Olivia Peters-Lazaro

Occupation: Owner and acupuncturist at Chico Community Acupuncture

Candidate’s Statement of Interest:

I am excited and honored to be considered for the BOD.  I have been shopping at the Co-op since before I was born: my mom was an active member during the Co-op’s infancy, and I have been shopping here since.  I grew up on my family’s walnut orchard in Chico.  As an undergraduate at UCLA I earned a BA in geography and dance: studying indigenous agriculture, urban food systems, and dance.  When I got done at UCLA I attended Five Branches University in Santa Cruz and received a Masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine, which qualified me to become a licensed acupuncturist in California and nationally.  For me, the human body is a micro version of our greater ecosystems, so practicing acupuncture and living a healthy life is integral to the health of our planet.  In a very real big way this starts with the food we eat: how we get it, what we eat, and where we get it from.  I see Chico Natural Foods Co-op as an integral part of our local food ecosystem that is striving to make people and our planet as healthy and thriving as possible.  For this reason I would like to take a turn being more than “just” a member buying my food from the Co-op, I would like a more active role in seeing Chico Natural Foods Co-op thrive.

Experience, volunteer and paid, relevant to BOD job description:

I have experience developing and maintaining sound financial practices in my small business.  As a small business owner I get daily practice communicating clearly with a wide swath of my community who come to me for their personal health, as well as coordinating volunteers and other professionals, who are all integral to the success of the clinic (my business is Chico Community Acupuncture).  Throughout my life, starting as a kid in home study, I have been part of environmental activism, including demonstrations to protect the vernal pools, working as the administrative assistant at Butte Environmental Council, and the UCLA Environmental Coalition.  I mention these because they have all given me experience in organizing people, events, coordinating people, places, and things, within the context of community involvement in local issues.  I have specific experience around food as well, currently living on and being part of my family’s commercial walnut orchard, growing most of my own produce, raising my own chickens for eggs, as well as a background in studying indigenous and urban food systems as an undergraduate.  Because of these things I understand many of the factors that are involved with choosing what products are sold as what price point, and why they would or wouldn’t support CNFC’s mission statement.

Training and education relevant to trustee job description:

For over four years I created budgets, maintained the books, interpreted stock portfolio statements, and prepared tax documents as a personal assistant.  In this capacity I facilitated communication between her, her lawyers, property manager, landlord, renters, accountant, personal caregivers, and financial advisors so that she understood the administration of her trust and personal business.  Currently I am the sole owner of a successful small business in Chico that I started in 2010.

Skills that would directly contribute to the mission of CNFC:

I am passionate about high quality, easily accessible food.  Specifically I believe that this is an integral part of a healthy person, community and planet.  CNFC is a vital resource for this.  I understand that while it may be easy to tout ideals on a flag, it takes consistent, proactive work, nitty gritty as it may be at times, to realize this vision.  I am skilled at listening to the needs of people, be that as a group of members, the staff, BOD, or community, and reflecting a way to meet that need within the mission of CNFC.  I am intimately aware of many aspects of that sandwich bread sitting on the shelf:  the process in which the wheat was grown, how that farmer is able to make a livelihood, the marketing for the product, CNFC’s access to that product and our ability to offer it to the community, and how that bread will affect the person’s body when they eat it!  Being a small business owner (offering affordable and accessible healthcare) I understand what it takes to provide my community with a valuable service that benefits their daily life.  What I have learned the most in the process is how to provide clear, concise, honest, compassionate communication with each individual and to the community at large.  When this happens, people are empowered to use your clinic, or your grocery store!

Experience on a committee or with an organization in the past that used active member participation to achieve its goals:

In 2005 I was the administrative assistant at Butte Environmental Council.  One of the greatest things I got to do while I was there was be the lead organizer for the Endangered Species Fair.  The success of this event was based on the hard work of people in previous years who had set up a clear, and organized system for making the Fair happen.  Following their guidelines I was able to:  solicit personal donations, organize dinner fundraisers, online-fundraising campaigns, recruit the help of the BOD for critical tasks, market the event in the community primarily using free media coverage, run a contest to obtain original artwork for the Fair, recruit and coordinate volunteers for the day of the event, network with local ngos, nonprofits, and community service organizations to set up booths, organized pre-Fair work days to execute critical elements of the Fair, while maintaining daily functions of the BEC office.  My clinic is able to offer acupuncture on an affordable sliding scale in a large part because my patients make use of simple systems that put their care into their own hands:  self-pay station, choosing their own chair, using on-line and self-schedule book in the clinic, spreading the word about special events, and referring their community to the clinic, all perpetuate the goal of the clinic which is to offer effective, affordable, accessible care to the Chico and surrounding communities.  Chico Community Acupuncture (my business) is part of the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture (a professional, patient based, national cooperative), and we have volunteers in the clinic who help with reception work, cleaning, and more. Their volunteering is invaluable to my ability to focus time and energy providing acupuncture and herbal care to the folks who walk in the door.

Experience with making sound financial decisions or operating a successful business and ability to read and interpret a balance sheet and income statement:

I started Chico Community Acupuncture in April 2010.  We offer acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine on a $15-35 sliding scale.  This is the first business I have owned and/or started and operated.  This year’s projected estimated gross is $80,000.  It is a small business, started with about an $8000 personal investment.  I am keenly aware of how to put together and maintain a sound budget.  My experience as a personal assistant mentioned earlier as well as running my current business has given me experience reading and interpreting balance sheets and income statements.  In all honesty, this is the area that I can most improve.  To this end I am a member of the Chico Chamber of Commerce and make use of what professional development classes they offer, as well as Butte College’s program for small businesses.  That being said I am the one who does the books for my business, and I am able to get help from good people and ask the right questions to make sure that I am optimizing the finances of the business.

Experience in working on a business or enterprise budget:

Starting my own business last year it was crucial to have a realistic budget and generate startup funding based on the expected growth of the business.  It worked out well and the business continues to grow.  As it does I am able to adjust the budget accordingly to meet the needs of the business and its employee (me).

Prior or comparable experience on a board or oversight committee:

I have never served on a board or oversight committee.  The work I did at BEC involved working with committees of people (the BOD, people working on the Endangered Species Faire), the environmental activism I have been would always involve a group of people in charge of a particular campaign that we would then utilize our human and other resources to achieve the goal.

Experience with long-range planning:

My life up to this point has used tons of long-range planning!  Part of starting a business is looking at its long rang goals, objectives, and mission.  I am a “big picture” thinker in general, with an aptitude for then setting smaller goals and plans to accomplish that long-range plan.

Experience in which you used problem solving skills in a task-oriented group:

Each day in the clinic the volunteers and I work out better ways to make the clinic easier for the patients to use, and for us to manage their flow in and out of the clinic.  We have a variety of tools at our disposal, including signs directing people, consistent verbal cues, and scheduling software.  One problem recently: a patient requested that there be something for her to rest her head on in the treatment chair.  My volunteers and I looked into making headrest covers, the cost of that and then washing them and maintaining them, the cost of disposable headrest covers and where to source them.  It turned out to be most feasible, at least right now, to have the disposable paper headrest covers.  We made those available to those patients who wish to use one.  A volunteer made an appropriately worded sign, with directions on it, and we put it in a good spot with some rearranging of treatment room supplies.  I know that seems like a very simple “problem” but it required that we find a way to accommodate a reasonable request within the framework of a clinic system that is for all intents and purposes working very well.  The volunteers are some of the best resources for implementing changes in the way the patient interfaces with the clinic because they are patients themselves, and see how the “back end” of the clinic works as well.  They are great folks to collaborate with.