Allsteel Hosts First Gentleman’s Retreat Event in Newly Refreshed NYC Showroom
Allsteel Inc., a leader in workplace furnishings, hosted an event at its newly refreshed New York City showroom for Gentleman’s Retreat, a program powered by Transformative Culture Project, whose mission is providing high potential, college-bound inner city high school young men with the tools and vision to be self-directed and self-sufficient in high school, college, their careers and beyond. At the event, members of the Allsteel team provided the attendees with a brief awareness of the Future of Work – trends that will be changing business in the coming years – as well as, a tour of the showroom and a rundown about how space helps define work and collaboration. In addition, the 16 members of Gentleman’s Retreat who were in attendance, discussed the different career paths in the design industry and were able to ask questions regarding what those opportunities would look like and what the path to these careers would entail.
After a chance encounter at a BIF conference where Allsteel’s Senior National Architectural and Design Manager was a featured speaker, a member of Gentleman’s Retreat wanted to learn more about the design industry – an industry that he didn’t even know existed – and he wanted to share this newfound discovery with the other members of the program. Allsteel, an active player in the design community and an ongoing supporter of education and diversity in the industry, saw this as a unique opportunity to share its insight and experience with young, inquisitive, and bright high school students.
“Speaking at conferences has always been a passion of mine – sharing knowledge, gaining knowledge, and making connections with interesting and talented people all over the country,” says AJ Paron-Wildes, National A&D Manager for Allsteel. “Our goal has always been to strengthen our community and give back to our industry, and what better way than to actively engage with a broader, more diverse set of potential designers such as the members of Gentleman’s Retreat.”
About Allsteel
Since 1912, Allsteel Inc. has offered a world-class, comprehensive range of workplace products and solutions. We simplify the office planning process by helping our customers align their workplace strategy with their business strategy. The result is fit-to-business solutions that deliver meaningful change in a way that works for them today, as well as tomorrow. Headquartered in Muscatine, IA, the company has showrooms in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.allsteeloffice.com or follow Allsteel on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.
About Gentleman’s Retreat
The Gentlemen’s Retreat takes Gentlemen from the inner city and puts them in novel environments and situations, while stepping back and allowing them to go through cognitive dissonance, so they can truly figure out what being a “G” means to them. This is achieved through curated experiences that they’ve never had before, which will allow them to learn more about emotional and conversational intelligence, grit, vulnerability and anything that is within the Gentlemen’s Code.
In the inner city, there is a lack of choice. In the Gentlemen’s Retreat, we facilitate choice making without the pressure of having to conform to a certain set of expectations. It’s a cultivated interactive learning environment that allows each Gentlemen to gain a deeper understanding of self, learning organically from the opportunities that the program provides. For more information, visit https://www.gentlemensretreat.org/.
