Voices | Your Business Keep It Simple IF YOU’VE BEEN in the promotional products industry for very long at all, you’ve probably picked up on a trend: Your colleagues in this line of work were either born into it and shown the ropes by family members, or they fell into promo by complete accident. I’m the latter – a first generation American, the daughter of Caribbean-born parents from Trinidad and Tobago. They raised me in Brooklyn, New York, a long way from Houston, where I now live, or our company’s headquarters in Minnesota. I entered this industry by chance. When I started my career, I knew nothing of promotional products. I didn’t think anything of them except that they were free: the T-shirt you receive at a sporting event or the pen you use at the bank. I told myself that I would stay for six months and then get into something else. Those six months have turned into 18 years and counting – the same length of time it takes for a baby to become an adult. I wasn’t born into promo, but you could say I’ve been raised by it. And just like your parents teach you common sense, this industry has taught me what I call the basics, which apply no matter how high you climb on your career ladder or how much your business scales. A leading operations executive identifies commonsense principles to help you and your business advance, no matter if you’re new to the market or a promo lifer. by Latisha Marshall I wasn’t born into promo, but you could say I’ve been raised by it. ESB Professional / SmLyubov / VectorMine / Shutterstock.com 28 • JUNE 2023 • PPAI
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