HEART Forward: Redefining excellence with Kimo Correa

Listen to this episode above or on your favorite platform: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music

"HEART Forward" brings Southern Glazer’s HEART Values — Honesty, Excellence, Agility, Respect, and Teamwork — to life through authentic stories from our people.

In Hawaiian culture, the concept of “kuleana” refers to reciprocal responsibility; if you care for those around you, they will also take care of you.

Kimo Correa, a proud Hawaiian who has worked at Southern Glazer’s for 28 years of his 33-year career, lives out this personal value every day. He currently leads our Transatlantic Spirits division in Hawaii as a Vice President and General Sales Manager, supporting Bacardi USA, Heaven Hill, and Armand de Brignac Champagne.

As he chats with Colleen for the second episode of "HEART Forward," Kimo shares that Southern Glazer’s reflects the same values he lives by. “It makes my work feel like a calling, not just a career,” he says. He defines success not only based on his performance at work, but also the time he spends with his family — his “’ohana” — at home. Listen to the full episode to discover how the value of excellence can drive you to support, celebrate, and show up for the people around you.  

Listen and subscribe here: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music  

"HEART Forward," hosted by Colleen Anderson, Vice President and Human Resources Business Partner, is a short-form series designed to bring Southern Glazer’s HEART Values to life through authentic employee stories. These values define how we serve our customers, collaborate with supplier partners, and support one another. Explore career opportunities at Southern Glazer’s today.

COLLEEN: Welcome to the Southern Glazer's HEART Forward Podcast, where our HEART Values come to life through the authentic stories of our people. Each episode features real experiences that show how honesty, excellence, agility, respect, and teamwork show up in everyday moments and why they matter now more than ever.

I'm your host, Colleen Anderson, and I have the honor of serving as an HR leader here at Southern Glazer's. Let's dive in and discover for how leading with heart shapes a world class culture as the heartbeat of how we lead, how we connect and how we grow.

Hello HEART Forward podcast listeners. Today we sit down with Kimo Correa, Vice President, General Sales Manager and heart champion here at Southern Glazer's. His 33-year career journey in wine and spirits is rooted in his Hawaiian culture of excellence, resilience and service for mentoring future leaders to responding to tragedy with compassion. Kimo shares how values shape culture, careers, and communities. Excited for you to listen into a powerful conversation about legacy, leadership and living our HEART Values every single day.

Aloha Kimo. Thank you for joining us. 

KIMO: It’s my honor. 

COLLEEN: Kimo, before we dive into your stories and your insights, can you tell our listeners a little bit about who you are and what do you do at Southern Glazer's? 

KIMO: No problem. You know, I I've been in the liquor wholesale industry for over 33 years now, 28 of those with Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits. I started in October of 1996, six months after we opened here in Hawaii. You know, during my career I've dabbled a bit in, you know, pretty much every position you may think of. I mean from sales, merchandising, operations, logistics, finance, you name it, I've done it. Except accounting. I really don't like it, you know, just just saying that. I mean, I'm being honest, you know.

But currently I serve as the Vice President and General Sales Manager of Transatlantic Hawaii. You know I oversee all aspects of our business from PNL to execution at everything that falls in between. You know that's what I'm responsible for. You know our role I've held since 2016 when we merged when we picked up Bacardi USA and currently you know I oversee our great supplier partners in Bacardi USA, Heaven Hill, and Armand de Brignac Champagne.

To say I haven't been blessed throughout my career with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits is pretty much a understatement, Colleen. I work with some amazing, great people throughout my career. You know, I have and I still do. I mean, including yourself, Colleen. I mean, I've learned in the the time we've been together. I mean, it's just been awesome, right?

But you know, when I look at this, you know, a prime example of just me being just blessed. I was part of the core 2014, 2015 cohort for ELP. I'm not too sure why it happened, but I too take great pride because, you know, currently to this this latest class, I'm the only one born and raised from Hawaii to be, how can I say, accepted into into ELP, you know, take great pride.

And I'll never forget my first initial interview with John Wittig and Lee Hager. I've never owned a suit in my life. I had to fly to Miami and I present myself and I was nervous as heck. The PowerPoint froze. I'm like, Oh my God, but I am blessed and that's the reason I'm blessed. I got chosen. I accepted it. And you know, it has been awesome ever since, right?

You know, I built my career on integrity, leadership and service. But no, I wouldn't have been in this place without the guidance and opportunities from Southern Glazer's and of course, Transatlantic. What has been providing me, I can't repay, right?

So my personal journey to I'll talk a little bit about myself because my my family is super important to me, Colleen, and I don't know if I think you understand it, but you know, it's rooted in family education and Kuleana. Kuleana is responsibility, right? Responsibility for everything that we do.

You know, after early pursuit of, you know, trying to chase the baseball dream at Fullerton College, you know, it was cut short by injury. You know, after my daughter's birth, I decided to go back to, to school, get my BSBA and you know, just modeling the value of higher education, you know, for my children, right?

