Our Board is the functionary body that makes executive decisions about the future of our co-operative, tracks the progress of the store through our General Manager, and is democratically-elected by our membership every year. Let’s learn more about the awesome people that comprise our Board. Our second interview is with our Board Vice President, Orly Keiner!
Chloe: Tell me how you would introduce yourself.
Orly: I am Orly Keiner, I’m now the Vice President of the Co-op Board, and I’m a mom and a small business owner!
C: What do you do and why do you do it?
O: For the past two years, I’ve had a tiny used bookshop on the Main Street Takoma strip called House Mouse. I just actually closed that up to start a whole new shop with two new business partners called Laurel Leaf, and it’s going to be a shop that sells used books, plants and vintage décor. It’s going to be right next to Takoma Bev Co. We’re working really hard to make it beautiful…right now we’re kind of in building-mode so I’m actually headed over there to start building some bookcases right now.
C: And you built bookcases yourself in House Mouse as well, right?
O: They’re an Ikea hack but they’re still a big production! You have to build a platform, and you have to do some extra construction so that they’re built-ins. You have to make sure that they’re super secure, so that the shelves don’t sag.
C: And why do you do what you do? Building the shelves, running this kind of business.
O: I do it because honestly it’s kind of like an art project for me. I find some sense of self-expression and some gratification in making a space that’s kind of fun and funky and unique and interesting for the good people of Takoma Park to enjoy.
C: I have to ask the creepy question; where do you live?
O: I live in North Takoma, almost near the Silver Spring line. It’s a great part of town because we’re so close to downtown Silver Spring and still walkable to Takoma’s Main Street. It’s basically everything I wanted. I love living in Takoma, it’s a great place to raise kids. My kids have a great degree of independence and freedom, and they kind of wander! (laughs) Way more than I was able to wander when I was a kid, in the New Jersey suburbs.
C: I was going to ask, where are you from?
O: South Jersey, Atlantic City area.
C: I love Atlantic City, very underrated.
O: Highly underrated.
C: How did you end up in the DMV area, as a person from Jersey?
O: For work. I moved here after grad school for work. I lived in DC for a while — the typical path. You have kids, you start thinking about school systems. DC has a lot of great schools, but I didn’t like the idea of bussing, and the lottery system. It’s very unlikely that your kids will go to school with their neighbors. There’s some kind of community that’s lost in that system. I liked the idea that in this town, almost everybody goes to the same schools, and there’s some continuity between the people that they see when they’re out and about and that they’re in school with. That was part of our thinking with raising a family here. Plus, we just fell in love with the town — the trees, the azaleas, the really amazing people here from all over the world who are generally cool people with interesting things on their minds. The people are great.
C: What was your first experience at the Co-op?
O: I’ve been really thinking about this question — what was my first experience at the Co-op? So I didn’t immediately join the Co-op. It was part of an evolution that I had because I was starting to realize how much garbage two children produce. Every day there were squeezy pouches, and granola bar wrappers, and string cheese wrappers, and potato chip bags — mountains of garbage. Every day. The trash would fill up, every day. I just started to feel pretty bad about it. I started to think, “There’s got to be a better way.” There’s a lot of information out there about reducing your footprint in terms of packaging, and I started reading up on it. Once you see it — at least for me — it was hard to un-see. That’s kind of why I’m vegetarian, as well.
C: Oh, you’re a vegetarian!
O: Yes! Once you see a thing, and you learn about how the world works, it’s like I can’t un-know it. I have to act on it. Waste reduction became a bit of a hobby for me. I came in the Co-op kind of casually, and discovered the bulk section. I checked at the registers, and asked, “Can I bring my containers here?” And they were like, “Oh yeah!” It wasn’t my first time at the Co-op, but I do remember the first time I came armed with containers, and had my first shopping experience with the bulk section. I walked out of the Co-op with like two dozen containers full of everything I wanted, the tofu, the feta…the joy that I felt knowing that a better way was possible. That you could feed your family and not create a mountain of garbage every day…that is the way. That was my first love with the Co-op, and it still is. My love of the store is really centered around the bulk aisle.
C: What made you start thinking about becoming a Co-op Board Member?
O: My career previously had been based in foreign policy, the big picture, what’s happening in the world. I kind of wanted to shift my focus to the micro level and local issues. I started thinking about how I could become more involved in my kid’s lives, so I got more involved with the PTA and their schools. I also wanted to find ways to become more involved in the Takoma community, and I did some thinking about the parts of Takoma I loved the most, and were the most meaningful to me. The Co-op was incredibly high on that list. I heard about running for the Board, and it seemed like something I could contribute to. Susan Cho (a previous Co-op Board Member) was pivotal in connecting the dots for me. I met her through Fullfillery, and she was like, “Have you ever thought about running for the Co-op Board?” It immediately resonated with me as something I wanted to do.
C: You’re a Mom very hard. I knew you had kids, but it’s a trip hearing how you discuss it.
O: Yeah I am! These years are very short. There’s a period of time when your kids actually like you and want to be around you. (laughs) Babies and toddlers are a bit of a mess, but my kids are 9 and 12. Just where I want them. There’s a period between 7 and 13 where they’re such interesting little people, they ask such interesting questions, they’re forming their own interests, and they still enjoy time with their parents. This is really my window — these next, 5, 6, 7, 8 years I want to be so invested. That’s where I am.
C: What’s been the biggest / most poignant / most impactful lesson that you’ve learned on the Board?
