She deserves a break.Ī great leader cannot make meaningful progress without a great team.

She has hustled non-stop for a decade straight. But I want to say this: I hope she spends as much time as possible relaxing on a beach in Hawaii (her happy place) before she does ANYTHING. I see lots of people reacting the news of GZG’s closure saying, “I can’t wait to see what Lisa does next.” I also can’t wait to see what she does next. I feel so proud and happy to have had the opportunity to work with, and learn from, Lisa. If you know Lisa, then you know she is one of the most loving, hard-working, straight-talking, visionary people in Portland. We served thousands of customers.īut let me clear: when I say “we,” I was a tiny part of this story.Ĭredit goes first and foremost to Lisa – the fearless founder and leader. We built out four stores in four very different neighborhoods. We raised millions of dollars to pursue Lisa’s bold vision. With our freshly brewed coffee of course. One of the many (hundreds?) of breakfast burritos I ate from the GZG hot bar during my mornings there. That fall, I told Lisa I wanted to work for GZG full-time, and she agreed to hire me. Lisa took a chance on me, and we began working together on a contract basis during that summer in 2014. By the fall of 2013, she opened the first Green Zebra store in the Kenton neighborhood in Portland, which at that time was significantly underserved by conventional grocers.

In 2012, Lisa made the leap and started her own company. Even when she was leading New Seasons, Lisa harbored a vision of a healthy convenience store in every neighborhood. I got introduced to Lisa by Brian Rohter, who had hired Lisa as President, then CEO, when he was running New Seasons Market. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but working for a “start-up” sounded fun.Īt this time, Lisa Sedlar, the founder of Green Zebra, was looking for a “jack of all trades” who could help Green Zebra raise capital, negotiate real estate leases, make Thanksgiving pre-order websites, work occasional store shifts during all-staff meetings, and whatever else needed doing. After multiple campaigns and legislative sessions, I was feeling burnt out, and I felt the itch to move on to something different. In mid-2014, I had spent the past three years working in Oregon politics. Unpacking boxes and celebrating during one of the nights prior to the grand opening of our PSU store

Green zebra grocery