Lifting the Room: Cindi Bigelow’s Leadership Journey

Cindi Bigelow is the third generation president and CEO of family-owned Bigelow Tea.

But her journey to lead the company wasn’t always an easy one, as she shared with KeyBank’s Rachael Sampson and a record crowd of over 530 people at CBIA’s March 20 When Women Lead conference. 

“My journey was, I think, as most people’s journey,” she explained. “It was anything but a straight line.” 

Bigelow spent 20 years working in all areas of the Fairfield-based manufacturer before becoming CEO in 2005.

“I had to fight for the positions that I was to eventually receive,” Bigelow said, noting that she had to be her own advocate, even with her late father, who ran the company at the time. 

“He thought I was the Grim Reaper. He was like, ‘If we give you the baton, we will die,'” she said.

Building for the Future

Bigelow said that they were eventually came to an understanding that her becoming CEO was best for the organization’s future.

“It’s very difficult, in a family business, to make it work. But we did it,” she said.

“We did it with love. And we did it with good communication and everything that we have to do every day in business and in personal.” 

Bigelow said that throughout her career, she volunteered to oversee divisions that were having hard times. 

“I would learn what it took to build relationships along the way and learn what it took for those divisions to work successfully,” she said. 

She said it was those relationships that helped prepare her to become CEO.

Still, she said that she made and still makes her share of mistakes, but it’s about not being afraid to “stub our toe.”

“Stubbing the toe is not the problem,” she said. “It’s not learning from stubbing the toe, that’s the problem.”

Facing Fears

Bigelow said that one of the things that helped her on her personal and professional journeys was facing her fears. 

“My daughter when she was very little said to me, ‘Mom, I’m afraid of everything,’” she said. 

.@bigelowtea’s Cindi Bigelow and @keybank’s Rachael Sampson share the lessons they have learned during their professional and personal journeys to success. #WWL24. pic.twitter.com/HpqKmXidES

— CBIA (@CBIANews) March 20, 2024

“I looked at her and I said, ‘everybody’s afraid of everything.’”

Bigelow said it’s important to take things step by step, and to realize that you can fight your fears. 

“It’s also not being afraid of fear,” she said. “I don’t know if that sounds funny, but I’m not afraid of fear. It’s a driver. It’s reality. I fought it before and I’ll fight it again.“

Allies, Mentors

Bigelow and Sampson discussed the importance of building relationships and having allies and mentors. 

Sampson noted that, like Bigelow, she found success with the mindset that “there wasn’t a job too small.”

“I think so many times we think about, ‘Okay, I don’t want to do that task, and they’re making me do it because I’m a woman,’ versus saying ‘I’m going to learn from every single experience,'” Sampson said.

“I have been so fortunate, as a woman of color, to have so many different male allies.”

KeyBank’s Rachael Sampson

Sampson added that asking questions, being authentic, and focusing on common goals helped her build important relationships. 

“I didn’t always think of it as alliances and relationships, and that’s what really helped propel my career,” she said. 

“I have been so fortunate, as a woman of color, to have so many different male allies that have showed up for me.”

‘Lifting the Room’

Bigelow said that what Sampson was doing, without realizing it, was “lifting the room.”

“You lifted the project, you lifted the team, so people want to work with you,” she said.

Bigelow said that’s a quality she looks for in people.

“I look for people that lift the room, that care about the project, the people, the team, the community over self.”

Cindi Bigelow

“I look for people that lift the room, that care about the project, the people, the team, the community over self,” she said. “Yourself will shine, in my opinion.”

Bigelow said her success comes from everybody else’s success around her, rather than her own achievements.

She said that, as a leader, it’s important for her to recognize that her voice carries a lot of weight. 

Finding Your Voice

“It’s not just learning what my voice is, and the power of my voice, but it’s using my voice to make sure everybody has some place at the table,” she said. 

“A good leader is supposed to make sure everybody in the room is talking, even if they’re not talking. 

“The best leader in the room is supposed to find out whose body is moving, that that’s their voice.”

“A good leader is supposed to make sure everybody in the room is talking.”

Bigelow

A high school student in the audience asked Bigelow if she felt more pressure as a female CEO. 

“I feel zero pressure as a female CEO,” Bigelow answered. “I feel pressure as a CEO.”

“I am a female, I embrace it. I think I’ve got great skill sets as a female. But I’m a CEO. And that’s where the pressure is.”

Setting the Tone

Bigelow stressed that as a leader, a woman, and a mother, she had to find the right formula for navigating her personal and professional life.

“There is no one right formula,” she said. “I will just say, what’s important is that you decide what’s important to you.”

She said that for her, that means working to make sure her kids never felt that they were secondary. 

That means that if her phone rings, even if it’s during a board of directors meeting, she will get up and answer it. 

She added that she works to set the same tone for her employees. 

“You have tremendous power to set the room, set the tone, set the environment, by your actions.”

Bigelow

“You’re making sure you’re taking care of your family,” she said. “And you should wear that absolutely with pride.”

“Continuing to break down those barriers and normalizing that we do have lives outside of work is just so important,” added Sampson.

Bigelow said that she takes being a role model seriously. 

“You have tremendous power to set the room, set the tone, set the environment, by your actions,” she said. “You can lift the room.”

“If you can do those two things, you make the world around you better, and you create a space that you want to be in in the space you deserve to be in.”