Stories of Impact is a podcast for veterans that shares real stories from combat to healing. Learn how the ORF provides mental health resources for veterans.
[Matt Weaver]
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Operator Relief Fund podcast series, Stories with an Impact, powered by Carahsoft. Our inaugural episode here, we are filming on location in Carahsoft in Northern Virginia.
And I'm going to be very honest with you guys, this podcast series is not necessarily about what we do, right? And if you want to learn all about the mission of the Operator Relief Fund, check out www.operatorrelieffund.com. This series is about the people and the stories that make our mission possible.
And today's guest from Carahsoft is Joe Tabatabayan, a huge supporter of the Operator Relief Fund. And as we dive into his story, you're going to learn, you know, basically the culture behind Carahsoft, and the man that has become such a prominent figure, and not only in our events, but our outreach as well. So Joe, thank you for coming on today, appreciate you being the guinea pig to get this thing kicked off.
So thanks for coming.
[Joe Tabatabian]
Thanks for having me. Yeah, looking forward to it.
[Matt Weaver]
Awesome. So what I want to get into is, and you know, we talked before we turn the cameras on, right? This is not about an infomercial for Operator Relief Fund.
This is not an infomercial for Carahsoft. But there's something that I've noticed just in working with you and working with the entire team, that I think is incredibly rare. And it's incredibly unique, you have a company the size of Carahsoft, and a nonprofit, relatively as small as Operator Relief Fund, right?
There's a reason why I'm sitting in this chair, there's a reason why we're in your building. And so that's kind of what I want to dive into. And so, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about the man that Joe is, right?
You know, what do you do? And what did you do before Carahsoft?
[Joe Tabatabian]
Sure. So I started here at Carahsoft in 2012. So I'm on my 13th year here now.
I've been a sales director here, managing a few of our emerging vendors, and some of our more strategic ones as well. But it's been, it's been a great journey so far, we haven't always been this size. When I started, there was 170 of us.
And today, there's just about 4000 of us. So just to hear you talk about who we are now, we again, we haven't always been this size. Yeah, it's, it's been cool to watch this company grow from the day I started.
Yeah, the doors opened in 2004. But to see the growth year over year from not only a revenue perspective, but from a personal perspective, yeah, has been a great place to kind of work.
[Matt Weaver]
Talk a little bit about that. So you know, 13 years here, you know, walking through the halls, you know, walking through the different floors, right? There's a specific, what I'll call like demographic, like this is a young happen in place.
Absolutely. Like, you know, we were joking before the cameras turned on about the office, right? And funny jokes.
Like, what was it like to, you know, day one Carahsoft? You show up, you know, bright eyed, bushy tailed Joe, what is day one of Carahsoft look like for you?
[Joe Tabatabian]
The world was different, right? This was all pre pandemic. So everybody was in the office every day together.
And that was kind of part of what what drew me to the company, right? My one of my best friends from college is working here. And he said, Hey, Joe, great place to work, great environment.
I walked in for my interview, and it was a casual Friday here. So people were wearing Jordans and jeans and a t shirt at first, and I kind of threw me off. Love it.
But then I got to realize that the culture here and kind of the people and how they work together really well together. And it's just been a really cool ride. But day one, everybody kind of brought you in.
Everybody spent a lot of time going to lunch together, getting to know each other, training each other, and kind of building that camaraderie. And I think that's led to why I've been here for 13 years. I think it starts from the top and working for people like Craig and Mike has been great because having that same boss for 13 years is great and it kind of really helps you grow within the company.
Sure.
[Matt Weaver]
No, I love that. You talked a little bit about like that camaraderie, right? At what point did the like the nonprofit world, you know, at what point was that introduced to you?
I mean, was that was Carahsoft your first exposure to nonprofits or did you have stuff before Carahsoft that you were passionate about?
[Joe Tabatabian]
So great question. So actually, when I graduated from Radford in 2011, my last six credits were an internship and I interned at the USO. So I've worked at a nonprofit or interned at a nonprofit.
