March 13, 2025 • 38 mins
Lori Watson is the innovative CEO and second-generation owner of The Flag Lady, a family-founded business built on a passion for quality craftsmanship and exceptional service. Established in 1980 by her mother, Mary Leavitt, The Flag Lady has become a trusted name in American-made flags. After working alongside her mother for over three decades, Lori assumed leadership in 2017, infusing the business with fresh branding, digital expansion, and on-site manufacturing capabilities.Under Lori’s visionary guidance, The Flag Lady has diversified into trade show products, expanded its sales channels, and reinforced its commitment to delivering 100% Made in the USA products. The company's legacy lives on through Lori's dedication to preserving her mother’s foundational values while embracing innovation to serve both residential and corporate customers.A recognized leader in the flag industry, Lori is the Past President of the National Flag Dealers Association (NIFDA) and an active member of the Flag Manufacturers Association of America (FMAA), where she champions sourcing all U.S. flag components domestically. Her commitment to community and patriotism is further demonstrated through involvement with organizations such as BC4C, Gold Star Mothers, and Project Shiloh.Lori earned her degree from The Ohio State University and is a graduate of the Emerging Leaders USA program, a prestigious initiative by the Small Business Administration.Outside of her professional endeavors, Lori enjoys swimming, singing, reading, and entertaining friends and family. Above all, she treasures time spent with her family, finding joy and inspiration in her grandchildren, who represent the next chapter of her family’s story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Columbus in Central Ohio have a rich history of companies
being headquartered here, everything from technology, manufacturing, retail, insurance, and more.
But what about the leaders behind these companies? What makes
them tick? How do they get their start? This is
where you get to meet the captain of the ship.
Welcome to CEOs You Should Know and iHeartMedia Columbus Podcast.
Laurie Watson is this week's guest on CEOs You Should Know.
(00:23):
She's the CEO and second generation owner of The Flag Lady. Laurie,
There's so many things I want to get to including
your top selling merchandise. The more the story the Flag Lady.
But for those that don't know, what is the Flag
Lady Store?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The Flag Lady's Store is a fun and spirited place
to come and shop. You will see so many things
beyond the USA, and certainly that's there. One side we
say is scarlett and gray, the other side is red,
white and blue, and in between we have any kind
of season that you want to go. So it's just fun.
(01:01):
It's a place where you can kind of let down.
A lot of our customers just like to browse and
they coming in for the first time and we like
to chat we like to just embrace you when you
come in the door.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, I was gonna say, it's very easy to get
lost and not want to buy everything in the store.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I mean that's me. Well thanks, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
No, and you do have a very friendly staff. But
and I highly encourage anyone to get down to a
high street. And it's technically it's in Clintonville, right, is
that right?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
The story has a rich history. You celebrate forty five
years this year. Can you tell us the story of
its conception? How it started?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I sure? Can you know? My mom, we were all
raised very patriotic. Got a grandma who used to carry
a red, white, blue, four by six inch flag in
her purse in case she got a chance to wave it.
That's my great grandmother. Oh, so we were taught stand
up when the flag goes by, we went to praise.
We did it all. I had no idea that that
(02:05):
was weird until I was sixteen and other people are
looking at me like what the heck cause I'm putting
my hand over my heart and my friends are no
longer going to praise like we all did when we
were in middle school. Yeah, so it was just part
of it. We left a flag at every home that
we ever moved from. We moved a lot with my
dad's positions, so we just we've embraced the United States
(02:26):
early on as a family. And mom my brother was
stationed off of the in Chicago in the Navy, right
before the end, right outside I ran the first time
we were going to go in, and she couldn't find
a flag. It was outside flag season. You know, back
forty five years ago, you could only buy a flag
from a Memorial Day to Labor Day and you went
(02:47):
to your hardware store. Wow, I don't know that that's
how it was done. And so this was outside that timeframe.
So she couldn't find one. So she found a manufacturer flags,
and frankly, she hounded this guy until he finally gave
her six flags. I won't give you one, but I'll
give you six. You see if you can sell well,
she sold them within several hours in the neighborhood. So
my mom is known for starting the business from the
(03:07):
trunk of her car, and it truly that's Chicago, where
my dad was at the time. They came back to Columbus,
which is our hometown. Born, raised here, and then went
all over and then came back and she continued to
frankly work her lunch hours while she was a legal
secretary and sold flags door to door at that time too.
So I just grew and grew and grew, and then
(03:29):
with the Iranian crisis that really came to a head,
it was time she had some decisions to make, and
so she went into business, had her We started the house,
the basement went over, took for you know this more
and more of the house than she needed to get
a shop, and then the rest of it is history.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
What and this would have been around what nineteen.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Eighty nine was the loose idea? What can I ask?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
What did your dad think of all this? What did
he think?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
My dad just thought she was hysteric, and he had
been with her, they were high school sweethearts, and so,
you know, he just let her do her thing. He
let her do her thing and supported her at every angle.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
He was.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
He had his own thing going. He was big in
the insurance world, and so and eventually they end up
being business together. It is something Boxer that they always
wanted to be in business together from the time we
were little and we would go to Estes Park, Colorado,
and when they'd see shop that, you know, mod, he
called her Mod, would you like, you know, let's do
(04:36):
this someday. So they did get to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
That's so rare to hear in this day and age.
If you think about it too. You know, my love
my wife, she loves me, but even she would say,
I don't know if I could be around you the
entire day.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, mom was that kind of firecracker, and my dad
would kind of set her up too, so they had
had a great relationship.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Hearing that story alone, I can tell your mother, your
entire family full of patriotism. And I remember when I
moved to town. I'm originally from Minnesota, but when I
moved here it would have been nineteen ninety nine, and
I remember hearing the commercials on our sister station, and
(05:21):
what stuck with me is at the end of the commercial,
your mother would say, God bless America. And that stuck
to me because, like you, I grew up in a
family on a farm where you were taught patriotism. You
were taught to put your hand over your heart even
if there was a national anthem playing on TV. That's
(05:45):
what you did. So that just stuck with me, and
I've been a fan of the Flag Lady Flag Lady's store.
Little did I know all the story behind it since
I moved here. But when did?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
When did? That?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Part of it was that from the beginning, when you
started doing commercials, God Bless America was always the ending.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It was. In fact, she her faith, our family's faith
has always led us, and she believed that God had
told her that she was to do something about God
and country, and so she didn't have any idea. It
was a dream she had on a farm that they
lived on in Mount Vernon, Ohio for a while.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Wow, And it just.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Ended up being what it became. And certainly she did
not know frankly, that that's what was going to happen.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, so, Laurie, I mean through time, I don't know
what the story had looked like. You know, back in
nineteen eighty clearly you sell more than just flags. But
when you started and you were in a brick and
mortar spot, by the way, was it the Clintonville location?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Was that the very first you were always in Clintonville?
I was always Yeah, I was born and I was
raised in Clintonville, went to all the Clintonville schools, so
it was really home. And when my mom I've lived.
My mom was very poor and so she lived in
what would be now is the Short North area by
Italian Village and things like that, and her dream was
always always to go up there where all those houses
(07:14):
and big trees are. So we ended up. She got
us there, my parents got us there, and that's why
the story is there. I can't ever imagine me leaving.
