May's Team Member of the Month!

And the award goes to....Candice G.! Our LILL on Location Assistant Manager. Outgoing, fun, friendly and hard-working are a few words to describe Candice. She's always willing to help out wherever needed and has a funny story to brighten your day. Her bold, bright hair matches her bold, bright personality. Some of you out in the Yelping World may already be familiar with her.

Candice, you're always giving 110% and your peers appreciate the additional work you’ve taken on, especially recently. Candice was noted for having amazing potluck organization and planning skills as head of the social committee, as well as being creative, personable and willing to take charge and take on additional tasks. She's always looking for ways to lower costs and has creative ideas to improve sales and LILL overall. Candice was also voted the person you'd most want to be your sibling, Best Dressed, and Funniest at Lill's annual award ceremony. All this and she's just fun to be around!

Here's a little more about Candice...

How long have you been at LILL: Coming up on 4 years this July

Fave Fabrics:
G is for Giraffe, Lemon Zebra, Snow Leopard… I am “Where the Wild Things Are”

Favorite Styles: JANE with a DENISE attached. Currently snow leopard JANE with Red Rocks DENISE… though I wish the DENISE came with a lock where my credit card lives that made me answer the question “Do you really need this, Candice?” through voice activation before I bought anything.

Last Vacation: How about future trips? I'm going to Croatia for 2 weeks in July and August this Summer with LILL cutting associate, Katie L. and her sister, LILL Design Director, Mandy L. We'll be living the high life on a "yacht" (house boat) on the Adriatic!

Hobbies: I have a personal Time Lapse Photography study… that’s fancy talk for me taking a photo of myself everyday, in pretty much the same spot in my room, since January 1st, 2008. I post all my pics online and when I’m bored I like to revisit my past year and a half… it’s amazing the things you remember from just seeing what you wore each day.

Interests: Cryptozoology and serial killers. I am sooo fascinated with animals… especially ones that aren’t recognized by conventional science, are thought to be extinct, or are found waaayyy outside of their normal geographic range. Seriously awesome stuff… Wikipedia “Bloop”, it’ll blow your mind. And the serial killer thing has always been an interest of mine. At the very least, it helps to know what’s out there lurking… I don't worry though, I won 3rd place for Tang Su Do and Hapkido in the Midwestern karate regionals in 1997 sooo attackers beware. Ps- I was totally cheated out of second place.

Friends & Fam: My sons (cats)! My main babe is Homer X-Ray Cat Spiderman Gatlin-Kelly and my other two loves are Razz Berry Gatlin & Leon Spinx Gatlin. I also love my Dad… he’s pretty rockin’. I want to go on the Amazing Race with him, BIG TIME! Between my day-glo orange hair and his knack for planning and travel, we’d be a shoe in for winners. For a little romance I have my BF of 5 years, Smelly… long story but it’s been his name for well over a decade, I’ve never called him anything but, and it’s not gonna change anytime soon. And I just want to drop a quick shout out to some LILL gals... see photo on right of Jess A., Kristina L., and myself at a colorful Yelp.com Elite event sporting our Audey custom dresses made by Jess A. (Jess has on a dress in LILL fabric Toucan Leaves and mine has bats on it!).

Fave Celebs: My celebrity loves are still Bill Murray and David Letterman… call me! And my personal idols are Dolly Parton and Harvey Milk because Dolly is a stone cold fox and hides a whole lotta brains behind a whole lotta, well, you know. And Harvey because he’s a rock star and advocate for the people. I like to think that we’re alike because we both love getting up on our soapbox and no one can get a coup together like me and Milk.

When I’m not at LILL I’m: Yelping! Anyone at LILL can tell you that I just LOVE putting my 2 cents in. I love giving my opinions on everything and anything and especially love writing reviews. Yelp.com allows me to write reviews for restaurants, stores, gas stations, doctors, etc and post my detailed reviews to their online website. I’m considered an “Elite” member of the yelp family with over 200 (and counting) reviews to my name. For accurate opinions visit here: candiceadeline.yelp.com

Interesting Fact: Okay, maybe this is more a declaration but I can’t afford to have a living will drawn up at this point… I love, LOVE, L.O.V.E. animals and after seeing that Disney movie ‘Earth,’ I decided that when I die I want my body to be fed to starving polar bears in Antarctica. Save the animals.

Candice with her animal friends: (tigers left to right) Leon Spinx Gatlin, Homer X-Ray Cat Spiderman Gatlin-Kelly, and Razz Berry Gatlin.

LILL's "Team Member of the Month"

Congrats to Kate G.! LILL's HQ Team Member of the Month for March.



