Pivot With Purpose Season 5 Episode 3 Nicky Bandera Full Transcript

Meghan Houle (00:00.598)

Nikki Bandera, welcome to the Pivot With Purpose podcast. How are you my friends? Yeah.

nicky bandera (00:06.911)

Great, I'm so great, happy to be here.

Meghan Houle (00:09.566)

Me too. And I have to tell you, I, you know, I've seen you all up and around Boston and Seaport is one of my favorite places and definitely, um, was a big fan of all your pop-ups, but I feel like, like the bridge between us came at that WS development event, where I feel like we just kind of like, we're passing along on the way to the bathroom and I'm like, Hey, you're cool. Um, let's get to know each other.

nicky bandera (00:36.728)

Really.

Meghan Houle (00:37.078)

But the power of networking connection, like asking for conversations. Oh my gosh, so here we are. And since that time, you know, just being able to engage with you and connect with you, what an incredible story you have. And I'm just in awe of all that you are doing for people in our communities and giving back. It's just, we need more people like you in this world. So I am definitely excited to dive into your background and all things PIVOTS.

the heart of this podcast. So jumping right in Nikki, like tell our listeners a little bit about well, first of all, like what season and era are we catching you in right now? Like what are you up to these days? And then we'll dive into like early Nikki but yeah.

nicky bandera (01:17.503)

Yeah, so it's beanie season.

Meghan Houle (01:20.607)

Yes it is.

nicky bandera (01:22.495)

It's beanie season and for us at Poly, that means a lot of things. We support 32 different charitable organizations with our hats. So each different color hat goes to a different charitable organization. In the season of giving, it's really important for us to do as much as we possibly can to sell as many hats, to talk about as many of these amazing organizations. And...

Hopefully connect people up with organizations that they continue to work with throughout their life, throughout the year, you know? And we're also getting into Thanksgiving, which I think a lot of people don't know, and I'm sure we'll talk a little bit. I'm not that good at social media, but I am, you know, my personal page, the memes. But in terms of our business, we do a lot of...

Meghan Houle (02:01.315)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (02:10.35)

Mm-hmm.

nicky bandera (02:18.627)

physical giving and have a really intense physical giving program. So we're getting into Thanksgiving. We feed 150 families that are in safe houses that have, that have, they're survivors of domestic violence. So we feed them all for Thanksgiving. So we're gearing up for that.

Meghan Houle (02:36.666)

Oh, I love that. And I know I feel like it's such, we get ready for the holidays and we gear up, gosh, and don't we all stress in other ways, but at the end of the day, you think about it at times, like, okay, like really, what am I complaining about in this world, you know, where there's just so much going on right now. And again, for organizations like you and I, through my church, we have, I think it's community servings.

where I've you know that yeah, they do like the pies and you can buy and get back and so it's definitely the season of giving and maybe After this podcast anyone walking away not only inspired to support you and grab a beanie And we'll just keep on the tomatoes all across the country the world You know walking around this season covering our heads in these beautiful beanies, but you know also inspired to help in a way Yeah

nicky bandera (03:02.495)

You're great.

nicky bandera (03:25.799)

Exactly, exactly. And that's, that's really what this is all about. Since since we began, it's really connecting us in a time to the needs of the community that we live within. And and we're certainly so disconnected. And I think all of us crave that connection in a time where like, even for me, I don't I don't know my neighbors, my neighbors are always changing and you know, we're always go go. So I think we're all looking for that connection in this stuff.

Meghan Houle (03:35.571)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (03:51.566)

Hmm.

nicky bandera (03:55.592)

gets us there. Helps.

Meghan Houle (03:56.542)

Agree. Yeah. Well, tell us early Nikki, what did your what did your journey look like early on career wise? What were some of those maybe like juicy pivots that got you into what you're doing today?

nicky bandera (04:00.558)

Mm-hmm.

nicky bandera (04:10.159)

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I definitely always, always someone that was like pretty creative and like building sets. And I remember I talk about this a lot. It was like the only thing that I ever got in trouble for when I was little was I would like steal my mother's fabric scissors and be like cutting things and making things. But I didn't know like what that meant as a kid living in Boston and kind of

definitely growing up in a family and surrounded by people that it was like, no, but you need a real job. You know, like you need a real job. I ended up going to design school in LA and coming back and it was, you know, I loved it out there and did a lot of stuff, but you come back and you meet a guy and you do the whole thing and it's like, okay, you have to get a real job. And I did that and I was lucky enough, I did liquor marketing, I did marketing.

for a bunch of different liquor brands and launched a bunch of liquor brands. I've worked in restaurants and, you know, I've always been able to have kind of a little bit of a creative get off, I think, that it was kind of like enough for me, but never really, I never really felt like I was doing what I was supposed, I didn't hear that big click and a lot of people talk about that, you know.

always lots of charity work. I've always kind of done that stuff since I was really, really little. I think the first press on me ever was like me feeding people at Father Bill's place. And so for me, like charity was always really important and also design, but I just didn't know how to get there. And I think I didn't have people around me or supportive partners. A huge click for me, obviously in pandemic.

the wonderful relationship that I'm in. And, you know, we just kind of started cooking and everything kind of, it was like I could hear the click. I knew that was what I was supposed to be doing. And I didn't know what the end of it looked like. And I still don't, but I think following your instincts, you know? And then you sit back and you go, oh my God, and now I'm making these hats. And it's like all of these pieces, like these pieces that have made me the most happy in my life.

