The Power of Mentorship, Curiosity and Kindness: Remembering our Friend, Brian Jolin

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On July 6, 2022 we lost a valued member of our PromoKitchen family. Brian was one of our most vocal and dedicated supporters. He was a force of nature in getting us volunteers, being a dedicated mentor and constantly pushing us to do more and to do better for our DEI work. He constantly aimed to "shine light into dark places and fight injustices."

We're sharing a tribute to Brian from our past president Robert Fiveash who mentored Brian for years and brought him even more into the fold of PK. As anyone who has been through our mentorship program knows that you don't leave the same person. You make friendships for life.

Brian's spirit and sense of humor will be greatly missed by our community. From his constant support, to his "I was just thinking" emails, to his famous Christmas cards, Brian's absence will be felt. So go out, make a difference, make someone feel special and make big changes in this world.

I was first introduced to Brian on February 3, 2017, by Russ Mogell. Russ handled pairings for PK’s Mentorship Program at the time, and I had the good fortune of getting paired with Brian. Within minutes of the email intro, Brian enthusiastically jumped into my life. “Thank you Russ! Robert, I look forward to connecting with you soon. I'm traveling most of next week to New Orleans for business, however the week of 13th looks very calm right now.” Looking back on this email 5 years later, I see his legendary sense of humor creeping in – Valentine’s Week very calm? I think not! Not for a man with as much love to give as Brian. As Life would have it, we scheduled our first call on February 14.

 

Brian and I met monthly for the next six months – every third Monday. We were scheduled for 30 minutes but we always went long. The day after our first call, Brian sent in a generous donation to PromoKitchen (I told him that was a lot of pressure – “I better be a good mentor! 😊”) and forwarded me a podcast (“Building a Story Brand with Donald Miller”). Umm, hello? Who was talking about this 5+ years ago? Very few people in the industry. But Brian was. He knew the power of storytelling early on, and he was great at it.

 

The next call, in March, gave me a real sense who Brian was in the industry – proactive, observant, forward-looking, and honest. Did I say honest? I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone as willing to speak his mind. That became one of the things I loved most about him. A couple of his suggested topics for our second call:

 

  • How do "distributors" stay relevant if suppliers are looking to go direct to consumers (Johnny Cupcake podcast, calling us middlemen). Should we re-brand ourselves as "physical marketing consultants" and besides "humanizing" our relationships and sales processes, do we also need to remind suppliers our value?

 

  • Should we be embarrassed about some of the "Top Promotions of the year" (PPAI Magazine/Online)? Does slipping a logo on a cheap water bottle deserve an award? Are not enough distributors applying for these awards? Is $640 for a plastic trophy equivalent to selling snake oil?

  • My personal observation over last few years into PP industry coming from two decades in apparel. Why in hell does the PP industry allow suppliers to essentially post wholesale costs on their websites and printed catalogs? (I submitted this at the Salt n Pepper debate in January). It literally takes 15 seconds to "break" the price codes via Google. On apparel side, everything is just key stoned (50% margin) before decoration or listed as "call for pricing."

 

I’m now thinking OK, so this guy really knows his stuff, he’s set the agenda with fantastic topics, and how on earth am I going to teach him anything he doesn’t already know? We quickly branded our calls “Motivational Mondays,” and soon I was getting more from our chats than I’m sure Brian was. Over the next 4 months, as we alternated who would provide the agenda, we batted back and forth topics like the dangers of RFP’s and price-driven sales, pros and cons of buying groups, pitfalls and opportunities of importing, strategy and risks associated with a few huge orders he was working on, and music. And vacations. And family. And life. I quickly discovered that nothing was off-limits with Brian, and that was exciting. My mentee was becoming a friend.

 

After 6 months, when it came time for our structured calls to run their course, Brian bit on one of the lines I’d tossed in the water - that he’d be an amazing mentor in his own right. “If you think I'm qualified, I'd love to be a PK mentor in 2018,” he wrote in October. The truth was, I didn’t know of anyone more qualified to be a mentor. Brian was just being humble – he knew he’d be a great mentor. I kept subtly trying to convince him he’d make a great PK Chef as well, and invited him to the PK Board call in June of ‘18 to talk about volunteering and to bring inspiration. “I will be happy to join the call...however, this seems very suspicious lol. Remember, I'm just here to chop veggies not make the recipes.“

Well, the man certainly knew how to chop veggies. So began his incredibly generous commitment to PromoKitchen, a commitment that lasted up until the very end. Brian started introducing new folks to PK (he helped us recruit mentors on the FB pages of other big distributors, PPP, and AIM, among other places), became a mentor (and ended up mentoring 4 or 5 people over the past few years), volunteered at the PK Mixer on multiple occasions, suggested a mentor recruiting booth at PPAI and offered to staff it, donated to the Tee Hamilton Creative Education Fund, contributed to PK’s Mentorship E-book, was an avid participant in #promochat and #pkpromofeels, and gathered support for the nominations of worthy industry volunteers for PPAI’s Women of Achievement and other awards.

Always looking for ways to sustain PK’s mission, Brian pushed PK to create a recurring donation option, telling us he would be the first one to sign up. “I want to start a PK membership program for annual/monthly giving on auto-pay,” he proclaimed. And a month later, in get-it-done Brian fashion, he was promoting this new cause for PK online, in our "WHY I GIVE" segment: “This is me in my truck with a big smile on my face because I'm listening to my favorite podcast (PromoKitchen) and making deliveries to happy clients. I donate to PK because I support the mission of increasing our industry's professionalism via mentorships, podcasts, #promochats, and mixer events. I look forward to becoming a founding monthly sustaining donor when the program kicks off!”


 

Outside of PK, Brian contributed to the industry in a big way. He was a member of the PPB Editorial Advisory Committee, in PPAI’s Volunteer Project Pool, and a founding member of AIM’s Smarter Diversity Council. He was a passionate advocate for DEI - on a call with Seth Barnett last year, Brian explained that “DEI is about having more fun in business, being more creative, knowing more diverse people. I mean, if everyone who looks, and loves, and worships like me were my only friends, I wouldn’t have any new ideas! It’s easier to stay up with what’s current, and what’s hip, and what’s happening than if you’re just stuck in your own little echo chamber.” He’s right. “The bottom line is just being a good human being - it’s just better for humanity and better for our industry if we all make each other better.” Amen.

When I think back on the last few years, I get great joy recalling how many times Brian lovingly called me a Luddite because of my aversion to social media. Joy recalling the incredibly creative Christmas cards, Santa Brian and all the many fundraising projects around it, and his live-streamed music-festival-in-the-yard fundraiser that attracted a TON of industry friends and supporters. I get great joy over the fact that Brian and my business partner and friend, Danny Rosin, became close friends. Two peas in a pod, in many ways. Danny and I had the good fortune of visiting Brian and Jennifer last week, and again, in classic Brian fashion, the visit set in motion new friendships (Jennifer will be a lifelong friend), learning (we could talk for days with Brian’s amazing pastor, Tom McDermott), and philanthropy (our introduction to Ft. Worth’s Taste Project).

Maybe that’s the lasting legacy Brian brought to the world. Yes, he was as generous, curious, committed, gracious, hilarious, and loyal as anyone we’ve known, but more than anything he set good things in motion. He created. And when he made suggestions or provided his opinion, he offered to do the work. That’s old school. That is Brian Jolin, and his life’s work as a friend, father, husband, doer, and giver is a true inspiration.

 

To learn more about Brian, his obituary is here