Marshall is an executive director for Thirty-One Gifts, a 10-year-old, home-based party company with a goal of helping women own their own businesses. The company, which has a major distribution center in Springfield, has a corporate foundation that is devoted to supporting girls, women and families. Thirty-One Gifts is focused on bags of all sorts as well as gifts.
After beginning her business with the company in 2009, Marshall quickly rose through the ranks and now supervises 300 others from around the globe.
“I started doing direct sales right out of high school,” Marshall said. “But it wasn’t until my sister had a Thirty-One party in 2009 that I thought about it again. I loved the product and I had a great time at the party.”
Marshall said she had a great job at the time – as a corporate trainer, but she needed a little extra money, so she signed up. She continued to work full-time until October of 2012.
“I didn’t want to work full-time through the winter and scrape my car every morning,” she said. “I was a senior director by that time and I knew I could pay all my bills with Thirty-One.”
But the company also helped her fuel her passion for giving back to the community.
“In 2012, Thirty-One launched their philanthropy group,” Marshall said. “At that time they chose 15 directors to be on that council and I was part of that.”
Marshall and the founding members of the council chose two national partners to support. “Girl Talk” is a peer-to-peer mentoring program that has a mission to help teenage girls build self-esteem, develop leadership skills and recognize the importance of community service. Marshall has helped collect supplies for the summer camp and chaperoned a leadership conference this past summer. Ronald McDonald House supports families of ill children who have extended stays in hospitals.
“I also volunteer with Ronald McDonald House with my team,” Marshall said. “Once a month we make dinner for the families at the house and we talk with them.”
The team also does regular supply drives to help bring wished for items to the house, including trash bags, paper towels and household cleaning supplies.
“Because the Dayton house is small, we know we are only touching 9 percent of the population being served by Dayton Children’s Hospital,” Marshall said. “So we take a care cart around to patient rooms and bring them snacks, toiletries, books and games.”
The group donated more than $400 in Thirty-One products to organize everything on the cart.
Marshall also volunteers for Crayons to Classrooms, an organization that collects and distributes free school supplies to local teachers of students in need. She has helped not only by donating products but also by volunteering in the store on Kuntz road in Dayton when the teachers come by to shop.
In January of 2013, Marshall’s mother was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and she is grateful that having her own business provided her with the flexibility to care for her mother.
“It was a no brainer for our family,” she said. “I have this amazing job and I could be there with Mom at every treatment.”
Told initially that her mother’s life span would be just six months, Marshall and her family are celebrating her 55-year-old mother’s full remission today.
And Marshall is convinced her faith and the support of her company made this happen.
“I have a great team and they continued to work for me when I couldn’t,” she said. “Our team grew this year while I was more focused on my mom than on the business. They worked super hard to make up for what I couldn’t do.”
Marshall is today able to continue building her business and volunteer for the organizations she loves, and believes this makes all the difference.
“I tell everyone if they have even one weekend free, they should call a local organization and ask what they can do,” Marshall said. “Even if you think you don’t have time, there are many different things you can do to support.”
For more information about Thirty-One Gifts, log on to 31gifts.com.
About the Author