My wife Lisa, you know, she, she is the rock that holds hold, you know, foundation that hold us together. She's a nationally certified college counselor. She has holds a Doctor of Education. She shares this commitment of lifelong learning with me, right?

So together we’ve raised 2 great children, you know, Kaylee, appellate court attorney, you know, living on the wall. And Jaron, he's a computer science graduate who's pursuing his master's degree in Kyoto, Japan, right now.

I love coaching, Colleen. I love cheering on the Breeze and 49ers. I love traveling with my my family. My greatest passion remains the well-being and success of my ‘ohana. You know, SGWS and TAS reflect the same values I live by. It makes my work feel like the calling, not just a career. 

COLLEEN: Incredible Kimo. I love how you you talk about how you turned, you know, setbacks, a career in baseball onto stepping stones and talking about being in a boardroom with the executives for ELP, which is our Exceptional Leadership Program, which is such a prestige program within the organization. And so congratulations on that. Thank you and and more so congratulations on just the success.

We're going to talk here and now about which is the success that you've achieved both in your career and at home with your family. And you really talk about how when your work and your home life aligns with your values. I love what you said there. It's not just a, a job, it's a calling that you have.

So let's jump in to this conversation. You were talking about the HEART Values and I want you to break it down for the listeners. What's one value that has become especially meaningful to you over time, and why? 

KIMO: Yeah, I just love transitioning to HEART Values. 

But you know, if I was to just focus on one, it'll be excellence, you know, excellence. It resonates with me, right? You know, I'm a very comparative competitive person is part of my DNA, right? I hate losing my standard of excellence, you know, has been driven by my passion, you know, and when you throw something at me and say I can't get something done, oh, hell, it's going to happen.

Yeah, this I'm not going to cuss. But I will say, you know, F you here I come, you know, early, early as my career, you know, as a sales person that met outperforming everybody, not just internally but externally, right, You know, no goal. Goal was outrageous, as I said, bring it on as I stated earlier, right. But you know, as I grew and I attribute to becoming a father, a manager and of course a coach as well.

I realized that helping others succeed brought brought even greater joy to me, watching my children make their mark, watching subordinates win. Salesperson of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cam of the Year has been amazing. Right over my career, seeing all this happen and also witnessing former team members who have risen to leadership roles across Hawaii and the US and hearing about my former players becoming community leaders, lawyers, doctors and public servants, those moments have truly been humbling.

I'm blessed. I'm blessed to see in their journeys over the years that to me is what I consider excellence, not because of what I did, but what everyone who has been part of my life has has accomplished. 

COLLEEN: So beautiful you talk about the journey of excellence and really, you know, excellence is the commitment to deliver high standards. And you mentioned, you know, what, what's really evolved is those high standards you set for yourself that now you empower others to not only seek out, but then also to, to achieve, to, to truly win with hard. And, you know, bringing leaders, rising leaders to those levels are, are just truly both for you and for them.

A true demonstration of what you're talking about, which is, which is excellence and, and, and success in, in all that we do. So I love that evolution and that journey for you. 

KIMO: I can only hope, hope it happens. And I hope you know they don't forget me because you know I, they still call me coach, uncle, you name it. Everybody addresses me, even our competition. You know, some of them still thank me. I see them and it's been awesome. 

COLLEEN: That's so beautiful. And you know when, when you think about it sounds like you have so many experiences and stories to tell as it relates to excellence and three decades even within our industry. But can you share with our listeners one story that reminds you why these values matter, not just in theory but in true practice that you have led or experienced yourself? 

KIMO: Oh gosh, I hope. I hope I don't shed a tear. But if I do, I apologize, right. So, you know, when I look at it, you're right. There's a lot of experience I could have fallen back on. But you know, right now, what still sticks out is the Maui fires, right? You know, on August 8th, 2023, that is a day we'll never forget in our lives, right, For generations to come.

I mean, it was a devastating wind that just triggered a natural disaster that we weren't prepared for, right? So, you know, it claimed over 100 lives, destroying homes. Those are friends, family and of course, our teammates, right?

You know one of our teammates finally Sherman Ravita, he's finally building his new home. It's it's it's so it's so amazing how far we come, but that's not the only amazing part. It's amazing part is what a community right Southern, the island community and then of course the Maui team met it all. Everybody rally together to help each other, help our people in need.

I mean Colleen, I could share stories. I want to share story and before I go on is, you know, when the news came out, I was on Oahu during a holiday show and I wasn't returning back to Maui, right? So I'm like getting text, finding out, hey, we can't get in touch with Sherwin with one of our managers drivers. I was like, oh, oh, what's happening? Right.

So we didn't really know the the magnitude of what was going on until I got home. There was fires above my home that we we have to like pack a go bag. My wife and I, So we're like, Oh my gosh. But finally, once we figured out what we needed to do, like I said, everybody rallied together, right from delivering supplies to displaced families, firefighters, county workers, to volunteering with the World Central Kitchen, moving thousands of pounds of food and organizing critical resources.

