Leveraging Local Partnerships for Social Good
Leveraging Local Partnerships for Social Good
Brandon Puszkiewicz, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention & Scott Soltys-Curry, Indianapolis Coffee Guide
09/19/2024
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show notes
In this week's discussion, Emily chats with Brandon Puszkiewicz, a program manager for the Indiana Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Scott Soltys-Curry, creator of the Indianapolis Coffee Guide. We discuss their collaborative project involving coffee sleeves designed to raise awareness about mental health and suicide prevention. The initiative combines the local coffee scene with a meaningful cause, demonstrating how authentic partnerships can create significant impact. Brandon and Scott share insights on the power of community, the importance of being connected to your collaboration, and how small ideas can lead to large-scale positive change. Plus we dig into how the Indianapolis Colts came on board! Tune in to hear more on the intersection of local marketing, community engagement, and social responsibility!
TUNE IN FOR TOPICS LIKE:
2:45 Brandon and Scott’s career backgrounds
3:57 Inspiration behind the coffee shop collaboration
7:01 Building buy-in for the project from the community
9:43 Amplifying the collaboration through social media and community support
15:06 How an organic moment added a NFL partner to the mix
18:37 Breaking down what it looked like to work with the Indianapolis Colts
21:18 Inspiring other organizations and nonprofits
25:32 Creating collaborations that are aligned with purpose and meaning
29:22 Advice for anyone considering a bold collaboration
32:22 Where to find AFSP and Indianapolis Coffee Guide
Listen to this week’s Local Marketing School conversation!
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Find Indianapolis Coffee Guide: Instagram | Website
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Emily Steele (00:00)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Local Marketing School. I'm so excited. It's September, the weather is cooling down. It feels so good in Iowa right now. And I'm really, really eager to tell you about today's guests. I get two people who joined the podcast today. So I have Brandon Puszkiewicz, who's the program manager for the Indiana Chapter of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. And I have Scott Soltys-Curry, who has created the Indianapolis Coffee Guide, which is a popular website and Instagram dedicated to the amazing local coffee scene in Indianapolis. And I absolutely love this episode so much because you just can hear how authentic the collaboration was between AFSP and the Indianapolis Coffee Guide and how two people who have just like big hearts and are just go-getters and want to make a difference, work together to build something really, really cool. I'm not gonna tell you all the details, because that's what the whole episode is for. I'm supposed to tease it out, right? But as part of this, I think the thing you'll learn in this episode is about collaboration and what it looks like to do something that is a win for everyone.
I think what I heard most from Scott is he runs the Indianapolis Coffee Guide, and a lot of the things that get pitched his way for collaborations,are like, what are the coffee shops gonna pay me so I can get what I want out of this? And really the spirit of making waves in a local community is generosity and shining a spotlight on other people. And it's just a different attitude of abundance and like, how do we all win? And you can just feel that in the conversation that I had with both Brandon and Scott is like, how does everyone win from this collaboration
I, like, soul is, my cup is so full from this conversation because that is what I set out to do back in 2014 when I started Pop Up Yoga DSM. It's like, how do we bring yoga to more people in our community who would never access it, you know, outside of a yoga studio, who maybe can't afford a studio or don't prefer that. And it just felt like, these are my people, you know, I just, loved hearing about it and I'm going to Indy next month. So I will get a sleeve. I will post it on the Instagram. I will do all the right tagging.
You know, so let's dive into the episode and I hope you enjoy it.
Emily Steele (02:37)
Well, welcome to local marketing school. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today. Brandon, do you want to tee us up? Tell us a little bit about you and your background.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (02:45)
Yeah, absolutely. So, Brandon Puszkiewicz, I live here in Indianapolis and I'm the programs manager for the Indiana chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. And I've been with AFSP for just over two years, but I was previously a volunteer with them for about a decade. So, I started volunteering with AFSP when I was a senior in high school.
Emily Steele (03:06)
Okay, super cool. Thanks, and Scott, what about you?
Scott Soltys-Curry (03:10)
Yeah. So, I'm Scott Soltys-Curry. I run the Indianapolis coffee guide, which I've been doing for about eight and a half years now, which is a little wild to say. And it's just like a little side passion project of mine that I've been working on just because I really love our local coffee community and I love sharing that with other people.
