By Shay Hughes

Earlier this month, our amazing team had a very special meeting celebrating our company’s anniversary and this year. Every year, we do our best to mix it up, and this year proved to be extra memorable and full of inspiration, positive energy, and more importantly, love and appreciation!

To kick off the morning, each office had team leaders start the morning with some inspiring words and stories of their favorite memories they have created at Hughes Marino. It ranged from fun stories about interviewing with the company for the first time, to exciting moments such as the opening of our newest office in San Francisco! We all shared laughs and even happy tears as many of our team members reflected on how they have felt being a part of our Hughes Marino team.

Our leaders make it a top priority to create a culture full of love and appreciation and one that feels more like family versus simply coworkers. We also had a very special (surprise) presentation in store for the team!

In December, we asked each team member to write a short sentence about each teammate in their respective offices. The responses we received were overwhelmingly touching and truly reflected the love that is felt throughout all of our offices.

The hundreds of answers were compiled into a presentation by our marketing mavens and were presented during our anniversary meetings for a truly touching and uplifting experience! Team members read about one another and also told stories about each individual. It was a reflection of who our team members are, and what makes them special as individuals, and it was so wonderful to hear common themes about each individual!

It was an eye-opening moment for all of us at Hughes Marino, because what everyone said about one another was so heartfelt and truly was a reflection of our strength as a team. Each office then held unique activities that ranged from (highly competitive!) outdoor relay races and scavenger hunts to having a surprise visit by a remote team member!

One special thing our Seattle team did was take a field trip to visit the original coffee shop, Il Giornale, that Howard Schultz opened before embarking on growing Starbucks into an international empire. Our Chairman and CEO, Jason, is a big fan of Howard Schultz and has shared with our team stories about Howard’s early days when he started Il Giornale, so this was an homage to both Jason and Howard.

Jason and I are truly proud of our team and we cannot wait to see what is store for us in the new decade!

Onward!