The company, which also worked to increase the racial diversity of its board, now requires a diverse slate of candidates for every job opening. At a time of historically low unemployment, that requirement can extend the time frame for hiring, Murray said. But it’s a way to try to disrupt unconscious bias — what Williams says is a biological preference to be around people who resemble ourselves. Kowalski’s: community impact More than two decades ago, grocery retailer Kowalski’s Markets started on the journey to becoming a civic business for which a focus on organizing and governing for the common good are key. Its leaders — Mary Anne Kowalski, the company’s owner and co-founder, her daughter, CEO Kris Kowalski Christiansen ’88, and Mike Oase, the COO — saw the Racial Justice Initiative as an opportunity to build the company’s leaders’ capacity around issues of racial justice.
experience, said Kowalski Christiansen, who received her bachelor’s degree from St. Thomas. Since those sessions started, the company, with a workforce of 1,800, has sought ways to deepen its engagement around racial justice. Always a champion of local food producers, the company partners with organizations like 4 Access Partners and the Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON) to support bringing new products by diverse entrepreneurs into its stores. Kowalski’s recently added several Black- owned products, including sold-by-the-bag Soul Grain Granola, gourmet cookie company Love You Cookie founded by St. Thomas alumnus Sahr Brima ’11, Lovejoy’s Bloody Mary Mix and the start-up streetwear brand Blind Havoc, whose goal is to “spread positivity through clothing.” “We have been having a lot more interaction with people giving local entrepreneurs (an avenue) who perhaps don’t have the knowledge or the finances to get a business going, but have the idea and the drive to do it,” Kowalski Christiansen said. Kowalski’s Markets has, from its beginnings at its flagship Grand Avenue store in St. Paul, been deeply involved in the communities it serves. Years ago, it also established Kowalski’s 4 Kids Foundation, which focuses on inner-city children because Mary Anne Kowalski grew up as an inner-city kid. Since becoming involved with RJI, Mary Anne and Kris joined the board of African American Child Wellness Institute, which provides mental health services to children who have experienced trauma and violence.
The Kowalski’s leadership team organized a series of education sessions with Williams. The first session, in January 2021, was with the company’s top 32 leaders, including 11 store managers; and then in two sessions over the next year and a half (interrupted by waves in the COVID-19 pandemic) they included all the department managers and assistant store managers. “Just hearing the cold, hard truth from a Black man who lives and breathes it” was an eye-opening
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