Meghan Houle (06:22.942)

Yeah. And here you are.

nicky bandera (06:33.431)

design and the marketing stuff, everything that I was good at and combined with like amazing supportive like women my partner that were instead of saying no you need to do something else This doesn't make sense because it didn't and it doesn't and that's it's never been about making sense But having people that were like, you know what? Like we support you in this like let's see where this goes

Meghan Houle (06:33.738)

My. Yeah.

nicky bandera (07:01.063)

And, you know, here we are. And I think a lot of times, like, especially in terms of, like, it was really about having the right friends around me, and again, the right partner that was pushing me and not telling me that I was, what are you doing? Yeah, there are lots of ideas, you know? We all have lots of ideas as creative people and, you know.

Meghan Houle (07:01.219)

Wow. Yeah.

Meghan Houle (07:17.65)

Right. Uh, hell yes to that. Like hell yes. And there's yeah. Yeah.

nicky bandera (07:27.907)

those ideas, it's like a lot of them don't happen. And a lot of times it has to do with the people that are around you and the way that they're received. And then sometimes we're like, I don't even wanna talk to people about what I, you know. So let's worry about that for me.

Meghan Houle (07:40.894)

Yeah, oh my gosh, a hundred percent. And there's so many nuggets in there. So just going back to, because I feel like a lot of our listeners, you know, the whole podcast is pivot with purpose, right? However you define that, whatever you see, sometimes it's life changes, mindset shifts, you know, changes in directions, all of that. But we can start out being one thing, but the common theme that just pulls us back to that true purpose,

nicky bandera (08:01.778)

Mm-hmm.

Meghan Houle (08:07.946)

is always when you get back into alignment with what you know in your soul gets you out of bed gets you like motivated and work not feeling like work which I know people like red Megan around says that shut up. But when it doesn't feel like work like purpose there right so you knew you were creative. You know you sort of did that job that served you still you know, facing within people but coming back in and it's so important about your network. Oh my gosh, like

nicky bandera (08:12.461)

Over.

nicky bandera (08:19.554)

Exactly.

No, it's not good, no.

nicky bandera (08:31.512)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (08:37.606)

That's the thing I've done the most over these past like, I don't know, 10 years is what I call like, the friends that like unfortunately, like, you know, not unfortunately, you have your family, you can edit them out as you choose with those are your family. But I mean, the people you surround yourself with is truly magical when you get into a vibe of individuals that are truly clapping for you and sure people are happy to share their opinions, but we need to get away from the individuals that

are just constantly negative, putting us down. And also too, like giving us advice of like, oh really, should you be doing that? Because it's a deflection, Nikki, right? It's something that they're lacking in themselves that they can't do. So then they're making you feel bad about what you're doing to serve your ultimate life purpose. So that's so incredible. Yeah.

nicky bandera (09:16.323)

Totally!

nicky bandera (09:23.343)

Totally, totally. And I think the other thing that, you know, definitely for me it was that, like if you do have these jobs where like, you are kind of like getting that little bit of a get off and you're making money and you have security, like that was another thing for me that, you know, like even when faced with the leaps and the pivots, like the combination of kind of having security and maybe not having people that were supportive around me, it's like, well, how could I?

You know, how could I leave to do what I'm supposed to be doing? How it's, it's so scary. It's such a scary thing. Um, and I think something that kind of holds people back a lot, like this kind of stability and security. So, um, you know, we definitely, I definitely got to a point where it was like, no, this is all going to work out. When we knew it, when we started, I just, I knew that that's what I was supposed to be doing and that.

Meghan Houle (10:02.574)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (10:11.738)

Ah!

nicky bandera (10:18.035)

anyone that was around me that said otherwise needed to not be there because they had no idea. Like this was the moment and I needed to be what I need to be in that moment.

Meghan Houle (10:23.35)

Yep. Yeah.

So where did the, tell us a bit more about Project Poly. So you, did you physically like leave your previous job and just like we're gonna start it? Like how did you get started? Like tell us those early building blocks. Yeah.

nicky bandera (10:37.795)

Yeah. So it started. So I was in the marketing department for Tequila Company. We were launching a brand. I was traveling half the month every month. It was crazy. And when I was traveling, I had actually gotten them to support this. It was a breast cancer fundraiser. So I was traveling, launching this brand along with this breast cancer fundraiser, which was wonderful. And the pandemic happened.

And immediately the first thing that we saw was there was, you know, like service industry people that were receiving no support at all from this country. And you're going, oh my God, like this is such a backbone in this country. You know what I mean? Like just our lifestyle, everything. Like all of these people, which I've been at different times in my life, like they didn't know where they were gonna feed their families or how. And everything that was offered to them,

you had to leave your house to go get it. And it was like, no one's leaving their house. They're in like gas masks and the whole thing. We didn't know what COVID was. And you're asking people to do this. And you're asking people that most of them, like when we're talking about back of the house workers, like don't have vehicles. So on top of it, it's public transportation. So immediately I thought of like, hey, let's activate all of these owners of these wonderful restaurants, which I was happy enough to know.

and let's help them take care of their people. And I'm sure they want the same thing. So we had made this video basically saying like, we're gonna feed people. Like if you need it, we're gonna feed you and we're gonna figure it out how. And we thought we were gonna feed 20 families. That was the goal. We didn't know who was gonna reach out to us. And we made a video with Polly from Goodfellas like slicing the garlic with a razor blade. And I called it Project Polly as a joke. And...

with the help of these restaurant owners driving around and delivering meals, we've fed over 3,500 families that first round. And I had drawn a tomato that we had on all these bags and it was, you know, it was wild. Like we would, I had all these like glitter doorway things and like the drivers would drop off the meals and they would put the glitter doorway like over the doorway because at that time it was like, it was just such a dark time and I just wanted to bring

nicky bandera (13:01.015)

bring something special to people and give them a second that they didn't have to worry, you know? And we just kept going, kept going, kept going. And along the way, met people who had founded organizations. And it was just like, shit, man, like these guys are doing the work. Like, how did I not know about them? How do I get other people to know about them? How do I raise funds for them? And we put the tomato on a hat and attached an organization. And it was like,

Meghan Houle (13:05.081)

Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

nicky bandera (13:32.147)

It was amazing, it was amazing because it's, everyone asks you why the hell you have a tomato on your head and to be able to talk about the organizations they represent, have other people talking about that, I mean it's just totally taken on a life of its own which is certainly what I wanted.

