Ingredients for a Best Place to Work: Kate Alavez, president of Counselor Top 40 distributor PromoShop (asi/300446) and a member of the Counselor Power 50, knows that much of the responsibility of creating a positive work culture – particularly a transparent one – falls on senior leadership. That’s why her team makes a point to ensure employees across the board have a chance to attend events, or feel welcome at engagement programming, she says. The team also creates space for intentional conversations and grace on a bad day. Alavez says she tries to maintain the same level of support she’s felt from her colleagues since coming onboard in 2006.

The PromoShop (asi/300446) team recently volunteered together at Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles to help make an impact outside merch in their community.

“I’ve been through 50 different versions of who I am since I started here, but all of those were not just ‘allowed’ but encouraged, however I showed up,” Alavez says. “And I really try to make sure that we’re honoring that for every employee.”

Top Benefits & Perks: PromoShop takes a “loud and proud” approach to employee engagement programming. The current iteration of the program started as primarily wellness-based, but based on twice-yearly surveys that gauge company values and – more importantly – employee needs, has expanded into a full-scale engagement initiative that covers professional development, team breakfasts, food trucks and a lot of virtual crafting. The company plans its calendar of events a quarter at a time so employees can plan ahead, but no further out, to make sure it’s prioritizing programs that meet the current moment. “The world can evolve in 90 days,” Alavez says, “and so that need might shift.”

Parting Tip: “Find your values and align in that space – and then be very comfortable sharing those authentically,” Alavez says. “Your values don’t always have to be about aggressive productivity, or operational excellence. That has to be there – but it doesn’t matter how great your strategy is if your people are unhappy.”

If PromoShop Were a Movie, It Would Be Jerry Maguire. “It’s because of Jerry’s commitment to do things differently, build solid partnerships and think about opportunities for growth with relationships and people prioritized first,” Alavez says. “He starts corporate and realizes there should be more heart, more passion in how people connect and do business.”