Emily Steele (03:29)
Hey, super cool. Yeah, I love it. And so we have two of you on the podcast because there's a really cool collaboration that came together with the both of you and your companies. so I'd love, Brandon, do you just want to tee us up and tell us a little bit about the story of how you two started working together? And I'm sharing that because I think there's so much around collaboration and working together to drive local behavior and awareness that you guys just really nailed in this project. And so let's bring that to light and share that with listeners.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (03:31)
Yeah, so this idea really came to mind very beginning of 2023 for me. Being in the role that I am with this organization, we really have to just get creative in the ways that we are getting out in the community and doing outreach. You know, a lot of the time we are seen at different like resource fairs or just like different events and it's, you know, people have to come up to our table or, you know, our booth or whatever that looks like to get resources about mental health and suicide prevention. And, but obviously there's barriers or there's limitations in that, right? And so, I wanted to try to come up with this idea of like, how do we just get truly like on the ground in the community and more so just getting essentially forcing people to have to take a resource from us without them having to approach us because we know that mental health and suicide prevention is can be a really scary conversation and it's it can be really daunting and people have, you know, just different connections with it.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (04:56)
I am a big fan and lover of coffee. And so I was like, what a better way than just putting resources on a coffee sleeve and like you're literally putting it in people's hands and like they walk away with it. And what they do with that is up to them, whether they look at that sleeve and they see 9-8-8 or they think like, hey, I have a friend or family member who could really benefit from this. I'm going to give this to them or let them know about it. Or maybe I'm going to take off this sleeve because it's a really cool motivational design or quote or whatever. And I'm going to put it in my purse or put in my wallet, put it in my backpack, my car, and who knows when I'll need it. So that was kind of the whole thought around it. Of course, I was really thinking like, I'm like, is this actually a good idea? My team here at AFSP was, you super supportive of it and they love the idea but I'm like I feel like I need somebody outside of my like work team to tell me that this is a good idea and then that's where Scott came into play. So I had been following Scott in Indianapolis Coffee Guide for several years at that point and you know our relationship was a lot of like just like even comment on each other's stuff or we'd like see each other in passing and I think like one time we saw each other at like sunrise yoga or something like that and so I just knew I was like I like I have to reach out to Scott I have to ask him like if this would be a good idea so we met up at a coffee shop I brought like little printed sleeves that were just on like paper like printer paper just to show like a prototype of what this would look like and immediately Scott was like absolutely like this this is great.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (06:33)
I think there's going to be a lot of coffee shops in the area that are going to love this. And yeah, Scott truly played such a big role in being able to get this off the ground. mean, it was one thing to have the idea, but without the connections that Scott had already established and the support and the love that he's already gotten from the community, I don't think it would have taken off the way it had and definitely would not have led us to where we've gotten today with Indianapolis Colts.
Emily Steele (07:00)
Yeah, cool. Okay, so my question then, teeing it over to Scott, like you have fostered these relationships with all of these coffee shop owners and baristas and the whole coffee community. So you essentially are in conversation with Brandon, like this is a cool idea. I have the relationships to see if these coffee shops would be willing to like essentially replace the sleeves they have for a moment in time to then use these for X amount of cups, et cetera. Is that kind of how that like you then get to open the door for the opportunity?
Scott Soltys-Curry (07:29)
Yeah, that that's, that's exactly kind of how work where my brain started going. I over the years, I've gotten approached with a lot of random ideas about, do you think, you know, do you think local coffee shops would be interested in this? Do you think they could do this? And it's, it's always been kind of like my mission to kind of like filter those out because a lot of them are pretty wild. And a lot of times it ends up being like, how do we get these coffee shops to pay us for things? I was like, no, I'm not about that.
Emily Steele (07:34)
Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Soltys-Curry (07:57)
So yeah, my mind immediately went to like, I knew that people would be into this and interested in this. So my, yeah, my mind went to, okay, how do I make these connections? How do I really, I remember I started off by just a handful of conversations with some, cafe owners and managers that I know personally, just to get their initial feedback and do, I mean, honestly, like a vibe check a little bit with those personal relationships just to kind of see. And then, I mean, obviously immediately the reaction was like, my gosh, yes, how can we be involved? How can we help? And it just kind of snowballed from there.
Emily Steele (08:33)
Cool, so you get the buy-in from them and then you have to figure out basically how to like print all of these sleeves, right? Who's orchestrating this? This seems like an endeavor if you've never done it. Like you gotta do a lot of Googling, right?