It was a great supportive community and.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
It's just so like Mom, Yeah, Laurie, what was the
merchandise like when you open the store? Was it strictly
just flags? Because I know what you now, you have
so much many different things you offer. But what was
it was a.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
USA flag, the state of Ohio flag. And she always
had some gifts. She always had patriotic gifts though. She
always you know, we've always had people who become citizens,
and we were we wanted to congratulate those people who
wanted to become and so we still have an entire
gift line for for someone who becomes a US citizen.
So that that was the crux of it. Then she
(08:05):
thought people started kind of getting the hang of it,
and then she said, ah, they're going to want to
put rees on the front door of the Red, white, and Blue. So,
you know, we start we started with wreaths. But what
really happened is people corporate America wanted her to make
their flags here because she had been, like I said,
a legal secretary in a Vori say to law firm
(08:27):
and still there and she worked for mister Borre's and
so she had a lot of contacts, you know, with
big corporations or corporate law firm, and they they wanted
to support her, and so that really changed the business
and really pretty quickly. And she also figured out pretty quickly,
I love my USA flag, but I'm not sure it's
gonna pay my rent every month, you know, because it
(08:49):
was you know, I was a twenty five back then,
probably twenty five dollars item and she had to do
a lot of that. Pay her please, got us a
lot of flash. So she said, I've got to diversify here.
I'm not you know, I got to figure this out.
So it was a natural so she and we were
making Ohio state flights. That's the first thing we started
making was the Blocko Ohio state flag. So we got
(09:10):
the seamstresses, we got the sewing machines. Corporate America comes in,
they want things, and the delivery time back there was twelve, sixteen,
eighteen weeks before you could get it. Well, Mom said, shoot,
I can handle that. So she got that down to
half almost immediately. Today today you can turn around flag.
We can turn around a flag in ten to fourteen
days usually depending on the quantity and things like that. Yeah,
(09:32):
you know, it's all so the manufacturing site was huge.
It was huge for her, and then she got into
people wanted to tell their story on their own flag,
so they'd have family flags. Back then, we still do
some family flags, so put their dog on a flag
and you know, and they were all hand sown, I
mean hand so so we use what Honda when they
(09:54):
came out with a brand new car, we would do
huge ten by fifteen foot flags that had the wind
showed wipers on them and had the little, you know,
a little license plate and we did all that. Laurie
is fun.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Laurie, Okay, this is really fascinating. I didn't know half
of this, so it sounds to me like it was
very much a lot of it. Word of mouth. Did
you pitch companies back then or they still don't.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's her worst kept saying. I mean, we just don't.
It is word of mouth. The business is absolutely word about.
I think the most fun the funniest thing is during
that Iran ranting crisis, Dave Letterman said, who the hell
is the flag lady? Because she was getting on Tom
broke off, because the media was coming, because there were
droves of people trying to get a USA flight, I mean,
(10:45):
and the yellow ribbons around the tree. So the timing
of this, and remember God and country through all this,
you know, it was amazing. She had no idea that
this country was going to go on that she So
the role that she got to play during a really
difficult time in our country and elsewhere was huge, and
she took it seriously. We all took it seriously. How
(11:07):
can we serve these people? You've got people that are
your sons and daughters going off to war. You know,
back then there were yellow ribbons around the trees all
across Clintonville in Columbus, Ohio. People were flying their flags
like crazy, support the troops, you know, and she was
the heartbeat. I mean we also Teddy Roosevelt used to
do those fireside chats. Yeah, I said, you know, I
(11:28):
just want to have a pot belly stove so we
can just sit and have our own fireside chats. And
that really started this atmosphere is let's talk. We talk
in the flag, lady, And I guess that's what I'm
trying to share that, you know, we don't care where
you can come from, what you believe, but if you
can talk and love about how you believe and what
(11:49):
you're convicted of, let's go for it, let's chat, you know.
And that's what that flag did, and that just carried
on into what I would call eventually became the culture
of the flight. Yeah, it's just it's just as who
we are. You know.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
It's interesting, Laurie, because I was in junior high with
Operation Desert was a desert storm back in the Yeah,
so I remember back then, you know, the United States
going into the Gulf and Kuwait for example. But I
(12:24):
remember it was said then there was this fear of
the lack of support like there was with Vietnam. But
it appears to me that the igniting of patriotism happened
way before that, and it was nineteen eighty. It was
the you know, the Iran crisis, and it really.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Was that message that we I have an uncle who's
certain in Vietnam. Yeah, you know, he is incredible, he's
ady whatever now and he was never welcomed home. And
so we still to this day in our shop right
at four or five six North High Street, we welcome
a Vietnam betteran home because they are proud now they
(13:04):
didn't used to come in. They wear their they wear
their colors now, they tell you I served in Vietnam.
We have a whole series of flags that help support
them because and we always say welcome home. And to
this day, forty five years later, there will still be
a tear in one of those eyes. Wow, it's amazing.
(13:25):
It's amazing. It just it's so it's very touching. It's
just it's just the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It is, it truly is. Did your mom ever say
too when starting this store in the eighties, Was there
a I don't know, Laurie. Was there a lesson learned
from Vietnam too? At watching Yeah, I was too young
to remember, but just watching how people were treated coming back.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
There was and I and I am kind of the
impetus because I we would drive down High Street. We
lived right at High in Pallast in Clintonville. That's so
I would get on the bus and I go see
grandmother who lived it basically Lane and High in an
apartment there. We would go down by myself to go
see my grandmother and see what was going on, the spitting,
(14:10):
the fighting, and the point eventually I couldn't get to her.
So Mom was really bothered that I was seeing that
that at my age, that it was going to touch
me and Kent State. I mean, you're talking as such
an incredible painful time in our country's history and right
here in Ohio as well in our community. That again,
(14:33):
it's where, unbeknownst to us, we were able to serve
where you can serve, you know, And that's kind of
how it goes with us. It's just there's when you know,
I often will say that we're kind of the barometer
of how people are feeling in our community because we
often know because the phone calls that come do you
(14:55):
have can I get will know that something has happened.
Sometimes before you know, we have a read on, we
don't have TV on, you know, we don't have the
radio listen unfortunately, we don't have the radio just playing,
you know, So it's intriguing to us, and I'll tell
you we don't. We feel a responsibility with it. We do.
(15:19):
We feel a responsibility as a family. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Laurie Watson is this week's guest on CEOs. You should
know she's the CEO and second generation owner of the Flag. Lady, Laurie,
Fast forward a little bit. You you eventually find yourself
at the Ohio State University. You studied there, But were
you still helping, always helping in the store throughout all
of that.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, well, you know, I'm a little younger than you know.
I was a student and mom didn't start until really
as I graduated. Oh okay States. So when I talk about,
you know, going down there and seeing that that was
an instrumental part of the pain of that we all
(16:02):
remembered when it became the Iranian crisis desert storm. Yeah, okay,
so I need to pull that together because I can
see where but I when you have a family business,
you're involved, whether you want to be or not. You know,
it's just it's just everybody kind of knows what's going on,
(16:22):
and to not know within a family business what's going
on is a choice that someone makes, and they can
make that choice because it's not easy having a small business,
a family owned business. But in the end, we have
found within our family a way to zig and zag together,
(16:43):
to recommit to the mission of serving others over and
over again. And as long as that happens and the
community continues to embrace us, we will have a business.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
You know what I love about the Flag Lady's store
is and I feel like I knew this already, but
getting to actually talk with you, Laurie, it's it's more
than just selling items or merchandise. There's a huge portion,
if not I'm guessing the majority, that there's a purpose there.
