Kristina Glinoga

They’ll give you insider information. But some people will show you that in the game, the rules are arbitrary, and we can literally change them! Those moments have been the most important.

So not only could I practice butchery from a skills perspective, but the way I sourced and butchered could also help battle climate change and the unjust industrial food system.

Some days it works, some days it doesn’t. So being forgiving to myself is helpful, as is asking for help. I found a tip that said to track everything you do. I use Google Calendar. It seems like overkill, but it is super useful! Especially now that I’m largely in charge of myself and the goals are always shifting, it's easy to lose a lot of time to a task that isn’t truly very important. This way, I know exactly where my day went and whether I should feel good about it, or if I should rethink my work flow tomorrow.

It’s important to learn about this industry and skillset from someone who also believes in sustainability and equity. The fact is that many people, often of a certain older age and also conservative values like to dictate what seems possible (even down to whether it’s possible for BIPOC to be figures of authority). So they’ll say, “you can’t do that,” but why? Because that’s how it’s always been? Well, no friend, we don’t accept that around here.

So the self-awareness to see what is and isn’t abuse from leadership has helped keep me from staying in abusive environments that would have certainly prevented me from founding Butchery 101. Hard work is vital, but you need to recognize that your hard work should benefit you too.

Even the handful of shops in my city weren’t always hiring, and big white dudes were literally gate-keeping.

This keeps me going.

In terms of attitudes, it’s very important to me now that people and brands are able to acknowledge injustices in the world and try to combat them. For example, even if you don’t know how exactly to be anti-racist or environmentally sound, the desire to do better is still huge to me. At some point, all I had was a desire to do better, and that has led, and still leads, to all of my proudest professional moments.