So I was that operator, sorry, cut. I was at the USO working with the Wounded Warrior Project, essentially. So working out of Fort Myer, taking a lot of folks to different events and working with a lot of the vendors and primes that we work with today, which looking back at it, it's pretty funny.
We would do different events where the Lockheed and the Northrop and they would all come work with these warriors and try to give back. And then after a three-month internship, they offered me a full-time job to do operation USO care package. And that was at Fort Belvoir and same concept.
We would travel the country, hold these stuffing parties and host our vendors and different partners to kind of come in and get these care packages to ship over. So that process was really cool. And as a 21-year-old, it was really moving when I would go to an event and see a quadruple amputee my age, and then see how thankful they were for the things we were doing.
So it's been hitting for me since basically day one.
[Matt Weaver]
I don't remember if we ever talked about this, but I got one of your care packages. We're in Afghanistan, 2016, and we learned about the USO care package program. And we went online, filled it out, and sure as shit, within about a month, we had this gigantic care package.
And we went for the, I think they called it the digital entertainment package. We got an Xbox, table, bunch of big lounge chairs, games, and just something as simple as sending a care package. I'll give you the behind the curtain.
It's so impactful for guys like me and gals who are serving, who are deployed to get a little piece of home. I didn't know you did that. That's pretty, that's insane.
Now, the internship USO, is that something that you, did you choose USO? Was there a list of nonprofits you're like, hey, I want to intern for this one, or?
[Joe Tabatabian]
I chose it. It was one of those where I was looking at, hey, what can I do back home, because I'm from Northern Virginia. And it was something that came across, and the same thing through a friend.
His older sister was working at the USO at the time, and it was kind of the who you knew in the right place, right time. But I had an interview, and they brought me on, and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. That's really cool.
[Matt Weaver]
Did you ever get to meet some of the wounded warriors?
[Joe Tabatabian]
All the time. It was, that was, again, the really big part for me was being able to spend time with them and hear the impact that the USO is making on their lives, their families' lives, and everybody around them. So, and you know, when we would host these events, we would bring some of these warriors in.
They would speak at these events, just like you have at some of these ORF events. And hearing it real time from a person like that is a huge difference maker for everyone trying to get back.
[Matt Weaver]
Sure. Married, a couple kids. In what way are you trying to instill, you know, that desire to give back into the family?
What does that look like?
[Joe Tabatabian]
Well, I mean, our kids are an extension of us, right? So I, my daughter just went into kindergarten last week. My son is three, so we're molding them into the people that they're going to turn into down the future.
And, you know, we've been having some really good, tough conversations with our daughter around the kind of person we want her to be and kind of the bigger picture and kind of the principles on life. So the giving back aspect is, I think, a key component for a lot of these kids as they're getting older. But I love, you know, working with them at this age just to kind of get them to turn into who they're going to be.
[Matt Weaver]
Yeah.
[Joe Tabatabian]
Yeah.
[Matt Weaver]
It's more than lemonade stands, right? It's, you know, being kind, right? Simple things like, hey, your brother, your brother's sister needs help.
Hey, you go help them, right? It starts young. Absolutely.
That's cool. That's cool. Bringing it back to day one, Karasoff, right?
So you already have what I'll call like the giving drive, right? You did that before Karasoff. You get to Carahsoft.
What was it like to work for this company initially with regards to like their giving? I mean, was there volunteer? I know what it is today because Operator Relief Fund is a beneficiary of that, but what did it look like at the beginning?
[Joe Tabatabian]
Sure. So early on, it was just really trying to create opportunity for people to give back, right? So we weren't a part of all of these great foundations that we support today, but it started around a lot of the times where giving is most needed, right?
And that's the holidays, right? So we would do a Thanksgiving drive. We do a couple of different holiday drives around Christmas.
And I just think between those events, it gave the opportunity to have folks from the team come in and spend time doing these things together, whether it was wrapping shoeboxes together, or again, stuff doing a assembly line for Thanksgiving and reading out the number of families that that's going to impact. And again, when you have 30 or 40 or 50 Karasoffers together, stuffing a truck on a Saturday morning, it sends a big kind of picture to the rest of the company, okay, here are the little things we're doing that are making a pretty big difference in the world.
