Gina wears a number of hats here at ODSS! A critical role for her encompasses ensuring both customer and product orders get communicated correctly through our warehouse department to our online tools! Gina is the glue between our humans and AI functions! Gina also spends a majority of her time building the ODSS online product catalog as our online chief merchandiser. These product catalogs are designed and maintained accurately through vendor product descriptions, specifications, digital assets, and categorizations. Her work behind the scenes allows us to have a seamless shopping and buying experience. She also works diligently to ensure that all those hidden shops for all our school partners are super easy to shop and visually pleasing.
As a working stay-at-home mom, Gina lives in Texas with her husband and three kiddos. She enjoys running, reading and hiking.
Q: What products are you most excited about for Fall 2023?
A: I am always excited to see the newest colors for the season and this year ODSS will have some really fun and bright colors and patterns. Perfect to be spotted in the woods! Lately, I have been working on adding new novelty back- to- school items to the site. What I love most about these items is they are from real artisans, women- owned and led brands. It is great being able to support other small businesses. These products are new to the site this week so they are very fresh!
Q: Do you have a couple of new arrival favorites?
I do! I just love our Little Necessities and Nature Toy categories! I was very excited for the items ODSS brought in here by brand SoYoung - I love the matching ice pack cover to lunchbox feature. This brand is female-owned and their designs are sure to please all kids and parents out there alike! Second, my daughter is going to absolutely love the items from Tree Blocks. She loves fairy gardens and these will be so much fun for her. Finally, I really love the Out of the Woods reusable lunchbox. I think this would make a fabulous teacher gift along with the new items from Crayon Rocks. I lived in Kentucky for a while so finding out these were made in KY was very cool.
Q. How about the ODSS Book Nook? As an avid reader, do you have any favorite titles you would like to suggest?
A:I just finished adding a group of books that won the Blueberry Award from the Evanston Public Library. Reading is super important to me, so I love to find books for my kids that come recommended and pre-vetted. Two books specifically that my daughter is most excited about are Odd Birds and Language of the Trees. As for me, I like to have a few books going at one time! My bedside table is always stacked high! My main ODSS title I am currently reading is Open- Air Life by Linda McGurk. This book really inspired me to make some lifestyle tweaks to even further incorporate nature into my life ... and is for country and city lovers alike. It is an essential guide to slowing down in this modern, fast-paced world and connecting with the wonder of the great outdoors!