Today’s Wednesdays for Women blog comes from Blue Yonder’s Kerri Schrage, vice president, finance. She shares her experience participating in Blue Yonder’s first-ever townhall for families as a way to bring our families together during this time.

How much does your family know about where you work and what you do? Our jobs consume the bulk of our days, yet what we and our company do is not always clear to our families. During a time where we are all working, schooling and living in the same place, our CEO Girish Rishi decided it was time to answer that very question for our families – our kids, our parents, and even our grandparents! An excerpt from his post on LinkedIn follows:

Can you imagine the Griswolds sequestered in their house?

Many of us work at technology companies and at times have difficulty explaining to our families what we do every day. So, at Blue Yonder we have decided on holding a virtual town hall for kids, spouses, partners and (grand)parents. We plan to share with them what we do, what we build and deliver and to whom; and where all in the world we do it—from Stockholm to Santiago, Scottsdale to Sydney. The idea is to bring families together and have a bit of fun, and perhaps build a greater sense of community, globally, from our homes.

I was delighted to be asked to “host” this virtual town hall which brought together a range of associates from around the company and world. Our fellow associates from the US, Mexico, Singapore and India, and ‘furry friends’ taught everyone about:

•             What does Blue Yonder do?

•             What do we build?

•             How do we deliver?

•             Where in the world is Blue Yonder and our customers?

We even brought in some special guests to join in on the fun — our families’ kids , Manny Ohonme, CEO/Founder of Samaritan’s Feet, and Jon Rahm, pro golfer and our brand spokesperson.

For me, it was an opportunity to share a few details about my family and my experience working from home full-time, sharing how we are using this time to slow down and spend more time together.

Each of us has a unique story on how this global pandemic has touched our lives beyond our working from home. I have two sisters who are working on the front lines as essential workers during this pandemic. One is a pharmacist at a long-term care facility who is preparing for the worst while remaining optimistic that things will get better (and they will). My other sister is a manager at Sam’s Club and she shares stories of hundreds of customers flooding the store, putting limits on purchases like toilet paper and high-demand goods, and ensuring social distancing practices for all shoppers.  Each leave their homes daily to serve patients and customers, and today more than ever their jobs are so very important. This town hall gave me a chance to publicly thank them and all essential workers delivering critical services at this time.

I look forward to sharing this townhall with our families and maybe they’ll learn a thing or two from our furry friends Spot and Wally.