Kate has done a fantastic job at running our LILL on Location Department since 2007. She actually began her run with LILL as a LILL on Location rep herself in 2005. She is best known for her witty sense of humor and outgoing yet relaxed personality. She is a great asset to the LILL team, always friendly, fun to be around, upbeat and organized. Kate is always coming up with creative ideas, like the Mommy bags for Mother’s Day! Constantly LILL minded you can count on Kate to bring up the most interesting statistics or articles about what’s going on in the world and how it can be used to advance and/or prepare us as a company. Relentless in her dedication to LILL, Kate is always going above and beyond for LILL on Location reps and customers. Kate not only does well in her own department but is continuously available to assistance other departments, offering whatever insight and direction she can.

Fun Fact: The above photo features Kate with her 2 pups, Olive and Grace. She occasionally brings them to the HQ office. We love their company and they make great office companions.

Let's get to know Kate a little more:

Where are you originally from? "I can claim to be from Nashville, TN since I was born there. My family moved up to IL when I was about 3 so I really grew up in Rockford, IL, but I migrated back down to the land of shorter - and warmer - winters for college and returned to Nashville after graduating. I’d been living happily in Music City (Viva NashVegas!) for almost a decade when LILL convinced me to make the move back up to IL."


How long have you been with LILL? "I started at LILL in the spring of 2005 as one of the LILL On Location Reps. I think my training group was maybe the third group to get started in the program. I moved up to Chicago in 2007 to work at HQ to oversee the further development of LILL’s rep program."


What’s your favorite LILL style? "Oh, it’s always so hard to pick just one! I love my DONNA for when I need to carry a bunch of stuff with me, my SOPHIE is fantastic for running around town on the weekends, and I have totally embraced the AUDREY/JANE concept. I now have 2 JANEs to interchange amongst my four AUDREYs. But... I think right now I am most excited about the BRIANNA. It officially debuts in May and is such a cute, perfect summer bag! I’ve already ordered one and have only 21 days left until it should be ready. Not that I’m counting or anything."


Top 3 fabric picks: "LILL has a ton of great spring and summer options right now so it may be tricky to narrow down to just three, but I’ll try.










Flower Press G is For Giraffe, Flower Press, Lemon Zebra (my BRIANNA is in this!)Lime Leaves and I like Tucan Leaves so much I may have to have the fabulous Jess Audey make me one of her dresses or a skirt out of it."


What do you love most about working for LILL? "Well, I get to play with handbags and fabrics all day so coming to work here full-time was somewhat like having the mother ship call me home. But, really, I think what makes working here so great is the people with whom I get to work. LILL is very lucky to have attracted some seriously cool people to work here. The three girls in my department are amazing – they make my job easier, better, and more entertaining every single day. My team of LILL reps are some of the most fun people I’ve ever had the chance to work with. I’m certain that if we all lived in the same city we’d all get together for drinks constantly. Actually, when I put it like that, it’s probably better for our health that we don’t all live in the same city!



Jen V., our founder and fearless leader, makes running a business seem largely effortless and like it’s the most fun she’s ever had. When you have that kind of attitude and outlook in charge of the whole show, it’s hard not to be happy where you are working.

In the end though I think it’s the general atmosphere of creativity and enthusiasm here that makes working at LILL the treat that it is. Because, when it comes down to it, making purses is fun. It’s not like we’re in the business of root canals or brain surgery. People come to our stores and our parties to have a good time and it’s nice to be able to be a part of that. I remember how thrilled I was when I received the first LILL bag I had designed (props to Becky F. for introducing me to LILL!) and I know our customers feel the same way when they get their bags in the mail."


Favorite musician, band or music genre: "Can I just rattle off a string of names here? Lloyd Cole, Dido, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Belle & Sebastian, Kings of Leon, Johnny Cash, Dave Brubeck (few things better than a Sunday morning with some coffee and Dave Brubeck), Old 97s, Robbie Williams, Allison Krauss (have you heard the Allison Krauss and Robert Plant album? It’s so good.), REM, The Beautiful South, and I’ll round out the list with Elvis Costello."



If you were a mix of any 2 fictional characters, who would you be and why? "Elizabeth Bennett and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Elizabeth because she is possibly the cleverest and best of all romantic heroines ever and Buffy because she is the cleverest and best of all vampire slayers. When combined, I would not only get to be clever, I’d also get to be stylish, have quality time with Mr. Darcy and Spike and there would be my seriously impressive kick-boxing skills (helpful for slaying vampires or caddish Lieutenants)."



Where did you last go on vacation? "Vacation? Huh? Well, I did take a week off over Labor Day last August and drove down to Kentucky and Tennessee to visit family and friends. I made the trip to visit a dear friend whom I hadn’t seen in far too long and have the chance to meet her new baby. The visits were great and the drive was fantastic, too. It was nice to take a leisurely route across those two states and see some green hills and mountains again. Chicago is great, but IL is too flat."



Thanks, Kate! You are a joy to work with and truly bring a fun dynamic to our company.

-Lilly S.