[Matt Weaver]
Was there ever, so I would describe that and being a recipient of y'all's support as like organic support, right? Is there ever a formal, I guess I'll call top down push for Carahsoft as you say it to do this? Or is it really more of a bottom up thing like you guys just come together and you're like, hey, let's do this?
[Joe Tabatabian]
Yeah, I think it's a little bit in the middle, right? I think we do a really good job in the company, giving people the opportunity and showing them the list of events that they can come support. But again, at the end, it starts from the bottom and hey, who wants to actually go put in that extra work or go give back in some way?
But it's been great because no matter what we do as a company, no matter who the foundation is or what the event is, it's usually more and more people offering up to go help and give back. And I'll use our golf tournament that we did with you guys as an example. I think we had 25 or 30 Carahsoft followers here, of course, who wouldn't want to spend a Monday out on a golf course.
But it was, again, just the fact that it doesn't take begging for people to go to these things. It's usually people volunteering.
[Matt Weaver]
Yeah. No, that's insane, man. And on that note, the golf tournament, obviously smashing success.
And I'll say this for everybody. That event could not have happened without you and your team being there, right? And I'm not talking just day one stuff, like the entire backside support was insane.
About Operator Relief Fund specifically, what about ORF, you know, draws you in? Or another way to think about it, like what, why ORF? All the other organizations out there that are doing great things.
What's the drive behind partnering with Operator Relief Fund?
[Joe Tabatabian]
I think it kind of takes me back to my USO days, right? There was a lot of that. And I think hearing you speak at a couple of these events, again, really just kind of took me back to a nostalgic 12 years behind and reminded me of my USO days, right?
Working with the actual warrior and hearing the story. And it honestly took one event of you talking about the impact it made on you as not only a husband, but as a father. And that's, I think, what put the twist on me and the difference ORF makes for you.
And I could just see us multiplying that by thousands of people around the country that need the same help. So for me, that was the hook. And now it's just a matter of continuing to build that momentum.
[Matt Weaver]
Because I know you're involved in other causes, right? I know, what was the foundation that you just had a golf event for?
[Joe Tabatabian]
The Coach Costello Foundation.
[Matt Weaver]
Tell me about that. What's the origin of that?
[Joe Tabatabian]
Yeah, sure. So Coach Costello was my basketball coach and teacher at Broad Run High School in Ashburn, Virginia. He spent 25 years teaching in part of Loudoun County's public schools.
In the early 2000s, he started the adaptive field day program at Broad Run. So for a lot of the special education kids, he would have their own special field day for them with unique equipment to make it really worthwhile for these folks. And the year before he was getting ready to retire, he unfortunately passed away on vacation.
So the very next day, there was a huge event at our high school where a couple thousand people showed up. And again, when people pass away, to have something like that happen overnight, show the impact he had on the people in the community. So one of my best friends started a foundation under his name to continue these adaptive field days, and not only continue them, but grow them.
So in the past year, we actually held eight of them around Loudoun County. We just expanded to West Virginia for the first time, where my friend teaches as well. And these have really turned into a huge success, where we're busing in kids from all around the county to these different schools.
And it's really special, because it's the kids that need it for the adaptive field day portion. But when you go to these schools and you see 100 volunteers that are actual students at the school giving back and spending time with these kids, it reminds you that there's still some good in this crazy world we're living in right now. And it's a half day, but everyone gets a medal, everyone gets pizza, everybody gets a t-shirt.
And everybody leaves there with a smile on their face. And again, you just got to go to one of those things, and you'll want to go back to another one. That's awesome.
[Matt Weaver]
Are there other organizations that you personally, outside of Carahsoft, are involved with?
[Joe Tabatabian]
That's really the main one that I run with today. Right now, my organization is two little ones at home.
[Matt Weaver]
Yeah, full-time dad, husband, baby. I love that. I love that.
And truth be told, if you don't prioritize that, learn from my failures. If you don't prioritize that, if your self isn't right, then your family's not going to be right, then your work life's not going to be right. So you've got your priorities in the right spot.
