Laura Reed is the Online Brand Relations Manager for Kate Aspen. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, Kate Aspen is the premier designer and manufacturer of unforgettable wedding favors and bridesmaids gifts, and sells wholesale to the trade worldwide. Oh! And Kate Aspen also designs baby shower favors because, after all, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes …
One of the most delightful aspects of working with The Aspen Brands Company over the past three years is the pleasure of working with our CEO and Founder, Jennifer Fallon. Jennifer is the type of CEO that makes you feel like her success is your success. That’s a rare trait among CEO’s, and I’m honored to play a small roll in this company.
That said, what about a little background about how we came to be? (You’ll notice I say “we” a lot, because that’s the corporate culture around here).
A very few short years ago, Jennifer was looking for wedding favors - and they had to be perfect, because they were for her wedding. She found tulle circles with which she could wrap Jordan almonds, plastic swans in which she could insert Jordan almonds and that was about it. Jennifer was looking for gift-ready, clever favors for her guests that would share her personal style and at the same time say “Thank you for making my special day even more special.”
Savvy businesswoman she is, after the honeymoon Jen set up a Yahoo store selling wedding favors. She searched far and wide and used her boundless imagination to find practical and useful items that would make perfect wedding favors, then populated her store with the very best she could find. Whoa! What a happy surprise when the orders came pouring in!
DJ Meng was helping Jennifer program her store and one day he asked (very wisely it turns out) “Why are you selling other peoples products? Why not make your own?” Those two simple questions turned into a power partnership with DJ, his wife Shirley, and Jennifer and the rest is, well, wedding favor history!
Today Kate Aspen offers more than 300 delightfully original wedding favor designs, all at affordable prices. The line continues to grow with the January 2010 launch of new favor designs, the first of several launches planner for the New Year. Our company continues to receive recognition in the form of awards and news features. Most recently Jennifer was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young for the Southeast Region. She and her products have been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Modern Bride and Brides magazine, among others.
You might think with all this success Jennifer is enjoying herself out on a yacht somewhere but that’s not the case at all. She’s right here shoulder to shoulder with us every day, working to make future brides’ dreams come true. Her commitment to this business is exceeded only by her commitment to her most precious assets, twins Avery and Alexandra, age three.
When I asked for an “exclusive comment” just for this blog, here’s what Jennifer had to say…
“Tell them I so appreciate all the input brides share with us every day, which helps us ensure that our favors are both practical and trendy – we’re listening! And be sure to mention how excited we are about our upcoming 2010 collection – the designs are absolutely unbelieveable!”
I hope you enjoyed my little introduction. I look forward to guest posting again in the coming weeks! We have so much to share with you!
Cheers!
Laura Reed
Online Brand Relations Manager
Kate Aspen
