Jennine Sullivan named among Women of the Year

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Jennine Sullivan is one of Paste BN’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. Meet this year's honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.

Week after week, about 1,000 to 1,200 Oahu families have nutritious and culturally relevant meals on their tables thanks to The Pantry by Feeding Hawaii Together — the only e-commerce food pantry in the country.

Jennine Sullivan, the executive director, stepped up to revive the nonprofit after it lost its downtown Kaka'ako lease in 2018 when the space was sold to a developer. Left without a home, The Pantry spent two years in limbo before finding new life in a Kalihi warehouse, where it reopened on April 1, 2020.

Born and raised on Oahu, Sullivan left after high school to attend college in Boston before spending about a decade in the corporate world. Just before joining The Pantry, she was based in San Francisco, though the thought of returning home was never far from her mind.

The 35-year-old's journey back to the island was serendipitous and quintessentially local.

“It was a very Hawaii thing, of all ways that I found this position,” Sullivan said. “I happened to be working from home here in Hawaii one week and ran into my now board chair, whom I had, as a child, sold Girl Scout cookies to.”

The chance encounter turned into an opportunity. The board chair mentioned a vacant warehouse in need of a complete overhaul and asked if it was something she might be interested in. For Sullivan, the offer was a perfect fit. It aligned with her professional expertise in building and developing organizations, as well as her personal mission to give back to the community she loves.

Sullivan returned home to take on the executive director position in 2020.

“It was a really happy, personal and professional match,” she said. “It allowed me to return home and take a job that would really impact our community.”

The Pantry serves all districts on the island of Oahu, year-round. Clients can go online to register, providing valuable data during the registration process, such as the number of children (keiki) and seniors (kupuna) in their household, or if they need assistance with SNAP registration. This information helps the organization better serve them. Once registered, clients can shop online for the foods they want and need at no cost.

"Similar to Amazon, (our service) is very pictorial based. They see the food they want and add the number of items they want to their cart. Our volunteers come and custom pack those food orders, and then our clients come on Wednesdays and Fridays to pick up those boxes of food," Sullivan said. "While they're able to order food online once a week, our focus is really on providing fresh, diverse, nutritional food that's also culturally relevant to them."

The Pantry not only serves children and senior citizens but also working families who are unable to afford necessities and those with physical or mental disabilities.

"As executive director, it's my role to oversee all aspects of the organization," Sullivan said. "That includes warehouse operations, client services, volunteer needs, staffing, hiring, and then of course, all the back functions like marketing, donor relations, finances, fundraising and just making sure that we as an organization are structurally set."

Before leading the nonprofit, Sullivan worked as an independent business strategy consultant for mid-stage startups, small businesses and accelerators. She also held senior roles at several national and international corporations.

Sullivan has been named Paste BN’s Women of the Year honoree from Hawaii this year, recognized for her unwavering passion for giving back to her community. By bringing The Pantry back to life and keeping its doors open, she and her small team have provided Oahu families with a reliable lifeline in times of need.

"We're a small staff of three, myself included, and so we absolutely rely on our amazing volunteers to help us do all the work that we do. There's no way that the three of us could do it by ourselves," Sullivan said. "We're truly serving the community with the help of the community."

About 2,000 people volunteer with The Pantry annually.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Question: What challenges do you face in running The Pantry?

Answer: I think one of the challenges that we have as a small organization here in Hawaii is just finding that name/brand recognition so that people know who we are and what we're doing. ... Certainly, fundraising is always a difficult aspect, especially in a small community. While we have a number of phenomenal donors, as we try to grow the organization, finding donors who are interested in helping us expand is a struggle that any organization, I think, can understand.

Q: What does your life outside of work look like?

Answer: I have a wonderful husband and two delightful dogs, one is an Aussie doodle and one is a mixed Chihuahua. They occupy much of my time. When I'm not hanging out with my dogs or my husband, I paddle for Kailua Canoe Club and really enjoy just being out on the water and just enjoying what nature has to offer.

Q: Who would you say paved  the way for you? Do you have anyone you look up to? 

A: My parents were guiding influences in my life. My mom was a nutritionist growing up and always encouraged us to get involved in community and food. When we were children, we used to go to a soup kitchen here in Hawaii to serve our community. Even through college and beyond, she was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to give out to different shelters, so she was certainly impactful. My dad absolutely paved the way for me to go to college on the mainland in Boston. He's originally from the Cambridge area, so he really encouraged me to take that step and find a career that I love. It would be difficult to be here without them. But there are also so many other people — from teachers to my board of directors to my husband, who enable me to take a job I love, to all of our volunteers who have helped me continue doing what I do because they're so passionate about the work we do in our community. It's really a long list of people."

Q: Do you feel like you're in a position where you can pave the way for others? Who would you say you are paving the way for?

A: Certainly, I really hope so. I hope that I'm doing that with my staff and helping bring them up; providing them with new skills and opportunities to do things they care about. ... I'm getting my master's degree in supply chain management because I'm so interested in how we're importing 85% to 90% of the food we eat on the island. So I'm learning from many people, and hopefully, the small steps we take — not only as an organization but individually — can help contribute to a better future for Hawaii.

Q: What was it like growing up in Hawaii?

A: Actually, as a child, I didn't like the beach. It was too sandy for me, which is hilarious because now I love the beach and I'm the culprit for all the sand in our house all the time. For me, it really took the opportunity to go away to college to be able to enjoy all that Hawaii has to offer. I walk to the beach frequently with my dogs now. ... I remember, we spent a lot of time out outside in our neighborhood. We had an awesome neighborhood that was like in a cul de sac with other children our age who lived there in that same cul de sac. And so I have lots of memories of just being out on the street at night, or running around in the backyard, or making water slides with trash bags and tarps. I was blessed to have a great childhood.

Q: What is the best advice you received from your mom?

A: My mom was always telling me as a child that I had to find my passion. She would ask me every week, "What's your passion? What are you going to do in life?" And I never understood it. I thought it was really quite frustrating that she would always ask me what this illustrious passion was. But I think it just helped me instill the mentality around finding something that you are passionate about doing; it doesn't have to be your passion, but finding something that you're passionate about doing. I worked for many, many years in corporate, in finance, and different organizations for different people in different countries, but I can certainly say that I'm passionate about my job now. I really think that what I'm doing has made an impact. ... Maybe this isn't my only passion. I think I have many passions, but it's certainly a lot easier and more fun to come to work when you care about what you're doing every day and you know the impact that you're making. So thanks, mom.

Q: What advice would you give your younger self?

A: Don't worry so much. It'll be OK. I think I was really stressed when I was younger. ... But it'll be OK.

Q: What is one of your proudest moments?

A: I think being here today, I am incredibly proud of who we are, where we are, what we're doing. When I reopened this organization in 2020 it was just me. I was the only staff member for the first two years or so. I was out in the warehouse, running around all day, every day. We had no processes. We had nothing. I'm just incredibly proud of how far we've come as an organization. To have the opportunity to say that we have over 2,000 unique volunteers come and help us every year, I think that's an amazing thing that I'm so proud of. People want to come and spend their free time with us, and I'm so very grateful for everyone who's made this all possible.

Q: How can readers support The Pantry and its mission?

A: If people are looking to get involved, they can visit thepantry.org. All donations are tax-deductible. And if they're ever interested or ever in town and want to visit, we'd love to have them come and volunteer. You can sign up for a shift at the pantry.org/volunteer.

Nour Rahal is a trending and breaking news reporter for the Detroit Free Press, which is part of the USA Today network. Email her: nrahal@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @nrahal1.