing
Donna Letier 16:13
that, yeah, yeah, that that wasn’t that was a big change. Now, certainly this happened before covid, right? And so literally, about four months before covid. And so all these companies booked programs with us about 25 and then covid hit, and they all canceled in one day. And so we already had growers growing the plants, right? So it was like, wow. Well, then within 45 days, they reached back out and said, Can we do it virtually? That’s how virtual events for us was born. It wasn’t because I had the idea, or Julie had the idea. It was a need to the situation at hand.
Max Branstetter 16:57
How much of your time do you spend, kind of wearing that hat of, like, partnerships and being, you know, the covered benefit route, we could call it that, versus, like, other aspects of the business. What’s that look like for you?
Donna Letier 17:10
For me, personally, I’ve got a great team who really shares that message on some of I get to do some of the wellness workshops, and that’s really fun for me, because I get to see people up close and personal and and I hear what questions they have. I love talking to customers. I absolutely love it. I think that that’s probably the best part of my day. I love product development, so the bulk of my time is not necessarily on what I call channel partners, but because I’ve got such a good team,
Max Branstetter 17:44
is there something you look for when you’re when you’re adding to your team?
Donna Letier 17:48
Yeah, and I think that any founder needs to find somebody who can think like an owner, right? I don’t have time to micromanage. I don’t have time. One of the benefits of being in our position is we can be nimble and we can move quickly. It’s not like moving the Titanic right. We can move quickly. So you know, finding somebody who has attention to detail is, I think, really critical when you’re in the vast growth stage, finding somebody who goes all the way to the end, and that’s hard to find. So I have kind of created this little test, not a test that sounds silly, but when I’m interviewing somebody, and I say, Would you like cup of water? Would you like some coffee? Whatever it might be, yeah, sure. So we sit down if after the visit, they just leave the cup on the table and say thanks and walk out the door. That’s interesting to me. When somebody says, Oh, let me take this to the kitchen. That’s a really good move. When they go so far as to just walk to the kitchen, open the dishwasher and put the cup in, they’re going all the way, and that’s actually noted in their interview file.
Max Branstetter 19:06
Wow, that’s so cool. And for those tuning in as interview prep for this, this is, you know, we’re revealing real secrets here with job interviews. Yeah, that’s so true. I haven’t thought about that in a while, but you hear a lot of founders talk about, especially if you’re, like, interviewing somebody, people, often for your company, how, how quickly you can tell or just like the little intangible things like that, where you can start to get a sense of who someone is, especially in the workplace. But I love that little nugget there, and that’s a very, very, very popular, very valuable dishwasher you have there.
Donna Letier 19:39
So you know, it does tell an interesting story.
Max Branstetter 19:45
So looking back now, if you were to, like, start from scratch with guard annuity, knowing the things that you do now, what’s something that maybe would be a bigger priority than it was for you at the start?
Donna Letier 19:55
Oh my gosh, that is such a great question. Every challenge. Challenge has turned into a lesson. So, you know, I don’t want to discount even the boo
Max Branstetter 20:05
boos, the boo boos. Yeah, we love the boo boos,
Donna Letier 20:09
because we’ve had them. I will tell you, probably listening is a skill set. When you’ve got 1000 things going on, when you can actually tune in and listen. Makes a big difference. And anytime there’s an upset customer, I want the call. Somebody’s yelling at customer service, I want in. So we had one great example where a gentleman called a couple days after Christmas and said, you know, this is my first Christmas married to my wife, our theme of Christmas was growing altogether. I gifted her a garden. Was so excited about it, it shipped right away, but when she opened it on Christmas morning, it was totally dead. So I looked at the date. He wrapped it up and put it under the tree for three weeks it had live plants. So, you know, you kind of take a deep breath and think, can’t fix stupid. But what that did was helped us create the gift of a garden. So now people want to gift a garden at the holidays, so they get the kit with a QR code, so when they’re ready for the plants, they scan it, and the plant shipped from one of the farm partners. So because I took the time to really listen to his bad situation and what happened, then we came up with a whole new product, and he is really credited for that.