There's a purpose where you feel like you're serving your
(17:18):
community and you're serving your country.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Wow. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
There's an emotional I think through different generations that have
been going to the Flag Lady, some that are just
being introduced for the first time. I think, and you
walk in and you can feel this, there's an emotional
connection there. There is, whether it's uh and I'll take
you through. My emotional connection is remembering the commercial on
(17:48):
the radio, and then whenever I visited, I'll look around
at the different merchandise. There's a nice section of Ohio state.
But then there's all the military flags, and I am
the biggest geek for our military that you could imagine.
And so I'll look at all the different branches and
and I love the different things you do that you
(18:08):
sell that where you you honor the different branches in
a veteran of Vietnam, like for example you you mentioned,
and I love that. So there's there's this timeline of
emotions a person can have just looking at your merchandise
inside I think.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I hope. So we're that intentional with what we're trying
to do, you know, Ohio State. We're not late bloomers
supporting Ohio State. My mom was one of the one
of the very early licensees with the Ohio Wow. Story
behind that, I've got to share it with you. Yeah. Yeah,
but she was bound and determined that she did not
get to graduate from Ohio State because back in that day,
(18:46):
there were no loans, there was no way poverty, and
so she had to go to work support her family. Yeah,
but it's always what she wanted to do. And so
when she got another she fell in love with Ohio
State anyway, and of course not anyway, of course, she
fell in love with Ohio State. And then we're making flags,
and we're starting to make our Block ohs and we're
doing some things like that. But she is bound and
(19:07):
determined that she's going to get her flags on the field,
and she wants it not only her flag on the field,
she wants it to be the largest of any other
college that's doing it that she's aware of. So she's calling,
she's calling Ohio State, this is what I want to do.
The athletic department. They're supportive, Okay, Mary, They're not going
(19:27):
to tell her no. Back then, and so there was
just the beginning I believe of a licensee department. It
wasn't as formal as it is now. Sure, and she
started calling all the universities. I'd like to know how
big your flag is. I'd like to know the dimensions
of your flag, And sure enough, she ended up making
the first flag at that time was ten by seventeen
(19:49):
and that beat everybody, and it was just retired. It
was the original flag. They still have it, but it is.
It was the Block OH, leaf and nut because that's
what we were, you know. So wow. So she got
that out for years and they for a long time
they kept it going out with the Athletic logo that
we also do, so she got it. Now we do bigger.
Now we do all the stadium flags that go across
(20:10):
the top. They're fifteen feet long. Very they're so much
fun to do. Wow, Brutus Buckeye when he goes down, touchdown,
Brutus when he does his thing. The Ohio the athletic
logo that they run out on the field with block
oh All that is because of my mom's desire to
have the largest university flag go out on the field
with those Ohio State Buckeyes. I didn't know this. I
(20:32):
know it's the coolest story. So it started way way back,
and then that just also perpetuated, you know that, because
again there weren't you know, there were flags, but not
like there are, certainly not like there were today. So
we started all that too. So and it's tread to listening.
Isn't that just listening seeing where your heart is and
(20:52):
my mom doing it. You know, we can all have
great ideas, but if you don't pursue it right, you're
not going to get there. You're not going to get there.
That is something that she taught me, my brothers and
I hope and I'd like to thank all of our children.
So it's just the thing that she really brought. She
she was intense, funny, kind of like Buddy's carpet. I
(21:17):
I just want to sell, you know, kind of like that.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
And while it's true, do you remember Laurie the was
there a first time that maybe it was in person,
maybe it was on TV.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Was she did she get to witness the first time
they went running on the field with the flag?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Oh gosh, yes, they were so good to mom. Ohio
State was so good to mom. You know, she didn't
get to graduate, and and she tried, she did take
some classes and some things like that, but they put
her on an avcate board. They just took her energy,
embraced her and gave her lots of really neat opportunities
to do neat stuff. Yeah, so Lily she did. That's
(22:01):
amazing a group of people down there.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, so Laurie. Eventually, was there a point where you
decided not that you weren't involved, but you wanted to
get more involved like a daily basis with the flag lady?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
The point that my father said, I don't understand why
you're working for any other family than your own. We'd
love to have you come and join us.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Now, well said well, and they didn't argue with that.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
They didn't say it once. Then it just became this movement.
And yeah, and I was already still involved. I had
young children at the time, and I literally was sewing
flags at one point from the trunk of my art
from the trunk of my car, having flags for them
down in my basement as my kids were little. But
as my youngest got Harrison huh, he turned five, and
(22:48):
I was getting the niche. I kind of was missing
the workfield. I went to work for other families and
it didn't go over real well so and it wasn't
because with my you know, they wanted to be there,
you know, and I they thought I had something to offer.
And I got enough of my mom and me, enough
(23:08):
of my dad and me that I could be a
powerhouse within the business. And it didn't take me long
to make the decision to move. I think it was
imperative that I had that experience working for other businesses
because it made me choose to go into my own
small business family to work there. Because it's not easy
(23:31):
and I and I think you have to understand that.
And that's all I'm going to say, and it's been
a great day. It's been a great day. But I'm
glad I had the choice. I'm glad that I just
didn't go in. I think my parents, you know, I
think it was the right move for our family, right.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Laurie, What what other jobs did you have? What other
things did you get to explore?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Clyde worked for a local architect here in town that
was small and ran his office and was one of
the probably one of the first. I worked for the
Longerburger Company, helped develop part of their I was hired
for the product line I'm sorry, pottery line manager and developer,
and then worked into some fabric. Because of a switch
(24:14):
with my husband's career, I had to leave there. That
was a long drive with the kids and stuff, so home,
so we would, you know, have somebody at home still
or certainly available while they were in school. So and
I did a couple of other things. I'm trying to
think what they were, but those are probably the two
biggest things. And when and then experiencing both a small,
(24:39):
smaller business and then something like the Longerburger Company, very
hands on a large business, and all that I was
able to take something from both of those design side,
from the architect, how to organize, how to transform it
and get it into a process that you know, it
was sustainable, which has served me well with where I
(25:03):
am now trying to get processes down as we continue
to grow. And then at the longer Burger, just watching
the in and out and kind of how they you know,
they were huge, huge back then and still very family oriented,
and just how they did that, how they worked at
how they just how they related with one another. And
(25:27):
I was able to take from that as well when.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I came in, Yeah, the business, Laurie, and you took
all of that experience and it eventually became what full
circle for you and you came back to the flag
Lady's store. Your mom did she did? She work the
store to the very end. How did that work?
Speaker 2 (25:49):
She pretty much did? She I was really My mom
loved being the flag lady. She loved that role and
it fed her and she fed others with her. Her
passion was so obvious her and that's really what she
(26:11):
wanted to do. She the business side of it. She
was brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, but it really didn't want
she learned that they wanted me to be that side
of it. That's really what happened. And at the same time,
they knew that I had the passion for what we
were doing as well. So I was behind the scenes
(26:33):
with Mom a lot, and you know, I'm you know,
when she I helped with. I hate she wrote her speeches,
but I was right there next to her writing the speech.
