Captain's Blog - Reflecting on Rise Origins

When I was younger, I had a vision of retirement that included going to the beach and
maybe doing some traveling. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to spend my time,
but the last thing on my list was offering samples to strangers shopping in grocery
stores.

Yet here I am. A retired Delta 767 Captain pushing tea in Fresh Market
stores across Florida.

I had a great flying career. I didn’t invest in Texas oil wells or swampy
real estate. I succeeded in the most important area in the life of a pilot
(financially and otherwise): I am still happily married to my original wife.

We both work all week at our family business and at our Yaupon tree farm, and then
every weekend is spent at farmer’s markets, arts and craft shows or doing sampling at
Fresh Market. I used to tell my friends that I was getting a “D-“ in being retired, then I
realized that success in retirement means being able to

(1) do what you want,

(2) do what gives you joy, and

(3) do what gives your life meaning.

For me, that means working in our family tea business, where my daughter is my boss.

I stumbled into this line of work by accident. I’ve never liked asian tea, and coffee
made me jumpy in the cockpit. One of the kids I was mentoring in high school had an
older brother that knew about the extinct tribe that once lived here in Florida
(Timucuans). It turns out that a native plant (Yaupon Holly) was at the center of
civilization for thousands of years here in America, and the brothers started a tea
business based on this sacred drink. That business failed.

But they had a loyal following of customers who wanted to buy more tea. The citrus
industry here in Florida was rapidly failing (Google “citrus greening”), which means that
thousands of families would lose their jobs and farmers would lose their land. I know
what destitute families look like; our schools are full of their kids. So we started a new
company, and tried to use the ancient Yaupon tree to give farmers a new crop. After
a while, my daughter (a financial services exec) joined as the COO and our business
grew to almost a million dollars a year in revenues. We planted thousands of trees.

Most small business fail at the start when the money runs out and the reality of long
hours of hard work hits home. Sadly, others fail when money comes in and the culture
dies. And from that, Rise Yaupon was born.

My daughter Shelly quit a very high paying job in order to give back to our community,
and her spirit is at the heart of what we do at Rise (she’s the best boss I’ve ever had).

• It turns out that there are thousands of hard working people who live at
  the edge of homelessness here in Florida. Many are what you may refer
  to as “second chance.” We hire these local workers and pay them a living wage to wild-harvest Yaupon leaves in pristine, natural forests.
• Shelly runs our factory as a job training facility for overlooked employees; high school dropouts, autistic, cerebral palsy, deaf, second-chance and elderly people that become part of the Rise family.
• Ten percent of our online and direct to consumer sales goes to feed homeless
  children in our county, currently running at around 2,700 kids! Having mentored lots of neglected and abused youngsters in our local schools, I know what that number really means.

I know this life is not for everyone (no one is more surprised than I am doing this work),
but I hope you can spend your time doing what you want; something that brings you
joy; something that gives your life meaning (however you define all that). Oh yeah, and
if you can, try to find a way to give back. Not a bad strategy for old people like me...
and maybe not a bad plan for young folks as well.

Happy Steeping and Stay Healthy!
Capt. Mark Steele (Delta Airlines, retired)