Meghan Houle (13:48.71)

Yeah, well, it's branding. It's that recognizable sort of object now, too, that is tied back to you. And I think there's a significance in the tomato, too, because I feel like early on reading, there was a special dish that you were making for everyone, right? Yeah.

nicky bandera (13:54.948)

Bye.

nicky bandera (14:03.531)

Yeah, we were making those out for people and we were making my family's sauce recipe. And throughout this process, the more I found out about tomatoes, it's like tomatoes is one of those things or one of those vegetables that can grow out of cement. You know what I mean? Like any climate, anything, and just, it's been really cool.

Meghan Houle (14:09.369)

Oh, so good. Yeah.

Meghan Houle (14:18.671)

MWAH

Meghan Houle (14:23.602)

Yeah. So what is your business look like? So now fast forward, what almost gosh, going into like four years after the pandemic, like time freaking flies. What, what's different today that you've really built? Like tell me, tell us about all the things that you have going on now. Yeah.

nicky bandera (14:44.556)

Yeah, so we've had a couple of great pop-ups that were supposed to be three months that have lasted years. And now we have one beautiful store that's in the North End or right on Prince Street at 42 Prince. We have a beautiful audience.

Meghan Houle (14:58.242)

So iconic. I mean, that's like, isn't Prince Street like the original where the little boy was like, it's supper time, right? On the Prince pasta. Isn't it? I'm gonna come to your store and yell that out the door. So catch me on Prince Street.

nicky bandera (15:06.535)

Yeah. Oh my God. Please do. Please do. We are here for any and all pasta related activities. Yeah, no. Prince Street is so amazing. And, you know, when we first started, I've had this space for quite some time and we weren't open and we were like in the seaport doing all this other stuff. And I was really nervous that the tomatoes, it was like gonna hit.

too close to home being in the North End, like people wouldn't, that the meaning would kind of be lost. And right now it's just so not that. Like people are asking questions. We have wonderful people in the North End. The community has just been so great to us. So we're in the North End. We have lots of partnerships too that we're doing. We're doing a wonderful partnership with Little Words Project. We have a wonderful partnership coming up with Brave Daughters.

Meghan Houle (15:43.31)

Mm-hmm. That's awesome.

Yeah.

nicky bandera (16:02.195)

Obviously some great new charity partners like Dress for Success, which we're going to be working with you, Megan, and just lots more of exactly what we started with. Lots more of that.

Meghan Houle (16:15.498)

Right. Yeah. So how do you choose your charity partners? And yeah, how can people reach out and get in touch with you? How does that work to get involved? Yeah.

nicky bandera (16:25.735)

Yeah, I mean, reach out to me. Reach out to me. And obviously, I'm sure there might even be attached to this in some way. But it's really, you know, we have open stores every day and have for the past four or three years. And like people come in all the time and they read these lists. And, you know, they think of their friends or their own organizations. And they're like, have you heard of this? And so we have a tally in all the shops.

Meghan Houle (16:32.715)

Oh, of course, yes.

nicky bandera (16:51.659)

that's always been like, whether it be me or someone else working there, they write it down. And then we'll look them all up and reach out to them and see if it's right for us. The first kind of line of edit happens where we don't do anything with disease, we really are focused on housing and food insecurity. And then there's some branches off that, you know, because we say a lot of Project Polly that

Meghan Houle (17:13.654)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

nicky bandera (17:20.931)

Feeding each other is not just about food. So like it's about having a roof over your head. It's about your safety. It's about your mental health. So we do work with organizations, of course, that deal with domestic abuse and the survivors, as well as ones that support our mental health and our rights.

Meghan Houle (17:37.75)

Yeah. So important. And in terms of those partnerships, how do you get involved in the organization? So is it through charity and fundraising? Do you do special pop-up events just to kind of get the gist of how that works? Yeah.

nicky bandera (17:52.655)

Yeah, I think we're open to everything and every single organization is just, they're different, you know, their needs are different. You know, for us working with Casa Miano, who we've definitely worked, worked really tightly with something that's amazing to me, like being an organization that started with food insecurity and feeding people myself, making sure that there's no waste and that we know exactly where the things are going. And especially with a small organization.

Meghan Houle (17:58.882)

Mm-hmm. Awesome.

nicky bandera (18:22.235)

like me, you know, I take it really seriously when people spend money with us. I think it's a big deal. People work really hard for the money that they make. When you spend it with us and there's a donation attached to that, I want to be able to tell you that money does something and it goes into someone's mouth in your community. So a lot of the organizations are exactly that. So there are organizations like Haley House that are feeding people every single day.

Meghan Houle (18:42.539)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (18:46.295)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (18:50.851)

that are right here or like Casamirna or like Bagley that's doing this amazing work right here. Elevate Youth, which is, I mean, I could go on and on, but it was really funny. People say to me a lot like, oh, this isn't, does it matter that most of them are based in Boston? And we've switched some of them to national organizations. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, because it really, the most important thing for us

Meghan Houle (19:01.118)

Yeah, yeah.

nicky bandera (19:20.851)

is that actually helping people. So we've kind of found that like, we work with organizations that are out in LA, you know, like know us without you and nobody minds. They're happy to buy the hat here, whether they've ever been to Los Angeles or not, because they know that the money is doing something amazing and that they're supporting amazing work, right? So most important is like these grassroots organizations, national organizations, it's great.