Max Branstetter 21:42
That’s the best kind of hard, tough love. Customer Feedback turns into something beautiful for so many
Max Branstetter 21:52
we’ve talked a little bit about Jillian. You have multiple kids, but somehow Jillian always steals the show, and as part of the interview prep, you can’t speak enough about her, and I would totally be the same way. And can you share a little bit about her story and kind of how it’s it’s changed your life and your family’s life and what she’s taught you
Donna Letier 22:16
absolutely, I’ve got two girls, they’re 18 months apart, and I’m very blessed that they are really close. Mean, you know, when you have a child with disabilities, the siblings are either a little jealous because so much attention and financial resources goes to the other, or they’re all in and I’m lucky so my two girls are thick as these. Jillian was born with a genetic disorder. There was only 500 cases, and so they told me that she would not live past five, and that was just not an option for me. And so, you know, I’ve pushed her, and she’s pushed me. I think anytime you’re a parent, you feel the highs and the lows and, you know, some days feel like 10 minutes underwater, but the years are like this. So for Jillian, she really is truly joyful. She laughs with gusto. She’s got great resilience. She’s an Olympian, a gold medal Olympian athlete with Special Olympics. But I think I look at her challenges both physical and mental, and she’s just happy, and happy is not valued enough. You know, I think that we live in a time where the culture of care is not valued. The culture of being just happy is not as valued as, oh, they’re financially well off, or they’re this or that happy is a really good thing, and because she’s joyful and happy, it makes us joyful and happy. So she, you know, so many people struggle to find their calling in life, and I think from the day she was born, her calling was to be a teacher, because she teaches me patience. She teaches me to slow down and the joy and simple pleasures. And I don’t say that lightly, because I would be remiss in not admitting that there, it’s hard. I mean, we’ve spent months and months in hospitals where I don’t understand what’s going on, and it took me a really long time to learn to become her voice and her advocate, there were months where, you know, I have one friend in particular who would just call and yell at the nursing staff because I had nothing left and I didn’t understand what was going on. And that’s when those friends step up when you can’t so Jillian has about 200 Words she understands probably 90% of what’s going on. She just can’t get it back out. She has seizures a lot, but she has recently learned a new word, and to the dismay of her teachers, she’s learned to flip people off. And I’m totally okay
Max Branstetter 25:21
with it. It’s necessary. Sometimes it’s absolutely
Donna Letier 25:25
necessary. She uses it the right time. And I’m thinking it’s one more word in her repertoire, so let it go. I mean, I people know me that I have two favorite words both start with f1. Is faith and what is not and the fact she does it at the right time. I’m like, cheers to her.
Max Branstetter 25:44
Oh, my God. Well, that’s so sweet. Thank you for for sharing some of her story. How I think of any, any family like hears that news, you know, initial diagnosis and that that’s, I mean, that’s one of the scariest things you could ever face. How did you and and your family, like, I mean, the way, the way you said it, you know, just a few minutes ago was, like, that is not an option. Like, how did you kind of power through and kind of take the approach of, like, we’re, you know, she’s gonna get through this, and we’re going to be as helpful as we can.
Donna Letier 26:23
Looking back I didn’t do it is with as much grace as I sound like I did. I had a lot of tears. I was really blue because I didn’t know what was ahead. And I am a planner to a fault, and this was a journey I knew nothing about. I literally got through with faith and a lot of chocolate and and the okay with it’s okay to be sad for what’s not going to happen. And part of the beauty with us is we didn’t know. I mean, it took them five years to finally diagnose her. Now at a year, she was still eight pounds, and so obviously we knew, but we didn’t know the extent of it. And so advice that I’m often asked to share with other parents kind of going through something like this is sounds silly, but Buck up, right. Have your own moments, whatever that means. Mean, if it’s sitting, you know, in a closet with some Oreos and a Diet Coke, do it and then move on. Be okay, to be sad for what’s not going to be but be happy for the journey you’re on and but it wasn’t easy. Now I look back and I read journals, and you know, some of them are, oh my gosh, she made it through the night. What a miracle. Well, would that during that night was miserable, but now I don’t remember the bad stuff. I just remember that we’re here today, and so that’s kind of the power of grace.
