RTL Episode 61: Meet the Givefluencers: Niki Shadrow Snyder & John Snyder
On today's Responding to Life episode, I am joined by power couple Niki Shadrow Snyder and John David Snyder. This husband and wife team co-created a business model designed to empower people to be giving while making a living called the Project Pop Drop. They are also creators of the Givefluencer Network and are helping change the way we all give back while redefining what it means to be an influencer.
Tune in to hear us discuss:
What it means to influence giving
Steps you can take to incorporate giving back into your life
Parenting with a purpose
@projectpopdrop
@nikishadrowsnyder
@mrjohndavidsnyder
https://www.facebook.com/niki.shadrowsnyder/
https://www.facebook.com/john.snyder.9277
https://www.facebook.com/PlatinumInt
Episode 61 Transcript
Josephine Atluri (00:10):
During the season of giving many opportunities pop up for ways to donate time and money to the less fortunate. But what happens during the other 10 months when giving back isn't top of mind? Well, my guests today have found a way to incorporate it into their business and thereby their family's way of life. So if you're looking for a way for you and your family to continue giving to others in a meaningful way after January 1st, then you're listening to the right episode. Our guests today are power couple Niki Shadrow, Snyder, life and style editor of Hollywood Weekly Magazine and co-creator of the Project Pop Drop Foundation along with her husband and partner, John David Snyder, who is president of Platinum International Products and Services. This husband and wife team co-created a business model designed to empower people to be giving while making a living. They're also the creators of the Givefluencer Network. Major thought leaders, the White House, the KBB team of Tony Robbins, along with Oprah's team, have endorsed their foundation and the system they created to help make giving back part of people's lives personally and professionally. They're known as the Givefluencers and are helping change the way we all give back while redefining what it means to be an influencer. So let's dive in and find out what it really means to influence giving.
Josephine Atluri (01:44):
So thrilled to have you both on today's show. I'm going to start with a powerful sentence that I found on your foundation's website, which I think sums up precisely your passion and purpose - working to give so others may live. It's such a powerful statement because of its intention. So let's start off hearing about how you both are doing this today and how you are working to give so other people may live.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (02:12):
Thank you so much for having us first of all. We're happy to be here. We love the work that you're doing as well. I'll just introduce myself. I'm Niki Shadrow Snyder and this is my husband, John David Snyder, and we're a husband and wife team - partners in life and partners of business - and we have a for-profit company together called Platinum International Products and Services, which we sell office supplies and our core product is toner cartridges, but we decided that we didn't want to just feed machines, we wanted to feed human beings with our program - what we do - and we, on our first day created an idea. Actually, we came up with this idea on our first date to start a foundation. We both had the same values and we both really wanted to do something bigger with our lives besides just focus on our own careers.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (03:08):
Obviously we wanted to start a family [but] we'll talk about that later because we're going to talk about parent stuff - I know you want to get into that - but before we were parents, we were just young, in love and ready to change the world together. And we now to this day, fast forward 10 years, we have an organization that we created called Project Pop Drop, and that's a 50c3 foundation, and we are doing really great work and we're really proud to be doing the work that we're doing. And I can pass it over to John to tell you a little bit about it.
John Snyder (03:45):
Every month we go for the last, like she said, 10 years, and we go as Project Pop Drop. We go to a few different homeless shelters: one in California every month for the last 10 years, and then same thing in Florida every month, and then this month, we're doing a Pop Drop in New York so it's like an extra one. Florida and California are always running - for years and years - and we've empowered thousands of people to give back with us. We have Walmart as our partner now bringing grants to us and giving us grant money to assist. So we go to different homeless shelters and we bring life-saving supplies. We do a donation drives with students and empowering them to do donation drives with us and generate like new underwear and new socks and different life-saving supplies.
