Thank You Indy Fruit!

Today is my last day at Indianapolis Fruit.

It was an honor to carry on the family legacy that many previous generations have built. It was much more than business for me. It was personal. I understood that when I came to work every day I stood on the shoulders of giants. I didn’t take that lightly, and I’ll be forever grateful for my father, uncles, grandfather, and other family members who built this company to what it is today. We have used this business to help feed communities all over the country, our own community, and our own families.

What a three-year run it has been here. I’m so proud of what we have accomplished during that time. We built out a flourishing business development function from scratch, adding new customers at a rate we've never seen before. We did that without losing sight of our long time customers, helping them continue to grow their businesses and lead their markets in fresh. We took a chance and created new marketing initiatives that resulted in engagement and sales results we’ve never experienced.

I had the pleasure of leading a group of hardworking and talented produce badasses. We kept it simple, and we focused on customer satisfaction. I’m most proud of the fact that we put the customer first in everything we did. I'll be eternally grateful for this group of produce pros.

I’ll miss a lot of things about Indy Fruit, but I’ll miss the people the most. I’ll miss my work “Mama,” Anna, greeting me in the morning while making the whole team fresh pico de gallo. I’ll miss my work “Papa,” Julio, greeting me in the warehouse right as I step on the dock. I’ll miss working with my brother Daniel Corsaro, even though I’m sure there were plenty of times he was ready to kill me. I’ll miss watching my retired dad come to the office and put on gloves, steel toed shoes, and a hairnet. He's getting ready to hit the warehouse and help us out. That’s the spirit of Indy Fruit, and I’m confident it will stay long past my departure.

One of the hardest things to do in life is admit when you're not ok. To admit when you need time to rest and time to heal. I’m headed to Bend, OR to focus on my personal health journey. A journey that began with an autoimmune disease I’ve been dealing with since I was 16. I’m sure there will be many challenges along the way, but I'm confident and excited.

I saw a quote one day on LinkedIn that said: “In your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, and a policeman...but every day...three times a day...you need a farmer.” You can take the word “farmer” and replace it with almost any job in the food business. We are getting after it every day, and we never stop. People eat every day, so we work every day. I don’t know if this is my “goodbye” or “see you later” to the food business. Either way it’s been a ton of work, a ton of fun, and an extremely rewarding experience. To all my fellow food industry professionals: thanks for putting food on the table every day, and please keep doing it with a smile.