Yearly Co. reposted this
I am so honored Ann Williams has trusted me with this new position to lead Yearly as CEO. If you are lucky enough to know Ann, you know that they are big shoes to fill, but I will do my best! Cheers to 8 years of Yearly Co. and many more!
Today we celebrate the 8-year anniversary of Yearly Co. I am so amazed how this family tradition has grown into a thriving business serving our incredible community of customers. What started as a small hobby in my garage studio has become more than I would ever have dreamed. Our customers and your stories drive our ideas, our passion and our hard work every day. I began as a maker, but had a hand in every aspect of the business as we hired, settled into our offices, grew our retail presence, and became a team of twenty. Over the last couple of years I’ve watched our leadership team grow into their roles at Yearly, deeply caring for both our customer’s experience and the growth and well-being of our team members. It’s occurred to me on many occasions that I never planned to be the CEO of a business and I don’t know that I’ve ever truly been qualified for that position. It’s a difficult balance between honoring my family’s tradition, leading a team to hold high standards for themselves and each other, and navigating a small business in an ever-changing economy over the past 8 years. What I do know is that Yearly Co. is in a strong, stable, and growing place because I’ve identified my own shortcomings and hired to fill and exceed the places that I fall short. One of these hires was made in 2020 when I recruited our COO, Elizabeth Geny back to Nashville from D.C. for a role at Yearly. Her office had no windows and sat directly next to our studio with constant hammering. And she still accepted the job. The business was growing but mostly organized on word docs saved somewhere on my desktop with important passwords written on post-its somewhere on my desk. We had no HR department or policies to speak of and I wasn’t quite sure how to accurately grant PTO, but Elizabeth joined our team with enthusiasm. I knew within weeks of hiring Elizabeth that the organization, determination, loyalty, intelligence and care that she brought to Yearly would take us to the next level of growth. For the last six months I’ve been preparing to promote Elizabeth to the Chief Executive Officer of Yearly Co. and I wanted to make that announcement today to celebrate our 8th anniversary! Elizabeth has earned this role of our CEO and I can’t think of anyone else who embodies our core values more. She cares deeply for this business, the team, our customers, and the legacy we hope to continue to grow. I am so thankful, especially at this time in life, to have someone I trust so much to continue driving Yearly on this path while I take care of my health and undergo chemotherapy for Breast Cancer. Congratulations to Yearly Co.’s new CEO Elizabeth Geny!