She practiced with me over and over and over again.
Most people don't know my mom had a learning disability.
So every time she did a speech or a presentation
(26:55):
she like calling a speech a presentation about our country
or about the history or whatever she was asked to
talk about, she had to rewrite it as if she'd
never done it before. And I mean to tell you,
because she just could not read it. She just so
it was painful sometimes for me because I thought, Okay,
I got other things I really could be doing Mom,
(27:18):
and she was a perfectionist, and so it just would
take hours of my time and her time. But that's
what I did. And so I was the first to
bring in the seasonal flags were just flying off, you know.
Also I was first say, hey, we got to grab
that opportunity. So we had probably twenty seemstress as working
(27:38):
from home for us. We gave them bags and they
made for mister Sunshines or they we started a crew
doing Ohio state from their home and bringing it back
in because we didn't have a space. We didn't know
what we're doing, and it just grew and grew. So
I was able. She was a wonderful mentor. I was
always a good listener. I knew that what she brought
(27:59):
to the business I could not have brought to the business.
She just had enough guts to go door to door.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
It is amazing, and I don't think Lori Lynn could
have done that. I like it when people come to
me and I can tell the story and I can
share it. But for me to be the guy who
plays in the trail, I don't know. But you know what,
she wanted to make it and our family was dependent
on her making it. My father was out doing a thing.
(28:28):
They were two, two income family. It wasn't something that
she could just hopefully make work. Yeah, her family had.
She had to make it. So she had that and
the passion and you're looking at just my day. I
just called the Tasmanian devil. I mean, you know, she
just went through life with energy, up, running and all
that stuff. So we all learned a lot from her. Yeah,
(28:53):
learned a lot.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Failure was not an option, No, no, no, not at all. No, No,
there was. So when you it sounds like you you
learned so much from your mom. I feel like I've
learned so much from Mary. Just listen to this. What
is there? Is there one thing, a piece of advice
(29:15):
that she ever gave you that you carry with you
to this day.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah, but I have to I've had to soften it
a little bit because she always said, when someone puts
you in a corner, come out fighting like a son
of a bitch. And that's how she was raised. She
was poor. You got to realize, I took in rumors.
Her father died when she was thirteen years old, so
she had this in her life. Story is just incredible.
So that was one that was one and that was used.
(29:40):
Can't use that language, I'm sure, but oh oh.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
But you know, I would say she taught me to
not give up. Don't even look like up was even something.
You just keep going. Yeah, one door closes, you go
through another. I'm trying to think back you know, yeah, yeah,
(30:10):
you every customer that walks in that store. I don't
care what they look like. I don't care how they dress,
I don't care how they talk.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
You.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
They're important to us. And by the way, you don't
know who they're married to. Okay, so you know there
was always you know, because she was a FI. I mean,
she was incredible, you know. And what else I have
one upset customer, you remember, they're going to tell at
(30:43):
least seven others. Oh yeah, and therefore we take care
of that customer. We eat crow doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, you make it right, make it right.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
That's right. It's always you make it right. And we
make mistakes and we disappoint not very often, but when
we do, we do our part. Laurie.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
As we wrap up here, I have to ask you.
I feel like this is going to be captain obvious here,
but your best selling merchandise, what is it?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
USA flag, Ohio state states? You know, it's to the
Our gift line is picking up all the time. But
I would tell you number one and two would be
USA and Ohio state, you know, if I but it's
all important. I think that what's really important that I'd
like to share is that our commitment in our shop
(31:36):
that as much as possible is made in the United
States and I and that we manufacture on site. I
think it's really important for people to see that we're
trying to we're trying to forge our way that way too,
and that that's not easy to do in this day
(31:57):
and age, and you know, it's not and we love
what we're doing, but it's create it's not. The challenge
is how do you balance it all? And there's incredible
growth there and the store we continue to you know,
we we have a we have a good loyal filing
and we get new customers in every day, which is
(32:18):
so exciting. We everything we do, I will tell everybody,
if it adds value to the customer experience, I'll consider it.
(32:38):
If it doesn't, don't bring it to the table. Yeah,
So it really is all about that with us. And
I like to say, I'm just kind of floating through
that building watching this incredible team of wonderful people take
care of things, and it's it's a real privilege to
be there every day and to love on the customer,
(33:02):
share stories and believe in what we are what we've
been called to do.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, I was going to say at this point, here
we are fast forward, it's February twenty twenty five. Your
son Harrison, does he prefer to be called Harry by
the way, my.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Family, he's Harry and embody, everybody knows him. Yeah, this
Harrison stuff is you know, I didn't know, and I
wanted to be real. I feel like I am just Harrison.
It sounds long, it sounds like that's not my boy,
but you know, he likes it, and it is a
beautiful name, see it is.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
It's a beautiful name, and he's he's a wonderful human.
So Harry has taken on a very crucial role with
the Flag Lady Store as well.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, he's all about the future. He's all about sustainability.
Can we go? We want to go the third generation,
we want to do it. And then he is so
aware of the legacy, the legacy, and there's not I
(34:14):
don't know that he does anything without falling, you know,
going back to legacy. And it's just incredible for me.
This is kind of he's always been with the store.
He used to have sword fights with the with the
fabric cones out in the backyard with his cousin. So
he's been there forever when I brought him that in
after school. But what's he just I'm just really excited
(34:38):
about having him on board. And I got to be
honest with you, I thought, how is this going to work?
Is it going to work because he's my son, because
it's that third generation, it's another family member. But I
am bound to determined, and he makes it pretty easy
to open my arms open up the business because I
(34:59):
can't say at all I don't want. You know, he's
got a vision that is responsible to that that that's
tied to the legacy. Yeah, okay, it's kind of exciting
and I feel a little bit lighter. I feel like
I got a little bit more pep in my step.
You know, I'm not young, I'm not old. I'm writing
(35:20):
that nice in between age. Yeah, And he just provides
an energy that I like to think that I provided
my parents.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Do you see any of your mom and Harry?
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Oh god, yes, yeah. I don't know what he thinks
about that, but yes, yeah, I definitely.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Well, you talked about energy, and I know that's the
one thing you talked about with your mom. Energizer Bunny,
So I thought, are Tasmanian devil and I thought, I wonder,
they sound very similar, so I didn't know they are.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yes, Harry is probably a little bit more coofured. I mean,
you know he's figured out the third generation. You're able
to figure it out a little bit. Okay, I can
be all these things. Then Mom, Mom was Mom really
was off the charts. She was and you know she
(36:16):
was off the charts. But it's good for a time.
People say I'm off the charts too, So you know,
it's the same thing. I think. You know, the the
apple doesn't fall fall fall far from the tree.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Well, Laurie, if for those that have not visited the
store or the website, website again.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
For US is Flag Lady USA dot com.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yeah, super easy, And if we'd like to visit the
store in person.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Clinton Ville at four five sixty seven North High Streets,
park in the back. Always remember to park in the back.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Park in the back, and Laurie, before we go, the
future looks very bright for the Flag Lady store. Anything
that might be coming that we should know about.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
The Absolutely, we're about ready to selve two hundred and
fifty years in this country in twenty twenty six. And
it's a big deal. It's already starting. We were fortunate
the Daughter's Dar Daughters of the American Revolution used our
windows in January to kick off the two hundred and
fiftieth celebrations. So we had old old pieces from back
(37:25):
in that error in our window and started the conversation going.