Brandon Puszkiewicz (08:45)
Yeah, and honestly my Googling was Scott because again, I was like, I have no idea where I'm starting with this with printing. Living here in Indianapolis, there's tons of printing places, but I'm like, again, Scott, he's got the connections. He knows the things. He does his own printing of stuff. So yeah, we ended up using a local printing place, which was even better too, just because it's, again, just kind of fits whole, or fits with the whole theme of being local and being in the community and really just celebrating what we have here in Indiana.
Emily Steele (09:07)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, and so when it comes to kind of rolling all this out, you get them all printed, like all the coffee shops have it. Did you do like kind of an awareness play of like, hey, like stop by these places, grab like their unique sleeves now, like how do you start rolling this out? Just because you mentioned too, like this can be a topic that's like a little bit, you don't promote actively like we maybe would for like rescue animals, right? So it's a little bit like, talk a little bit about that process.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (09:40)
Yeah, so it really was a big play in the social media. I think the first time, I think a little bit of kind of background information. So the first round that we ever did, we had 17 coffee shops and we distributed 25,000 coffee sleeves, which at the time I was like, as long as I get 10, like that sign up, like that's a dream come true. And then...Yeah, so then we had, they were mainly here in the Indianapolis area and I think we had one that was up in Four Wayne, which is a couple hours away here from Indianapolis. And then, yeah, from there, it really was just on really social media. So we did a lot of collaborative posts between my account, Scott's account, the Indiana chapter of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's account, and just try to get like, gather that community support behind it. But we really saw a lot of people in other communities outside of Indianapolis after that rollout happened, start commenting and reaching out to us saying like, hey, I'd to see coffee shops in my town or my small rural community or up in this part or this side of the state be involved. And I think that's where, again, that started to snowball into like, this could be a lot bigger than what this first round was.
Emily Steele (10:37)
25 ,000. Like these come in boxes. I'm trying to like envision how many, like so many, right?
Brandon Puszkiewicz (11:01)
Mm -hmm. gosh. So many boxes, yes. And yeah, so the first round was 25,000 sleeves and the one that we just did with the Colts was 75,000 sleeves. So you can only imagine how many more boxes there were. I have a little Honda Civic and I thought I could pick all the boxes up from the printing place myself. I actually did get all of them except for four boxes. So that little Honda Civic really did a lot. But I know, right? Yes. Thank you, Honda.
Emily Steele (11:16)
Wow! Nice work, Honda.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (11:30)
And yeah, so I mean, it's just has become such a really cool big thing. even from how we would like pack the sleeves and the orders, you know, here in my living room, literally the scene behind me to using the Colts like training complex this month to help pack those up too. So really just the growth has been insane in the best way.
Emily Steele (11:32)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. And I wanna talk about, yeah, this kind of next iteration, but I wanna kind of double click on Scott, was there anything you heard from kind of your community as this kind of rolled out and like, what was your message in this? Did you feel like you're kind of a behind the scenes facilitator and like, hey, wanna make the connections or do you do play like an active role in promoting to or share a little bit about that.
Scott Soltys-Curry (12:14)
Yeah, so it was a little bit of all of that and then some. I think my goal from the beginning was to just kind of help facilitate that con like the conversation and make as many connections as I can or as I could. And so that was that was what I mainly focused on at first. then kind of any time I do any time I'm part of like a first time project, I kind of not, I take a little bit of like a reactive approach to things. Like I like to see how things go and see how people react to things, until, just to like learn, to learn as much as I can slash we can. So it was really cool. The first one seeing there was a little bit of like a social media push of like, Hey, like you can start seeing these in this sort of you see them. But I think immediately, and I don't know if Brandon, if you were expecting this, but, immediately we like so many people were posting photos and tagging like all of our accounts in them.
