Old Soul, Beginner’s Mind
July 6, 2026 |Team Letter | Happy Second Alpaca Anniversary, Lila!
Happy Monday, Alpaca and Happy Anniversary, Lila!
This week, we’re celebrating Lila Padios’s second anniversary at Alpaca, and of all of the ways I can explain the value she brings this company, her ability to surprise us with the new thing she’s taking on or learning to do inside and outside the company is inspiring for every one of us. Lila’s an old soul with a beginner’s mind, and it’s an extraordinary combination of traits to see at work in our company. Let me see if I can explain what I mean.
Every day for 1,494 days, Lila Padios, Alpaca’s Operations Manager, has taken a one-second video on her phone. Every day for more than 4 years, she’s captured a tiny moment of her day, her work, her cat, what she’s learning, who she’s sharing her day with, and how she’s spending her time. It’s the video version of something our grandparents’ generation did a lot more of, keeping a daily log of the unremarkable details of their day. What they did, what the weather was, who stopped by the house. I love old soul stuff like that. There’s wisdom and tradition and storytelling in little gestures like recording a detail of your day.
In case you’re wondering what her compiled videos look like, here’s one she made last year for our retreat days:
As a company, we are lucky to have that kind of wisdom and consistency in our operations leader. Lila leads our sourcing, inventory management, and our hourly packout team with care and consistency, and her work shows through in the beautiful packs that consistently, reliably reach our educators every single month. She puts in the work and knows the result will follow.
But Lila’s story isn’t as simple as that. Because a year and a half into her time with our company, Lila said “I think I could be great at sales.” So every day for the past six months, Lila Padios has gotten to the office early to learn how to be in sales for our company - a job she’s never done but decided she wanted to take on.
She still does her full time job in Operations, but these days, you’ll find Lila starting or ending her day practicing sales demos, making sales calls, becoming a student of the world of selling, and mastering how she connects with future customers. She said “let me start on something completely different, and learn from a leader how to do something new.” This is often referred to as “beginner’s mind,” which is to look with completely fresh eyes at something that may have otherwise become routine.
Lila approaches every bit of her work with a beginner’s mind, dropping all ideas or expectations she has about what she’s capable of, and being willing to learn something completely brand new, from the ground up.
An old soul with a beginner’s mind? There’s something magical in that combination.
That’s wisdom combined with humility; a respect for tradition combined with the willingness to try something a brand new way; consistency combined with courage and confidence.
Lila, whether you’re selling your first deal, taking improv classes, watching a television show with audio description (”just because I’ve never done that before!”), leading a team, writing thank you notes, designing new packs, or just checking in with your colleagues -- you ALWAYS find new ways to bring both your old soul energy and your beginner’s mind to our team. We can’t wait to see what you do next!
KB
PS: If anyone knows anyone interested in our Operations role, it will be open soon! Lila’s moving to sales!