Share your nice thoughts!

I want to shout out Bri, who goes above and beyond to help me with administrative stuff that makes my head spin. I have ADD and she is like a prescription drug for helping me focus on the tasks that I always put off. I still put them off, but she very gently reminds me about deadlines and documents that make my life better. Thanks Bri!

Shoutout to the team for taking over and putting out fires while I was out! Special thanks to Marisa, Drew, Dillon, and Carly for jumping in with no hesitation!

Tyler thank you for all your patience with the press releases for the show!

Carly you survived your first insane tradeshow! Thank you for being part of our road team!

Oscar thank you for all the hard work at IFPA and all the artwork you did prior to the show…YOU ARE AMAZING!

Jeanna, thank you for all your help during tradeshow week, and ensuring we got our breaks during the show.

Julie & Johnna, thank you for your expert guidance throughout the entire IFPA tradeshow process.

Shoutout to Lucca for completing a 5k in the middle of tradeshow week.

Mark, thank you for gathering the team and everything else to ensure the all the Eblast for IFPA were sent out in time.

Aidan – always there to ask can I help- thank you for being our ‘roadie at home’ and we did need to put in the call for help- but also helping with pallets and buckets on top of your regular duties- HY5 for you

OSCAR! So happy I got to work the Quebec booth with you! Even though we had corn flying everywhere and a rocky setup, we figured out a method fast and had the client beyond happy at the end of the show. I couldn’t have handled that with anyone better! THANK YOU

We also grade ourselves for IFPA – and are focused on always bettering – but our team also has the chance to Reward a Rockstar which means so much when all are killing it – it is the highest honor to be recognized amongst our road team.

In their own words to each other:
JENN! Who consistently checked in with me, asking how I was feeling and how I was handling everything. She reminded me to stay strong and reassured me that I was doing a great job. Honestly, it gave me an extra boost each day to keep a smile on my face and feel more confident in myself. She’s a true hustler and always incredibly helpful. I also want her “Have fun stormin’ the castle” as my ringtone!

Emily! She was so helpful all week.

Oscar

Reese went above and beyond for client/booth/teammate needs as a runner!

Katee!!! She lead her first show with the most clients ever which was not easy.

I SERIOUSLY want to reward everyone!!!!!!! But Katee immediately stands out – she was so spectacular at always having time and patience to answer my silly questions while also going the extra mile to make me feel special as a first-time roadie (i.e. the mini suitcase with goodies on my pillow and the donut delivery). She was a champion!

REESE brought the fun VIBES during food prep and BF strike

Megan with the muscles – breaking down 3 pallets for the Pretty Lady booth with just the 2 of us was no joke- and as the clock ticked on we didn’t know if we could make it in time but we did- she did- and she fluffed like a master allowing me to attend the women’s leadership breakfast

Each of the above names will get a $20 Starbucks card so just sharing here for public acknowledgment for all- the rest will be saved for our show post-mortem.

Doug- I don’t even know what happened on social media for our food clients and is the win- we could hit the road and you stepping up to volunteer to cover our pages was awesome and a relief they were in good hands!

Claron was new to our road team this year but his experience as a bartender helped make the mocktails flow as well as mastering the Allen wrench during furniture frenzy building and disassembling to ship back out- he could run an IKEA marathon now- but we appreciated his brawn and ability to make the clients happy during the madness

the 5k runner himself – with over 25k steps a day – 80 hours over 7 days LUCCA is a ROADIE FOR LIFE- from food prep, condo cleaning, serving 3,475 servings of Pretty Croatian Grape salad, grape mocktails, and fresh grapes over the 2 show days- to running HYPHEN swag around town- and building relations with all of our clients – and getting down and dirty during install and dismantle….well another hero

66 hours in 7 days but let’s be honest his real magic is making showcases on-site in minutes as well as running and shucking corn and stepping into be a food demo front man at IFPA- this can only the be the man the myth the legend- Oscar we could not do it without you-

JOHNNA on the road is hard to beat- surviving on no sleep- high stress- training on the fly Katee as well as our new team members and juggling more new clients in one year with the most booths we have ever had at one show- and arriving pre-sleep deprived from working overtime for the 6 weeks before the show- she boasts 78.38 hours over her 9 days on the road…..

Roadie Reese- some of you have not met him but he is our best mascot from TDO and now King of the Buzz’n Bees from the show floor not only worked the booth but worked the aisles and had dance offs and had to be forced to take his lunch breaks. Oh yeah, and built furniture for many booths and helped be the runner with an amazing team attitude (simply required some old fashions to wind down his day. His stats- 105 working hours over 9 days- the means he comes in 2nd place in the IFPA hours so regularly pushed close to 12 hour days average =-

Josh is amazing and while the tradeshow team slept in- he was here as his bright and usual self to meet the return pallet that arrived at the office unexpectedly at 7:30am so we are eternally grateful he was here to recieve!

Carly- there is a reason it is your name constantly- because you consistently step up and that really is the simple secret to success. Thank you for tagging with Katee on social during tradeshow season, jumping in with Johnna on client needs when food and ag is maxed- and raising your hand to be on the roadteam- truly a pleasure

Katee- who could imagine a year ago you were giving birth- and that now you know that was probably the easiest thing you have done in this past year… From Social Media Coordinator to moving into Tradeshow Coordinator while keeping your social duties- to rolling into a company merge while training trial by literal fire (the year IFPA is in Anaheim which is always a record breaker for us) to your partnership with Johnna and you also having 56 plus hours a day in work on a single jig day weekly yet baring down and just doing the work- pushing 50-60 hours a week for weeks now leading up. Our old record was 9 booths- with 8 road team- you are working and succeeding with 11 booth clients- a side project client (2 or 3) and a road team of 12 while still minding the ‘dogs’ and social clients you have on your plate- sleep well in November my friend…. you can do anything you fierce woman

Bri- so in 2 invoices cycles- you have learned our food and ag clients, on various rate cards, with various services, in tradeshow season, double checking and verifying for every client- job- and all while the amex is on fire and every tracking spreadsheet is never ‘final’- 3rd invoice in you are flying free? amazing

Josh- always ready to pick up and help and it doesn’t matter the job- making the eblasts happen for the show with no notice whatsoever- and cleaning up literally thousands mailing list- thank you!