Energetic. Innovative. Inspiring. These 12 PPB Rising Stars join 73 unstoppable overachievers who have been named to our list over the past six years. They’re igniting the industry with their positive energy and bright ideas.
This year’s dozen are exceptionally quick studies who are taking career risks, driving their businesses in new directions and parenting young children while shattering the status quo in companies across the industry. Where they are leading, everyone will want to follow.
Esmeralda Anaya
MARKETING COORDINATOR
Terry Town
She says the job has allowed her to learn a lot in a short period of time. Among Anaya’s responsibilities are developing new marketing strategies and expanding the company’s exposure in different channels of communication, along with creating a strong social media presence. She says she gets a great deal of satisfaction from creating new ideas for the company and strategies to strengthen the brand. Among the lessons she’s learned at Terry Town is that in order to grow, you can never stop learning. “You need to move along with the growth of the company in order to keep going forward,” she says.
She passes along her experience about continual learning to her little sister with this piece of advice: “Only dead fish go with the flow. Take the opportunities that life gives you; don’t be afraid of taking risks. There is no such thing as luck. If you work hard, and take opportunities that life presents, you will be able to succeed in whatever you set your mind to.”
Her attitude and work ethic quickly caught the attention of Ray Adams, a sales executive at Terry Town, who nominated her as a Rising Star.
“Esmeralda has been a breath of fresh air from the moment she started with Terry Town,” he says. “She has worked tirelessly to not only understand Terry Town’s products but the promotional products industry in general.” In just a few months, he says, she has transformed the company website and increased views by more than 300 percent and overhauled e-blasts to make them more relevant to distributors, which increased views and clicks by 200 percent and led directly to increases in requests for quotes and orders. She’s also added video to the site to help sales reps and distributors better understand and promote the products. In addition, she has produced new end-user videos that distributors can send to their customers to better show how the products make sense for their events and she’s increased traffic on the company Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.
“For Terry Town, this has been more than what we expected,” he admits. Not only has Adams been impressed with Anaya’s progress at work, but he’s also moved by her work with the national Seal of Biliteracy program at nearby middle schools. “She helps the teachers spread the importance of speaking two languages and teaches how it can help one succeed in the workplace and in life,” says Adams. “She encourages people to be proud of their heritage and to use it as an advantage.”
In her spare time, Anaya likes discovering new places in her adopted hometown. She also hikes to help her relax and enjoys spending time with her family. “It’s a way for me to recharge and get motivated to keep going,” she says.
HER INSPIRATION
Her parents. “They overcame so many obstacles and have succeeded in every single one, against all odds, while always helping me to construct my future. The best I can do is take advantage of all the opportunities they have worked so hard to give me.”
THE INDUSTRY IN FIVE YEARS
She wants to see the industry modernize itself—specifically, for distributors and suppliers to communicate more through social media. “Social media partnerships would allow constant and open communication between one another.”
ON HER TO-DO LIST NOW
Storyboard for an upcoming video series; update and post to social media platforms; check Google Analytics; prepare marketing materials for upcoming trade shows and ideas for next year’s catalog.