Meghan Houle (19:23.795)

Right.

Meghan Houle (19:38.898)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (19:49.023)

You know, we work with World Central Kitchen, who's literally saving the world. But yeah, I don't know. That's no truth.

Meghan Houle (19:53.112)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (19:56.478)

That's so, no, it's incredible. Well, no, it's, yeah, it's good to know. I think again, like the whys behind the buys, right? Ooh, is that like our next book or like, that's something. Yeah. That's true, the whys behind the buys. Yeah.

nicky bandera (20:04.759)

No, no, it's the last one on the rise and it's been so interesting. Oh my God, please, please let's do it because it's been, that part of it has been so crazy. I mean that part has been so crazy like we were working with No Kid Hungry and like really excited about that and we did, we worked with them for years and then you go oh my God, well Project Bread is a partner of No Kid Hungry so instead of like going through all of these checkpoints let's do that.

Meghan Houle (20:34.439)

Mm-hmm.

nicky bandera (20:35.019)

And maybe it's not the biggest thing in the whole world, but maybe it is the biggest thing for us and the best thing for us.

Meghan Houle (20:41.926)

Yeah. And I love too. I mean, yes, there are so many nationals, but to take care of your own community, you know, for the people and are you born and raised in Boston or like where are you from? Yeah. You know, I think to see you be able to give back in a space because I'm not I'm not from here. I'm from upstate New York, but I've been in Boston for like 20 years. So I feel like I'm, I'm a part of it. And I just I love the city.

nicky bandera (20:50.511)

We have a problem.

nicky bandera (21:01.943)

Use your-

Meghan Houle (21:06.694)

so much, you know, kind of living downtown, being able to walk through all the neighborhoods. And, you know, I feel like we're pretty lucky in Boston. I I'm a city girl at heart, like, I just feel like it's my vibe. We'll go back home to upstate. I'm like, cool, it's quiet. And there's a lot of drive thru's. And anyone that knows me knows I like love a good drive thru coffee place. So we're not here. They're in like Stonem or something. We have to go to like

nicky bandera (21:27.375)

Oh my God, I love this so much. Where are they also?

nicky bandera (21:33.953)

I'll drive. I'll go.

Meghan Houle (21:34.678)

was going to tie it. All right, let's take a field trip. But, you know, just to the accessibility, the community, I mean, it's such a small world, too, when you really get into it. But I love that the birds of the feather, as they say, we kind of stick together and you wind up like meeting really great people when your intentions are also really great. Because in small cities, too, you can find those people that you know, you probably want to also stay away from. So

nicky bandera (21:37.131)

Let's find the necklace.

nicky bandera (21:53.455)

Totally.

nicky bandera (22:01.303)

Yeah, that's another episode!

Meghan Houle (22:03.486)

We'll go unnamed. However, you live and you learn, as in the words of Atlantis. But I think, no, it's so beautiful what you're doing. And beyond this like incredible female founder, business owner, you know, what, how, what is Nikki like behind the scenes? Like, tell us about all the things you're managing. I know you have kiddos, right? Like, yes.

nicky bandera (22:26.488)

Yeah, yeah. I have a daughter, she's seven, she's great. She was stirring the sauce with me and kind of what you were talking about earlier, like I get it that it's overused and saying it doesn't feel like work, but you know when you get it, just like your guy, your girl, whatever that you're with, I'm genuinely probably working on something poly-related from the moment that I wake up till the moment I go to sleep.

Meghan Houle (22:28.142)

Mm-hmm.

Meghan Houle (22:50.754)

same. Yeah.

nicky bandera (22:53.791)

I love it. Like there's not enough time in the day to do the things I want to do and these are the things that I wanna do. And there is no work-life balance, but my family is there with me. Like it doesn't, I don't know. It feels like I'm doing the right thing. Like there's not a whole lot of time that doesn't feel that way. Especially when they're with the give back, with everything it's like.

Having my daughter be beside me, like be a part of this whole thing is like, what a gift. I feel so privileged to be able to do this with her.

Meghan Houle (23:25.482)

Yeah. And how amazing, like an example that you're setting, just in terms of like what work looks like, cause I don't know in growing up, like what your family was like, but I feel like we had those boomer parents that were like in scarcity mode 24 seven, like work, work. And I think the balance also wasn't there, but they were not working for purpose, like no way. Like what was that even? But then also,

nicky bandera (23:49.307)

Yeah. How?

Meghan Houle (23:52.51)

you see parents coming home like complaining constantly stressed out, da da. I mean, that all that's childhood trauma, right? Like that's where it comes from. Then to say like, okay, my parents acting that or a certain way like, well, I don't wanna be like that. And I don't wanna do that. And there's just like enough crazy shit going on in this world in the bad examples being set all over to have a mom like you that not only is involving someone, you know, you're teaching these like beautiful life skills which are just born so early on, you know.

nicky bandera (24:00.037)

Yes, we have.

nicky bandera (24:09.199)

Totally!

nicky bandera (24:19.171)

Totally, and it's unreal. And I want her to be able to see that she can do whatever she wants. I want her to be able to see all that. I mean, so one of the coolest things I will say when we were talking about going through this and navigating it, kind of doing it, doing it right, or as right as we can, and starting a brand that is totally thoughtful throughout the process. Because we work with these

Meghan Houle (24:24.313)

Oh, I love that.

nicky bandera (24:48.499)

organization. So it's like, okay, we're taking care of the community, but like, how are we doing that? Right? Like, we're doing it with these hats. And we realized like, Oh my God, like we're extorting people while we're raising funds for people domestically because of the way that these hats are made. You know what I mean? Like you realize all this stuff. So one of the things that we've been really, that I've been really passionate about is like making sure we're not doing that, you know, like

Meghan Houle (25:05.443)

Mm-hmm.