As a leader at Carahsoft, what are some of the values that you try to demonstrate, that you try to teach to those teammates that you work with here within Carahsoft? Sure.
[Joe Tabatabian]
I think you've got to lead by example, right? When I bring people on, I make sure I set the right expectation of what we want to see from them from day to day. But my goal is to help everybody around me grow.
And as a manager, if you're not helping the people around you be better, then as a manager, you're not doing your job the right way. So when I have our folks come on, we make sure that they understand just the company morals and who we are as a company and as a team. And then we just walk them through the best practices, right?
And we walk them through the success we've had as a company. And we really teach them to utilize the resources around them. Because again, since 2004, there's been war, there's been pandemics, there's been everything that could go up and down in this world.
But if you look at our growth chart, we've never had a dip. There's always been an up and to the right kind of projection on our side. So I try to show people that, hey guys, take this knowledge and really run with it.
Because again, the knowledge that you can hear from the Carahsoft leadership around the building is going to really create a successful person for sure.
[Matt Weaver]
When you look at other companies, I'll say the size of Carahsoft, right? Who may not be at the level of corporate giving and corporate volunteerism that you guys are, what would you say if there was a group of board of directors here from those companies, what advice would you give them to say, hey, if you wanted to start an outreach program, if you wanted to start increasing volunteerism at your organization, how could they do that?
[Joe Tabatabian]
Honestly, they just got to hit start, right? They got to get the ball rolling. And it's a lot of times everyone creates these groups and then no one wants to take that first step or take that chance.
And people need to take that chance knowing that there might be a failure, right? You might run an event that you only have eight people show up to, right? And for some people, that's success.
For other people, that's a failure. So I think just setting reasonable expectations, but then continuing to drive those movements. And then again, make sure it touches your employees, right?
And if they're not attached to it, make some minor adjustments. And then usually, you're going to find that sweet spot to make it a success. Love that.
[Matt Weaver]
I love that. And I think that's one of the barriers that people have in any facet of life, right? You talked about taking that first step.
In ORF's world, we call it the mental health journey, the hardest part is taking that first step, right? It's not some cliche 12-step program, but step one is acknowledging, hey, I might be struggling, right? And then you take that first step.
And then you realize, well, what happens as soon as you take that first step? Well, your other foot comes in a pendulum motion, and you actually start walking, right? And it doesn't matter what journey you're on, whether you're trying to start an outreach campaign or whether you're starting to do a mental health journey, right?
That first step is what it takes. Do you guys do any formal, like in your interview process, right? Taking you back to day one, did they ask you, or I guess, do you now ask any potential employee candidates about their drive for volunteerism or about their current passions that they have?
Is that part of the hiring process, or is that more organic after the fact, and then they learn about your culture?
[Joe Tabatabian]
I think everybody interviews a little differently, right? And I think on my side, I try to get to know someone in that 20 minutes I get with them. So those are the kind of questions I do ask, right?
And I'm not saying that's a make or break for them, but I try to understand more about the person rather than the typical interview question or answer they're gonna give me. So again, I like hearing about the little things that they do outside of work, right? What drives them, what motivates them?
So I would say definitely those are questions that I personally kind of walk through with these folks, but the person to my left may be completely different and more focused on the strengths and weaknesses of an individual. But I do think that's a key component of learning about someone's foundation. Because again, our team, specifically my team that I manage has a pretty unique culture.
And I think it's good for the people to come onto this, to kind of have that same mentality for sure.
[Matt Weaver]
Going back to the culture of your team, tough question. Of all of the amazing, we'll call them sitcoms out there, I'm talking like Parks and Rec, I'm talking The Office. If you wanna go back to like Seinfeld, that's fine.
What sitcom or television show do you think best represents your team? Or what show does your team best reflect kind of thing? If you had to think about it.
And it can be little parts, right? I mean, are you guys walking around like The Office? I mean, do you guys have a Dwight Schrute walking around this place or what?
[Joe Tabatabian]
So The Office is a really, really good one. And I've watched every episode of that multiple times. And I could probably list a person on my team to tie to a person from The Office for sure.