John Snyder (04:36):
And then we empower our customers through Project Pop Drop. They buy the toner cartridges from us, like my wife was saying, and then they get involved by putting one of our white Project Pop Drop boxes inside their business, and they generate donations for the month and then we'll go with them or if they can't go, they'll send us the donation and then we'll go to the shelter and execute the giving back. So it feels good to be giving while making a living and empowering people to do what we're doing by our actions has been the biggest blessing because we've created something where we're now givefluencers. We're influencing others to give back through, watching us give back and watching others give back. So we're getting calls left and right and they're like you guys created like something amazing with this givefluencer.
John Snyder (05:32):
You know, they're like, how's that different from influencer? I said, well, you know, we're a little different, we're not, you know, influencing you to, you know, stand on top of a Rolls Royce or go exercise or sell a product. We're influencing you to give back, not through our words, through our actions, which you could find at projectpopdrop.org. It's a track record of 10 years of giving every single month and we don't stop. And we have our children, a seven year old and three year old triplets, that have all been giving back with us since they were about six months old. And you know, we're like, all right, they're six months old time to time to get them involved. And so now our three-year-old triplets, they'll see these Pop Drop shirts and when they wear them, they're like, daddy, we help people.
John Snyder (06:19):
You know, we help people. We bring burritos. We bring, you know, sleeping bags anddaddy, we help people. We go to the homeless shelter and we bring hamburgers and they're like, people are like looking at us, like, what did, what are they talking about? You know? Cause they're almost four, their vocabulary is starting to get better. But sometimes people are like, what, what does that mean? And we're like, oh, well, they're saying that we help people when we go to shelters, we have a charity. And then I tell them everything I just told you, next thing you know, we have like donations. They're like, oh my God, it's so cool what you're doing. And our three-year-old triplets are generating donations for us. Then it's pretty amazing. And we started this at the Union Rescue Mission, which is in downtown Los Angeles on skid row.
John Snyder (06:58):
And we started about 10 years ago so the good thing is I definitely know, I'm living on life's purpose. I was telling the same story to my mom you know, I'm like, hey, we're doing something great you know we started this program, you know, at the company, we're going to start with Union Rescue Mission. We're going to go to homeless shelters every month and bring a bunch of businesses and have them step up to the giving plate with us and students and this and that and I turn around and my mom was crying and I said, well, why are you crying? And she's like, well, you know, don't say anything but in the 1950s, my father was homeless and he stayed at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles, which is the epicenter of homelessness in America, and he was homeless and [had a] drinking problem and, you know, he left when she was like 12, I never met the guy, but my grandfather stayed at the very homeless shelter where we started Project Pop Drop, which I had no idea. So I was just like, okay, well that's a full circle moment so let's do this. I drank a lot of coffee [because] the triplets kept us up all night so I'm going to be quiet now.
Josephine Atluri (08:07):
Well, that is, I mean, there's so many points that I want to touch upon, but first of all, just what a gift to be able to fuse together both your passion, this purpose that you have to giving back to the world, but being able to do it through your careers as well through the work that you do for for-profit, which I find, you know, many people have used that perhaps as an excuse or a reason to that they can't do it because they have like the one life that they're leading, you know, trying to raise a family, trying to build a career. And then the other idea of wanting to be able to help, but not having the time. So it's beautiful that you're able to showcase how you can do both together and offer ways for people to be able to do that.
John Snyder (09:00):
Yes, there's no excuses because our for-profit company, we are in the office supply business and about a year and a half ago, 18 months ago, when the pandemic start, all of a sudden it's being told that it's dangerous to go to your office and [the] shutdowns and people aren't using their printer and ordering as much toner, you know, I could have shut the charity down and be like, oh my God, what are we going to do? But like, we just found a way to like keep going and you know, more, more givefluencers came in and gave more donations and with Project Pop Drop we have three houses that we've taken families out of encampments and put them into a tiny home through some of our partners like Dean Grasiozi, if you're familiar with [inaudible] partners, with Tony Robbins and you know, a number of other people. So if you keep things going and you keep pushing and you don't find excuses, it all kind of works out, you know?
