PPB January 2020

on to do their own practice,” she says. “It’s been nice to mix my personal life and my business life in that way.” Wright now leads early-morning yoga sessions at other events, too, like The PPAI Expo, NALC and has brought her practice to distributors’ offices as well. While Wright advanced in her dance and yoga practice, she progressed in her career as well. Her first position touching the industry was with Goodbye Sportswear, a supplier that has since been acquired by alphabroder. Here, she worked in the screen print division and learned the art of cold-calling. When that division of the company closed, Wright joined a printing company that eventually led her to Impact Advertising. From 1985-1995, and again from 1999-2002, she sold advertising for supplier catalogs, and became familiar with the industry. In 2002 she opened her own distributorship, On Your Toes; the name being a playful spin on dance. But not long after that, Wright met Greenhut at a trade show, and, as a lover of books, she was drawn to the product. She joined The Book Company in 2004. Over the past 35 years, Wright has become involved in many organizations and held a number of volunteer positions. It was a way for her to place herself among those she admired and network with them, she says, but also a way to overcome her timidity. “I’m shy, and for me to stand in front of a group of people and talk, I have to be very well prepared,” she says. “But I’ve become that person. I know there are many other people in the room who feel exactly like I do, and I’ve found ways to overcome that shyness.” Wright joined the Young Executives of Specialty Advertising Association and attended facilitator training school to become an industry speaker. “I got to sit at the table with people who were on their way to success,” she says. She’d later serve on a number of PPAI’s taskforces, committees and workgroups, lead webinars and speaker sessions at PPAI’s events, and contribute articles to PPB . For her tireless commitment and civic involvement, she was named the recipient of the PPAI Distinguished Service Award in 2007, the Woman of Achievement Award in 2013 and in 2016, she was named a PPAI Fellow Program Inductee. But in her day-to-day life, Wright loves being at The Book Company, which has access to every published book, more than three million, including cookbooks, quotation and inspiration books, road atlases and books about travel and business. The company also specializes in journals, which were added about eight years ago, Wright says. “We do a lot of custom work now, which I’m very proud of.” She’s also involved in the partnership with American Forests, to which the company donates a portion of its proceeds, annually, to help with reforestation and tree-planting. “I’m proud of the fact that what we do has meaning, purpose and value,” she says. This year, Wright has her sights set on continuing to build the company’s relationships and support its team. But in her personal life, she’s planning something a little different—Wright will be embarking on a 13-day hike in Europe. For her, it’ll be a walk in the park; she completed a 15-day, 165-mile hike at the Tahoe Rim Trail years ago. Danielle Renda is associate editor of PPB . Roni Wright, left with Eileen Lynch, has been an annual participant at the PPAI Women’s Leadership Conference and won the Woman of Achievement Award in 2013. PPAI’s Top Awards | FEATURE | JANUARY 2020 | 39