BIO-Michael Del Chiaro
Passion = Purpose, Purpose = Passion
From a young age in a poor Sacramento family, I displayed entrepreneurial spirit by selling garden vegetables door-to-door for pocket money, then collecting recyclables for better earnings. By middle school, I managed multiple paper routes, treating them like my own business. In high school, I juggled a paper route with restaurant jobs as a dishwasher and busboy, discovering the value of tips. At 17, independent due to family issues, I briefly worked at UPS before excelling as a door-to-door vacuum salesman, winning global sales awards. I later sold gym memberships, ran a handyman business, waited tables at a French restaurant, and returned to UPS as a supervisor. This led to a thriving used car business, buying wholesale at auctions and selling retail, which became my full-time focus until personal setbacks forced me to start over in Kansas in 1990.
In Kansas, I worked nights as a janitor while pursuing education, earning an associate's degree with a 4.0 GPA and a scholarship to Benedictine College, where I double-majored in political science and economics, graduating as salutatorian. I interned for Senator Bob Dole but chose a Federal Reserve Bank management program over law school, rising to supervisor. A headhunter recruited me to start a Management Recruiters International franchise for a printing company, where I built successful divisions, earned top producer awards, and transitioned to VP roles in training, sales, and marketing. Passionate about e-commerce amid the dot-com era, I launched early B2B printing sites like My1stop.com, self-educating on SEO and SEM to drive online orders.
My e-commerce and custom label expertise exploded with Amazon.com, starting with developing an innovative multi-function label that saved labor, leading to nationwide custom label supply contracts for Amazon.com. I solved issues like printer jams and adhesive failures, built a label lab for quality control, outsourced barcode production, and managed peak-season contingency inventory. As Amazon.com grew, my team at GO2Partners replaced lost accounts, scaling to $91 million in annual label sales by 2022, became a top ten supplier to Amazon.com, creating over 50 new products, and expanding globally to Mexico and Australia. We navigated Covid supply crises as critical workers. Health issues from sepsis ended my role in 2023, but after recovery, I'm spiritually wiser and ready for new challenges, prioritizing balance.
