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HAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU get really
good at selling someone’s products?
In Melissa McCauley’s case, that
someone invites you to come work for them. As a distrib-
utor, she showed such success selling products from
Kaufman, Texas, supplier Numo (UPIC: NUMO0001), they
asked her to come on board to try her hand at telling the
company’s story in the promotional products marketplace.
“They flew me out to visit, offered me the ‘Kool-Aid,’ I
accepted it and moved my stuff across the country!”
recalls the former Charleston, South Carolina, resident.
Now living in Dallas
with two dogs and thriving
in a family that consists not
just of parents, siblings and
nephews but also co-work-
ers, McCauley is focused
on how she can spread the
good news of Numo even
farther. “I wear a few hats
at the moment, but market-
ing director and business
development would be the
main two,” she says.
When the work hours
are over, McCauley enjoys
kicking back with good
food, good friends and
good times. “And I love
wake boarding,” she says.
“It’s not too accessible for me anymore, but it gives me
something to look forward to when I return home.”
What was your first job, and what lessons did you learn that
you apply to your work today?
I was a carhop at a Sonic
Drive-in, roller skates and all. Most practical lesson learned
there that still applies: “Tighten those bearings.” One random
pebble or bobble, and those loose wheels go flying!
How and when did you enter the promotional products
industry?
July 2008—good times. I was fresh out of college
with an accounting degree, a humble spirit and an offer from a
family friend to start slingin’ some printed t-shirts. During that
economic cluster-bomb, this all made perfect sense, and it
totally became a whole “it turned out for the best” thing.
What advice would you share with an industry newcomer?
Focus on your strengths. These are the things that you’re gifted
with and good at, and by using your talents as your center
point and guide, you’ll find ways to use the strengths to tighten
up your weaknesses.
Who do you consider to be your personal and/or professional
mentors, and why?
This is going to make me sound like I’m
kissing up, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that, professionally, it’s
Jim Martin. He is the president of our company, and I admire
so much what he brings to the table for our company, as well
as for our industry.
What motivates you in business? In life?
Motivation really
comes to me in the form of creativity. The thrill for me that
comes with creating something useful and effective for some-
one or something tends to be a driving force of its own. I defi-
nitely find myself inspired by following the work of talented
marketing agencies and graphic designers.
What promotional product do you wish you had invented?
The t-shirt!
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
I’ve
always been a junkie for school supplies—paper, pens, notebooks
and just about anything found in a desk environment. About a
year ago, I started working on a little sister company for Numo,
based on the idea of bringing a line of bright, simply designed,
affordable desk products to the promotional products industry.
One of my huge goals for this line was color consistency, which
can be challenging in our industry. We are still in the soft launch
phase, but I am super proud of bringing this project to life and of
the response it has received thus far. The line was voted most use-
ful in the ASI Orlando product showcase, and we’ve also been
nominated for the 2015
Counselor
product design awards.
80 •
PPB
• MAY 2015
CONNECT
McCauley (left) gets silly at The PPAI
Expo with a friend.
Color Your World
W
MELISSA MCCAULEY BRINGS VIBRANCY TO HER PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS JOB.
BY JEN ALEXANDER
201505_CloseUp_PPB 2013 4/15/15 10:20 AM Page 80