You might have spoken with them already, but for those who haven’t had the chance to meet the wonderful individuals who make up Clean the World’s stellar Customer Service team, here’s your chance! We are spotlighting a team member each month to help you get to know the face on the opposite end of the phone (or computer).

LaMark Brown is an account manager at Clean the World. He is relatively new to our organization, having just started in September, but has proved to be a perfect fit.

Before working full time at Clean the World, LaMark was well acquainted with our organization. In 2014, he moved to Orlando to play football with the Orlando Predators, a professional team in the Arena Football League. The Predators always supported Clean the World’s mission, and that relationship eventually led LaMark to his current occupation.

LaMark is originally from St. Louis, where he developed a passion for football early in life. “Outside of Clean the World, I am a movie nerd, a video game nerd, [I like] sports, weather, I touch a lot of different areas,” LeMark said. “But the main thing for me is football. I’ve played it since I was 6. It’s been 21 years.”

Lessons for Life

Coaching the fundamental skills of football is one of LaMark’s favorite aspects of the sport. He believes this translates into his everyday life, and that understanding what you’re doing and why you’re doing it helps you become successful in any field.

LeMark believes learning a variety of skills makes a person more disciplined. “I feel like in any job or profession if you can master your skills at that craft, you become a better overall person, whether it’s in a sport or job,” he said.

His work ethic shows in his commitment to Clean the World. Just recently, our staff came together and responded to the need for soap in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew ravaged the southern coast of the island. Clean the World employees met with local Orlando volunteers early in the morning at our recycling center to help box soap, although it was just hours before that same hurricane was predicted to come through Central Florida.

LaMark wasted no time making sure every volunteer table was stocked full of soap ready to be packaged. He engaged with volunteers and was excited to assist them in any way possible. He helped keep the positive energy flowing through our warehouse, even amid a natural disaster.

“Everyone that works here actually cares about what we’re doing. It’s something we’re passionate about, being able to provide these things to the people that don’t have them. We can go and get soap whenever we need it, but in other places where they can’t — soap is not something they see on a regular basis,” said LaMark.

Shipping Tips

In LaMark’s day-to-day work at Clean the World, he’s constantly in contact with our hospitality partners. He makes sure each general manager or director of housekeeping understands how meaningful it is that they’re participating in our life-saving program while ensuring they have all the necessary tools to make the program as easy as possible.

When asked if he has any tips for hospitality partners, LaMark said he hopes hotels will actively send us their bins immediately as they become full. Partners often set aside bins that are 100 percent full rather than sending them off to one of our recycling centers. Holding onto those bins can affect a hotel’s impact statement, which reports all the bars of soap that property is contributing to our cause, as well as all the waste they’re helping to divert from landfills.

Simply put: If you let full bins pile up at your hotel for a few months, then we won’t have any numbers to report back to you at the end of the quarter.

On the other hand, sending bins that aren’t full is not cost-effective. The best thing to do is contact Customer Service as soon as your bin is 75 percent full. That way we can send shipping labels and send replacement bins to your hotel. However, even after you receive the shipping labels, we ask that you please don’t ship containers to us until they are full to the top.

LaMark says that by following these steps on a regular basis, Clean the World can provide an accurate quarterly report of the amazing impact your property is making!

Next time you speak with LaMark or exchange a friendly email, please feel free to share what you love about Clean the World or any concerns you may have, because he’s just the guy to help you out!

You might have spoken with them already, but for those who haven’t had the chance to meet the wonderful individuals who make up Clean the World’s stellar Customer Service team, here’s your chance! We are spotlighting a team member each month to help you get to know the face on the opposite end of the phone (or computer).

Selina Johnson is Clean the World’s Customer Service Supervisor. She joined our Clean the World family in early 2016 and has made every day sunnier for the staff at the Orlando recycling facility. Selina heard about Clean the World through a family member, and that’s when she knew she had to join the team and make her mark in this Global Hygiene Revolution.

Selina’s attitude toward our mission is not only optimistic but positively contagious throughout the entire office. She encourages everyone to be their best and remember the reason we’re all here.

“I want people to know that Customer Service really is passionate about what we do,” Selina said. “A lot of times, people don’t know that we work seven days a week sometimes, or after hours. We do a lot to try and make sure that we accommodate not just our partners but the goal of our mission.”

Selina spends her days (and sometimes evenings) making sure we meet our partners’ needs, whether that be sending out shipping labels, replenishing soap bins, or fulfilling orders for posters and support materials. And always with a great attitude! Selina’s passion for helping others stems from her history of teaching and training.

Before her start at Clean the World, Selina worked as a restaurant manager for eight years, an in-school suspension teacher, and an Orange County (Florida) corrections officer.

“At some point or another, I’ve always coached or developed or trained,” she said. “So even though they’re different careers and professions, I’ve always been able to teach. That’s my passion.”

Selina applies her passion by helping and teaching others every day at Clean the World, and even outside of work. Recently, she began tutoring people all over the world who are looking to improve their English speaking skills. She speaks with most of them via Skype and gets to know her students and share things about American culture while helping them to achieve fluency in conversational English. Selina said, “You learn so much about different cultures.”

Interestingly enough, after hearing about Clean the World and the great things we do locally and globally for health and hygiene, one of Selina’s students is planning a trip to Orlando in a couple of months and plans to take her family to our recycling center for a fun day of volunteering. This type of engagement is truly the beauty of a global mission that brings people from all walks of life together for a common cause: saving lives with soap.

Selina believes in Clean the World’s mission and will do whatever she can to make sure our partners are satisfied and feel good about the impact they make.

“It’s very rewarding because you know there’s a beautiful end result. You know these kids are getting soap,” Selina said.

So next time you exchange a happy hello with Selina about our hospitality program, be sure to let her know what you’re pleased with or express any concerns you might have – she’s happy to help!