Max Branstetter 28:19
And you talk about some of her achievements, gold medal, Special Olympics, gold medals, unbelievable, like that. I just can’t imagine what that meant for her and for you guys. Can you share a little like that experience, like the events she did, and how I guess the smile on her face,
Donna Letier 28:43
I absolutely can, because it was two things come to mind for her, a She practiced for six months in her walker, and it was a 25 meter race. So it’s not long, but that’s long for her, and the gun would go off, and she’s incredibly competitive, kind of like her mama, yeah, she would just go, and then she get be up on stage blowing kisses, and she knew how hard she’d worked, right? And so it was thrilling to see that joy. The other thing was to see other people’s reaction to her. So at her high school, they have a really good, integrated program with special needs people, and there were about 410 people in her graduating class. And so we didn’t know what to expect, but they had, they called her name, and she was walking across the stage in her walker with some assistance, and the student body gave her a standing ovation, mean to recognize that she’d made an impact on other teenagers who were at the prime. Time of their life, going to college, you think she is that teacher. So when I think about those moments, it certainly I know why I am the way I am today.
Max Branstetter 30:15
Well, I certainly have chills. I think a new record for chills. So So thank, thank. My chill, my chills, are giving a standing ovation.
Donna Letier 30:25
And I would encourage you with your little one, have them around people with differences, because the one thing that has happened through the high school she went to, there’s not a kid who graduates that doesn’t see someone with disabilities. That’s not like, oh, Jillian, oh, that’s George, oh, that’s Connor, oh, that’s me. It is it? Nobody’s staring, nobody’s looking. So play dates between, you know, regular, Healthy Kids and those with special needs, A is forever impactful for the moms of the special needs kid, but it’s really good for the regular kids too.
Max Branstetter 31:04
Absolutely, it’s what a amazing message there. Well, this is a hard cut, but we’re going to switch it up with a couple quick, kind of goofy segments to wrap up kind of more about your personality, so you can tie it to business if you want. But certainly this is certainly this is more just to kind of get to know you as as a person. So first one is called the unusual. So pet peeves, quirks, weird talents. First thing, quirks, what’s, what’s something a little quirky about your personality, but it’s who you are, your friends, your family, your team. You know they call you out for it, but it’s who you are.
Donna Letier 31:40
I think I’m super funny. And if I were to have a last meal selection, sadly, it would probably be lucky charm, man.
Max Branstetter 31:50
You you answered the last meal cereal question right from my mind. But well, actually, would you, would you eat it kind of like all together in normal fashion? Or would you save the marshmallows to the end
Donna Letier 32:02
all together and no milk?
Max Branstetter 32:04
Ooh, okay, yeah, I get that. I got that. I think it’s good both ways. All right, what’s a pet peeve? You have something that just kind of ticks you off a little bit. But really, in life, it’s not a big deal.
Donna Letier 32:14
Stupid people. Am I allowed to say that? Course, yeah. I mean, like, you know, things that are common sense. You know, think through common sense is totally all, yeah, it’s tough. And I would also say bad drivers.
Max Branstetter 32:34
Yeah, there’s a lot of that. I actually, I saw some Reddit thread recently where people were talking about, what is the worst area, like, worst part of the country for drivers? And it’s just like, a million comments long, because people from every single city and every single state in the area think they have the worst drivers. Because, yeah, there’s nowhere that you’re like, wow, everybody drives. Great here.
Donna Letier 32:57
Do you drive in the city of New York?
