Motors. But when the chance to take a healthy buyout arose, she left. “This was the opportunity,” she says. “I could start the business and still have income coming in. And I really wanted to start my business. The most important risk I’ve taken was leaving my good paying, benefits producing job to do this.” The only thing left to do was to convince her husband, Craig, who also worked at General Motors. “But we’ve always been risk takers—both of us. We’ve never been afraid to try something new. I didn’t have to convince him too much.” While at General Motors, Kelley worked in several different departments. She says, “All of the different departments and skills I had to learn at General Motors prepared me to learn a lot of skills quickly in order to start a successful business. When you first start out, you don’t have a lot of money. You are doing a lot of the work yourself. You are building the plane and flying it at the same time. You have to learn very quickly.” The last department Kelley worked in at GM was marketing. “With Press-A-Print, they actually sold you the equipment to print. I didn’t like the printing so much. But I did like selling and interacting with customers. Eventually, I stopped doing the printing and at that point, I became a distributor.” Kelley’s first “real” client was a funeral home. When the client had an emergency order, Kelley delivered. “That was nearly 18 years ago, and he is still a client today. He’s one of my favorites, and he was also the one who gave me my very first testimonial.” Kelley says Prestige Promotions, LLC has always been hands-on with their clients. “We still offer a high level of service. It has proven to be beneficial because we have loyal clients and strong repeat business. As we’ve grown, we’ve learned the true value of promotional products—how to use them, teaching others how to use them and becoming professionals.” While she’s teaching others about promo, Kelley says she never stops learning. In 2018, Kelley started volunteering with Michigan Promotional Professionals Association (MiPPA). This year, she’s the immediate past president of the regional association after serving as president in 2021. After this year, she plans to run for the board of directors for another term. “I love MiPPA,” Kelley says. “It’s a great association with a great leader, Paul Kiewiet, MAS+. We have a true working board. Our board of directors actually works to make the association more valuable to it’s members, while being leaders in the industry.” Joining MiPPA has been given my career a big boost, says Kelley. “One of the things that I did was volunteered to take on professional development within the association. That meant me co-hosting and co-producing professional development webinars. We produce two webinars every month: Tuesday Learning Lab and Wild Wednesday Webinar. I am very proud that the Wild Wednesday Webinar series was a 2022 PPAI Pyramid Award winner.” Kelley says it’s all about exposure. “Those webinars have exposed me to so many people in the industry—from top‐level executives to the hard‐working industry people that tune in every month. I’m also learning so much about the industry because I’m listening to industry professionals describe what they do and how to do it better, all while earning PPAI CAS & MAS certification credits.” If you’re thinking about joining a regional association, Kelley says do it. “There are so many benefits. First of all, you become a part of a community. There are so many opportunities through The Kelleys smile at “The TOM SHOW,” the first tradeshow of the year for MIPPA. Craig Kelley Sr. was the show chairperson. “As we’ve grown, we’ve learned the true value of promotional products—how to use them, teaching others how to use them and becoming professionals.” Sandra Kelley, MAS | MAY 2022 | 79 CONNECT
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