Trip to New York City for the Retail Excellence Awards 2010

My husband, Nathan, and I headed to NY, NY on Friday August 13th for the Retail Excellence Awards (REA) 2010 where Swagger Gifts was a finalist for an award in Branding/Integrated Marketing. 

When we got to the Helsinki airport we were a little bummed to see that our KLM flight was cancelled, but we were quickly rebooked on a Finnair direct flight into JFK, and as we were getting on the plane we were upgraded to FIRST CLASS!  No Friday the 13th bad mojo for us!  Woo hoo! 

You have to go for the Champagne when you are suddenly now seated in 1st Class!

Cheers to already having a great weekend!

The best part about Finnair's 1st Class?  The seat laid down completely horizontal to sleep - no jet lag for us!

Nathan's Grandfather and extended family live on Long Island, so we took this opportunity to spend a couple of days with them.  It is always great to spend time with family! 

Family Photo!

Sunday we headed down to NYC for the REA Gala.  We stayed with some of our friends who live in Manhattan.  I love meeting the kids of people you have know since college or high school - it is so funny to see the mini me version of the party guy or girl and know that they are in so much trouble in another 15 years or so:)!  Good thing both Nathan and I were perfect angels as teenagers and college students so we won't have anything to worry about once we have kids!  (A girl can dream - right?)

Finally it was time to head down to The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers for the awards ceremony.  The venue was beautiful and I'm sure the view would have been great if it wasn't pouring down rain.:)  The Retail Excellence Awards Gala is put on by Gifts & Decorative Accessories Magazine, and the entire event was top notch - from the catering (so good!) to the story boards about each of the finalists - it was a night I won't soon forget!  There were about 250 industry professionals in attendance - everyone from manufacturers, to rep groups, to store owners.  I was a little worried we wouldn't know anyone since it was NYC and not Atlanta, but we mingled with people from some of the companies Swagger purchases from and had a great time! 

You know I had to wear a zebra dress if I was going to be accepting an award for marketing!:)

The awards were announced after dessert (seriously could they make us wait any longer!), and I was SO excited when they called Swagger Gifts as the winner of the Branding/Integrated Marketing Award!  After a short video they put together on Swagger, I had to make my acceptance speech!  This was the part I was dreading - I'm not an extemporaneous speaker - but Nathan helped me put something together in case Swagger did win and it was a hit.  I even had a couple people come over and tell me it was the best acceptance speech:)  Yeah for Nathan being a Toastmaster and for his coaching!

Yeah - Swagger Won!  I have to give a shout out to Lisa Jeffries at Raleighwood Media - because without her I know we wouldn't have received this award!  You rock Lisa!

Either sister seriously needed some powder or there was a major glare off the huge silver platter!  Let's go with the glare:)

Great weekend in NYC which was topped off by getting first class seating on the way home too!  Now I know how the other half lives and I don't think I want to go back:)  An unforgettable weekend for sure!

Mandy Brings Swagger to the Top 50 Entrepreneurs in the Triangle!

Hey Swagger Fans!

Heather here - I'm hijacking the blog today while Mandy is skiing the Swiss Alps (which we are all very jealous of!) to do a little bragging about our fearless leader. She wouldn't write this about herself, but that sure doesn't mean that I can't share the latest bit of good news with the world, right? :-)

Last Friday, I had the awesome experience of accepting an award on Mandy's behalf. And not just any award, this award named Mandy, CEO of Swagger Gifts, amongst many other top notch local business leaders - 50 of them to be exact- as one of Business Leader Media's "Top 50 Entrepreneurs in the Triangle" this year!

As CEO of Swagger Gifts, Mandy prides herself on offering a truly unique selection of merchandise here at Swagger, often forgoing popular items that can be found duplicated over and over again at mass retailers. This approach gives you all - our amazing customers - the confidence that your gift will not only be appreciated, but that it will carry with it a little "swagger"of its own!

She is actively involved on a local professional level through organizations like Chix in Business, but she has also been recognized on the national level many times because of her willingness to mentor and offer valuable advice and tools to fellow retailers and industry professionals. Under Mandy’s leadership, Swagger has seen exciting year-after-year growth not only online, but in our store here in Lochmere, as well.

Her rock star status doesn't stop there, either. Amidst all the growth and challenges of 2009, Mandy still found the time to create our new in-house program for supporting the community organizations that she has always enjoyed supporting through her business and personal involvements. The Swagger Gifts Community Giving Program
(http://www.swaggergifts.com/community_giving_program) was launched in September 2009, as a way of allowing shoppers to support their favorite charitable organizations each and every time you shop! The program gives back 5% of purchases to shoppers’ choice of affiliated groups like the Autism Society of NC, the Caring Community Foundation and the Pretty in Pink Foundation.

Business Leader Media honored Mandy and others in a ceremony on February 26 in Raleigh and she will be featured in the magazine’s March 2010 issue - so be sure to scour local newsstands and professional offices and see if you can find her feature! Business Leader has recognized the Triangle’s most prominent business leaders as the “Top 50 Entrepreneurs” since 1996.

So next time you are checking us out on facebook, be sure to send her a little note of congratulations!
--Heather

Swagger Does It Again!

Who needs red carpet fashion when you've got the local award winners being announced?

Calling all fans of Cary Magazine's Maggy Awards: be sure to check out all of the fantastic winners and honorable mentions from the Fourth Annual Maggy Awards online!



On behalf of the Swagger team, many thanks for all of the love that earned Swagger a spot in two highly-coveted categories: Best Gift Shop and Best Boutique!

Got a Sec?

If you have a few minutes, would you please consider casting a vote for Swagger Gifts in the Cary Magazine Maggy Awards?

Those wonderful gals have been nominated in the categories of Area's Best Gift Shop, Best Boutique, and Best Bath Shop and I know they'd appreciate your support!

Here's the email from Cary Magazine with links to vote:

VOTE TODAY: Maggy Awards Voting Ends This Friday
	Have you voted for your favorite restaurant? Have you supported your doctor or dentist? Have you chosen your favorite Western Wake shopping destination? If not, now's your chance as time is running out! Only four days remain in the voting period for the Fourth Annual Best of Western Wake Maggy Awards. Visit CaryMagazine.com to cast your vote today. Voting will conclude at midnight on Friday, October 31, so be sure to vote now for your favorites in the following categories: Lifestyle | Media | Restaurants | Services |Shopping |Sports The 2009 Maggy Award winners will be revealed in the January/February issue of Cary Magazine.

Three Cheers for Swagger Gifts!

Three cheers for the three different Maggy Awards categories that Swagger has been nominated in this year! (And many thanks to everyone who nominated Swagger for Best Bath Store, Best Boutique, and Area's Best Gift Shop!)

Please cast your votes online - voting has just opened!

A BIG Thank You to the readers of The Cary News!!

I wanted to express my gratitude to all the people who voted for Swagger in the annual Best of the West awards! We were so excited to find out that we were voted "Best Of" in three pretty major categories and received honorable mention in three more! There isn't a Best Gift Shop category so we were truly honored when we won Best Place to Buy a Gift for A Woman as this is a write in vote and there are so many different places to buy gifts for women! Also, I guess it goes to show that women love their "costume jewelry" as much as the real stuff when we were voted Best Place to buy Jewelry! And finally -Best Women's Boutique! We really appreciated this last one as their are tons of great women's boutiques in Western Wake! At your request we will be adding more "fashion pieces" in the form of tights, jackets, scarves, and pashminas in the next few weeks so make sure to check in often! Swagger received honorable mention for Best Customer Service, Best Place to buy a gift for a man, and Best Kept Secret! Thank you for all your support!