"The Making of Occasionally Made"

Only occasionally do you run across a woman who is willing to risk it all to follow her passion. Tracee Martin, former advertising executive turned girly-girl, has taken that risk - TWICE.

Eighteen years ago, she was a widowed teenage mother struggling to make ends meet. Three college degrees later, she enjoyed riding on corporate jets and earning a fat-cat salary as director of sales and marketing for a major media company. Then six years ago, this single mom and entrepreneur left her plush corporate job to open her well-known Richmond, VA boutique, Occasionally. The boutique specializes in personalized gift items, such as monogrammed handbags, engraved silver jewelry and personalized stationery.

But never one to sit idly in her pretty pink office, Martin saw a growing demand for pretty pre-personalized products and decided to make them herself – while making a new company along with it – Occasionally Made! She developed her new line of products with the needs and wants of retailers AND their customers in mind. Occasionally Made products allow stores to offer personalized items without having to take custom orders. No more lengthy turn-around times or monogramming mishaps—just cute personalized products at the customer’s nicely manicured finger tips!

Occasionally Made products premiered at AmericasMart in January 2008 where their elegant damask monogram mugs quickly became the talk of the show! Occasionally Made is now available in almost 2,000 retail locations nationwide. Martin attributes her newest venture’s amazing success to her expertise as a retailer (and some totally cute designs, of course). “I sell my own product. Not just on the wholesale level, but in my shop to my customers, as well. I hear their feedback and listen to what they want. This information allows me to develop an amazing product, as well as convenient ordering and operational procedures.”

Stay tuned as Occasionally Made keeps making hot new products!