Josephine Atluri (09:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (09:55):
And like back to what you were just saying, Josephine, I think that's a really good point that a lot of people that have a for-profit company that are small business owners, entrepreneurs, business owners, they want to know how they can give back. A lot of people we find that come to us and like that we talk to just in conversation, they really, truly want to give back but they just don't know how. And they feel like my life is so hard already. Life is such a rat race or a struggle anyway, you know, raising a family, running a business, like those are all huge priorities and also a lot of weight on our shoulders. But our theory is, and this is something that we really want to put into the universe and share with as many people as we can is that there is a way to do it.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (10:42):
And that's why we actually created the word givefluencers. We created the word givefluencers because a givefluencer is somebody that influences the world by what they can give. And they understand that society can only truly function correctly when we're all giving back to one another. So that's very powerful. And we also created a system that is called the Social Responsibility System. And that's how - I'll just rewind for a second and tell you what that is. The social responsibility system is comparable to corporate responsibility. So you have CSR, corporate social responsibility for big companies and corporations, but we felt like there was something missing and there was a gap and just a problem to be solved with small businesses that also want to be socially responsible and give back. So we created a system called the Social Responsibility System, and it's mainly for small business, freelancers, entrepreneurs.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (11:46):
And it's even for families and friends that want to get together and do it. But what it is is a system to hold yourselves and each other accountable every single month, 365 days a year, to give back. Because we all know that just Thanksgiving and Christmas is not enough right now. You know, it's the season of giving, but the season of giving needs to be 365 days a year because the world really needs it right now. So with our system, the social responsibility system, we help people hold themselves accountable. For instance, our social responsibility system within our company and organization is we choose the last Saturday of every month to do something - to be a givefluencer and give back. So we hold ourselves accountable. And our theory is if us, you know, as parents, we have four kids under seven - three, the same age triplets - we have a business, a non-profit, and we're running a household and all kinds of launches going on.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (12:48):
If we can go and give back with our small business that's in the negative from COVID still every last Saturday of the month, anybody can, and it doesn't have to be money. It can just be time. It could be kindness. We're not talking about writing a check for thousands of dollars. We're talking about doing one good deed with your family and friends, or as an individual, as a givefluencer, the last Saturday of every month. Just make that commitment and hold yourself accountable and that's the Social Responsibility System that we created that we really encourage people to implement into their lives personally and professionally.
Josephine Atluri (13:28):
I love that Niki, and you know, it's helpful to give people, you're right. Going back to what you initially said that so many people do want the opportunity to give it's just it can be overwhelming trying to figure out how and where to do it and how to fit it into your schedule. But you're right. If you can just pencil it in, make it a consistent time in your, in your life - so once a month, the last Saturday, that's perfect. Then you'll always know that that will be the time and that's a great way of staying on track with this, this ability to give back. I'd love to just circle back. You know, it's always interesting to me too, when I speak to people such as yourself who are doing such amazing work for the community to find out just what drove you to do this work. You know, you mentioned that this all happened over a conversation on a date, which I just love, but, you know, was there a defining moment in each of your personal lives where you knew that this was your calling?