O: I think for me, the sheer complexity of this business. At first, you’re like, “Oh, it’s a community grocery store. I understand that.” But the more I learn about it, the more I realize that there are layers and layers and layers. There are so many systems, people, regulations. Everything is so complicated. The more I learn about it, the more respect I have for it as this beautiful machine. I’ve learned a ton from Mike (our General Manager), I’ve learned a ton from experience with other Board Members. Sheer respect for the logistics of this business is something I don’t think I had before I was a Board Member.
C: What is your favorite winter meal?
O: I’m a big cook. I do a lot of cooking. It’s hard to come down on one.
C: I didn’t know this about you, either.
O: I do a tremendous amount of cooking. It’s a huge part of my life. If I had to pick one winter meal, it would be a big bowl of spicy lentil soup and a plate of roast potatoes. When it’s cold outside, that meal can’t be beat.
C: What kind of potatoes do you like?
O: This is maybe controversial, but I like a Russet potato.
C: (cries out) Me too! Thank you! For so long, I was eating sweet potatoes, because there was a real health foods push for yams. I like a normal, classic potato.
O: Yes. They’re very fluffy on the inside.
C: I notice when potatoes are sheet-roasted all together, diced, the classic potatoes are golden and crispy and a sweet potato/yam just doesn’t get that color and texture.
O: I’m not a sweet potato person, honestly. Also my kids don’t like them — that means we really don’t eat them.
C: What’s your favorite restaurant? We’re broadening this question, it doesn’t have to be in Takoma Park.
O: (immediately) Mandalay. In downtown Silver Spring. It is Burmese food and it is unbelievable. You have got to go there. I can’t even tell you what to order. Everything is incredible. Any of the salads. The dressings are amazing. The way they combine the vegetables…it’s kind of cabbage-y, it’s kind of noodle-y, they have a lentil-y aspect to them. But then, they have these yellow peas. It took me a while to get to the yellow peas, because I’m a tofu person. I love tofu in all of its manifestations. I was on the tofu side of the menu for quite a while. You have to order those yellow peas. They are something totally unique. Like if you took a chickpea and made it ten times more delicious. I love chickpeas, I thought they were the pinnacle. But no. These yellow peas are the best legumes I have ever eaten!
C: Why are you a vegetarian? For ethical reasons?
O: Since I was 12 years old, for ethical reasons. Once I heard the news about where meat comes from, I couldn’t un-know it! I like animals too much.
C: I would like to be fully veg too, but I love protein too much. And I digest animal protein really well. And beans not quite as much. And I try, too.
O: Are you cooking the beans with a strip of Kombu?
C: Yes!!
O: Are you putting in baking soda?
C: Yes!!
O: And you’re cooking them until they’re tender-tender?
C: Yes!! Until they’re done. I feel very jealous of your digestion. I’m guessing you eat a lot of beans.
O: I love beans. I eat beans every day. My children will eat them too, which is a miracle. One of my children will eat anything, the other has a list of approved foods. Beans, thank God, are on that list.
C: If you were a vegetarian at 12, before that, were you specific / picky about food?
O: No! I come from a big Jewish family; a lot of pot roasts, briskets, roast chickens. That’s how my grandparents cooked. My parents ate a little bit differently than that, they ate a lot of vegetables. I ate everything up until 12. I actually read The Jungle in middle school, and there was some conversation and where meat comes from, and it was like a light went on in my head. I said, “That’s it!” My grandparents were like, “Come on. This is a phase. You can’t keep this up long-term.” But I was committed. My parents, to their credit, are very good at cooking without meat. They accommodated me.
C: We have a lot of young people who come in the store who share this experience. They’re transitioning away from the way that their family is eating. I didn’t have this courage when I was a teenager — I just also love meat.
O: I also think it has a lot to do with how you think about your plate. When you’re a meat-eater, you’re kind of like, “There’s a meat, there’s a starch, there’s a green.” That tends to be the concept of the plate. When you’re a vegetarian, you have to be a lot more flexible about that. Sometimes it’s all one bowl of lentil soup with greens and a little scoop of rice on top. You also have to adopt to different cuisines, other cuisines globally that don’t have the same meat-starch-veg approach.
C: That is the typical American plate, very true.
O: The vegetarian plate is a more global plate, and it’s more flexible, too.
C: How or why would you recommend running for the Board to another member-owner?
O: I know I’ve mentioned that it’s an education unto-itself, regarding how does a really complicated business work, how does a community institution that has a lot of history and that is beloved by a lot of people, how does it see itself and operate in this community? I find all of that to be really interesting. It feels good to be a steward of a place that a lot of people care about.
C: Oh, I love that.
O: It’s an honor to have this responsibility!
C: Why do you believe in co-ops?
O: Because we are living in the new age of oligarchy, and this work is more relevant than ever. The corporations are bigger and bolder and less restrained than ever before, and the uber-uber rich are wielding their power like never before. I feel like there’s not a lot going on to look out for the average person. What’s beautiful about co-ops is that they are made by us and are run for us. We say, “People over profits,” and at the same time the store has to be profitable to exist, but we’re not trying to maximize every penny for some anonymous shareholders. We have a real values-based mission that other grocery stores don’t have. We’re trying to be a great employer, we’re trying to give market access to local producers and farmers, we’re trying to provide healthy + safe + nutritious foods for a specific community. It’s not about the dollars and cents, at the end of the day. That’s not our point.
C: Last question! What would you like to impart to the readers of the newsletter and the website?
O: Maybe that how you spend your grocery budget every week is a reflection of your values and you precede with some intention about it. Our work here is making it easy for people to live their values through their grocery budget. We vote with our pocketbooks. Every week. About the world we want to have exist. I’m always grateful that this place exists, and I’m grateful to be a part of it. We appreciate the ongoing support of the community that also see what’s so good about this place
Orly can be reached at orly.keiner@tpssboard.com.