14 June 6 • 2019
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the
fashionable and planted an early seed
in Jackie’
s mind about the need to make
decisions that benefit the Earth. Jackie’
s
father was involved in Jewish communal
and philanthropic organizations and
helped guide her to leadership as board
member of the Isaac Agree Downtown
Synagogue for six years and as a role
model to Jewish activists in the city.
It was not just her father who viewed
her ambitions as crazy. A key part of
the Avalon narrative is that when Jackie
wanted to open up shop, the landlord
told her the building was not “ready for
windows.
”
SUPPORTING OTHERS
Oren Goldenberg, vice president and
chair of fundraising committee for the
Downtown Synagogue, says that Victor
is a valued financial partner and stra-
tegic visionary. He thought so highly
of her potential that he stepped off the
board to make room for Jackie to have a
seat at the table.
“She is an incredible woman who con-
tributed to revitalize Detroit by investing
in Cass Corridor,
” Goldenberg said. “She
is really dedicated to doing good via
her triple bottom line philosophy, being
available to counsel those who look up
to her as a role model and is a great
mother as well.
” Jackie is the mother to
two children, Rafi and Ari.
“I don’
t know what I would have done
without Avalon,
” says Goldenberg, now
35, who has been a resident of the Cass
Corridor since 2007. He remembers the
egg- and-cheese breakfast sandwich,
sold for $2.75, and his favorite, the choc-
olate cherry scones.
Avalon’
s has contributed to advancing
the food ecosystem in the Detroit com-
munity and to promoting nonprofits
that support a healthy, just Detroit with
access to healthy food and economic
opportunity.
Recently, Victor hosted a tasting and
fundraiser for Detroit Food Academy. “I
have been a fan of DFA since the orga-
nization’
s inception in 2011,
” she said.
“Over the course of the last year, my
respect has turned into awe.
”
For DFA co-founder Noam
Kimelman, the admiration is mutual.
“Jackie is a tremendous force in the
community,
” he said. “I’
ve known her
for eight years now, and I’
m continually
amazed with the energy and passion
she brings to everything she does. I’
m
especially fortunate to serve with her on
the board of the Detroit Food Academy,
where she has so generously given of her
time, resources, and expertise. It’
s clear
to me that Detroit would not be where it
is today without Jackie Victor.
”
Liz Barry, owner of Canine to Five,
has known Victor for 15 years. She will
never forget when she started her busi-
ness in 2005 and sought Victor’
s help
during a challenging launch. The fence
outside of her location, Victor suggested,
was in need of paw prints.
Barry views Jackie as a mentor and
a friend, who then became a client.
“Watching the evolution of her business
and the grace in which she has handled
it with the changes in her neighborhood
and life and industry. She is always giv-
ing advice with a smile on her face to
other business owners.”
When food entrepreneur David
Mancini had an idea for a high-quality
pizza restaurant, Victor knew exactly
where it should be. She suggested a
space in the Eastern Market which has
become its home to this day. There are
many stories like that within the com-
munity.
INSPIRED BY HER ROOTS
Victor, not surprisingly, has social
activism in her roots. She formerly
was executive director of a statewide
peace and justice organization. Beyond
government policy, she was focused on
empowering individuals. Her on-the-
job success was measured by how many
people she involved in her cause and
whether those stakeholders were in it for
the long haul.
Victor’
s work ethic, which has her
day starting at 5 a.m. and led to 80-hour
work weeks, was witnessed early in her
career as well. In 1987, when there was
a Michigan Peace March for Global
Disarmament, she walked 350 miles
from Sault Ste. Marie to Detroit.
Although her father thought opening
Avalon was a crazy decision, he was
always there for words of wisdom and
whatever support he could provide.
Victor quotes his lessons so often that
her management team knows “SIV”
(Steven I. Victor) quotes by heart. One
example: Her father would ask her,
“How is it going according to Jewish
accounting?” which was his way of ask-
ing, “How much money do you have in
the bank at the ready when needed?”
Victor remembers going on a ski trip
with her father as a young girl. He want-
ed to publicize a business class he would
teach lawyers who were on vacation.
“He made a deal with me,
” Victor said.
“If I put up posters, we’
d ski for a day.
”
She agreed and hundreds of people
showed up for his class — the beginning
of American Educational Institute, a
thriving business that exists to this day.
Twenty-two years later and running
a $8 million per year business, Steven’
s
words still ring true to Jackie: Keep it
simple. “I could make a whole book of
his ‘
pearls of wisdom’
,
” she said.
Her parents’
values of living a life
bigger than yourself and giving back
to the community have informed her
life’
s path in ways they could not have
imagined. “The other critical aspect to
my family’
s values is that we all knew
that we are privileged,
” she said, “but
that didn’
t mean that we were entitled.
”
She said she recognizes that every day
she has lived and worked in Detroit, an
economically diverse community.
“I had the privilege and economic
security to take a risk to start Avalon
and raise my children in Detroit. I never
take that privilege for granted, nor do
my children,
” she said. “I am humbled
every day to work with incredibly
hard-working people who make Avalon
successful every single day.
”
Her business buzzes on a schedule
spanning most day and evening hours.
The baking usually includes a few thou-
sand pounds of dough a day, 10-15 dif-
ferent mixes. One dough at a time. Over
and over and over. The dough rises in
a windowless facility, and then people
come in to form and scale the bread,
kneading it, setting into loafs and orga-
nizing it on racks.
That’
s before it enters the oven, where
a sliced-to-order Hastings Street Challah
may arise, reminding Jackie of the store
her grandfather, Ben, had on Hastings
Street in Detroit’
s Paradise Valley, where
he sold shoes and clothes to neighbor-
hood customers and where her father
learned the lessons of honesty, hard-
work, gratitude for all and menschkeit
that he passed on to her. ■
Avalon’
s revenue has increased 10 times
over the decade and quadrupled over the
past two years. What matters most to Victor,
however, is having a positive impact on the
Earth, the community and her employees.
continued from page 12
AVALON INTERNATIONAL BREADS