Scott Soltys-Curry (13:08)
It was wild how many photos were getting posted to feeds, to stories, to everywhere. There were just photos getting posted everywhere, which was really cool. So it was easy then to transition to using that to push instead of just us being like, look at this thing that we're providing. was just like, look at all these people talking about this. So it was really cool to see it naturally evolve and just amplify it in that way which is kind of how I've been trying to drive, like my participation is, just like amplifying the things that already exist versus just like, like taking the traditional like marketing approach of, you know, like we did this thing, make sure to check it out. which I mean, there will always be a little bit of that, but we've just, this project I think has been so meaningful to so many people that it just naturally drives the, like people wanting to share it. so that's just kind of the role that I've, I've been trying to play with like promoting it and stuff. And obviously like this time with the Colts, it's been a little bit more hands on for all of us, think, just, because we, we did come at it from a much bigger scale. So we had to be more, a little bit more like tact, tactful in our approach. but it's still at the, at the end of the day, it still is very much so like, let's see where this goes and then amplify what's out there. because again, like the community has just been so great, so great in all of this.
Emily Steele (14:10)
And I think it's just such a like, it feels so validating when other people are sharing their experience they have with your brand or your project or your program or XYZ. And you're like, okay, there is something here. So let's go to the next iteration. You've mentioned Colts a few times. This is a football team for anyone not listening who might not be like a football person like me. The Indianapolis Colts. So NFL team, like super exciting to then open the door to that. Tell us a little bit about how that happened and where it's at today.
Scott Soltys-Curry (14:53)
Yeah, I'll take this one. So I got an email in March this year that the subject line was coffee guide plus Colts collab. And I was like, okay. And again, I've gotten a lot of random collabs over the years, including from like other like major league sports teams and players. And it's always, it's, it's, it always is kind of like, it always has kind of been like, okay, well, how do we get paid for this? Or how do we get money from these copy shops? And that's just something I have never done and will never do. so those just have kind of always just like, I don't know, they've fallen to the wayside because I won't give them the time or attention, but this one, I got it. And, I did the same kind of thing where I was like, I was, they were very clear in their intentions and they were very open and honest about why they were reaching out. cause they were like, Hey, we, you know, we've seen this project that you've been a part of. We really, really love it. How can we be a, be a part of it?
Emily Steele (15:38)
Hmm. Mm -hmm.
Scott Soltys-Curry (16:01)
So then I just talked to him a little bit to again, just kind of like get those feelers to be like, what do you mean by be a part of this? Like, what do you, what do you need? and yeah, like, like, is, like, what is your, and like nothing against them. It's just that like literally so many times it's just been like, I've gotten, I've had conversations like this and it's like, all right, cool. How much do you think these local coffee shops will be willing to pay us? Well, you know, our rates started the X thousands of dollars. I'm like, no, we're not doing that. we're not doing that. so I did like a few little emails back and forth and was very transparent to like, this is not my project. This is Brandon's project. I'm just here to help out and do whatever I can. And then that's when I started sending Brandon the, my God, my God, my God, text messages of like, I'm about to, I'm about to heads up. I'm about to send you a really important introduction email. Hope you're ready.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (16:41)
Hahaha
Emily Steele (16:42)
Yeah. Were you on the edge of your seat Brandon? Did he give you any other context?
Brandon Puszkiewicz (16:52)
I was, no that was it. I think he sent me, I still can see it now, he sent me the screenshot and it was just like the subject line and it said like from Colts but it just said like Indianapolis Colts and like Coffee Guy and like collab and he just was like my god. That was it and I was like god. So yeah, was the coolest email I've ever received for sure.
Emily Steele (17:13)
Yeah. Okay. So obviously like they come in it, come at it from like an amplification. So similar alignment to even like why you started right? The coffee brand too, right? So that's super cool. So what does next steps look like? Because something of that nature and that scale, right? Becomes like, you need like a lot more inventory of things or even like you get national reach. And so it's like, how did that all start to play?
Brandon Puszkiewicz (17:24)
Yeah, well, the one thing I want to add to that's a really cool part about how they even got connected with the with the project in the first place. You know, obviously there's a lot of stuff happening on on social media and people seeing it that way, but
Emily Steele (17:49)
Yeah.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (17:54)
The real story was that two of the staff members that work with the Colts and with the, kicking the stigma initiative were actually at a local coffee shop and they saw the sleeves like in person. So it was almost kind of like a guerrilla marketing and then it worked that way. So it wasn't even like, they just saw like the hype on social media. We're like, this is cool. Let's be a part of it. They were in a shop. They got it and like saw it and were like, this is important. And so I think that's even more, just more of like an incredible piece of that story. Yeah. Yeah.
Emily Steele (18:03)
Yeah.really is. I love that. Super cool.
