Florida: To Fix Ailing Business, Billionaire Rewards Single Mother

Tami Forbes, single mother to 8-year old twins, was working as a manager at Key West Key Lime Pie Company. She was earning $300 a week – and also bartending at a Florida bar twice a week to make ends meet. It was getting incredibly difficult for her to work at two places, manage home and also look for resources to pay for her cesarean section to deliver her third baby. Her boss, Jim Brush, recognized that she was a dedicated worker and handled everything from staffing and customer service to special events, but he refused to increase her salary since the company itself was struggling to stay afloat.

Enter self-made billionaire and host of CNBC’s “The Profit,” Marcus Lemonis.

In 2013, Lemonis invested $450,000 for 51% of The Key West Key Lime Pie Company. In 2014, Lemonis bought the remaining 49% of the company. Impressed with Forbes’ attitude and work ethic, he raised her salary to $1,000 per week (so she doesn’t have to bartend) and gave her a check for a six-month paid maternity leave. That’s not all; a year later he gave Forbes the heart and soul of the company – a 25% equity stake in Key West.

Forbes was floored. She couldn’t hide her tears. “It means everything, knowing that I have a salary when I come back — a salary that I can live on, and still save money. … I’ve never had that.”

When she became a part owner of the company she worked so hard to build, Forbes erupted into a smile. “It’s crazy. It’s crazy! I don’t have a bachelor’s on the wall.”

To everyone’s surprise, Key West went from losing $100,000 in 2014, to generating an estimated $100,000 in profits in 2015.

The United States has the worst maternity leave policies in the modern world. How can you help? https://t.co/xZiXxcP6Rc via @redefiningmom

— Valerie Young (@WomanInDC) February 9, 2016

Lemonis, who believes that employees play an important role in every great company’s success and therefore must always be taken care of, said, “If you’re going to have a successful business, you have to have people on the team that actually love the business and care about it as much as you do. They work 12 hours a day, they spend more time with you than they do with their family, you better damn well respect them.”

We need equal-pay for women workers. When women succeed, our economy succeeds, the United States of America succeeds. #PeopleOverPolitics

— Martin Manchev (@mrmanchev) February 12, 2016

Lemonis was adopted by a Greek family in Miami who owned two of the largest Chevrolet dealerships in the United States. He learned how to run a thriving business early on, and now helps troubled companies turn themselves around. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Camping World and Good Sam Enterprises.

7 Reasons the United States Needs Paid Maternity Leave https://t.co/4iuWXTD9l3 @Faye Nagy

— Carol Cassara (@ccassara) February 23, 2016

The United States and Papua New Guinea are the only industrialized countries in the world where women don’t have government-mandated paid maternity leave. Only 13% of American workers have access to paid family leave through their employers. In comparison: The UK guarantees 39 weeks of paid leave for mothers, two of which are mandatory. Australia offers 18 weeks with full wages. And Mexico, America’s neighbor to the south, gives mothers 12 weeks of paid leave, reimbursed at 100% of their salary.

Equal pay failure in the United States – https://t.co/Z2OWilfYrq #equalpay pic.twitter.com/KbgTGQnkJ7

— Michael Oman-Reagan (@OmanReagan) December 12, 2015

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