There are going to be so many wonderful events that
will be going both nationally, but Flag Ladies looking forward
to creating some of our own to just it's a
really big deal.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Lourie, I cannot thank you enough for being here. Lori Watson,
CEO and second generation owner of the Flag Lady, thank
you for being a guest this week on CEOs you
Should Know.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Thank you, It's always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
CEOs You Should Know is hosted and produced by Brandon Boxer,
a production of iHeartMedia, Columbus
Columbus in Central Ohio have a rich history of companies
being headquartered here, everything from technology, manufacturing, retail, insurance, and more.
But what about the leaders behind these companies? What makes
them tick? How do they get their start? This is
where you get to meet the captain of the ship.
Welcome to CEOs You Should Know and iHeartMedia Columbus Podcast.
Laurie Watson is this week's guest on CEOs You Should Know.
(00:23):
She's the CEO and second generation owner of The Flag Lady. Laurie,
There's so many things I want to get to including
your top selling merchandise. The more the story the Flag Lady.
But for those that don't know, what is the Flag
Lady Store?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The Flag Lady's Store is a fun and spirited place
to come and shop. You will see so many things
beyond the USA, and certainly that's there. One side we
say is scarlett and gray, the other side is red,
white and blue, and in between we have any kind
of season that you want to go. So it's just fun.
(01:01):
It's a place where you can kind of let down.
A lot of our customers just like to browse and
they coming in for the first time and we like
to chat we like to just embrace you when you
come in the door.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, I was gonna say, it's very easy to get
lost and not want to buy everything in the store.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I mean that's me. Well thanks, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
No, and you do have a very friendly staff. But
and I highly encourage anyone to get down to a
high street. And it's technically it's in Clintonville, right, is
that right?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
The story has a rich history. You celebrate forty five
years this year. Can you tell us the story of
its conception? How it started?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I sure? Can you know? My mom, we were all
raised very patriotic. Got a grandma who used to carry
a red, white, blue, four by six inch flag in
her purse in case she got a chance to wave it.
That's my great grandmother. Oh, so we were taught stand
up when the flag goes by, we went to praise.
We did it all. I had no idea that that
(02:05):
was weird until I was sixteen and other people are
looking at me like what the heck cause I'm putting
my hand over my heart and my friends are no
longer going to praise like we all did when we
were in middle school. Yeah, so it was just part
of it. We left a flag at every home that
we ever moved from. We moved a lot with my
dad's positions, so we just we've embraced the United States
(02:26):
early on as a family. And mom my brother was
stationed off of the in Chicago in the Navy, right
before the end, right outside I ran the first time
we were going to go in, and she couldn't find
a flag. It was outside flag season. You know, back
forty five years ago, you could only buy a flag
from a Memorial Day to Labor Day and you went
(02:47):
to your hardware store. Wow, I don't know that that's
how it was done. And so this was outside that timeframe.
So she couldn't find one. So she found a manufacturer flags,
and frankly, she hounded this guy until he finally gave
her six flags. I won't give you one, but I'll
give you six. You see if you can sell well,
she sold them within several hours in the neighborhood. So
my mom is known for starting the business from the
(03:07):
trunk of her car, and it truly that's Chicago, where
my dad was at the time. They came back to Columbus,
which is our hometown. Born, raised here, and then went
all over and then came back and she continued to
frankly work her lunch hours while she was a legal
secretary and sold flags door to door at that time too.
So I just grew and grew and grew, and then
(03:29):
with the Iranian crisis that really came to a head,
it was time she had some decisions to make, and
so she went into business, had her We started the house,
the basement went over, took for you know this more
and more of the house than she needed to get
a shop, and then the rest of it is history.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
What and this would have been around what nineteen.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Eighty nine was the loose idea? What can I ask?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
What did your dad think of all this? What did
he think?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
My dad just thought she was hysteric, and he had
been with her, they were high school sweethearts, and so,
you know, he just let her do her thing. He
let her do her thing and supported her at every angle.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
He was.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
He had his own thing going. He was big in
the insurance world, and so and eventually they end up
being business together. It is something Boxer that they always
wanted to be in business together from the time we
were little and we would go to Estes Park, Colorado,
and when they'd see shop that, you know, mod, he
called her Mod, would you like, you know, let's do
(04:36):
this someday. So they did get to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
That's so rare to hear in this day and age.
If you think about it too. You know, my love
my wife, she loves me, but even she would say,
I don't know if I could be around you the
entire day.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, mom was that kind of firecracker, and my dad
would kind of set her up too, so they had
had a great relationship.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Hearing that story alone, I can tell your mother, your
entire family full of patriotism. And I remember when I
moved to town. I'm originally from Minnesota, but when I
moved here it would have been nineteen ninety nine, and
I remember hearing the commercials on our sister station, and
(05:21):
what stuck with me is at the end of the commercial,
your mother would say, God bless America. And that stuck
to me because, like you, I grew up in a
family on a farm where you were taught patriotism. You
were taught to put your hand over your heart even
if there was a national anthem playing on TV. That's
(05:45):
what you did. So that just stuck with me, and
I've been a fan of the Flag Lady Flag Lady's store.
Little did I know all the story behind it since
I moved here. But when did?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
When did? That?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Part of it was that from the beginning, when you
started doing commercials, God Bless America was always the ending.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It was. In fact, she her faith, our family's faith
has always led us, and she believed that God had
told her that she was to do something about God
and country, and so she didn't have any idea. It
was a dream she had on a farm that they
lived on in Mount Vernon, Ohio for a while.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Wow, And it just.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Ended up being what it became. And certainly she did
not know frankly, that that's what was going to happen.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, so, Laurie, I mean through time, I don't know
what the story had looked like. You know, back in
nineteen eighty clearly you sell more than just flags. But
when you started and you were in a brick and
mortar spot, by the way, was it the Clintonville location?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Was that the very first you were always in Clintonville?
I was always Yeah, I was born and I was
raised in Clintonville, went to all the Clintonville schools, so
it was really home. And when my mom I've lived.
My mom was very poor and so she lived in
what would be now is the Short North area by
Italian Village and things like that, and her dream was
always always to go up there where all those houses
(07:14):
and big trees are. So we ended up. She got
us there, my parents got us there, and that's why
the story is there. I can't ever imagine me leaving.
It was a great supportive community and.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
It's just so like Mom, Yeah, Laurie, what was the
merchandise like when you open the store? Was it strictly
just flags? Because I know what you now, you have
so much many different things you offer. But what was
it was a.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
USA flag, the state of Ohio flag. And she always
had some gifts. She always had patriotic gifts though. She
always you know, we've always had people who become citizens,
and we were we wanted to congratulate those people who
wanted to become and so we still have an entire
gift line for for someone who becomes a US citizen.
