The future of strategic gifting with purpose
an interview with Jen O'Hare
In this edition of The AHA! Moment, I chat with Jennifer O'Hare, Founder and CEO of Belle Box Co., a female-founded, sustainability-focused gifting company based in Massachusetts. Jen shares her inspiring journey from spending 14 years as a strategic retail consultant at TJX to establishing her own company aimed at creating meaningful, personalized gift experiences. She discusses the transferable skills she acquired, the strategic approach Belle Box Co. takes in tailored gifting, and the practical steps she took in planning her entrepreneurial shift. Our conversation also explores the growth potential in the gifting industry, particularly for high-touch sectors such as financial services and luxury brands. Jen emphasizes the importance of relationships in business success and how Belle Box Co. contributes to building lasting connections through strategic gifting.
Be sure to listen to The AHA! Moment Podcast for the full conversation!
Tell us about yourself, your background at TJX, and the story behind how Belle Box Co started!
My background is interesting. It's in corporate retail and I spent many years as a buyer, but also worked a little bit in supply chain planning and allocation for the largest off-price retailer in the world, TJX. My role particularly was in strategic buying, negotiating best costs, finding really unique product assortments and brand discovery and making smart merchandising decisions that created that really unique treasure hunt experience and that was something that they were always aiming for. I loved everything about that; I was there for 14 years.
As exciting as it was, I got married, I became a mother throughout it, and with each child (I have three kids), there just felt like there was still something missing for me. It didn't feel like I was making a personal impact, both in my personal and professional relationships. That realization really did hit me when I was pregnant with my son, who's my third. I knew I wanted to build something based on all the years of my expertise and my experience in the industry and blend that with something more meaningful. That’s where the Belle Box idea came from.
Belle Box is a high-end corporate gifting company. It focuses on meaningful connections through curated customized gifting experiences. I saw a big gap in the market at the time. So many companies were spending so much time and money either gifting on their own, trying to figure out how you could gift at scale without wasting money, resources, making sure that things resonated and they weren't just going to be thrown away or left at an event, or they were using like generic platforms or companies to, that really left that personal touch to implement a so-called gifting strategy. When I thought about that, my goal was to make the process definitely more seamless and more efficient for clients and companies. The most important thing was that it truly reflected the relationship that they were trying to build. Today, we work with luxury brands and mid-size companies and all sorts of organizations and various industries. We design curated gifting ongoing programs or onsite experiences that aren't just about the products that we're presenting. It's really an idea of designing and building moments where people create or nurture relationships.
What was it like jumping off the corporate cliff to start your own business?
It was scary, nerve-wracking, exciting, empowering. It was all the things at the same time, which again, is a little overwhelming after you've just had three kids in four years. But I was really fortunate enough to have saved money. I saw the writing on the wall in when I was pregnant with my third, I just said that something was going to have to shift.
I was also fortunate enough to have a husband who had a stable job. I am not shy about saying that. I know not everyone is in that position. I knew that I was going to give myself grace in terms of time. It wasn't an overnight thing. It took me three years. I went through a personal development journey to get to this place to say, what is that plan B if this doesn't pan out right? Or if I don't hit the goals that I'm intending on hitting. For me, I needed to have that plan B. It also built confidence for me to move forward with intention, purpose, and a strategy. It gave me security to know that, I've thought of a plan B. It also helped me fully commit to a plan A! I felt like that was something that I needed in order to make that jump so that I wasn't operating from a place of fear, but I could keep those emotions of excitement and empowerment that I just told you about instead of the scary, let's jump off a cliff, it's consuming me.
Who should be using gifting services and how does it benefit them?
My approach and thought process is definitely different around it. Gifting isn't just about taking a product or a box and putting a logo on it. It's about the experience, the relationships that you're nurturing and the value that you put on them. It's about reinforcing your brand, what it stands for, your brand ethos, your values, and doing that in a way that feels really intentional and and personal. The businesses, professionals, and companies that benefit most from something that I call strategic gifting are the ones where relationships really drive the success. Whether that's through referrals, client retention, or even internal team engagement.
Whether that's with existing customers and clients or making a great impression in a new market. We have some luxury brands that come to us for product launches. If you think about their intentionality and their budget going towards marketing campaigns, it just gets narrower and narrower. They're really focusing in on a niche. We've helped people kind of get in front of, with a go to market launch, get in front of the right distributors and stakeholders. It's high growth companies that are looking to create that cohesive client experience from onboarding all the way to retention, or even internally. To make sure that everyone feels valued by the gifts that they're giving and that they truly speak to them and tell a story about the value they put on their relationships. It is super strategic. It's not just about beautiful things, or beautiful packaging. There many professionals that have an idea of the products that they want to use or they've already implemented a gifting strategy and some people are just like, I can't, I need to outsource it. I need a creative thought partner, but I also need somebody who is just going to take it off my plate. That is the beauty of what we do because we are an end-to-end solution. It really is a tool.
What would you say is your favorite part about what you do?
That's an easy one. I've said it from day one. I really enjoy using both sides of my brain. I am just as creative as I am analytical. That by far is the reason why my original career fit so well. I remember trying to explain to people that were not in corporate retail, what I did. It wasn't until I elaborated or I would speak to another product-based business or another retailer about a strategic approach to something or how to problem solve.
Plugging in markups and trying to figure out your product assortment from a numbers and inventory management standpoint. Being able to live in both is my favorite part of what we do. It's my favorite part of the approach that we take, really standing in my ground that we don't hold inventory for a reason.
We're here to support our clients. We're here to put their brand all over. It should reflect their brand and their values. It's about them. The only inventory we hold and manage is our clients. That's why I built the business that the way that I did, because that's my favorite part about what I do.
What advice would you give any soon-to-be entrepreneur?
Done is better than perfect. It doesn't have to be perfect. The one that wins the race is the one that actually puts it out. It's not just about everything needing to be polished before you actually start. Just start and learn as you go and have resilience and get back up even if whatever you're working towards isn't necessarily the right fit or doesn't work. Don't be afraid to just test and try and let it be a little messy.
Where can people find you online?
Instagram: @belleboxco
LinkedIn: Jennifer O’Hare LinkedIn
Cheers,
Angelina