Another betsy & iya staff party has come and gone, and as per usual, I'm feeling quite reflective. This year, Team Anna (myself and Anna S.) was in charge of procuring a space and planning the logistics, and we totally lucked out when we scored Portland hotspot Accanto as the setting for our 2015 festive shin-dig. Sean and his team were great to work with and welcomed us into the cozy restaurant, which was closed to the public for our private event (so fancy!). 
One 1/2 of Team Anna, expressing our joy that this big, beautiful table was all for us! 
Beautiful bar set up at Accanto. Betsy and Will treated us to a delicious dinner, drinks, and dessert. And what's a party without presents? Our staff kitchen is now the proud owner of a toaster oven. This is a dream come true for several of us, and enables us to take our lunch game to a whole new level. 
Betsy, genuinely surprise at how excited people were about this gift It's also tradition for the bosses to share some words about the previous 12 months. This year, Betsy shared a list of accomplishments that made all of us extremely proud. Here are a few things we're super grateful we've been able to do in 2015:
betsy & iya school picture, December 16th, 2015 
betsy & iya staff & +1's It was a wonderful evening together before some of us part ways for holiday breaks. I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to my fellow planner, Anna S., Accanto, all my coworkers for attending and bringing their guests, and of course, to Betsy and Will for giving us jobs and a reason to celebrate all things betsy & iya as a team. If you're in the nostalgic mood, you can read about past b&i holiday parties on the blog: 2013 and 2014. Much love & happiest of holidays to you and your people. xo Anna
One 1/2 of Team Anna, expressing our joy that this big, beautiful table was all for us! Beautiful bar set up at Accanto. Betsy and Will treated us to a delicious dinner, drinks, and dessert. And what's a party without presents? Our staff kitchen is now the proud owner of a toaster oven. This is a dream come true for several of us, and enables us to take our lunch game to a whole new level. Betsy, genuinely surprise at how excited people were about this gift It's also tradition for the bosses to share some words about the previous 12 months. This year, Betsy shared a list of accomplishments that made all of us extremely proud. Here are a few things we're super grateful we've been able to do in 2015:
- Donated to nonprofits Friends of the Children, Girls Inc, The American Heart Association, and the American Red Cross
- The whole production crew took an educational trip to Rio Grande in Albuquerque, visiting one of our biggest suppliers of jewelry parts.
- We’ve purchased new machines and implemented new processes in the studio that have changed the way we do things, improving our efficiency and delivering a better product.
- We built a new website and successfully started selling non b&i product.
- We released two new collections: You & Me, pt. 1 and Unu.
- We surpassed 10k followers on Instagram, 7,500 on Facebook, 1,700 on Twitter, and 1,000 on Pinterest.
- We hired 4 new awesome employees: Shayna, Taylor, Sara, and Lindsey.
- We completed 15 custom projects. (interested in custom work? Tell us more here!)
- We made several upgrades in our retail space, including a beautiful new cash wrap.
- We were recognized as the 64th fastest growing company in Oregon.
- We successfully planned and executed 3 quarterly staff events, getting to know each other better along the way, letting loose and having a blast together (Salsa lessons, Sk8ing fun, & aMAZEing good times)
- We sold 22,039 pieces of b&i jewelry and counting! This one blew my mind! So cool
- We successfully organized and completed the 5th year of Little Boxes
betsy & iya school picture, December 16th, 2015 betsy & iya staff & +1's It was a wonderful evening together before some of us part ways for holiday breaks. I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to my fellow planner, Anna S., Accanto, all my coworkers for attending and bringing their guests, and of course, to Betsy and Will for giving us jobs and a reason to celebrate all things betsy & iya as a team. If you're in the nostalgic mood, you can read about past b&i holiday parties on the blog: 2013 and 2014. Much love & happiest of holidays to you and your people. xo Anna