April 27, 2021
PromoKitchen Announces Winners of Tee Hamilton Creative Scholarship
The program was established in memory of the longtime member of the promo industry and co-founder of PromoKitchen.
PromoKitchen, an independent volunteer group made up of promo industry professionals that offers networking events and mentoring, announced the winners of its first annual Tee Hamilton Creative Scholarship at its recent Spring Fling Virtual Mixer. The program encourages creative and professional education by paying up to 80% of attendance costs for recipients.
Rebecca Kubat, sales and account manager for ZOOMcatalog, plans to attend skucon 2022 with her scholarship funds, in order to network and eventually become a speaker at an industry event.
“It’s my goal to present our sales tools or resources to distributors and suppliers in an education session at skucon, ASI Orlando or PPAI Expo within the next three years,” said Kubat in a statement.
The scholarship was also awarded to Jonathan Porcasi, vice president of design and marketing at Axis Promotions Powered by HALO (asi/356000). He plans to apply for membership in the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA).
“AIGA has a robust student network, and I’d like to use the community to attend educational events and to continue to expand my knowledge base,” said Porcasi in a statement. “Becoming a member will also allow Axis to participate in student portfolio reviews, which is critical when recruiting.”
Tee Hamilton passed away in December after a lengthy battle with cancer. During her time in the industry, she consistently encouraged her peers to pursue professional and creative development opportunities.
“We were so excited to be able to offer the first scholarship to two extremely deserving applicants,” said Amanda Delaney, a volunteer and mentor for PromoKitchen, “and we’re even more excited to (hopefully) do more with the scholarship in the years to come.”
The free Spring Fling Virtual Mixer on April 8 was hosted on the wonder.me digital events platform and raised $2,500 for PromoKitchen through attendee donations. The organization will be hosting a virtual speaker event on May 13, featuring military advocate Dan Nevins. All proceeds will go to the Wounded Warrior Project.