Meghan Houle (25:13.71)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

nicky bandera (25:16.215)

making sure we're not doing that, making sure everything from like the way that our hats are made and the way that they're embroidered and like the way that they're shipped to you, the way that our sweatshirts are made, everything that people are taking care of along the way. And that's been fun. It's been absolutely a blast. So we've actually started another business where we're doing that with other brands. So, yeah.

Meghan Houle (25:31.488)

Yeah.

I love it.

Meghan Houle (25:39.174)

Oh, like helping them ship and package. Yeah. Wow.

nicky bandera (25:41.651)

Yeah, so we're doing production, we're doing design, production and fulfillment. We opened, we opened a spot that's on South Street, downtown in South State.

Meghan Houle (25:51.422)

Oh cool. All right, can I put in like a special order? Can we get some like cross body like fanny packs next? Do you have those?

nicky bandera (25:59.247)

Oh my god, you can make whatever you want. I'll make whatever you want, Megyn Cooke.

Meghan Houle (26:03.07)

Well, I know I know we can't see on the video, but we'll post a little clip but you're also in the season of creating these like sparkle beanie is now that you're wearing one today and Nikki and I are both wearing the same color because we're fabulous. And we're also in this beige moment where I've been walking around the streets of Boston either pantless or shirtless. So catch me on Newbury Street. You're welcome everyone. But

nicky bandera (26:14.683)

Lots of time.

nicky bandera (26:22.059)

I love that so much.

Meghan Houle (26:23.426)

catch me on Newberry, but now, you know, to wear this like beautiful hat and then to expand like you said, and I think making these special collections, I mean, not only are you giving back, it's meaningful, it's things that people love. And so do you have a small team that you lead, Nikki? And like, how do you show up as a leader? Like, what are some of those like core values are so important for you in terms of leading teams and like making your team see be seen and valued and heard in these days is so important to keep a good team. Yeah.

nicky bandera (26:32.227)

Totally.

nicky bandera (26:49.683)

It's important and it's really difficult, especially kind of like in growth phases and like we've always been really conservative and it's like, you know that you're ready to like take on more people, hire more people and it's like two pronged. It's like, you wanna make sure that everybody that's on your team is completely taken care of. Like we're definitely not like a volunteer based business and we wanna make sure that we're doing right by everyone.

But for us, like first and foremost, the times that we see that it doesn't work is when people like really don't understand like who we are as a brand and the organizations and all of that stuff. So you kind of have to be like a fashion person and also, you know, you have to, and we're really lucky. We have a great little team of people who are just the best.

Meghan Houle (27:38.253)

Mmm, mm-hmm. Yeah.

Meghan Houle (27:46.91)

Awesome. That love it. No. Well, are you looking, so what does your, who is your team comprised of today? Like, do you have like marketing and like PR and then like store individuals and like, will you be hiring in the new year? Just, yeah.

nicky bandera (27:47.511)

But it's not easy, you know.

nicky bandera (28:00.191)

Yeah, so we have people that work in our shop that are excellent. And then we have my design partner and I, and then we have an amazing graphic designer. And then we have people that work in our fulfillment, that work in our fulfillment that are like, literally like the greatest people in the world. And we have Jackie that is heading up all of that. So she ships all of our clients and all of our stuff.

Meghan Houle (28:03.359)

Mm-hmm.

Meghan Houle (28:17.83)

Awesome. Yeah.

nicky bandera (28:29.259)

I mean, we have a great team of people. We have a great team. We're very lucky.

Meghan Houle (28:29.418)

Yeah, I love it. What have you learned about yourself in this process over the past three years? What are you really proud of? What have you learned through highs and lows? Yeah.

nicky bandera (28:41.695)

Yeah, I mean, I'm proud of myself for can to listening to myself. There has been a lot of moments like we were talking about earlier, where I had people that I really loved that were around me, telling me that I was stupid, that it was not sustainable. And what the heck are you doing? Oh, my God, you're leaving your job. Or like I had people that were working with me that said that they weren't going to. They were like, I'm going to stop.

because they thought that was actually gonna stop me. And we've had, yeah, I mean, the craziest things, like we've worked with different artists that were making our hats that are like, nope, you have to do, you know, pre-sale, and I'm only making this amount a week. And I'm like, nobody can stop me. Like, you can say that you can't do this anymore, but like we're here to make hats, to put hats on heads, because we're here to raise money. Like we're here to put the...

Meghan Houle (29:13.687)

Hmm.

nicky bandera (29:38.891)

support these organizations. Like I don't care if it's fashionable to have things sell out and whatever. I mean, there's been a lot of moments like that, but it's, I would always think, what would I regret more? You know, like would I regret, and that's all I care about, making sure that I have no regrets in my life and that I can look myself in the mirror. Cause it's like, what would I regret more? Like would I regret stopping and always wondering how far I could go and how much good I could do?

Meghan Houle (29:47.597)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (30:00.246)

Mm-hmm.

nicky bandera (30:08.887)

would I or would I regret, you know, yeah, you never know or sorry, I'm like all flustered. But you never know, you never know. Or you continue and you fail, like who gives a shit? At least you know. And like, we're here to push the limits. Like there's no road, like no one's done what we've done, you know, we see companies like Black Dog that they started and it's like.

Meghan Houle (30:16.975)

Yeah, no, I mean the- yeah. Yeah, yeah.

nicky bandera (30:36.351)

when they first started, only whoever had gone to the vineyard had, you know, but without the gift back. Like, and I haven't seen anyone do this and I kind of am always like, oh, because it's stupid again. But it really was not stupid. It's not the right word, but like this crazy idea that doesn't make sense. And when you have those, you have to push it. And like, we're the ones creating the worlds, you know, like

Meghan Houle (30:41.304)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (31:01.514)

Right. Yeah.

nicky bandera (31:02.859)

We get to decide what that looks like. It doesn't matter who's done what and how. They haven't done what we've done.