So that that was the crux of it. Then she
(08:05):
thought people started kind of getting the hang of it,
and then she said, ah, they're going to want to
put rees on the front door of the Red, white, and Blue. So,
you know, we start we started with wreaths. But what
really happened is people corporate America wanted her to make
their flags here because she had been, like I said,
a legal secretary in a Vori say to law firm
(08:27):
and still there and she worked for mister Borre's and
so she had a lot of contacts, you know, with
big corporations or corporate law firm, and they they wanted
to support her, and so that really changed the business
and really pretty quickly. And she also figured out pretty quickly,
I love my USA flag, but I'm not sure it's
gonna pay my rent every month, you know, because it
(08:49):
was you know, I was a twenty five back then,
probably twenty five dollars item and she had to do
a lot of that. Pay her please, got us a
lot of flash. So she said, I've got to diversify here.
I'm not you know, I got to figure this out.
So it was a natural so she and we were
making Ohio state flights. That's the first thing we started
making was the Blocko Ohio state flag. So we got
(09:10):
the seamstresses, we got the sewing machines. Corporate America comes in,
they want things, and the delivery time back there was twelve, sixteen,
eighteen weeks before you could get it. Well, Mom said, shoot,
I can handle that. So she got that down to
half almost immediately. Today today you can turn around flag.
We can turn around a flag in ten to fourteen
days usually depending on the quantity and things like that. Yeah,
(09:32):
you know, it's all so the manufacturing site was huge.
It was huge for her, and then she got into
people wanted to tell their story on their own flag,
so they'd have family flags. Back then, we still do
some family flags, so put their dog on a flag
and you know, and they were all hand sown, I
mean hand so so we use what Honda when they
(09:54):
came out with a brand new car, we would do
huge ten by fifteen foot flags that had the wind
showed wipers on them and had the little, you know,
a little license plate and we did all that. Laurie
is fun.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Laurie, Okay, this is really fascinating. I didn't know half
of this, so it sounds to me like it was
very much a lot of it. Word of mouth. Did
you pitch companies back then or they still don't.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's her worst kept saying. I mean, we just don't.
It is word of mouth. The business is absolutely word about.
I think the most fun the funniest thing is during
that Iran ranting crisis, Dave Letterman said, who the hell
is the flag lady? Because she was getting on Tom
broke off, because the media was coming, because there were
droves of people trying to get a USA flight, I mean,
(10:45):
and the yellow ribbons around the tree. So the timing
of this, and remember God and country through all this,
you know, it was amazing. She had no idea that
this country was going to go on that she So
the role that she got to play during a really
difficult time in our country and elsewhere was huge, and
she took it seriously. We all took it seriously. How
(11:07):
can we serve these people? You've got people that are
your sons and daughters going off to war. You know,
back then there were yellow ribbons around the trees all
across Clintonville in Columbus, Ohio. People were flying their flags
like crazy, support the troops, you know, and she was
the heartbeat. I mean we also Teddy Roosevelt used to
do those fireside chats. Yeah, I said, you know, I
(11:28):
just want to have a pot belly stove so we
can just sit and have our own fireside chats. And
that really started this atmosphere is let's talk. We talk
in the flag, lady, And I guess that's what I'm
trying to share that, you know, we don't care where
you can come from, what you believe, but if you
can talk and love about how you believe and what
(11:49):
you're convicted of, let's go for it, let's chat, you know.
And that's what that flag did, and that just carried
on into what I would call eventually became the culture
of the flight. Yeah, it's just it's just as who
we are. You know.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
It's interesting, Laurie, because I was in junior high with
Operation Desert was a desert storm back in the Yeah,
so I remember back then, you know, the United States
going into the Gulf and Kuwait for example. But I
(12:24):
remember it was said then there was this fear of
the lack of support like there was with Vietnam. But
it appears to me that the igniting of patriotism happened
way before that, and it was nineteen eighty. It was
the you know, the Iran crisis, and it really.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Was that message that we I have an uncle who's
certain in Vietnam. Yeah, you know, he is incredible, he's
ady whatever now and he was never welcomed home. And
so we still to this day in our shop right
at four or five six North High Street, we welcome
a Vietnam betteran home because they are proud now they
(13:04):
didn't used to come in. They wear their they wear
their colors now, they tell you I served in Vietnam.
We have a whole series of flags that help support
them because and we always say welcome home. And to
this day, forty five years later, there will still be
a tear in one of those eyes. Wow, it's amazing.
(13:25):
It's amazing. It just it's so it's very touching. It's
just it's just the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It is, it truly is. Did your mom ever say
too when starting this store in the eighties, Was there
a I don't know, Laurie. Was there a lesson learned
from Vietnam too? At watching Yeah, I was too young
to remember, but just watching how people were treated coming back.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
There was and I and I am kind of the
impetus because I we would drive down High Street. We
lived right at High in Pallast in Clintonville. That's so
I would get on the bus and I go see
grandmother who lived it basically Lane and High in an
apartment there. We would go down by myself to go
see my grandmother and see what was going on, the spitting,
(14:10):
the fighting, and the point eventually I couldn't get to her.
So Mom was really bothered that I was seeing that
that at my age, that it was going to touch
me and Kent State. I mean, you're talking as such
an incredible painful time in our country's history and right
here in Ohio as well in our community. That again,
(14:33):
it's where, unbeknownst to us, we were able to serve
where you can serve, you know, And that's kind of
how it goes with us. It's just there's when you know,
I often will say that we're kind of the barometer
of how people are feeling in our community because we
often know because the phone calls that come do you
(14:55):
have can I get will know that something has happened.
Sometimes before you know, we have a read on, we
don't have TV on, you know, we don't have the
radio listen unfortunately, we don't have the radio just playing,
you know, So it's intriguing to us, and I'll tell
you we don't. We feel a responsibility with it. We do.
(15:19):
We feel a responsibility as a family. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Laurie Watson is this week's guest on CEOs. You should
know she's the CEO and second generation owner of the Flag. Lady, Laurie,
Fast forward a little bit. You you eventually find yourself
at the Ohio State University. You studied there, But were
you still helping, always helping in the store throughout all
of that.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, well, you know, I'm a little younger than you know.
I was a student and mom didn't start until really
as I graduated. Oh okay States. So when I talk about,
you know, going down there and seeing that that was
an instrumental part of the pain of that we all
(16:02):
remembered when it became the Iranian crisis desert storm. Yeah, okay,
so I need to pull that together because I can
see where but I when you have a family business,
you're involved, whether you want to be or not. You know,
it's just it's just everybody kind of knows what's going on,
(16:22):
and to not know within a family business what's going
on is a choice that someone makes, and they can
make that choice because it's not easy having a small business,
a family owned business. But in the end, we have
found within our family a way to zig and zag together,
(16:43):
to recommit to the mission of serving others over and
over again. And as long as that happens and the
community continues to embrace us, we will have a business.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
You know what I love about the Flag Lady's store
is and I feel like I knew this already, but
getting to actually talk with you, Laurie, it's it's more
than just selling items or merchandise. There's a huge portion,
if not I'm guessing the majority, that there's a purpose there.
There's a purpose where you feel like you're serving your
(17:18):
community and you're serving your country.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Wow. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
There's an emotional I think through different generations that have
been going to the Flag Lady, some that are just
being introduced for the first time. I think, and you
walk in and you can feel this, there's an emotional
connection there. There is, whether it's uh and I'll take
you through. My emotional connection is remembering the commercial on
(17:48):
the radio, and then whenever I visited, I'll look around
at the different merchandise. There's a nice section of Ohio state.