Emily Steele (18:31)
So what happens next? You all of a sudden are printing seventy five thousand sleeves or are there is the coffee available at the games like how do how the Colts get plugged into Indianapolis Coffee Guide and organization?
Brandon Puszkiewicz (18:45)
Yeah, I think the best thing that has really been stated from our friends now at the Colts is that they just want to come in and help support and amplify this as much as possible. They have been so great in saying, this is not our initiative, is not our project, we don't take any ownership of it. Brandon and AFSP and Scott have been doing this for several, know, or a couple years now and so we're just here to help amplify that. And I think it really just aligns with what the Colts Kicking the Stigma initiative is and helping support the community when it comes to mental health initiatives and just creative ways of getting out in the community. a lot of early conversations had kind of started, like Scott said, back in March. They were like, can we be a part of the one for May? Because we usually do this project twice a year. We do it in May for Mental Health Awareness Month.
Emily Steele (19:27)
Okay.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (19:45)
and then September for Suicide Prevention Month. We had already at that time had printed and we're starting the process for May. And so was like, unfortunately, that one's too late. And they were like, no, we are on board for September. And then I feel like we really just hit the ground running. I mean, we had like a meeting. And then the next thing I know, was like every day was like we were having email exchanges. We were wanting to work with local artists or designers to come up with some cool different designs for the coffee sleeves. Again, trying to amplify and empower voices here in Indianapolis. And then, yeah, working with their marketing team was really cool too. And just the reach that they were able to have with the different accounts, we got to work with Blue, which is Indianapolis Colt mascot. So got to film some videos and do pictures with him. So just things that were so like beyond our wildest imagination of ways that we got to collaborate with them. We got to use their facilities to help do like a packing party is what we called it. So we brought all 75,000 sleeves there in the boxes and then had some volunteers as well as Colt's staff be a part of it too and helped us actually have like hands-on help with packing that too. So it was kind of neat that our volunteers and even Colt's staff got to play a role in helping to disseminate those. And then from there, yeah, it kind of just now it's here and it's out there in the world.
Emily Steele (20:47)
Yeah, because we're recording this. This won't go live in this very day, but it's September 3, so it's actually like the kickoff month, right? So this is like literally just happened, right? Like all of these things you like...
Brandon Puszkiewicz (21:14)
Yeah. Yes. As of two days ago, yeah. Yeah. September 1st and even for some as of yesterday, just because they were closed or even today. yeah, it's within the past couple of days it has been released.
Scott Soltys-Curry (21:19)
Yeah.
Emily Steele (21:25)
Mm -hmm. Okay, so it's out. They're out in the wild and I'm sure like because you're an Indiana based chapter, right? Are the other chapters across the country like, ooh, this Brandon guy's like a genius. Like, how do we tap in? I'm sure this is like inspiring a lot of different organizations to think creatively about different collaborations and partnerships. Have you been able to talk about it more with other organizations like yours or other nonprofits that are just looking for creative, like locally aligned projects?
Brandon Puszkiewicz (21:35)
I haven't had any other organizations reach out about it. think shortly after we kind of did our first round, I think there was another organization in Indianapolis that did something similar, which was really cool, like a completely other type of organization. So I think it was something to do with literacy and just really neat. a great concept of getting out in the community. I have had a lot of other AFSP chapters reach out to me and wanting to implement this too, which has been so fun just to be able to kind of share my insights and the creative aspect of it. And I just tell them, take it and run with it. There's no limitations to it. You be as creative as you want. But yeah, just trying to set them up for a plan of success. But I mean, a big key that a lot of chapters don't have is a Scott. They don't have a Scott. They don't have an Indianapolis coffee guide wherever they're located. And I mean, that was truly one of the biggest pieces of the success of this.
Emily Steele (23:03)
Yeah, yeah. Anything else you want to add, Scott? What you've seen the last couple days as it's gone live?
Scott Soltys-Curry (23:10)
I don't know, I obviously like echo everything Brandon has said. It's just been, I don't know, I think too, like one thing that I've always tried to really focus on and everything that I've done are like two things. Two things that I focus on for my brand that I think fit perfectly with this is that I tend to only talk about things that I get really excited about because I want other people to be excited about it too. And then also I...like hyper -focus on the community and like the people. so I think this, this project specifically, I'm like very passionate and excited about, but it also like, directly impacts the community. just seeing people be so excited about this, has just been really incredible and validating on just like so many levels. I think one thing that too, that was really cool about this time is obviously like working with the Colts.