Meghan Houle (31:07.326)

Yep. Right. Trailblazing for sure. And no, again, just going back to the naysayers. And yes, there's so many people that I think hold a lot of individuals down in their lives of like wanting to move forward, but the risk is always worth, you know, versus the regret, basically. I feel like I posted something about that on social. I mean, I did the same thing, gosh, last month, and like throwing this huge like...

event in Boston with this podcast. And now I know September is like a new extension of summer. And it's just like never time to throw an event because like everyone's like maxed out crazy these days. Again, we learned nothing from COVID about our boundaries and schedules really how much more can we do, but you just have to do it.

nicky bandera (31:38.319)

which is amazing.

nicky bandera (31:53.347)

I don't know. You have to do it.

Meghan Houle (31:55.066)

and you put yourself out there and your people will show up and the people around you will try to support you as best they can. But if you don't start if you don't take this idea, you're right. What are you going to sit with? And like, how many lives have you changed? Like you've probably I mean, so many lives. So yeah.

nicky bandera (32:05.807)

It never happened.

nicky bandera (32:10.035)

And it's really about, it's, you know, about everyone. And like, I think that when you're doing the right stuff, it does take on a life of its own. And like all of the people that you've helped with the work that you do, it's like, that's what you want. You know what I mean? Like you want it to branch off, you want it to grow. And cause that's really what it's all about. It's not about like growth just within yourself or money or whatever, cause who cares? And like, I love things just as much as the next person.

Meghan Houle (32:13.323)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (32:36.32)

Right.

Yeah.

nicky bandera (32:39.763)

I love things, but the thing that makes me feel the best is giving as much as I get and seeing other people, you know, hopefully do that themselves because I think they want to.

Meghan Houle (32:46.28)

I love that.

Meghan Houle (32:51.838)

Yeah, oh, that's so beautiful. Well, what are you most excited about looking into this new season we're coming into? New year, as everyone knows listening, I'm like, I hate New Year's resolutions. I'm just someone that just keeps on like rolling. Because like that January 1st, like day, you're just like, oh my God, it's the ultimate, like Sunday scary. You're like, oh Jesus, it's a new year. Like I'm actually nervous, but.

What are you most excited about? Like what do you have in store? If you can share anything or yeah.

nicky bandera (33:24.711)

Yeah, I mean, we've been, as I mentioned, we like work with a ton of like really great brands. So we've been working with a brand called Grossi Pelosi, a guy named Dan Pelosi, who he's number four in the New York Times bestseller list, we designed all his merch, and he has a beautiful partnership with Creighton Barrel now. So we made all these beautiful cookie tins that they're going to be selling there and really being able to

Meghan Houle (33:33.006)

Mm-hmm.

nicky bandera (33:54.275)

that stuff that I've learned about like how to create things that are well made, that like we can kind of track. I find that that's a reason that a lot of people actually don't make merch because it's just so difficult to navigate. It's like, where am I getting this stuff? Who's making this stuff? So being able to make sustainable items and items that are cohesive with people's brands and their own personal ethos.

Like that really excites me. So definitely Dan Pelosi we're doing, we have a couple other big clients that we've been working with. So being able to kind of like cut out all that questioning for these people and these brands that I love that are gonna be able to help them like get their brands into people's homes is like the coolest thing ever. Like second to, you know, Polly, but.

Meghan Houle (34:37.23)

Mm-hmm.

Meghan Houle (34:46.094)

It's awesome.

Meghan Houle (34:50.048)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (34:50.691)

I just wanna like keep doing what I'm doing.

Meghan Houle (34:54.598)

Oh girl, you will. I feel like, do we, we need like a project poly like cookware set, right? Let's do it. Let's stretch. We'll just like do a little strategy session. I will buy that whole thing. Like low-criset or what's that other one? Carraway, if anyone's listening, can we get like a red set, slap a tomato on there, get some like cooking utensils, okay?

nicky bandera (35:01.387)

Oh my god, yeah, we need it like we need lots of fun. We have lots of fun but a really exciting.

nicky bandera (35:14.031)

Oh yeah, oh yeah, I forgot to say.

Yeah, I mean, we're ready. We're definitely ready, but.

Meghan Houle (35:21.19)

Or like cooking with Nikki, can you come to my house and help me make lasagna? Cause like nobody wants to put a lasagna in their mouth that I make. Absolutely zero.

nicky bandera (35:27.412)

I mean, I can't, but like I said to everyone, the reason that Project Polly is closed and we're not like a soup kitchen, we're not like a restaurant is because it's genuinely like, I am not the chef in my household. I make like three things. I make chicken cutlets, I make lasagna. And like, it's really, it's really it. It's really it, I order.

Meghan Houle (35:41.142)

Mm hmm. That's it. You know what your strengths are. I make I make frozen awesome bands of pizza love a good bands of frozen beef. I can make that while you throw it into the oven, right?

nicky bandera (35:51.755)

You're kidding! We love Bonza so much. I can't even tell you there's Bonza pizza in my freezer right now, in the shelves. Bonza are our friends.

Meghan Houle (35:58.418)

Yes. So I can do that. Yeah, do that. And then you can't really, you can't really mess up pasta unless like you're really just like or boiling it. So those are the two things like, yes, thankfully, my husband did not marry me for my cooking skills. I have a lot of good friends that are cooking. So whatever.

nicky bandera (36:14.379)

Yeah, we make reservations. Yeah, exactly. Like, I'm really here to support small businesses, small business restaurants. You know what I mean?