Our team showed up. Our Maui team showed up. And you know what? I don't know how to show the gratitude from, you know, to John Beats Blanca, You know, Transatlantic, they let me stay and work from the organization, you know, in the Native Health Hawaii, Hawaiian Health Organization that I'm the president of the board of directors for and just stay there so I could help do the things needed to be done to, you know, help our community, right, help our people.

It just showed what we're made of. What our company's made of, the HEART Values we work with internally throughout the nation. It's it's amazing. It's truly amazing. I mean, the, the losses, the beacon of hopes, the strength of our island that that was truly something that, you know, I'll never forget. Hope it never happens. And you know, it's, it's some people are still traumatized by it.

For me, my the first story that came out, you could see there was cars burning, you know, on the news that you saw. Then I found out that my cousins, that I pretty sure that was my cousin's family who got caught. His, his mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law and nephew passed. They couldn't make it out.

So, you know, we'll never forget, but the strength of our island, the strength of our company, the strength of our community, it's helping us, you know, heal. That's what I love. Truly, we showed it. 

COLLEEN: Wow, Kimo, thank you for sharing so honestly and vulnerably. And it's incredibly powerful because myself and everybody that listens to this just knows how deeply you and the team and the broader Transatlantic you mentioned that's a division within Southern Glazer's, a large division, but how much they cared and how they rallied and how they showed up.

You showed up in presence. You showed up with your hands, with your feet and others showed up with contributions, donations. I know Southern Glazer's showed up to support in in many different ways. And it, it really this, this example that you brought forward is such a, you mentioned it, it was devastating and people were impacted, lives were impacted forever.

And to, to kind of hear how, how you showed up in the moment when it was the hardest because you knew that was what we do when we lead with heart. We show up, we care personally, we get involved, especially when it's when it's our community.

But then also to see how you're still, you mentioned 2023 to this day, celebrating wins, how wins of overcoming. You mentioned somebody on your team building a home and how you're still there with that journey. And I'm sure you're asking for the pictures and you're asking, you know, for the updates and just being there with that employee to make sure that they, they are really feeling, feeling the heart.

So, so thank you for sharing that. I think it's it's really powerful to show in true devastating times when you care personally and you lead with heart, we can we can overcome and accomplish so much more together. 

KIMO: Thank you. 

COLLEEN: All right, Kimo, I want you to think forward for a minute. Imagine it's five years from now. How do you hope our values have has shaped our culture here at Southern and then even with this podcast broader across our communities? 

KIMO: It's, it's, it's in our DNA, right? It's in my DNA. You know, native Hawaiians believe we have 3 picos, and picos are your belly buttons, right? And what they represent is a past, the present and the future, you know, And they're each deeply connected in the present. It is our Kuleana responsibility to ensure that the culture of our ancestors, of our founders who built our legacy upon is not forgotten and we continue to go down the path of growth so that during the present so that future generations may thrive.

What we're doing as a company, I feel is what again, how it aligns with my family, my personal family values, right? The way we work through this. I mean, this belief mirrors our HEART Values, right? And just as our ancestors had a vision, you know, again, our founders had it, right? That's why we're here today. That's why we're talking on, you know, together as you know about HEART Values on this podcast.

My hope is when in five years that we continue to grow our culture with the same passion and purpose that was fueled by our founders mentality, I envision our culture will be embraced, embedded and executed to a level admired across the globe.

I hope to look back, you know, when my career is done and I'd say I was a part of the continued excellence and the growth of SDWSS culture. And of course, Transatlantic. Colleen, I'll never forget Transatlantic. And like my ancestors, make our founders proud of what we built together. 

COLLEEN: Perfect that is, you know, beautifully said and your vision for the HEART Values five years and many more to come, rooting it back to the founders mentality and and it truly shows that it's more than aspirational. It there's it's driven by legacy, by our past and it's transforming our future.

So Kimo, I just want to say I'm so grateful for you for sharing just some of your lived experiences, the legacy that you are building have built in our building. Your leadership, your love has shined during our time together. And just showing us in this community that when you lead with heart, we're building more than just careers. We're we're building legacies and making a real impact, whether it's personal careers or it's in within our communities. So thank you, Kimo. 

KIMO: Mahalo, Colleen. And you know, hey, and the end of the day, we're all family. 

COLLEEN: We hope these heartfelt stories spark a deeper understanding of who we are, what we stand for, and how we show up every day. These values aren't just words, they're the compass guiding our decisions, our relationships, and our impact.

When you lead with heart, you win with heart. And together we're building a stronger Southern Glazer's. We're igniting a movement where purpose drives performance and every action reflects the values that define our culture and our future. Forward, HEART Forward.

Follow along to learn more about our HEART Values and company culture at Southern Glazer’s.