I recently made a business trip to Rochester, Minnesota. One of the keynote speakers was an entrepreneur by the name of Pasquale Presa. He is the owner of Pasquale’s Neighborhood Pizzeria. He’s a whole lot more than that and we’ll get to it throughout this blog.

Our experience with Pasquale started with lunch featuring his pizza. Let’s just say WOW! The taste, the unique variety and what I would frame as “care” of each pizza was incredible. I also noticed something else—I didn’t get the normal indigestion that sometimes happens when I eat pizza or spaghetti.

When Pasquale took the stage for an interview-style presentation, it was as if the whole stage lit up. His energy and passion for what he does literally got me even more excited about pizza, ingredients, customers and people in general. Pasquale’s family immigrated to the USA many years ago. Pasquale worked in a pizzeria starting when he was 14. He realized that he loved food, people, and ingredients. He also loved creating an experience, an atmosphere where everyone felt like family. 

He eventually went to culinary school and quickly become a sought-after chef. He worked at many major hotels with five-star restaurants and has met famous person after famous person. Yet he missed that deep connection with people and community. Through a series of moves, connections and family, he found himself in Rochester, MN.

In his new home, his neighborhood pizzeria quickly found customers and life-long friends. Then the pandemic hit. Instead of panicking, Pasquale got creative. He worked with a local grocer on making frozen pizzas for their shelves. As he described it with his Italian accent, “Frozen pizzas. Huh? Italians don’t do frozen pizzas.” They do now and he helped a lot of people get their pizzas. It’s now “a thing” and has expanded to other stores. 

Then there were the supply chain issues. Pasquale called upon his resources and got creative again. He realized that family lands back in Italy had olives for olive oil and tomatoes. Not just any tomato-the Italian tomatoes. Let’s get back to why I wasn’t feeling indigestion. The Italian tomatoes are different than most of the tomatoes we tend to eat in the USA. Pasquale not only started using more of his tomatoes, he started selling his pizza sauce and also created salsa. Now he even has other pizza businesses buying his pizza dough and sauce.

I could go on and on. As you can see, I was inspired more than I’ve been inspired in a long time. Entrepreneurs impress me every day as they shine in their brilliance. Pasquale took it to a whole new level.

I captured the five biggest take-aways I got from this interactive presentation:

1. Everyone matters. Every interaction matters. 
2. Creativity will get you through the toughest of problems.
3. It’s ok to be vulnerable. Asking for help not only gets you out of a jam, you learn something new.
4. Spread the love and the learning. Passing things forward is a good thing.
5. Be grateful and generous. Blessing others doesn’t just feel good, it’s how we take care of each other. You will be blessed in other ways when you bless others.

It doesn’t matter who we are or what we do. These five things could apply to all of us. What are the ways you are using any or all of these five things? I’d love to hear about how YOU are inspiring others with your brilliance!