PPB September 2018

Kristi Catalanotto, 30 Of ce Manager Fully Promoted of Mandeville A fter high school, Kristi Catalanotto joined distributor Fully Promoted part-time to help pay for college. She had planned to be an ultrasound technician, but the promotional products industry won her over. In 2008, she went to work full-time for the company. Catalanotto’s ability to learn quickly and her appetite for more responsibility recently earned her a promotion at the company’s retail location dedicated to decorating school uniforms, spirit wear and team apparel and cheer items. “Kristi was always great with customers, but her eagerness to learn helped her grow to a position where she is also helping with graphic design elements, some heat transfer production and order management,” says nominator Jessica Ibsen, director of sales and marketing. “In the past year she has even become a vital part of the team on project management with quoting and creating bids for large-scale opportunities.” Ibsen says Catalanotto taught herself graphic design and web store development, and in doing so, was key to the company’s ability to offer client web stores and school spirit wear stores. Ibsen adds, “I believe in a few short years she will be a force in the industry responsible for a lot of our company success.” Her Inspiration My dad; he started his career right out of high school and grew in his position at his former company for nearly 30 years. In early 2017, he started his own company and has become extremely successful within his rst year. Most Difficult Challenge In my rst 12 years with Fully Promoted, it was an apparel and embroidery goods store selling logoed apparel and embroidery personalization. When current owner Michael Rosamond bought the company in 2015, he had a bigger vision. He turned the company from a local embroidery store into a one- stop shop for branded and marketing goods. I am very proud of what the company has become, but it took some adjusting for me to get used to it. Change She’d Like To See In the next ve years, I would like to see more one-stop shopping from our vendors where you can login to the vendor site, pick the product, upload decoration instructions, add a customer logo and place an order right then. FEATURE | Rising Stars 30 | SEPTEMBER 2018 |