Meghan Houle (36:21.959)

Yeah, same like here. Live I am Brookline, like take all my money, you know, like definitely I know I love that little place. So many shout outs. Well, so tell me for someone listening in maybe in your shoes that are working in these great corporate companies, but like have a passion project like what would you tell someone right now looking to make a meaningful pivot as we head into the new year? Like what inspiration or advice or

nicky bandera (36:49.131)

Yeah, I mean, it would literally just be to do it. Like, just start. And I find that a lot of people, we all make excuses because it's really safe. It's like, okay, well, I'm not gonna do this because I don't know how to do this part of it. I'm not a graphic designer. I'm not whatever, like all of this stuff. And it's like, it helps us sleep at night to feel like, oh, we don't have the skillset. And kind of what's really cooler is sitting there going, I'm actually just gonna teach myself this thing.

Meghan Houle (36:49.438)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (37:19.135)

and see if I can do it and the confidence you build every time you're teaching yourself new skills because none of us know what the heck we're doing, nobody. And I thought as I started to grow that it's like, you meet this person at this level, da and everybody is like, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just doing it. Like here's my goal. I wanna make sure that I'm working with people that are like smarter than me, know how to do the thing and I wanna teach myself how to do anything I possibly can.

We're all just figuring it out. Like every day is new things. There's like Instagram and Twitter and da, all this stuff. We're all learning.

Meghan Houle (37:50.507)

Mm-hmm.

Meghan Houle (37:56.458)

Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, and I think that is so what holds a lot of people back is like things looking perfect or looking stupid or, yeah, we're all gonna be beginners at something again in some of our lives. So we can't be the experts every day all the time, but giving yourself that opportunity to grow and expand.

nicky bandera (38:10.603)

Exactly.

nicky bandera (38:19.989)

Yeah!

Meghan Houle (38:20.682)

I mean, for all you've built for me in the pandemic too, that was like, let me start like three businesses because people need help with like jobs and coaching and services. So I threw myself into coaching programs so I could help other more people. Like that we are all needed in so many different ways. We have so many unique skills and also too, and you were telling me what you think. I feel like there's this sort of limiting belief as well of like there's too much competition out there.

nicky bandera (38:29.041)

They do!

Meghan Houle (38:47.95)

I'm doing the same thing as this person in my same field, in my same community. So I'm not going to start because there's not a client. And it's funny, I love the beauty space. I work with a lot of individuals that are in hair and estheticians and things like that. And there's a million of them all around now. But there's clients for everyone. I was just at a event last week and that was set out loud. There's clients for everyone, fitness, trainers, all of that. But what would you say to someone thinking like, oh, there's too much competition? Yeah.

nicky bandera (39:07.096)

in.

nicky bandera (39:16.343)

Oh my God, I tell everyone all the time, I'm like, do the exact same thing that I'm doing. Like literally do it, do the exact same thing as I'm doing because like, it's still not gonna be the same. There is plenty of room for everybody. And I think that more often than not, like especially right now, we're totally in this world of like, it's cooler to support people, right? And like it helps us, like helping other people helps us.

Meghan Houle (39:23.711)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (39:44.071)

I would love to have any conversation, and I think most people in our positions are, and hire. They wanna talk to people, they wanna help them. So do the thing, make the idea happen, and talk to people, right?

Meghan Houle (39:58.038)

Mm hmm. Yeah, tell people tell people your I mean, you don't have to you can keep something secret these days until you're really ready to go. But I would say like tell those right people that can help you get to that next level or at least be some type of support system. I guess embrace what you don't know and own it and just move forward like put it out there. We need you every people need us. So yeah.

nicky bandera (40:20.931)

People need us, people need us and we need everyone that's sitting there wondering. And that's the saddest part and that's why this podcast is so important. If you, if I, or anyone can help somebody take that leap and feel less afraid, like, oh my God, I am chills when I think about that because I can't imagine my life without the work that I'm doing. I cannot. And it's so much. And like...

Meghan Houle (40:26.698)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (40:45.562)

Yeah, I love it so much. Yeah, yeah.

nicky bandera (40:50.863)

Having all of that stuff, like, be inside of you is not a way to live. Like, you have to do the idea, you have to surround yourself with people that do the same thing, that support you. You know? You do.

Meghan Houle (40:57.815)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (41:04.286)

Yeah, yeah, 100%. And I know you have so much fun. And I remember too seeing you on Chronicle, which is like a local Boston station, this summer where you had your bocce club and all that. Are you gonna gear up to do a lot of that next summer as well? Cause I know you have a really good partnership. Yeah, yeah. Ooh, okay, yeah.

nicky bandera (41:15.631)

Wow.

nicky bandera (41:20.494)

We'll see. It's always something different. And that was actually a big story because we were, which you live and you learn, you know, it was an outside activation in, and it raged every day, you know, so.

Meghan Houle (41:30.135)

Yeah.

Well, the summer was very unkind to us. So yeah.

nicky bandera (41:35.891)

was very unkind. But that was a really funny thing. And then kind of what I was talking about before about like every little thing that you do kind of like build confidence, like a little more, a little more on how important that is. But this winter, I was kind of thinking about like, wow, like, I really want to do something for Project Red. It's since changed. But at the time, like they were continuing the kids school lunch through the summer.

Meghan Houle (41:45.964)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (42:01.491)

And now thankfully like in September, like that's, you know, we have some funding there. But I was like, wow, people don't realize that this is happening. Like kids in the Boston public school system, who like they're losing their meals. Like this is two meals a day that they're getting at school. Like we need to continue that. So I had a little seltzer and I was sitting in bed, like one of those CBD, you know, whatever seltzers.

