With a new year comes a new awards season. I certainly can’t speak for anyone else, but I for one am ready to celebrate those mavericks who make the gift and stationery communities feel a little smaller, a little warmer, perhaps even approaching the feel of a second family. After all, isn’t that what a heartfelt card, a thoughtful gift, or even a visit to a welcoming shop aims to achieve?
Thankfully, there are no shortage of awards programs in the gift and stationery space. I always read about who is honored each time! In this climate, the Gift Shop® Plus and Stationery Trends teams felt the need to devise a program to genuinely capture the leadership, creativity, compassion and ingenuity shown by those exceptional professionals who drive our communities forward in their diverse roles.
Thus, our dynamic dozen is comprised of retailers, manufacturers, designers, sales managers and executives. Certainly some will be familiar to you, and some won’t. While their job titles vary, all bring that a powerful energy with their presence, prompting their peers to nominate them for this enormous honor. And with that, I’m so proud to help announce the second class of Gift + Stationery Spotlight Awards honorees.
Angela Schmook
Vice President of Operations & Marketing, Road Runners
Christina Hall
Sales Representative, Daniel Richards
Delaney & Dillon Womack
Co-Founders, Specialty Wholesale Talent Association (SWTA)
Ejibola Adetokunbo-Taiwo
CEO & Founder, Simply Ejibola
Erik Legenhausen
Owner, Noble Mick’s & Lotus Jewelry Studio
Janie Velencia
CEO, Shipfluence & The Card Bureau
Lauren Hawkins
Showroom Director & Senior Creative Specialist, CTW Home Collection
Liesel Anne Callahan
Business Owner, Artist & Designer, Liesel Anne Studios
Lisa Roberts
Owner, Rock Paper Scissors
Renata Bokalo
Director of Sales, Shoppe Object/ANDMORE
Ryan Martz
Owner, Fire & Pine
Shannon Martin
Owner & Creative Director, Shannon Martin Design
Congratulations everyone! The Gift Shop Plus team put together more extensive interviews with the honorees here — and we’ll be sharing stories and advice throughout 2025.
Enormous thanks to our sponsors, Gift For Life and ANDMORE. And I cannot close without tipping my hat to Andrea Padilla of Transpac Brands and a 2021 Gift Shop Plus 40 Under 40 winner, Carlos Llanso of Legacy Publishing and a 2024 Spotlight Award Winner, and Eleanor Hunt of ANDMORE. All three stepped up in a big way to help our teams evaluate the entries — not an easy job! — and then jumped on a call to help us finesse this dynamic dozen.
Finally, if you are going to Atlanta Market, your jaunt will not be complete without attending our industry star-studded breakfast reception on Thursday, Jan. 16, at 10 a.m. in AmericasMart, Building 1, Floor 14 Seminar Space. We’ll officially kick off the year’s festivities — and it is always memorable to connect with so many paper and gift nerds in person in one place before we all go back to our screens!
Attendance is free and open to all, but we encourage you to RSVP. Please RSVP at this link, and the Spotlight Awards button you see on my site will also take you to the RSVP link. I hope to see you there!
