August 30, 2010
The Road
Taken
An inside look at a SIPA member, the choices he or she has made on the road
to success, and the challenges ahead.
Karen Piontkowski, Founder and President, Direct
Answer, Inc.
Katie Rogers, Vice President, Direct Answer, Inc.
Editor’s Note: We give you a pre-Labor Day special
today of two-for-the-price-of-one.
SIPA: What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this
business?
Karen Piontkowski: Printing broker...doesn't everyone in direct marketing start in printing?
Once the ink is in your blood and the feel of the different paper textures, you cannot get it out so it seems! Throughout
the years, I find most of my colleagues who began with me in the late ’70s and early ’80s are connected to printing
in some sort of fashion...however, I fear we may be losing those wonderful smells of a web press running at full speed!
Katie Rogers: I was being recruited to work for a certain three-letter government agency, but
when I found out that I could and would be called at a moment’s notice to head overseas for an undetermined amount of
time, I and my soon-to-be husband, decided it might not be the best environment to raise a family. As for how I got into this
business, I don’t think I ever was NOT in this business. I started folding T-shirts for premiums and doing data entry
before I was legally allowed to work: my friends are still impressed with my 100 wpm! Growing up surrounded by this industry,
I swore I would never work in it when I “grew up”—I wanted to break the mold. Do something different! However,
the passion must run in my blood as I kept being drawn back to it—it seemed to come naturally. After completing my EMBA,
I realized this was what I was made to do and haven’t looked back since.
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