Interview No. 1490 Leigh Kersh
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University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Institute of Oral History Project 7-21-2010 Interview no. 1490 Leigh Kersh Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/entrepreneur Part of the Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons, and the Oral History Commons Recommended Citation Kersh, Leigh, "Interview no. 1490" (2010). Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project. 13. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/entrepreneur/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Institute of Oral History at DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Name of Interviewee: Leigh Kersh Date of Interview: July 21st, 2010 Name of Interviewer: Arlina Palacios AP: This is an interview with Leigh Kersh on July, 21, 2010 in El Paso, Texas. The interviewer is Arlina Palacios and this interview is part of the Paso del Norte Entrepreneurs Oral History Project. Thank for meeting with us today. LK: Certainly. My pleasure. AP: We're going to start with a little bit of background information. I'd like to first ask you when and where you were born? LK: I was born in El Paso, Texas many years ago. Almost six decades. AP: Really? It doesn't show. LK: Almost six decades, but not quite. AP: Okay. Where did you go to school? LK: I went to Austin High School and then I went to the University of Texas and finished up at NYU. AP: How was your experience at Austin High School? What kind of neighborhood did you grow up in? LK: Well, I grew up in a very nice neighborhood. I had a lot of great friends, but I was in a rush to get out of El Paso to be honest with you. I really wanted to learn about other cities and I did. As a matter of fact if that move would have not have taken place and if I wouldn't have left, I don't think that my life would be what it is today because everything – I look back and I see why things happen the way they do. It's amazing. AP: What motivated you to want to move from El Paso? LK: Experiences, education, people, getting involved with the right situations. If I wouldn't have gotten involved with the Federal Express Corporation, I would have had no – they paid for my education. So, those times are gone and there aren't too many companies that will pay for education anymore. That provided me a very good life. At that time there weren't too many companies in El Paso, Texas that would pay for your education so I was really fortunate. But I became a physiologist and when I left Federal 1 of 38 Leigh Kersh Express Corporation I was living in Manhattan and I had a practice and I had a practice for several years. And I remember walking too Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, in Rockefeller Center as a matter of fact and there was a fabulous chocolate store there and I would sit outside drinking coffee and just looking at the people that would come out and it was just so intriguing and at point I was really tired of my career. I really was – I thought to myself, "Goodness, is there really a chance for me to have another career?" But what I did was say to myself, "Oh my dear God, why can't I have an operation like this? Look at all the people that are leaving here. They look so happy." And I remember moving the fog from the window and looking inside and everything was glistening and there were packages with ribbons and there were cases full of yummy chocolate and the aromas were terrific and I looked around and I thought, "This is paradise." So, I forgot about that and went back home and within two weeks I had an offer to join a practice in North Miami Beach, Florida. I took the offer and I arrived and within three weeks I was having coffee with one of the doctors that I worked with and he said, "Leigh, do you know of anybody that would want to buy a chocolate operation? If my wife does not sell it we are going to get a divorce." And I said, "Let me take a look at it" and I just couldn't believe it. I thought that was really ironic, so I took a look at it and it was a hole in the wall, but I looked around and I thought to myself, "You know, if I really get involved and I really, really marry this business and dedicate myself I know I can make it to be what I saw in Rockefeller Center." I will always have that vision of that fabulous store imprinted in my brain and if I just follow that as a goal, I know it will happen. So I bought it and when I bought it, the employees were so upset that they never knew it was for sale that they quit. So there I was alone and I didn't know anything about chocolate. Nothing. And I was scared to death and I was nervous and I thought, "My dear goodness, what am I going to do now?" So one night I remember I was working alone and I had 350 chocolate place cards that had to be ready for Turnberry Country Club and one out of every 10 was working out. And I would do it but it just wouldn't look right, so I was crying and was very upset. It was about 9:00 at night and all of a sudden there was a knock on the back door and I opened the door and it was an old lady, she was maybe 65-70 years old, and she said, "Do you need help?" 2 of 38 Leigh Kersh And I said – she says, "I saw your light on and I'm looking for a part-time job." And I said, "But at this hour? Why don't you come back on Monday and talk to me. I'm really in a bad situation right now." And she said, "But maybe I can help you" and I said, "You can't help me. This is about chocolate. Where do you work?" And she said, "I work at Publix" and I said, "Doing what?" And she says, "I'm a cake decorator" and I said, "You're kidding me? Do you know how to write with chocolate?" And she says, "I do" and I said, "Do you mind helping me now? I'll pay you double." And she came in and we finished the project at 3:00 in the morning and the project was magnificent. And I said, "You're my first employee. Can you start Monday?" And she says, "We'll be seeing each other" so I said, "Let me take you home." So I gave her a ride to this high rise and let her out and I said, "Please call me Monday" and she said, "Very well" and I didn't see her Monday, I didn't see her Tuesday, and Wednesday I was frantic and I said, "I've got to have this lady back in my life." And I want to all the Publix and this lady did not exist. I never saw her again and since that day I knew that God had sent me an angel. There was no doubt about it. And in my heart I got a message knowing that everybody I meet would be for a certain reason. And everybody that came to work there taught me and showed me and we built the store and built the store and built the store and it became one of the most fabulous chocolate operations in the United States. And after having it about six years, it was getting to be unmanageable because it was so huge, it was 8,000 square feet, I had over 75 employees, and I needed a general manager. And I started interviewing and nobody really fit the bill. They really had to possess excellent customer service skills, they really had to know what they were doing, and nobody fit the bill. So that night, I cried and cried and I prayed out to my dad who had passed away, "Dad please send me somebody." Well, the following morning at 7:00, the phone rings – let me stop there. My father, when I was growing up, would always wake us up with "Rise and shine up high like a tree. It's a brand new day. If you have a bad attitude, snap out of it" and I was brought up with that every single day. So my girlfriend used to spend the night a lot at our house and the phone rings, its 7:00, and it's "Rise and shine up high like a tree. It's a brand new –" I said, "Who is this?"" And she said, "It's Babette" and I said, "Babette, I haven't seen you in 10 years. Where are you? Someone told me you're in Houston 3 of 38 Leigh Kersh and I'll pay you whatever you want, but you've got to come and be my general manager please." She said, "Leigh, I'm here in Miami and I'm calling to see if you need anybody cause I just arrived with my brother." So, she joined my team and we made it even better.