Meghan Houle (42:28.622)

Mm-hmm.

nicky bandera (42:28.723)

And I like thought up this whole thing of, oh my gosh, we're gonna do bocce because it's like this game, but it's this like nostalgia, you know? And we'll build this like, it was green and white striped exactly how it ended up. And we pitched it to the developer and it was the craziest thing I've ever done because who the hell am I pitching this to this developer? And they said yes.

Meghan Houle (42:51.03)

Yeah, I mean, why not you? No, it's more of why not you, not who am I? You're like, hell yeah, I got this idea. That's so fun. Well, I can't wait to see what else is in store. And as we approach holiday, beyond all the incredible things I know you're doing for Thanksgiving, any fun Christmas holiday, all the seasons, like you going back into the marketplace or where can people come and support you? Yeah.

nicky bandera (42:55.755)

Oh, totally. Totally.

nicky bandera (43:11.868)

Yeah, let's...

Oh, no, we're well, we do have some shops. So we will be in the market. We have amazing in good company who sells our hats also over at Brave Daughters. You'll be able to find our hats for sale in the Seaport. But yeah, we're actually we're doing a great thing for holiday, which I'll rope you into, Megan. But we partnered I really was looking for quite some time for an organization that works with the foster care system.

Meghan Houle (43:22.587)

Mm.

Yeah, cool.

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (43:36.558)

Ahhhh

Meghan Houle (43:44.543)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (43:45.743)

Um, so we partnered with an amazing organization called wonder fund that works with the 50,000 kids in Massachusetts that are in the foster care system, which is like just such an astonishing amount. So we're going to do 500 stockings with the kids names on them. So, cause most kids that are in foster care, they've, they've never had like a stocking with their name on it. And like to be able to not just like give a gift, but give like a keepsake and let them know that like.

Meghan Houle (43:56.715)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (44:03.863)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (44:15.363)

they're important and for them to see their name and have something with their name on it is like big. So.

Meghan Houle (44:22.486)

You're like, how many times can I cry in this episode? I think I cried when I watched you on Chronicle 2. And you think about, again, the privilege of waking up on the holiday or if you celebrate Christmas and coming down and the stocking, that's just so beautiful. I mean, and those are the things that sit with you and remember, then also the kindness, the kindness of humans that show up for kids and all these amazing charities where...

nicky bandera (44:24.667)

I know, I know.

nicky bandera (44:36.983)

Yeah. Totally.

Meghan Houle (44:48.851)

We have to believe that there are people that really want to help others in this world this day, you know, so

nicky bandera (44:52.471)

They do, they do. And it's me, it's you, it's all the people that are listening and they just don't know the way to do it. You know, so it's, I try to give people those ways to do it. And it's been great. I think, like I said, most people want to, they just don't know how. Like we have people show up with like food and deodorant to our store because they don't know, they're like, what can I do with this? Like I have this stuff and I'm like.

Meghan Houle (44:58.955)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (45:22.283)

You know, I'm a clothing store, but we take it and we go bring it. You know what I mean? We can go and you do the thing. But one of the things that we're working on that we're trying to figure out is basically creating a portal so that people can like, you know, look and say like, Hey, I have this or I want to get involved. Like where can I plug into? Like, here's where my passions lie. Um, because, you know, we all want to.

Meghan Houle (45:26.043)

Aww. Yeah.

Meghan Houle (45:41.482)

Yeah, wow. 100%. And gosh, this podcast can't come out in a more timely time when I think that hopefully season of giving will be at its highest. So you are so freaking incredible, my friend. How can people find you, again, locally, engage with you, and then someone listening from all over? We have listeners globally. But where is the best place to find you, engage with you, and it seems like you can ship hats, all of it. Yeah.

nicky bandera (45:52.812)

Yes.

nicky bandera (46:06.891)

Yeah, ProjectPolly.com. Our store is at 42 Prince Street in the North End. And I'm Nikki and I CKY at ProjectPolly.com. And you know what, reach out to me. I think the Instagram, it's me and it's Angelina who's lovely, but we're there. And we're talking to people all day and it's definitely us. So don't be afraid.

Meghan Houle (46:32.21)

It's fabulous. Yeah, get in there. Catch me screaming out on Polish, you know, Prince Street. Hey, come get your pasta. But um, no, and I can see the power of your community already. I mean, I was reposting today that I was talking to you and as we've pivoted with purpose on this podcast to expand just our network and reach like I can't tell you how many people like message me like, Oh my god, I love Nikki. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. So it girl you are just getting started. You are just getting started.

nicky bandera (46:39.856)

Oh my god.

nicky bandera (46:56.963)

Oh, that's so nice. And how I feel about this? No, I know, but this, I'm so thankful to you. Like what an amazing place. And like I mentioned before, like I wish that this was here. And like when I was in those moments that I had something like Pivot With Purpose that I could listen to, and I could listen to people that like felt the same way as me and maybe get that confidence. Like this is just.

Meghan Houle (47:01.826)

Yeah.

nicky bandera (47:22.763)

It's such an amazing thing that you're doing. And I'm like so proud to know you and have met you really.

Meghan Houle (47:28.522)

back at you and I'm here and I am so excited to continue to support you and all your efforts and where my crystal beanie around town with love and admiration the hool hat so yes everybody go check out Nikki if you're in Boston there's like no good reason not to go to the north end so you can go eat and shop

nicky bandera (47:40.087)

I'm going to unroot you.

The whole house. The whole house.

Meghan Houle (47:56.314)

and meet Nikki in person who is like the brightest sunshine. You're like my spirit color in a human form. Like I'm all about the yellows. So thank you so much for being on the podcast and I can't wait to see all that is to come. And you are just so incredible, my friend. So thank you. Yay.

nicky bandera (48:12.163)

You are too. Thank you so much. Yay.