Baking & Snack - July 2020 - 10

editorial
Sharpening our vision in 2020

Raise your hand if you've run the gamut of emotions
- fear, anxiety, gratitude, confusion, relief, more fear
and anxiety, hope, and at times a bit of outrage - so
far this year?
Sometimes, laughter is good medicine. I get a kick out
of the memes like the one that refers to murder hornets
as a "plot hole" (where did they go, anyway?). And now a
"Godzilla" dust cloud ... really?
But in all seriousness, the events of this year have scared
me, shocked me, confused me and, at times, rocked me to
my core. How apropos is it to be 2020? We've got a lot of
hindsight coming our way, my friends. While we've seen
the best come out in our industry, we've also witnessed
some of the worst come out in our society.
In less than six months, we've watched in astonishment as a pandemic swept over us, restaurants shut down, consumers upended the
retail market, and civil unrest detonated before
our very eyes. I know you don't read Baking &
Snack for social commentary, but I hope you'll
make an exception today.
I do not tolerate inequality - nor does this
magazine or Sosland Publishing - not for race or
gender or age or any other variety. Judging people
for how they look, or where or when they were born, is
wrong. Plain and simple.
But it can't stop there.

PUBLISHING STAFF
Publisher
Paul Lattan
Publisher Emeritus
Mike Gude
Associate Publisher
Steve Berne
Director of Audience Development Michael Barbee
Audience Development Analyst
Dustin Pickman
Audience Database Specialist
Lindsey Sheridan
Audience Development Coordinator Carlea Schuler
Director of Digital Media
Jon Hall
Digital Advertising Manager
Carrie Fluegge
Advertising Manager
Nora Wages
Advertising Coordinator
Kayley Kerns
Design Services Manager
Elisabeth Spillman
Design Services Assistant Manager Ryan Alcantara
Production Specialist
Marj Potts
Senior Design Consultant
Becky White
Graphic Designer
Brian Peterman
Promotions Manager
Jim White
Promotions Media Designer
Abby Chronister
Sales Coordinator
Whitney Hartman

10 Baking & Snack July 2020 / www.bakingbusiness.com

In recent weeks I've realized that choosing not to
see color is actually taking the path of least resistance.
We as human beings have an obligation to think more
critically than that. Some ugly truths have been exposed this year. I hope you were paying attention. A
few months ago, "colorblind" was good. But the devastation I've seen unfold has shown me that good is not
good enough. Not anymore.
We are heading for the biggest recession our country
has seen in a century. But what if it becomes an opportunity? The labor pool is about to be wider and deeper than
many of us have ever experienced. Yes, there is diversity
in the commercial baking workforce; I've seen it on the
plant floor of nearly every facility I've visited. But having
diversity is only the beginning. Now is the time to see differences and understand what they mean.
Then diversity becomes a tool for meaningful change.
Bakers bring people together. It's what they do best.
When the labor market inevitably shifts, I believe this
industry can bring people in - and come together - in
new, honest and authentic ways by seeing one another
with empathy, understanding and eyes wide open.
We have the power to create a new future for baking.
Perhaps we can make the world a little better while we're
at it.
- Joanie Spencer, editor
jspencer@sosland.com

EDITORIAL
Editor
Editorial Director
Managing Editor
Senior Editor
Digital Media Editor
Contributing Editors:

Joanie Spencer
Dan Malovany
Nico Roesler
Charlotte Atchley
Anna Wiber
Donna Berry
M. Hikmet Boyacıoglu

CORPORATE
Chairman and CEO
Charles S. Sosland
President
L. Joshua Sosland
Chief Financial and
Administrative Officer
Staci Greco
Chief Operating Officer and
Executive Editor
Meyer Sosland
Chief Marketing Officer
Jim Saladin
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4801 Main St., Suite 650, Kansas City, MO 64112
Phone: (816) 756-1000; Fax: (816) 756-0494
E-mail: BakingSnack@sosland.com
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Baking & Snack - July 2020

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