Wilkinson’s | CEO | Provo | 25
You may not know the company name, but chances are you’ve seen merch created by it! Victoria Vergara is the CEO and main sales force for Wilkinson’s, one of Utah’s top choices for awards, apparel and promo. Not many can say they became CEO at 23 years old, but Tori is unrelenting in living out her legacy: “To show the ladies that we can be bold, we can be in charge, and we can overcome impossible challenges.” Before her 25th birthday, she reached over $2 million in sales personally, because, as she believes, proper CEOs should lead by example. Oh… did we mention that Wilkinson’s swag was repped by Dwayne Wade? On top of being a self-motivated leader, Tori mentors kids in the Provo CAPS program and is an active sponsor and participant with RaYnbow Collective non-profit. She creates great awards for Utah County and beyond — it only makes sense that she receives one as well.
MAIN MOTIVATION I love my interns and my employees, so of course they’re the reason for everything I do. On top of that, I have the added bonus of having a job that has a real impact. We don’t just make little league trophies, we’re printing lawn signs for your local grassroots political campaign. We’re printing welcome home banners for veterans. We’re making t-shirts for marathon groups celebrating a member beating cancer. CODE RED We’ve helped customers, whose vendors fell through, come up with hundreds of medals in a few hours. We’ve gotten emails threatening to bust our windows down for hanging pride flags. I’ve had furnaces explode mid-trophy order, so we had to bundle up and build 200 trophies in the sunny part of the parking lot. The truth is, as a retail shop owner, you need to have an adaptable, solutions-oriented mind, or you risk being swept up in the emotion of an order that goes awry. GOOD BIZ ADVICE A long time ago, my father told me that, “If you buy $&%t, you own $&%t.” That’s stayed with me as a young entrepreneur, because you’ll be sold to 24/7. Retail trains you to fix your eye on products and services that are worthwhile — that’s why people will choose us over a turbo-massive global promo company. PERSONAL GROWTH I’ve learned how to dig deep to find that extra 10 – 20 percent I didn’t know I had. I’ve definitely grown a thicker skin and a much more adaptable brain. PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESS Make your competitors fear your persistence!