Meet LaDawn Shocklee-Cox of Ribbons & Bows Gifts in Tucson

Today we’d like to introduce you to LaDawn Shocklee-Cox.

Thanks for sharing your story with us LaDawn. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My mother loved Christmas and giving. She went all out when I was young. I can remember being mesmerized by the Christmas tree, the lights and best of all the colorful packages decorated with ribbon. We would also do Christmas crafts, like the year we made and painted salt dough ornaments. It was something fun and I developed a sense of being “crafty.”

When I was 14 years old, my mother found a craft for a gift that was candy in a glass, or what you could call the precursor to candy bouquets. I designed my own for my friends for Christmas that year. By the time I was 18, I was creating gift baskets for family and friends, which I did throughout my college years. Before graduating college, I had married and intended to start a gift business on the side of my post-college job. However, life had other plans, which included raising two young children. I made every effort to continue honing my skills. I took bow making classes at the local craft store, purchased numerous books on running a gift business and spent time watching gifting videos on VHS.

Once my kids were in middle school, I thought it was time to start my business, but my mother passed away unexpectedly. At that point, I put my business plans on hold to help my father run his traveling jewelry business. I still made time to learn. I found the Gift Basket Association in 2014. I started attending annual conventions to continue learning my skills and to be prepared for running my gift business. I became a certified designer in 2015. My father retired in 2015 and I launched full time shortly thereafter. Today, I’m certified in both Real Estate Gifting and Hospitality/Hotel Gifting. I specialize in custom corporate gifting. I am a Platinum level member with the Gift Basket Association and I am a tradeshow committee member for the National Gift Basket Association.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Our main struggle continues to be overcoming a stigma. When people think of the term “gift basket,” the words that come to mind are typical: crafty, amateur, birthday, baby, fruit, and one time only. Educating others on the value of gifting as a powerful, strategic and ongoing marketing tool is our main goal.

Please tell us about Ribbons & Bows Gifts.
Ribbons & Bows Gifts is a full service gifting solutions provider. We primarily work with businesses to help them acquire and retain their clients, employees and associates through gifting.

We have the ability to brand our clients in many ways, including customized labeling and printed ribbon. Our clients appreciate the option of customization and to personalize gifts to specific recipients or projects. We also support our local Arizona businesses by using local products in many of our gifts, which our clients love. Lastly, we like to make it easy for our clients to order from us, as we can create a custom order portal with their branded and custom-designed gifts. When they’re ready to place their order, they log into their portal, select their gifts and checkout. We take care of the rest. You can’t get that from a big box corporation.

What were you like growing up?
I was a pretty shy girl. I had no idea how I ended up making friends, but I did. I think that’s because I found common ground with hobbies. I loved to dance. I took ballet when I was younger. I would dance anywhere and everywhere. My mother always talked about me dancing up and down the grocery store aisles. I actually remember it.

I was fascinated with cake decorating. When I was very young, the retired woman next door was my “daycare provider.” When she and her husband would go on vacation, her friend from the street behind us would take over. One day, I was watching this woman at her kitchen table decorate a cake. I remember being completely enchanted. The best I had a home was some frosting on some cookies at Halloween, but cake decorating was different. I finally learned how to do basic decorating at 18. When my kids were babies, I took all sorts of advanced cake and candy decorating classes. Every now and again, I will decorate a cake or cookies.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 5203310880
• Email: ladawn@rnbgifts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rnbgifts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rnbgifts/
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rnbgifts

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