John Snyder (14:38):
Well I was driving to the Laker games back in the day with my dad when they played at the Inglewood Forum and we were driving and I saw homeless people living like literally like in cardboard box - it was the first time I ever saw someone sleeping in a cardboard box - and I told my dad, I said, you know, when I get older, I'm going to help these people somehow. And that was like, you know, like, I dunno, I was probably 16 [and] I'm in my forties now. So like, you know, so just, you know, after I started, like, I kinda, someone asked me that, what you just asked, and this was like maybe nine years ago and I'm like, oh, that's a good question, and then I figured it out. It's like, maybe it was at one time when I was driving to the Laker game and I told my dad I was going to do something like my, my subconscious mind made me do something, you know, that I didn't, I didn't think like, oh, I said I was going to do this a long time ago. Now I'm going to do it. Like, I just did it. And then didn't remember about that until someone asked me like what you just asked me. So that's how, that's how I was inspired to help and give back and help.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (15:50):
My turn, I guess. So I have a similar story. Number one I think for me, this has been my nature since I was a kid. That's what my parents tell me. When I was really little, I would make friends and like give away stuff in my lunch, like in like preschool and just like, I have like a giving nurturing, motherly nature, like since I was a small child. So I, I don't know if it was like a past life or how that was embodied in me like that young, but I've always had that need to give and that desire to give, even since I was a small child and also to top that off, my parents were really philanthropic when I was growing up and I remember they took me interestingly enough, in a very amazing coincidence, the same place, because we both were both born and raised in LA, the Union Rescue Mission, which is the largest mission on skid and oldest mission on skid row for shelter.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (16:46):
They took me as a really small child to skid row, like around the holidays. And they used to have my sisters and I grab a bunch of our toys and clothes and bring it there, like every year, to donate. And I just, you know, it was mind blowing to me. I did not understand that nobody like didn't have a home. Like there was, you know, as a child, you just, it's really hard to picture anything but what you already know. And then when you see that it's really a game changer. And I just remember the feeling of like, feeling so sad and compassionate that there's kids living like this. And I remember like that feeling in that moment saying, I am always going to do anything I can to help these people. And just growing up, I really have been involved in so many different charities throughout my life and throughout, you know, my teens, my twenties, and just now, you know, when I met my husband, I was involved with a lot of different charities, but literally on our first date, he was telling me about like all this good work that he was doing in the community with, you know, what he already started to do with his company before he even met me.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (17:54):
And I kinda came in and just merged my ideas with what he was already doing because it was really his idea to start Pop Drop. And I kind of took my marketing and media background and just kind of merged it with, you know, his vision and it really grew from there. It really turned into a great organization and foundation. And you know, it's, it's funny to think like something that you were just casually talking about on a first date not even knowing if you're going to have a second, you know, flash forward 10 years later, we've actually not only been doing it for 10 years, but we were recently honored by the White House with a volunteer service award and gold medal. So we didn't expect that on the first date chatting about this, but you know, now we're here and it's really exciting.
Josephine Atluri (18:41):
That is perhaps the most beautiful first date story that I've heard because of what evolved out of it. And that's just so beautiful. And then there were two other points that I wanted to make as I was listening to both of your personal accounts. One for John, I love that idea of, you know, what happened, where you just set an intention, you know, you, you saw what was happening in life and you, you said out loud this intention and then you tucked it in the back of your mind and then you lived your life and executed on that, whether you realize it or not, or whether you even remembered it, which you said you remembered only nine years later when someone asked you. And so that's the beauty of being able to do that, just sort of coming from my mindfulness perspective and back to you, Niki, you know, it is amazing what we take with us from our childhood, you know, what impacts us and what we see and what causes us to, to want to drive, to make change. So I think that's like a perfect transition over to this other role in your life as the parents of young children under the age of seven. So in addition to the phenomenal work that you are both doing, you both have four children, a singleton and triplets, and I'm curious, you know, you've already talked about it before John, how does the ethos of your personal pursuits get translated into your role as parents and how you raise your children?
John Snyder (20:17):
It's kind of like a, you know, people say balance, you know, you have that balance and you know, there's a, there's a, there is a balance, but it's kind of like everything's married together. You know, we have a balance of everything - the company, the charity, you knowI work from home once, once a weekyou know, our kids are involved in our charity, you know, they, they hear they hear business, you know, they'll, they'll hear someone in the office get a sale and then say yay dad, you know, like that. So they're like, they're involved in every way, like everything's meshed together, you know, so to speak. But sometimes like, like, you know, the, the triplets we'll use them for an example. Sometimes they'll, you know, like waste food or like, you know, something, and then you, you just kind of like remind them, like, hey, you remember when we went to the homeless shelter, you know, nobody's really wasting any, any food over there, you guys know that, right? So it's kind of, you kind of incorporate that into your, your regular life because they've seen, you know, what's going on, you know? So if that answers the question, I think I hope it does.