Scott Soltys-Curry (24:06)
Again, they were from the very beginning, they were like, Hey, this is not our project. How do we, we're just here to like use the Colts brand to like amplify this. because they obviously like, they personally care about it just as much as they do, professionally for their organizations. but, so one of the things that we did, I think that was really cool too, was like, okay, well the Colts were like, you know, with their platform, we could go much bigger than just Indianapolis. They wanted to open up to the entire state. So obviously like Brandon and I are focused in Indy. So we know Indy really well. and you know, the rest of the state just moderately well. So we were able to use social media to be like, Hey, we're doing this again. And we're doing it with the Colts this time. So like, so we leverage that to like get people to submit like where they wanted these coffee cup sleeves to show up. So like we were getting buy-in from the community in like, like from the very beginning of this, which I know Brandon has done before, like, you know, tag, tag your local shops is like that you want to see be involved in this, but to have the Colts get behind that, to have them in the collaboration posts, to have them, you know, release press releases for us with like, with that information, even like push notifications to the Colts app. So people who have the Colts app on their phone have been getting push notifications about this to kind of get that has just been really wild. again, I think we've all been. Back to what Brandon said, like, this is also personal for all of us, which is why it's happening. And I think we've been naturally leaning into that because we know we're not the only ones. And I think that people see that and they feel that. And that's kind of like what has helped every single piece of this like dream come to life.
Emily Steele (25:31)
Yeah, so cool. And I just think too, as I reflect on the experiences I've had in coffee shops and the soul level conversations of the struggles or the really good things, the celebrations, those happen at coffee shops. For me, I basically live at a coffee shop when I'm not at my own office at home. And so I just think the things I overhear, the things that people are openly sharing with the individuals next to them of this is where so much around our mental health gets talked about and so just to be where people are at and maybe having those conversations just feels also so perfect. To then open it up and be like, this sleeve, I have a friend or I'm actually experiencing. Have you heard any of that feedback of how it's maybe even opened a door for conversation that maybe wasn't even planned on? Yeah.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (26:35)
100%. Yeah. And I mean, that's truly where the idea started for me was, you know, my friends and I, we get like together every single Friday at a new coffee shop. No matter how good our week is, how bad our week is, like we still all show up to this coffee shop Friday morning and just hang out and talking and connect. And for me, that was just a big piece of like self care. And so I think that's why I was like, I want to target coffee shops, because I think so many conversations are happening at coffee shops, whether it's with friends or with with loved ones or you're on a first date or you're rekindling a friendship or a relationship, you know, after so many years or you're there for a job interview or whatever it looks like, there's just so many opportunities for connection and communication. But yeah, we have seen so many and more than I honestly thought we would, obviously that was always the goal was to have, you know, get these conversations going. But I think for people to be so open and vulnerable with sharing their connection to the cause or their connection to mental health, et cetera, on social media or in person with Scott and I has just been so validating and yeah, just really affirming. it's hard to not get stuck in your head with like, was this idea silly? Or like, get stuck at that. And then you have people who are like, I'm so excited to be a part of this or sharing a picture of a coffee sleeve and this was what I needed on a day like today. And you read those and you're just like, my gosh, it hits you in the feels. And it's so good to just know that that helped brighten somebody's day or get them connected to a resource that they didn't know existed.
Emily Steele (28:04)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yeah. And it's so fun to think back of, like, the ideas we have, right? Of, and then how they actually connect people to something greater, bigger than themselves. And, this one idea I had about a coffee sleeve, and now I'm doing this thing with Scott and the Colts. And, like, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people's lives are changed for the better, like, because of one coffee sleeve, right? Like, it can be so cool when you sit back and see, like, the web of connections of the impact you made. So kudos to you on taking a bet on an idea that maybe had never been done or you had seen it and like really, really amplifying it with the right partners. I think too, when you go into it with like the right mindset and like seems like very authentic to who you are and what you both value, like those are the ideas that can really blossom and nurture and grow. And so it feels very apparent. And now I'm like, I kind of want to sleeve. I'm coming to Indy, so maybe will there be enough? Do you think when I'm there in October?
