Greetings everyone. It’s Kebby’s Husband (Reg) and I’ve taken over the blog feed today. Given the topic, I might have to change the log in password to keep someone from taking this down! You see, we’re coming up on Kebby’s birthday and I wanted to give everyone a little inside scoop on Coeur's Founder and Designer.
First, a bit of background. Kebby and I met when she was a consultant assigned to a project at the company where I worked back in Atlanta. She was one of about 10 people on the project and at first glance, she looked like she had come straight out of the consultant factory. Intelligent, fashionably dressed, polite, professional and possessing of PowerPoint skills beyond compare.
However, from time to time, a bit of her true personality would escape and it was apparent that she wasn’t cut from the same cloth as the rest of the team. She had a great sense of humor and there was a hint of sarcasm in her eyes when she broke into consultant speak. She still can’t say “labor arbitrage” or “paradigm shift” without laughing.
After a couple months of traveling around the world looking at call centers, I convinced her to go out for a drink and we started dating. I should have known what’s to come when I invited her to do a triathlon with me. I had done a total of one triathlon (it was a mini sprint with a 200 yard swim), so I pictured myself as the seasoned veteran. We signed up for a full sprint triathlon (yes, it's true that I told her we had to carbo load and taper!) and she had the nerve to beat me convincingly. It was then that I realized that in addition to being kind, humble and a bit shy at times, Kebby was a very talented athlete.
Over the next couple of years (while I was taking care of my wounded ego), she went on to do an Olympic distance triathlon, a half, a full and eventually qualify for Ironman Hawaii three times.
While running a business has taken away her time to train, it has allowed other sides of her personality to flourish. Despite an amazing ability to suffer in a race, I wouldn’t say that Kebby had an absolute killer instinct. In fact, she's one of the most generous, kind and pure hearted individuals you'll ever meet. If there was a way for everyone to win, she'd be all for it. She always went out of her way to encourage everyone on the course and while she enjoyed obtaining her goals, she didn’t enjoy “beating” someone.
Now, with Coeur, she has a great outlet for that sense of caring and compassion. She has shaped the culture of the company and you can see that in our customer service, the quality of the clothing and with the team.
Speaking of customer service, no one likes mistakes but when issues do come up, Kebby goes into hyper drive and unfailingly does the right thing. Be that an exchange, a return or a full refund. Ultimately, this is good business and (we hope) ensures customers for life but more than that, it is just how she is wired. Finances take a back seat to treating people fairly and we’re glad she has made that part of the company DNA.
The same holds true for quality. Trust me. It would have been a heck of lot easier to just put Coeur designs on someone else’s stock garments but that would have meant sacrificing quality and Kebby wouldn’t stand for it.
Having said all that, I think the one area that showcases her personality more than any other is the Ambassador team. It is impossible to describe how grateful she is for the ladies that wear Coeur. She takes a personal interest in how they are doing and on days when several of the girls have “A” races, she’s a nervous wreck. She is visibly sad when an Ambassador doesn’t have the day they wanted and Kebby would do anything in her power to change the results. On the flip side, when things go well, there is almost no one happier than Kebby. I have literally seen her jumping around like a kid when one of the girls gets a great result.
The other beneficiaries of Kebby's personality are our dogs. In general, they say dogs are good judges of character and every one that comes near Kebby knows they are next to a pure soul. Tails start wagging, ears perk up and they'll usually plop down on her feet (probably in an attempt to keep her from leaving).
Our guys Beau and Kona (and Rocky before them) all knew they had it good. In fact they must have thought they won the cosmic lottery when they met Kebby.
So, there's a bit of background on Coeur's Founder and Designer. She's a heck of a designer, an incredibly kind person and I'm very luck to be married to her.
If you have a moment, wish her happy birthday on Nov. 11th.