Josephine Atluri (21:21):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (21:24):
I, I, we really have like two basic theories of running our business and, you know, raising our kids and with our for-profit company, it's profit with a purpose and with parenting it's parenting with a purpose, like we believe that it's really important for our kids to understand gratitude and to understand how important it is to be kind to others, to give back to others. And while we're far from perfect, we're both like alpha personalities. Like, you know, we definitely need to check in and like meditate, which is your, is your lane, you know, once in a while, because our life is so intense. But with our kids, like at the end of the day, there's not a day that goes by that at the end of the day, we don't, you know, express gratitude. And, you know, when we we're at the end of the day, we always say, what are we grateful for everybody?
Niki Shadrow Snyder (22:14):
And we say what we're grateful for and that's a daily practice. And since our kids were taking their first steps, they were giving back, you know, they were unloading food from the carts and bringing it into homeless shelters. And they really know, they really understand like what giving while making a living is like what we implement in our, in our business and in our life. And they, and they are givefluencers. Like they are absolutely influencing the world by what they can give. And the thing that we really love as well as that, we have partnerships with a lot of school districts in different cities here, we're LA based, we have a great partnership with LA USD where we also go and do speaker series, whether they're in person or zoom online, to help empower the youth of America to give back and help them understand that they can be givefluencers too.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (23:03):
That anybody can be a givefluencer and we kind of show them the way while we do a hands-on donation drive at their school. So we teach them how to market the donation drive, empower them how to promote it on social media, how to get donations. And then a lot of times, you know, pre COVID, we were arranging field trips with, you know, LA USD and different students in different districts to go to these shelters and have a full circle, you know, collecting the donations and then dropping them off and experiencing it. So they understand, you know, the whole process of it. So for us, for our kids and all of our student partners and students that we're trying to empower, like it's really important to us to just do everything we can to spread this message, because this is the future of the world - it's kids and our children - and if they start learning this and we start seeding this into them now, imagine the impact that it will be as they grow and they go into the world. That's what we really need right now.
Josephine Atluri (24:05):
Well, that's wonderful. Yes. You know, I'm always talking about such as in my book and with other parents about the importance of modeling behavior, and as you even exemplified when you were talking and recollecting about your own childhood experiences and what sort of drove you eventually to want to do this in your own life as an adultand that we see what is shown to us, and we, as children will follow the lead of what we see the adults in our lives are doing. So I think it's beautiful that you've from right from the get go have introduced that to your own young little family and that they're all playing the part and helping out and giving back just like their parents. It's just wonderful. You know, I always end my - I could keep picking your brain about all of this. It's so wonderful to hear. I'd love for you to share with the audience how they can respond to life in a more meaningful and positive way based off of the idea of being a givefluencer.
John Snyder (25:16):
When you're a givefluencer like your, your whole life is going to open up. Like, just things that don't worry about, like, oh, you know something's going on this month, or I might not, you knowI might not be able to handle it by buying this brand new pair of underwear and bringing them to the shelter or socks, just, just do it, just give and the rest will take care of itself and you'll feel so amazing. You'll have extra energy within you to produce more that you're worried about not being able to get by giving something, if you just give and just do it, don't think about it. You know, if anyone's listening today that, you know, wants to give back, you know, feel free to reach out to projectpopdrop.org through our website. And, you know, you want to get your business involved we have an online course coming out soon, Giving While Making A Living, to give salespeople and businesses a purpose behind their business, which is amazing.
John Snyder (26:17):
So it's, it's it's, it's in the works right now being prepared. So that's, we want to figure out another way to get this out there to the masses, you know. So like the ultimate goal is for every business that's been in business for at least one year, you know, they're stable, to set up a program like we do every single month, just give back at a homeless shelter within 10 miles of your business that you more than likely see people sleeping in an encampment or a homeless person on the way to your business. Like if every business in America can pull this off and does this, it's a game changer. The world changes overnight. And, you know, we, we we've already been working it. And like we tried with the White House, we tried with the SBA we're like, hey, the SBA could introduce a program to every business and, you know, give them a credit, you know, like we haven't pulled it off yet, but I know we're going to, because we put a lot of energy in it. And next thing you know, we got a gold medal on the, from the White House like she's saying something like, okay, well maybe that's the energy that we put out there. It's not what we thought yet. We never expected this, but I know for a fact that Project Pop Drop and givefluencer is we'll figure out a way to get every business in America involved in giving back every single month and have a more customer cause marketing business model instead of just for profit. And that happens, the world changes.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (27:40):
And also what John said, sometimes people aren't necessarily comfortable serving the homeless. So I just want to clarify that for the Social Responsibility System, you can pick any cause. It does not have to be going to a homeless shelter. It could be any cause that is worthy. That is something that you are just giving back and serving others. It could be animals, it could be elders. It could be, you know, any service that you can provide for free that day. If you are in the service business, just something where you're serving others and giving back in some way. And that's what everybody I believe can commit to once a month.