Brandon Puszkiewicz (29:08)
There might be. Yeah, there might be. If not, have a couple, I have a couple extra. So if not, I can get some sent to you. Yeah. Yeah.
Emily Steele (29:12)
Maybe they're ready.
Scott Soltys-Curry (29:13)
We'll make sure. We'll make sure. Yeah.
Emily Steele (29:18)
Okay, I just love that. So special. Anything else around this project that you'd want to share with listeners that are like, this gave me an X idea or like new challenges or lessons learned. I know you're like three days into September alone, but the process is a little bit longer beyond.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (29:35)
I mean, I think you said it best, like just taking that bet on yourself. And of course, it's natural and it's okay to question like if you think an idea is good, but I think that's why we lean on our community and we lean on our loved ones and our friends and ask for that support and for that validation too. But I always think I mean, for me, the reason why this was always so important and it always just goes back to like my why is just because of how I've been personally affected by mental health and suicide prevention. So I think no matter what, at the end of the day, even if one person, you know, gets connected with a resource or something like that, like that was what was necessary and that's what they needed.
Emily Steele (30:02)
Absolutely. Yeah. Scott, anything from you as we wrap up?
Scott Soltys-Curry (30:18)
I, I just, I echo that times a million. I think the, I've been running my social media, like I said, for like eight and a half years now, which has been, which is exhausting after a while. Right. but again, it's like, I've always done this because I'm, I'm really excited about it and I really care about these people. But I think this like finding now, like projects like this are just, I don't know. It's just always, it's always been important for me to find projects that are, that kind of connect back to my why. but also just every project that I've been a part of has always been because, like what, what Brandon was saying is just like leaning into what you know, and what you need and like, what affects you personally and knowing that it affects other people like personally as well, or that it could, and just really leaning into that and remembering that. And that as long as you're, as long as you're really excited and care about something, like you'll find a way to make it happen. The more you care about it and the more authentic you are and the more you stay excited about it, even through all the challenges, like it only, it's only going to grow if you, if you nurture it. and just, just thinking about, I think about that first time we got coffee, like in like last January or February, 2023 and seeing how excited Brandon was with just like the like the little sleeves that you printed off at home. I remember you used to be like, these are just like quick little prototypes that I printed. It's on printer paper, like exactly like you said here. And you're like, I just do these designs together and I don't know. And they were like stapled together and just like, like seeing, hearing your story. I mean, I was bought in immediately, but like hearing your story behind it and then connecting it to my story just helped all of those things tie together, which is again has made like, look how far it's come, right? Like, This is the fourth, the fourth time these have been out and like, have obviously been ups and downs along the way, but like, look, look where it is now. and look like, like we're already talking about next time. like it's, it's just, yeah, it's just massively massively important to just like lean in on those, on those things and like, you know, the things that you care about and the things that you're excited about and focusing on knowing that other people also care about them and that you also want to get other people to care about them. It's just huge.
Emily Steele (32:13)
Mm -hmm. -hmm. I love it. It's like the local marketing podcast and I'm like, this is all bubbled up. I'll never have to do another episode again. You guys just like get it. Like the lessons are all in this episode everyone. Like we're done. I love it. Well, I so appreciate you both taking the time to share what you've worked on together and what you're building and working on. If someone wants to connect with AFSP, I like that acronym. I got to get that right. How can they do that, Brandon?
Brandon Puszkiewicz (32:48)
Yeah, great question. So we are a national organization. have chapters in all 50 states. So no matter where you're listening from, you can visit AFSP.org backslash chapters and you can get connected to your local chapter.
Emily Steele (33:12)
Mm -hmm. Awesome. And Scott, for anyone in Indy or visiting Indy like me, how do they get involved with your guide?
Scott Soltys-Curry (33:19)
Yeah, so the biggest place is on Instagram at Indianapolis Coffee. That's where I don't post a whole lot there, but have a whole lot, like that's where all my resources are. I also have a pretty robust website where I talk about all the amazing local coffee shops in the community here in Indy and our local roasters and all the really cool projects that I get to be a part of like this one.
Emily Steele (33:27)
Amazing. Well, thank you both for your time and hopefully we get to learn more about the sleeves you print in the future. So thanks again. Yes. Okay.
Scott Soltys-Curry (33:46)
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Brandon Puszkiewicz (33:46)
Yes, thank you.
