Arrival at Kia Headquarters in Mississauga


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North America » Canada » Ontario » Mississauga
July 30th 2011
Published: August 5th 2011
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[youtube=QrTbIcZ-UuA][youtube=_2akeHeQBhI]
KCI Food donationsKCI Food donationsKCI Food donations

Over 1600 food items collected by KCI employees (Kia Canada Inc.) way to go!! WHOOOOOO!
Yesterday we drove in from Sudbury to Mississauga and had about 10 min to get our butts to Kia Headquarters for 3pm. We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and zoomed away. Once we found it (thank you GPS girl) we saw that their big glass door was open for their showroom. We started honking the horn as we approached and we were overwhelmed by what we saw! Inside the showroom was a HUGE crowd of Kia employees ready to cheer us as we drove in! I pulled in...thankfully not hitting anyone lol and couldn't believe what we saw! Employees were clapping and cheering! I looked back at Lindsay and Jenn and all of our jaws were dropped!!! We didn't expect such a warm welcome! There was a photographer snapping pics of what I know was my shocked face as we drove in! I got out of the car and then Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Maria Soklis started the 'Kia Cheer' with the Kia employees which is a big WOOoooOOOOOOooo! you'll see it in the video! After that they did a speech and told everyone how I won the car and my plan. He talked about how they
KCI HeadquartersKCI HeadquartersKCI Headquarters

Kia Marketing Dept. Andrew Taylor, Josh Marion with Dee.
appreciated what I was doing and it was very sweet. He also talked about how the use of food banks has gone up and that it's perfect timing that we are doing a food drive since. Then he asked if I wanted to say a few words. I spoke about how I appreciated such a warm welcome and couldn't believe that the Kia employees that work at headquarters brought in from home over 1600 food items! It was all displayed in the showroom and look like a mini grocery store in there!!! SO AMAZING!!! Oh and ya...I dorked out and got all choked up when I said that this was my first Kia and that I would always be a Kia customer from now on. Well it's true..I LOVE MY KIA SOUL!! Then President Mr. Lee said a few words and presented me with a very generous cheque that is going to take care of our expenses for the trip! Kia has gone above and beyond to make this food drive possible! So then I was called over to do a cutting of the cake photo with the head executives. The cake was so cool with FEED MY SOUL written
Feed My Soul cake cutting Feed My Soul cake cutting Feed My Soul cake cutting

L-R Director of Marketing Rob Staffieri, President William Lee, Dee, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Maria Soklis.
on it! They also made a really cool banner with Feed My Soul and the name of all the cities that we are visiting on there which they gave us. The photographer asked if we could get a photo infront of the car. They asked me to spell Mississauga in the dirt and hold the pose...you'll see in the pic I had a bit of an issue spelling it lol. Then I cracked out all 108 persians that I brought with 9 tubs of icing! ALL the persians got eaten up lol and there was still cake left over hahaha PERSIANS RULE! They totally loved them and kept calling them donuts...and asking what are they called again lol. They even came up to me and had to 'wikki' it to see if I was telling the truth that they were a 'Thunder Bay' treat. I also finally got to meet Andrew Taylor and Josh Marion from the amazing Marketing Dept. They are the ones that made this trip happen from me and were helping me along the way from day 1! So then we got a tour of Kia Headquarters by their awesome and sweet H.R. girl Sofia Mendonca. We
Dee eating cakeDee eating cakeDee eating cake

Nom Nom Nom! Yummy!
walked around all of the departments (and holy man are there many!!!) HUGE building with a 30,000 sqare foot parts warehouse!!! In there was everything from engines to spark plugs. PLUS one of the COOLEST parts of headquarters the PING PONG ROOM!! Sofia told us they are SERIOUS about their ping pong and many can play olympic style. She can even hear all the grunts and groans from her office as they're playing. So I challeged her to a little game...lol not sure who one...let's call it a tie! The biggest thing you feel when you talk to everyone is how much they LOVE their jobs and working at Kia. In meetings everyone from the warehouse worker to a marketing person are encouraged to share their ideas and thoughts. It's a very positive place where Sofia says they WORK HARD and PLAY HARD too. The pride that everyone has working there was so cool. So we got a look at their cafeteria too where they said that President Mr. Lee caters their hot lunch every month and they just pay like 35 bux per month if they want to take part. They'll have delish lunches like chicken souvlaki with rice
A special presentation from KCIA special presentation from KCIA special presentation from KCI

HR Rep. Sophia Mendonca presents Dee with a congratulatory framed letter signed by Chief Operating Officer Maria Soklis and KCI President Mr. Lee.
etc.. always something different. During the tour I was given a framed letter of appreciation signed by President Mr. Lee and Vice President Ms.Soklis. The whole experience was SO amazing! I was soaking in EVERY MOMENT! Many of the employees gave me their cards and the ladies in customer service said if there was anything that we needed along the way to just call them and they would take care of anything like if we needed an oil change or an emergency fix etc. WOW so amazing! Kia employees are SO friendly and welcoming. Every department had smiling faces and were so happy to meet us. Many gave us there best wishes and one lady from accounting said that her daughters friend and her child use a food bank and that she was so appreciative of what I was doing...that was SO touching! After the tour they gave us a bunch of drivechangewithkia.ca bracelettes and we were on our way to 401 Dixie Kia. As we drove away we all could not stop talking about HOW AMAZING that experience was and one we will never forget!!! After we met Kia manager from 401 Dixie Kia Adam Markiewicz. They even washed my Kia which was SO sweet of them...there was a LOT of bug juice on that windshield lol. We then headed for dinner at the Pickle Barrel and just could not stop talking about our awesome experience! Today we are going to Trento Kia and checking out Caribana in downtown Toronto! OVER 1 MILLION people are going to be down there! Not sure what to expect exactly but I hear it is a CRAZY BIG PARTY!!!!!


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Mmm... Thunder Bay PersiansMmm... Thunder Bay Persians
Mmm... Thunder Bay Persians

Former Thunder Bay resident enjoys a long awaited persian.


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