But then there's all the military flags, and I am
the biggest geek for our military that you could imagine.
And so I'll look at all the different branches and
and I love the different things you do that you
(18:08):
sell that where you you honor the different branches in
a veteran of Vietnam, like for example you you mentioned,
and I love that. So there's there's this timeline of
emotions a person can have just looking at your merchandise
inside I think.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I hope. So we're that intentional with what we're trying
to do, you know, Ohio State. We're not late bloomers
supporting Ohio State. My mom was one of the one
of the very early licensees with the Ohio Wow. Story
behind that, I've got to share it with you. Yeah. Yeah,
but she was bound and determined that she did not
get to graduate from Ohio State because back in that day,
(18:46):
there were no loans, there was no way poverty, and
so she had to go to work support her family. Yeah,
but it's always what she wanted to do. And so
when she got another she fell in love with Ohio
State anyway, and of course not anyway, of course, she
fell in love with Ohio State. And then we're making flags,
and we're starting to make our Block ohs and we're
doing some things like that. But she is bound and
(19:07):
determined that she's going to get her flags on the field,
and she wants it not only her flag on the field,
she wants it to be the largest of any other
college that's doing it that she's aware of. So she's calling,
she's calling Ohio State, this is what I want to do.
The athletic department. They're supportive, Okay, Mary, They're not going
(19:27):
to tell her no. Back then, and so there was
just the beginning I believe of a licensee department. It
wasn't as formal as it is now. Sure, and she
started calling all the universities. I'd like to know how
big your flag is. I'd like to know the dimensions
of your flag, And sure enough, she ended up making
the first flag at that time was ten by seventeen
(19:49):
and that beat everybody, and it was just retired. It
was the original flag. They still have it, but it is.
It was the Block OH, leaf and nut because that's
what we were, you know. So wow. So she got
that out for years and they for a long time
they kept it going out with the Athletic logo that
we also do, so she got it. Now we do bigger.
Now we do all the stadium flags that go across
(20:10):
the top. They're fifteen feet long. Very they're so much
fun to do. Wow, Brutus Buckeye when he goes down, touchdown,
Brutus when he does his thing. The Ohio the athletic
logo that they run out on the field with block
oh All that is because of my mom's desire to
have the largest university flag go out on the field
with those Ohio State Buckeyes. I didn't know this. I
(20:32):
know it's the coolest story. So it started way way back,
and then that just also perpetuated, you know that, because
again there weren't you know, there were flags, but not
like there are, certainly not like there were today. So
we started all that too. So and it's tread to listening.
Isn't that just listening seeing where your heart is and
(20:52):
my mom doing it. You know, we can all have
great ideas, but if you don't pursue it right, you're
not going to get there. You're not going to get there.
That is something that she taught me, my brothers and
I hope and I'd like to thank all of our children.
So it's just the thing that she really brought. She
she was intense, funny, kind of like Buddy's carpet. I
(21:17):
I just want to sell, you know, kind of like that.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
And while it's true, do you remember Laurie the was
there a first time that maybe it was in person,
maybe it was on TV.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Was she did she get to witness the first time
they went running on the field with the flag?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Oh gosh, yes, they were so good to mom. Ohio
State was so good to mom. You know, she didn't
get to graduate, and and she tried, she did take
some classes and some things like that, but they put
her on an avcate board. They just took her energy,
embraced her and gave her lots of really neat opportunities
to do neat stuff. Yeah, so Lily she did. That's
(22:01):
amazing a group of people down there.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, so Laurie. Eventually, was there a point where you
decided not that you weren't involved, but you wanted to
get more involved like a daily basis with the flag lady?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
The point that my father said, I don't understand why
you're working for any other family than your own. We'd
love to have you come and join us.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Now, well said well, and they didn't argue with that.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
They didn't say it once. Then it just became this movement.
And yeah, and I was already still involved. I had
young children at the time, and I literally was sewing
flags at one point from the trunk of my art
from the trunk of my car, having flags for them
down in my basement as my kids were little. But
as my youngest got Harrison huh, he turned five, and
(22:48):
I was getting the niche. I kind of was missing
the workfield. I went to work for other families and
it didn't go over real well so and it wasn't
because with my you know, they wanted to be there,
you know, and I they thought I had something to offer.
And I got enough of my mom and me, enough
(23:08):
of my dad and me that I could be a
powerhouse within the business. And it didn't take me long
to make the decision to move. I think it was
imperative that I had that experience working for other businesses
because it made me choose to go into my own
small business family to work there. Because it's not easy
(23:31):
and I and I think you have to understand that.
And that's all I'm going to say, and it's been
a great day. It's been a great day. But I'm
glad I had the choice. I'm glad that I just
didn't go in. I think my parents, you know, I
think it was the right move for our family, right.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Laurie, What what other jobs did you have? What other
things did you get to explore?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Clyde worked for a local architect here in town that
was small and ran his office and was one of
the probably one of the first. I worked for the
Longerburger Company, helped develop part of their I was hired
for the product line I'm sorry, pottery line manager and developer,
and then worked into some fabric. Because of a switch
(24:14):
with my husband's career, I had to leave there. That
was a long drive with the kids and stuff, so home,
so we would, you know, have somebody at home still
or certainly available while they were in school. So and
I did a couple of other things. I'm trying to
think what they were, but those are probably the two
biggest things. And when and then experiencing both a small,
(24:39):
smaller business and then something like the Longerburger Company, very
hands on a large business, and all that I was
able to take something from both of those design side,
from the architect, how to organize, how to transform it
and get it into a process that you know, it
was sustainable, which has served me well with where I
(25:03):
am now trying to get processes down as we continue
to grow. And then at the longer Burger, just watching
the in and out and kind of how they you know,
they were huge, huge back then and still very family oriented,
and just how they did that, how they worked at
how they just how they related with one another. And
(25:27):
I was able to take from that as well when.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I came in, Yeah, the business, Laurie, and you took
all of that experience and it eventually became what full
circle for you and you came back to the flag
Lady's store. Your mom did she did? She work the
store to the very end. How did that work?
Speaker 2 (25:49):
She pretty much did? She I was really My mom
loved being the flag lady. She loved that role and
it fed her and she fed others with her. Her
passion was so obvious her and that's really what she
(26:11):
wanted to do. She the business side of it. She
was brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, but it really didn't want
she learned that they wanted me to be that side
of it. That's really what happened. And at the same time,
they knew that I had the passion for what we
were doing as well. So I was behind the scenes
(26:33):
with Mom a lot, and you know, I'm you know,
when she I helped with. I hate she wrote her speeches,
but I was right there next to her writing the speech.
She practiced with me over and over and over again.
Most people don't know my mom had a learning disability.
So every time she did a speech or a presentation
(26:55):
she like calling a speech a presentation about our country
or about the history or whatever she was asked to
talk about, she had to rewrite it as if she'd
never done it before. And I mean to tell you,
because she just could not read it. She just so
it was painful sometimes for me because I thought, Okay,
I got other things I really could be doing Mom,
(27:18):
and she was a perfectionist, and so it just would
take hours of my time and her time. But that's
what I did. And so I was the first to
bring in the seasonal flags were just flying off, you know.
