{"id":702,"date":"2019-04-29T10:45:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T14:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/?p=702"},"modified":"2019-04-29T10:45:44","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T14:45:44","slug":"vermonter-of-the-month-julia-birnn-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/vermonter-of-the-month-julia-birnn-fields\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermonter of the Month: Julia Birnn Fields"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a monthly series in which the Attorney General will feature a Vermonter doing exemplary work in their community. Have someone you think should be featured? Email <\/em>AGO.CAP@vermont.gov<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Julia
Julia Birnn Fields speaking with Attorney General T.J. Donovan at Birnn Chocolates of Vermont<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Julia\nBirnn Fields, 4th<\/sup>-generation owner of Birnn Chocolates of Vermont<\/a> and our April Vermonter of the\nMonth, didn\u2019t always know she would take over the family business. She felt\ncalled to service when her father and uncle considered retirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now,\nalmost ten years later, it\u2019s clear that she and her husband Mel found the right\npath: Her love for what she does shines through in her words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps\nmost inspiring, she has prioritized helping her employees grow. Why? She says,\n\u201cOur employees are the heartbeat of our company and we would not exist without\nthem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Birnn\nChocolates hire many new Americans. Because English is a second language for\nthose employees, they started offering English lessons during the work day. It\nall started because they \u201cnoticed that some of the most veteran employees for\nwhom English was a second language weren\u2019t being promoted as quickly as native\nEnglish speakers.\u201d Now, they work with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program\nto continue the lessons indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia\nBirnn Fields exemplifies a connection to family, community, diversity and investing\nin employees. We\u2019re proud to honor her as our April Vermonter of the Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us a little about yourself\n(What is your official title? What has been your career path? How did you get\nto where you are?):<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nam President and 4th<\/sup>-generation owner of Birnn Chocolates of\nVermont.  My degree is in Elementary\nEducation, so the family business was not my chosen career path early on.  After I graduated from college I taught skiing\nat Sugarbush Resort, gave tours and repped events for Magic Hat, worked summers\nfor Appalachian Landscaping, and managed a seasonal restaurant.  Each of those jobs taught me great life\nlessons on how to deal with people both internally and externally in a wide\nvariety of businesses.  Four years after\ngraduation, when I was skiing 100+ days in the winter and caretaking a private\nisland on Lake Champlain, my dad asked me what my plan was.  I was a bit taken aback, as I thought I was\nliving a pretty darn good life, but from my father\u2019s eyes it didn\u2019t seem like\nit was my forever path.  My dad and uncle\nco-owned the family chocolate business, and they were beginning to think about\nretirement.  My uncle doesn\u2019t have kids\nand I\u2019m an only child so their plan was quite simple: if I wasn\u2019t interested\nthey were going to sell.  I honestly had\nnever even considered working for my family; it was always my dad and uncle\u2019s\nthing.  However, the thought of them\nselling the multigenerational business didn\u2019t sit right with me, and I wanted\nto at least explore the option before it was gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2010 my partner, Mel, and I made the life-altering decision to try the family business on for size and agreed to work for a year to see if it was a good fit for us.  We knew we wanted to work together, whatever we did so this seemed like a logical option.  Now, nine years later we are still here.  Year one flew by, along with year two.  We started in production, learning each job from the best, seasoned employees.  I worked in the business in high school, so I did have some basic knowledge, but we still took the time to learn each position. We felt this step vitally important to truly understanding the business as a whole.  Our roles evolved organically. We\u2019d see an area that needed improvement and then help implement things to make people\u2019s jobs easier.  In doing so we not only gained respect from our coworkers, but also helped the company become more efficient.  Year three we began talking about the future.  It was clear we were quite happy in the business and were ready to talk seriously about succession.  It took a couple of years to come up with a plan that felt really solid for all four parties involved.  Mel and I became the 4th-generation owners in 2016 and simultaneously my dad and uncle retired.  It was quite a big step but we all felt it was the right move for the company, our employees, and the bright future ahead.  We\u2019re now expecting a baby next month, the first of the 5th-generation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sets Birnn Chocolates of\nVermont apart from other truffle makers? What\u2019s your mission or motto?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nexclusively make chocolate truffles, no other products.  We also only sell in bulk to the wholesale\nmarket and do not have a retail store of our own.  Our number one focus is our wholesale customers\nand therefore our focus is on customer service and ensuring that our customers\nare getting what they need in a timely manner. \nWe ship the same day that orders are placed, which is pretty unique in\nour business.  We also ship year-round\nand cover the cost of extra insulation and ice packs during the warmer\nmonths.  We\u2019re family owned and operated\nso when you call you always get a person and we\u2019re always willing to listen to\ncustomer requests and make a sincere effort to accommodate them.  We are extremely efficient in what we do\nwhich helps tremendously with producing a high-quality product for a very\ncompetitive price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our mission: Above and Beyond – Every Day, Every Way, Everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our motto: We make truffles, for people who sell truffles, to people who love truffles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to offer English\nclasses to your New American employees?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mel\nand I noticed that some of the most veteran employees for whom English was a\nsecond language weren\u2019t being promoted as quickly as native English speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you promote the\nopportunity to your employees? How did you ensure that these classes were\nutilized?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We originally tried offering English classes before and after work and no one signed up.  We were discouraged but understood why.  We then met with the Vermont Department of Economic Development and received a grant for English lessons during the work day.  The grant paid for half of the expense of hiring a teacher and paying our employees to attend the classes.  Once the grant was completed, we wanted to continue offering this benefit to our English Language Learning employees so we made arrangements with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program<\/a> to continue the lessons.  We\u2019ve offered English lessons for two years now and plan to continue them indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What impact did offering these\nclasses have on your business? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just two hours a week (plus some voluntary homework) we\u2019ve seen a significant increase in confidence and English usage in the workplace. This also creates a more inclusive environment for others that don\u2019t speak another language.  Previously there were a few different languages being spoken and it could feel isolating to some when a group of people spoke freely next to them in a language they did not understand.  We\u2019ve really tried to get everyone involved with our efforts and have asked our native English speakers to help others with their vocabulary and pronunciation.  We\u2019ve worked hard to create a safe and trusting space where people feel comfortable asking for help and guidance with the English language. It\u2019s a win-win for everyone involved.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you recommend this to other\nsmall businesses? What advice do you have for other small businesses looking to\ncreate organizational change or empower their employees?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We feel that empowering our employees is the single most important thing that we can do.  Not only does it tell them that we\u2019re invested in their well-being, it\u2019s very rewarding watching them learn and grow in an environment we\u2019ve helped to cultivate.  We also hope that this will carry over to interactions with communities outside of the workplace, and to further that aim, we\u2019ve encouraged a curriculum that isn\u2019t solely based on chocolate or manufacturing vocabulary.  We would most certainly encourage any and all businesses to develop their own programs.  The rewards are priceless.  Our employees are the heartbeat of our company and we would not exist without them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Birnn
Birnn Chocolates of Vermont<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Julia
Julia Birnn Fields speaking with Attorney General T.J. Donovan at Birnn Chocolates of Vermont <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Birnn Made in Vermont<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a monthly series in which the Attorney General will feature a Vermonter doing exemplary work in their community. Have someone you think should be featured? Email AGO.CAP@vermont.gov. Julia Birnn Fields, 4th-generation owner of Birnn Chocolates of Vermont and our April … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4519,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[223768],"tags":[505532,505540,505445],"class_list":["post-702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-vermonterofthemonth","tag-vtsmallbusiness","tag-vermonter-of-the-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":712,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions\/712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}