Protecting your company

October 1, 2021  |  Editorial

When you’re seeing the headlines about ransomware and cyberattacks, it’s tempting to think it won’t happen to you. The reality is that small businesses often bear the brunt of these cyberattacks—more than half of all ransomware attacks last year were against small businesses, according to th…
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Strength in numbers

September 1, 2021  |  Editorial

The year 2021 marks the second year in the COVID-19 pandemic. While that may seem like a gloomy opening line, to me, it signifies a year of phenomenal, life-saving work conducted by a strong, capable and responsive textile industry. Fabricators, welders, sewers, suppliers, warehouse/shipping workers…
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Making connections and finding solutions

August 1, 2021  |  Editorial

How do you build a digital workflow? What skills do you look for when hiring an employee with no experience? How are you handling vaccination policies for both current and new employees? And finally, where do you turn to find answers to questions like these? Industry professionals often cite “netw…
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Oh, the places you’ll go!

July 1, 2021  |  Editorial

For the last year, I’ve been dreaming about the places where I’ll go and the things I’ll do when the pandemic is over. So once I was fully vaccinated, where did I first brave the crowds? The Mall of America. Trust me, this was not on my bucket list—I was there so that my daughter … <d…
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IAAs celebrate 75 years of awarding excellence

June 1, 2021  |  Editorial

What do Tupperware, bikinis and the International Achievement Awards (IAAs) have in common? They are all 75 years old this year. In addition to getting their start in 1946, these innovations seem to signal the dawn of a new era. The Great Depression and a terrible war were over, and a boom was about…
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Persevering, innovating, and daring mighty things

May 1, 2021  |  Editorial

When NASA’s Perseverance rover was named in 2019—by a seventh grader in a “name the rover” contest—no one could have predicted what the word “perseverance” would mean for us in 2021. We’ve been persevering and flexing and pivoting for more than a year. The rover’s landing on Mars i…
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Learning to adapt

April 1, 2021  |  Editorial

When the Minnesota State Fair was forced to cancel last summer, food vendors set up trucks all over the Twin Cities to make up for lost income, which my kids quickly took note of. Much begging ensued, and eventually I capitulated to bringing home a deep-fried feast.
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COVID year 1: What just happened? And where are we headed?

March 1, 2021  |  Editorial

When I think back on the second week of March 2020, I laugh at how naïve I was. Or rather, I would laugh, if it wasn’t all so devastating. Even after major events started cancelling, and my kids’ school shifted to distance learning, and IFAI staff were directed to work from home, I could only …
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