So I'm glad you led with that one. I'm not gonna call myself Michael Scott, but I would say we've got a couple, Michael Scott's and Dwight Schrute's on the team for sure. I think another cool show, maybe not a sitcom, but Succession is another one that I watched on HBO.
You know, Mike Schrader gives me some pretty good Succession vibes from that show for sure.
[Matt Weaver]
Do you have a coffee mug that says world's greatest boss that you bought yourself?
[Joe Tabatabian]
No one's gotten me that one yet.
[Matt Weaver]
And I'm not buying that one for myself. I love it. My first, so after I graduated college, before I joined the army, I had what I call my big boy job.
And I worked for a nonprofit that worked with kids and adults with disabilities. But I was a diehard Office fan. And I started getting all of the, like not at Amazon at the time, but I think it was like eBay or something.
I just started buying all this Office memorabilia. I had all the little bobbleheads. I had the world's greatest boss cup and I was not a boss.
I had my little Dwight Schrute figurines, but yeah, I'm a big, big, big Office fan. I would change on the door because I was director of development, assistant to the regional manager. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I love that. I love that. One thing I want to do with these discussions, this podcast series, is I'm going to end every discussion with three questions.
And the idea is just to get your honest thoughts, right? Not having served, but still understanding that trauma is trauma. We all go through our own various struggles.
And so with that kind of the setup, if you will, what does healing mean to you today? And it's kind of intentionally ambiguous, but like, what does healing mean for you today? As in like the definition of it or?
So, I mean, if you're, everybody experiences trauma in some part, right? And I'm not talking gunshot. I'm talking mental health struggles that they deal with, right?
How have you overcome a mental health struggle in your life, right? And that when I say healing, that's what I mean by healing. So like, what does healing look like for you?
[Joe Tabatabian]
So I think the first step is accepting, right? That you need a healing, right? That you need to go through that process of healing.
I think a lot of times, including myself, I'm guilty of this. I push back on the healing process because I think I'm okay. Or I think there isn't a problem when there really is an underlying issue.
So I think step one of that would be accepting it. And then step two is just really just kind of going through the process to improve, right? And get better and show that you're improving.
But it's gonna take a village to do that. You can't do it on yourself. And I think that's another really key component is I've been lucky enough to have a huge family on my side, plus my wife's massive family on her side to help us kind of pick each other up when anybody is down.
So again, being around the right people has been really helpful there. But that's kind of the big piece there.
[Matt Weaver]
I love it. You already kind of touched on it, but number two, what advice would you give somebody struggling right now who's not ready to ask for help?
[Joe Tabatabian]
Man, that is a tough question. I would say you need to go talk to your closest friends and family, right? And again, it's easier said than done right in my shoes.
But surround yourself with the people that you're comfortable with, that you can have an open and honest conversation with that you aren't ashamed to talk to anything about. And again, the more you can address it early on, the better it's gonna be in the long run for sure.
[Matt Weaver]
Sure, I love that. All right, final question. What does impact look like in your life now?
What does impact look like in your life now?
[Joe Tabatabian]
So I think from an impact perspective, I think it's showing actual change, right? So I'm gonna use my kids because they're my everything right now. And I think if I see them making changes for the better on their side, because of the impact that my wife and I are making on their lives from a day to day, I think that is a huge component there.
But it's actual change, right? Is to me the big impact. And if there isn't change happening for better or for worse, then you're probably not making the right impact on an individual.
But for me, it's really just the matter of feeling that change after the fact. Yeah, I love that.
[Matt Weaver]
Seeing tangible results, right? You do something and you actually see the results from your actions, right? Definitely.
I love that, I love that. Well, Joe, thank you for your time, brother. I'm honored not only to be in this chair in this building, but that you would give us your time, give us your story.
If you guys are interested in learning more about either Carahsoft or the Operator Relief Fund, please check out our website, www.operatorrelieffund.org. Once again, this was Operator Relief Fund podcast series, Stories with an Impact, powered by Carahsoft. We'll see you guys in the next episode.