Also I was first say, hey, we got to grab
that opportunity. So we had probably twenty seemstress as working
(27:38):
from home for us. We gave them bags and they
made for mister Sunshines or they we started a crew
doing Ohio state from their home and bringing it back
in because we didn't have a space. We didn't know
what we're doing, and it just grew and grew. So
I was able. She was a wonderful mentor. I was
always a good listener. I knew that what she brought
(27:59):
to the business I could not have brought to the business.
She just had enough guts to go door to door.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
It is amazing, and I don't think Lori Lynn could
have done that. I like it when people come to
me and I can tell the story and I can
share it. But for me to be the guy who
plays in the trail, I don't know. But you know what,
she wanted to make it and our family was dependent
on her making it. My father was out doing a thing.
(28:28):
They were two, two income family. It wasn't something that
she could just hopefully make work. Yeah, her family had.
She had to make it. So she had that and
the passion and you're looking at just my day. I
just called the Tasmanian devil. I mean, you know, she
just went through life with energy, up, running and all
that stuff. So we all learned a lot from her. Yeah,
(28:53):
learned a lot.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Failure was not an option, No, no, no, not at all. No, No,
there was. So when you it sounds like you you
learned so much from your mom. I feel like I've
learned so much from Mary. Just listen to this. What
is there? Is there one thing, a piece of advice
(29:15):
that she ever gave you that you carry with you
to this day.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah, but I have to I've had to soften it
a little bit because she always said, when someone puts
you in a corner, come out fighting like a son
of a bitch. And that's how she was raised. She
was poor. You got to realize, I took in rumors.
Her father died when she was thirteen years old, so
she had this in her life. Story is just incredible.
So that was one that was one and that was used.
(29:40):
Can't use that language, I'm sure, but oh oh.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
But you know, I would say she taught me to
not give up. Don't even look like up was even something.
You just keep going. Yeah, one door closes, you go
through another. I'm trying to think back you know, yeah, yeah,
(30:10):
you every customer that walks in that store. I don't
care what they look like. I don't care how they dress,
I don't care how they talk.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
You.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
They're important to us. And by the way, you don't
know who they're married to. Okay, so you know there
was always you know, because she was a FI. I mean,
she was incredible, you know. And what else I have
one upset customer, you remember, they're going to tell at
(30:43):
least seven others. Oh yeah, and therefore we take care
of that customer. We eat crow doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, you make it right, make it right.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
That's right. It's always you make it right. And we
make mistakes and we disappoint not very often, but when
we do, we do our part. Laurie.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
As we wrap up here, I have to ask you.
I feel like this is going to be captain obvious here,
but your best selling merchandise, what is it?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
USA flag, Ohio state states? You know, it's to the
Our gift line is picking up all the time. But
I would tell you number one and two would be
USA and Ohio state, you know, if I but it's
all important. I think that what's really important that I'd
like to share is that our commitment in our shop
(31:36):
that as much as possible is made in the United
States and I and that we manufacture on site. I
think it's really important for people to see that we're
trying to we're trying to forge our way that way too,
and that that's not easy to do in this day
(31:57):
and age, and you know, it's not and we love
what we're doing, but it's create it's not. The challenge
is how do you balance it all? And there's incredible
growth there and the store we continue to you know,
we we have a we have a good loyal filing
and we get new customers in every day, which is
(32:18):
so exciting. We everything we do, I will tell everybody,
if it adds value to the customer experience, I'll consider it.
(32:38):
If it doesn't, don't bring it to the table. Yeah,
So it really is all about that with us. And
I like to say, I'm just kind of floating through
that building watching this incredible team of wonderful people take
care of things, and it's it's a real privilege to
be there every day and to love on the customer,
(33:02):
share stories and believe in what we are what we've
been called to do.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, I was going to say at this point, here
we are fast forward, it's February twenty twenty five. Your
son Harrison, does he prefer to be called Harry by
the way, my.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Family, he's Harry and embody, everybody knows him. Yeah, this
Harrison stuff is you know, I didn't know, and I
wanted to be real. I feel like I am just Harrison.
It sounds long, it sounds like that's not my boy,
but you know, he likes it, and it is a
beautiful name, see it is.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
It's a beautiful name, and he's he's a wonderful human.
So Harry has taken on a very crucial role with
the Flag Lady Store as well.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, he's all about the future. He's all about sustainability.
Can we go? We want to go the third generation,
we want to do it. And then he is so
aware of the legacy, the legacy, and there's not I
(34:14):
don't know that he does anything without falling, you know,
going back to legacy. And it's just incredible for me.
This is kind of he's always been with the store.
He used to have sword fights with the with the
fabric cones out in the backyard with his cousin. So
he's been there forever when I brought him that in
after school. But what's he just I'm just really excited
(34:38):
about having him on board. And I got to be
honest with you, I thought, how is this going to work?
Is it going to work because he's my son, because
it's that third generation, it's another family member. But I
am bound to determined, and he makes it pretty easy
to open my arms open up the business because I
(34:59):
can't say at all I don't want. You know, he's
got a vision that is responsible to that that that's
tied to the legacy. Yeah, okay, it's kind of exciting
and I feel a little bit lighter. I feel like
I got a little bit more pep in my step.
You know, I'm not young, I'm not old. I'm writing
(35:20):
that nice in between age. Yeah, And he just provides
an energy that I like to think that I provided
my parents.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Do you see any of your mom and Harry?
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Oh god, yes, yeah. I don't know what he thinks
about that, but yes, yeah, I definitely.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Well, you talked about energy, and I know that's the
one thing you talked about with your mom. Energizer Bunny,
So I thought, are Tasmanian devil and I thought, I wonder,
they sound very similar, so I didn't know they are.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yes, Harry is probably a little bit more coofured. I mean,
you know he's figured out the third generation. You're able
to figure it out a little bit. Okay, I can
be all these things. Then Mom, Mom was Mom really
was off the charts. She was and you know she
(36:16):
was off the charts. But it's good for a time.
People say I'm off the charts too, So you know,
it's the same thing. I think. You know, the the
apple doesn't fall fall fall far from the tree.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Well, Laurie, if for those that have not visited the
store or the website, website again.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
For US is Flag Lady USA dot com.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yeah, super easy, And if we'd like to visit the
store in person.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Clinton Ville at four five sixty seven North High Streets,
park in the back. Always remember to park in the back.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Park in the back, and Laurie, before we go, the
future looks very bright for the Flag Lady store. Anything
that might be coming that we should know about.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
The Absolutely, we're about ready to selve two hundred and
fifty years in this country in twenty twenty six. And
it's a big deal. It's already starting. We were fortunate
the Daughter's Dar Daughters of the American Revolution used our
windows in January to kick off the two hundred and
fiftieth celebrations. So we had old old pieces from back
(37:25):
in that error in our window and started the conversation going.
There are going to be so many wonderful events that
will be going both nationally, but Flag Ladies looking forward
to creating some of our own to just it's a
really big deal.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Lourie, I cannot thank you enough for being here. Lori Watson,
CEO and second generation owner of the Flag Lady, thank
you for being a guest this week on CEOs you
Should Know.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Thank you, It's always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
CEOs You Should Know is hosted and produced by Brandon Boxer,
a production of iHeartMedia, Columbus
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