3-2-1 with…Yvette Sutton
Yvette Sutton
This month, we were honored to sit down and hear from Yvette Sutton, a community entrepreneurship icon. She shared:
3 things you should know about business:
Integrity is key. Your word is your bond
Don’t be afraid to innovate
Communicate clearly and effectively
2 things she loves about the community:
Its love of tradition
Its deep-rooted commitment to charity and hessed
1 thing you might not know about her:
she hates to speak in public
As well as who her role model is:
Her father, Amin Adjmi a”h, who modeled integrity and family values in all that he did, and encouraged her to pursue her dreams.
Yvette’s parents, Lillian and Armin Adjmi a”h, gave all their children (especially their six daughters) the confidence that they could be and do anything. Instilling Yvette with a strong work ethic, she learned to always be positive – the way you see the situation is the way you will be able to deal with it. Married at 17, Yvette raised three children and tended to her home until her divorce at age 32.
She started to become self-sufficient by working at her brother’s New York-based sportswear company – one of the first community women to work outside the home! She rose in the ranks to become a sales manager, trusted with making multi-million dollar orders for the company – at her own discretion.
Yvette moved on to other garment industry companies, restructuring failing businesses and even creating coveted Wal-Mart accounts. She describes her first visit to Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Wal-Mart, in the wake of a major snowstorm that saw all flight cancelled. Undeterred, she found a limo company willing to make the almost seven-hour drive from Memphis, arrived at 6:00 am on the morning of her 8:00 am appointment, freshened up – and made the deal of a lifetime!
“Integrity is key. Your word is your bond ”
After twenty years of working for others, Yvette decided it was time to build her own company with her then nineteen-year-old son, Ames. Exploring various import trends, she identified the untapped market of low-cost pearl jewelry, newly possible due to advances in pearl farming technology. Together with Ames, and drawing on the inspiration of her mother a”h, she founded Gardenia, Ltd., named after Lillian’s favorite flower. Gardenia is now one of the most successful mass-market jewelry manufacturers, with a reputation for quality and integrity – modelled by Yvette, of course!
Yvette is heavily involved with PROPEL, and serves as an advisor (and cheerleader) to the entrepreneurship division.