As the one full-time worker at Monkeypod Jam, Aletha Thomas is as small as a small enterprise can get. But her attain extends throughout oceans and brings folks from the mainland to the island of Kauai, her residence in Hawaii for 25 years.
Monkeypod initially targeted on promoting preserved fruit and pickled greens grown on the island, provided by native farmers. It began as a challenge Thomas launched into to assist pay for her 2011 wedding ceremony and became a enterprise that changed her profession as a instructor. Her rising workforce used the kitchen of a defunct fast-food restaurant to supply their small batches. Five years after they began, the rising firm moved right into a constructing that served as a storefront, tasting room and kitchen for cooking lessons. At its pinnacle, 12 folks have been a part of the workforce, and cooks from different islands and the mainland have been flying there to visitor train lessons.
The pandemic compelled the shutdown of her brick-and-mortar institution. Kauai’s lockdowns affected each enterprise on the island.
“I was in shock and trying to figure out what I could do as a business owner,” she says. “I thought, I need to keep payroll going. I need to keep my community fed. And all of a-sudden, our farmers were no longer allowed at farmers markets. We needed to help them. I made a list and that turned into a business plan for most of 2020.”
Monkeypod created a espresso drive-through off the rear loading dock of Thomas’ café kitchen, which additionally served because the drop-off and pick-up for produce from native farmers. The firm’s loyal longtime prospects who lived on the mainland sponsored vegetable containers for Kauai locals whose livelihoods had been hit laborious by the shutdown. Thomas and her workforce additionally made takeout dinners whereas she additionally ran a one-room schoolhouse for her solely baby and a number of other of her third-grade buddies.
But as laborious as Thomas tried to maintain Monkeypod afloat, it wasn’t sufficient. Thomas needed to shut the enterprise. After colleges opened again up, she opened Monkeypod (V2) by main small cooking lessons – 12 folks most – full-time utilizing a cottage the household owned. While some members flew in, most college students have been native.
Thomas taught them the way to make marmalades and defined pure fermentation and fundamental preserving. And Thomas wasn’t the one classroom chief. Master butchers have flown from the mainland to show college students the way to put together a pig for making charcuterie and sausage. Monkeypod began a visitor chef program that drew guests – just like the butchers – from the mainland and different islands within the state. The cottage turned a spot for them to remain whereas they taught.
As Thomas navigates these huge modifications in her life and enterprise, she depends on her Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon to energy by way of her many duties and busy schedule.
“My Lenovo is such a good workhorse, I love it,” says Thomas, whose husband runs the IT division of an area resort and turned her onto the PCs. “They run hard, they’re fast, they don’t break, they don’t get glitchy. I am not a tech person. I’m very much a creative person, so it’s saved me.”
Thomas writes emails utilizing Outlook, and creates spreadsheets with Excel and grant proposals on PowerPoint. While she’s nonetheless new to Windows 11, she’s trying ahead to utilizing Phone Link, which just lately began rolling out. In addition to fundamental iOS help for calls, messages and entry to contacts, she’ll be capable to see her telephone pictures on her PC inside the iCloud for Windows app. “It’s all about saving time and staying connected when you have a small business.”
Thomas, who has a daughter and a husband who works lengthy hours away from residence, is at all times on the lookout for methods to take advantage of her time. She takes benefit of the ability effectivity settings on her Lenovo as a result of she’s usually on-the-go visiting with farmers and may’t plug in.
Other Windows 11 options she likes are snap layouts (“great to have multiple things open all in one screen”), focus classes (“because I do have limited time and because I’m so scattered”) and widgets (“so I can keep up with my local and Pacific Northwest news and weather”).