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Some people work to live. A lucky few live to work. Count Sara Espinosa among the very lucky. “This isn’t a job for me. I love this company. I wake up and it’s like, woohoo, I get to come to the office.”
“This isn’t a job for me. I love this company.”
Sara’s love for Creative Marketing Arts began 17 years ago when she was just out of high school. Owner Kim Kelley was friends with the parents of her boyfriend Tyler—now her husband–and took Sara on to do odd jobs, answer phones and shred documents. “I spent hours just shredding. Hours. And hours,” Sara said. (An aside here: to this day Sara still enjoys shredding when she has time and refuses to hire the company’s shredding needs out of the office.)
Gradually, she worked her way up, and as seems to be the case with all long-term employees at CMA, eventually oversaw the School Program. “I feel like everyone who works here eventually touches the School Program. I used to take the hard copy receipts home and sit on the floor of my apartment with all the piles in front of me and tally them for reports,” she said.
Today, Sara is not just CMA’s girl Friday, she is the company’s girl Every Day, sometimes designing and doing creative, sometimes handling billing and receiving, sometimes coordinating events. “I thrive off doing everything. I will come here in the morning thinking I have a plan, let’s say for creative, and I will sit down to an email and say, ‘oh no, I need to get this proposal done.’ My days are never monotonous.” And even though the retail events come with large amounts of stress, Sara says coordinating them is still one her favorite parts of the job. “They are magical, they are good for the community, and they make clients happy. I’m most happy when the clients are happy.” Sara plans on keeping customers happy for some time to come, preparing to take over the company with her husband Tyler when Kim retires. (Don’t hold your breath anyone).
Sara says she holds Kim in very high regard, stating that she is quite the woman to look up to, but is convinced she won’t let Kim down when the time comes. “I know this company very well—the ins and the outs. I have relationships with the clients, I know how everything runs, and I know what we need to do to go out there and stay competitive.” Tyler, who has worked at CMA for several years as a second job, can sell mosquitoes to a vampire and will oversee sales while Sara concentrates on customer relations. “I’ve watched Kim in those sales meetings and what she can do is amazing. That is not my strong suit. Tyler, on the other hand, that guy can sell you anything.”
Sara and Tyler have enjoyed a love affair seemingly out of a Nora Ephron movie for 19 years and look forward to making CMA a family affair when the time is right. For now, they are happy to spend their spare time with family, and the friends they have made on the block of their new home in Folsom. “We have met some of our best friends on our street, so most of our time consists of being home and hanging out with them.” Sara says they love being near Folsom Lake and the hiking trails, and never miss a chance to be on the water. “I’m just an average girl trying to make a name for myself,” she said.
An average girl who counts herself lucky to work at Creative Marketing Arts.