Josephine Atluri (28:20):
I love it. That's just, that's really helpful. And I love the, the model that you're bringing to businesses. I think that will be a game changer. The course online course that you have coming out and it's just another way for, to make it just an easier process for all smaller businesses and other businesses to be able to hop on board with this idea. Yeah, so I always end my, my podcasts much like what you do with your own children and what I do with my children. I'd love for you to share a gratitude that you have for today.
John Snyder (28:56):
I am grateful that I'm on your show and I just looking at you right here. You have like really good energy and a good heart, and I could feel that. So I'm just thankful to be on your show because I'm sure that you've attracted a lot of people and like yourself and the same kind of energy. So that's the type of people that we love working with. You know, you're a natural givefluencer.
Josephine Atluri (29:21):
Well, I appreciate both of you on the show. In the spirit of giving and receiving - I know you already mentioned about hopping onto your website for more information, and then this online, upcoming online course, but I'd love for you to share other ways or specific ways that our listeners can start to participate and give back and connect with your company and your foundation.
John Snyder (29:48):
A lot of people like, you know, sometimes they don't have time or they don't necessarily you know, want to, like, they can't figure out like when they could go buy something or something like that then, you know, we've had people say, well, can we buy a toner cartridge for our printer from you? Will that be helping, you know feed someone or get some supplies to the homeless? I said, yeah, because that's how it was started before it ever became a charity. We were taking a portion of the profits and you know, saving the money up every single month and then go on to buy the goods and stuff like that. So that's, that's one way you could go to our Facebook page for Project Pop Drop and, you know, check, check things out. If you want to message us there, or if you want to go to projectpopdrop.org and message us there. Like, honestly, like we're not, we're not charging for this advice, you know, just literally pick up the phone and call the office. Our numbers are on there and you know, how, how can we get started? And, and we'll advise people cause we want to spread the word.
Niki Shadrow Snyder (30:51):
If people are ready to change the game for themselves personally and professionally and be a givefluencer, we will be happy to show them the way and it will definitely change everything for them because we truly believe whatever you give you receive and whatever you give you get
Josephine Atluri (31:10):
Beautiful. Well, my heart was just warmed just by speaking with both of you and hearing about your, your passion and your purpose. I'll be sure to share all of the links so that people can connect with you in the show notes. And I look forward to sharing this with everyone. Thank you so much to both of you, Niki and John, for your time today and for all of the amazing work that you're doing
Niki Shadrow Snyder (31:35):
Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having us on.
Josephine Atluri (31:47):
Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode with Niki and John. I hope their words and their life's work inspired you to find a way to do something on a regular basis to give back to others in whatever way fits into your lifestyle. If you're interested in learning more about their organization and perhaps volunteering or donating, please check out the show notes, which has all of the links to help you connect with the Snyders. As a reminder, I now have fertility and parenting specific meditation sessions and online classes available on my website, jatluri.com. During the month of December, all of my classes are 30% off with the code holiday30, and be sure to check out my highly rated book on Amazon, the Mindfulness Journal for Parents. It's a great gift to give for yourself and your parenting friends. So thanks for listening. I challenge all of you to find ways to respond to life versus simply reacting to our situations. I'd love to hear your real life stories on how you put this into practice. So drop me a info@jatluri.com. Until next time.