Max Branstetter 33:00
I have before. We haven’t been in much since Jamie was born, but actually my wife, Dana, got really, really good at it during covid, because I was still moving out of the city, so we’d go in and out. So she’s really good at it. But it’s, it’s very either hate or you love it. A lot of people hate it. Yeah, yeah. It’s a tricky one, as my dad always says, directionally, New York City. I mean, it’s a grid, like, it’s all numbers for the most part. So like on a map, it’s pretty easy to get around. What’s not easy is, like the endless pedestrians jaywalking all the time, because no one cares about jaywalking bikers. Yeah, all right. So then, in addition to driving in the city, what’s, uh, what’s a weird talent you have, other than anything you’ve said so far, what’s something that almost like a party trick, something you’re really, really good at, just kind of, kind of funny,
Donna Letier 33:49
I skate? Oh, oh, that goes back to your Alaska days. You said,
Donna Letier 33:53
Yeah, I skate competitively for about 15 years. That’s
Max Branstetter 33:59
going to bring us right to rapid fire Q and A, because I had to ask about Alaska, and had to ask about skiing and skating and all that stuff. What is your and I said this on an episode recently with Krista pits from the elf on the shelf. I don’t know if it’s most fond or fondest. I think it’s fondest memory. Yeah, fondest because most fond is repetitive. What’s your fondest memory from just kind of the outdoors of Alaska
Donna Letier 34:26
Thanksgiving after football, we would go to some nearby hills and sled down. And so it was great time with my dad and all the people who had been there for Thanksgiving. And it was just laughter, tobogganing, great
Max Branstetter 34:42
fun. Oh, that sounds so Thanksgiving is already like my favorite, my favorite holiday. I love, you know, the family food, all that. Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever done sledding on Thanksgiving too. That just makes it that much better. Yeah, all right, what is a must visit? Thing to do, maybe not like the most touristy thing to do, but like a must visit thing to do in the Dallas area,
Donna Letier 35:05
in Fort Worth it’d be to go to Joe T Garcia’s and get great Mexican food in Dallas, it would probably be to really walk the Katy Trail, because you get to see so many different kinds of people and new developments, new construction, old construction. It’s kind of a mixing of old and new.
Max Branstetter 35:29
That sounds really nice in Fort Worth. Yeah, you just reminded me of that whole, I mean, this is the ultimate touristy, but the whole stockyards area in Fort Worth is so cool. That’s where jokes, okay, perfect. Yeah, it’s like going back in time. It’s like, you’re on a set of a western movie hanging out with real cowboy. Like, it’s exactly right. Those Longhorns, don’t mess around, those, those horns are long. That’s right, that’s right, all right. What is the
Max Branstetter 35:54
because it’s probably, it’s probably changed so much, I feel like they have a new skyscraper every year. But Singapore. What’s like? The coolest thing to do in Singapore, once you get off that forever, long flight,
Donna Letier 36:06
yeah, go to the stalls and eat outside, because it’s Michelin star type food. I mean, it’s incredibly clean and great. And so the food in Singapore is great. But when you’re in Singapore, remember to always look up, because every patio has a garden. Every rooftop has a garden. It’s fantastic.
Max Branstetter 36:27
Oh, and what a what a beautiful place to we’ll call this an end. Segue into the last question, if you could create a garden anywhere in the world. Have it be as big as you want? Have whatever you want in there. Where would it be? Your kind of paint the picture of us for what that what that garden would look like?
Donna Letier 36:49
I’d have a garden in every single school across the country, because there’s some research that says that knows that kids in the United States today spend less time outside than those in maximum security prison, and we need to get people outside. Mean, when kids get to grow their own food and own it and feel like they’re participatory in its nurturing and development, they’re appreciative of the food that the farmers grow and make available for us. So it’s not one big garden, but it’s a garden that is in every school across the country.
Max Branstetter 37:28
That was an incredible answer. I’m gonna have you do a retake of that. No, I’m just gonna That was perfect. Thank you so much. Donna. Just got up and left. No, Donna, thank you so much. That was just incredible. Love all the you know the messages that you share, and you know the positive light that you, Jillian and your family are, and thanks so much for for sharing that with us today. Where’s the best place if somebody wants to try out something from gardenity, as well as connect with you online, where’s the best places for them to do that?
Donna Letier 37:58
Gardennuity.com, pretty easy, and then I’m on LinkedIn. Don latier, perfect,
Max Branstetter 38:04
okay. And last thing, short and sweet, final thoughts, just like a few words or one sentence, words to live by, send us home here.
Donna Letier 38:12
Getting dirty feels good. Everybody should understand the benefits of nature and what it does for us every day. A little dirt under your nails is never a bad thing.
Max Branstetter 38:24
What a beautiful message to live by, to garden by, to Gardenuity by. Thank you so much, Donna, for coming on Wild Business Growth, sharing your Wild story, and thank you, Wild Listeners, for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to Follow or Subscribe to Wild Business Growth wherever you listen to podcasts. And for the video versions, you can check out and Subscribe on YouTube @MaxBranstetter, you can find all things MaxPodcasting, the Podcasting to the Max newsletter, anything else about this podcast at MaxPodcasting.com and until next time, Let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
