Must Read | PPAI Hall of Fame camera, away from the videographer. Never my thing. People are surprised by that. I’m in a sales role, essentially, but I think very successful people, you have to turn it on for your job, of course. But you don’t have to turn it on all the time. It takes a variety of people to do these things, but I think a lot of people are really good at turning it on for their job or a situation, but it’s what you’re comfortable with. I try to make it a superpower, right? I try to be humble. Being humble and being modest, I think, is a good attribute. However, there are times where I probably should’ve taken the podium and I didn’t, or I let someone else do that. In the end, it’s worked out just fine without that. I find other ways to get things done without being the loudest person in the room. I just don’t necessarily like to hear myself talk, and I definitely don’t need other people to hear me talk. PPAI Media: Modesty and humility may be your nature, but you clearly have been impressing people all along. You were a company president before age 30. How did that come about, and what was your introduction to the industry like? Jenkins: I started with a manufacturer, a supplier in my hometown in Ohio, right after college. It was the only employer that I sent a résumé to. I was looking elsewhere, bigger cities, but saw some interesting things happening in the community and then figured out that there was something happening at that company. So, I was invited to come aboard and start a division for them. They were a long-term supplier. I actually started in a wholesale retail division of the company and got that rolling. And then, after some success there, the promotional products division, which was larger and more established, became open. I took that over, and that’s really how it started. It was kind of a Midwest, not exactly factory-to-office success story, but sort of. I mean, it was very much a hands-on situation. And that grew, and then all my other steps within the industry were built on that. It allowed me to move on to other things. PPAI Media: What was it like to be in a leadership position at such a young age? Jenkins: At the time it seemed very natural. The opportunity was there, and it was mine for the taking, so I took advantage of it and felt like we did some good things along the way. It was a very unique opportunity. There was just a lot of support, a good solid staff. It was small-town stuff with people that I knew from other avenues, and we were all working for the same company. I met my wife there. It didn’t seem like a crazy, off-the-charts type thing at all. It just happened. PPAI Media: At what point did you start to think of yourself as an industry lifer? Jenkins: It wasn’t too far into it that I decided I really was interested. It was the old trips to Dallas to the PPAI trade show and the summer shows or whatever. I really enjoyed the environment. It seemed to me that it was a really good place for companies our size to land, a fairly easy industry to navigate and decide what you wanted to do in it. And it meant a lot of choices and a lot of opportunities. Just the hands-on part of the organizations – the work, the product, the people – it all fit together, and it just seemed like a great place to nurture our kind of company and our people. It gave them opportunities for the education and the things that are not as organized with other industries. PPAI Media: Speaking of education, you’ve always been a proponent of professional “I find other ways to get things done without being the loudest person in the room. I just don’t necessarily like to hear myself talk, and I definitely don’t need other people to hear me talk.” 50 • JANUARY 2025 • PPAI
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