Roll out the barrel, we’ll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel, we’ve got the blues on the run
Zing boom tararrel, ring out a song of good cheer
Now’s the time to roll the barrel, for the gang’s all here
“Beer Barrel Polka,” composed by Jaromír Vejvoda
Katherine Kotaw was nominated for a Trophy Central Show Us Your Sue award last June so you might wonder why it took us 8 months to include her among our recipients.
Well, we were waiting for the rest of the gang – the KOTAW Girl Gang – to arrive. Now that they’re here – and five more nominations have rolled in – we’re ready to put on our dancing shoes and stomp out a polka in celebration.
As it turns out – and many of you may know by now – Katherine, founder of KOTAW, a Los Angeles brand storytelling firm, leads a female gang that includes her daughters, Bri and Kelsey, pit bull Ivy, poodle doodle LuLU and a kitten-cat named Doosis.
So we’re glad we waited to hand out this trophy. Because what’s better than honoring a single nominee? Honoring a gang of them.
The only problem with waiting is that it was hard to fit the various accolades on the engraved portion of the custom engraved trophy we made for the females who work and play at KOTAW Content Marketing. But we gave it our best shot, and here’s what we came up with:
The KOTAW Girl Gang
Excellence in Bravery, Determination, Creativity, Kindness & Pit Bull Advocacy
We congratulate the KOTAW Girl Gang and thank those who nominated them:
- Jill Cofsky, first grade teacher, professional voice actor, and broadcaster for the visually impaired.
- Gomee Girl, a community, brand and beautiful concept created by Donna Rheaume Furgal, which inspires girls of all ages to love themselves for who they are.
- Kristen Lamb, writer, literacy advocate and author of the Dani P. Mystery kid lit series about a young female sleuth.
- Jennifer Broderick, artist and owner of Jennifer! Designs, a stationery and surface design company.
- Chloe Pink, a 7 year old girl cartoon character created by Sharna Fulton who is on a mission to empower girls to follow their dreams.
- Krithika Rangarajan, freelance writer and winner of our very first Show Us Your Sue award.
The Trophy Central Show Us Your Sue award, also called the Random Acts of Trophy-ness award, was inspired by the fictional Sue Heck from The Middle. Sue Heck is our muse. We love her can-do spirit and the fact that she never, EVER gives up! Sue Heck may not be a “winner” in the traditional trophy-giving sphere (athleticism or artistic talent for example) but she makes the world a better place, just by being the awesome person she is. And that is what makes a true winner in our eyes.
We think Katherine, Bri, Kelsey, Ivy, LuLU and Doosis are KOTAWesome! And, if you read about their passion to rebrand pit bulls as sweet and loving or their courageous triumph over domestic violence, we think you’ll agree.
Let’s keep the barrel rolling! Nominate your favorite everyday hero for a Trophy Central Random Act of Trophy-ness award today!
Thank you, Trophy Central for this KOTAWesome trophy! And thank you so much to Jill Cofsky,
Donna Rheaume Furgal, Kristen Lamb, Jennifer Broderick, Sharna Fulton and Krithika Rangarajan for the incredibly moving nominations. You are all kind, talented, amazing, inspirational women; and all your kind words (squeezed onto our trophy!) mean the world to my mom, sister and me — and our fur babies Ivy, LuLU and Doosis too! We are particularly moved that “Pit Bull advocacy” is one of the many accolades engraved on our trophy! Our passion for rebranding Pit Bulls as the sweet and loving dogs they are — with Ivy leading the way as our Pit Bull Brand Ambassador! — gives our work so much meaning. The best part about this trophy is getting to share it with my mom and sister — my biz partners and best friends! — as well as our sweet fur babies who make every day a happy, love-filled adventure. PS: Thank you for writing about our “courageous triumph over domestic violence” — it’s our goal to show the world that there is hope, success and happiness on the other side of domestic violence (and our story is proof of that!) Can’t wait for this week’s episode of “The Middle”! I love Sue Heck’s newfound confidence in college! Eden Sher is so talented and never ceases to make me smile!
I echo KOTAW Girl Gang member Bri’s ebullient thanks, Trophy Central! The trophies we’ve seen other “Show Us Your Sue” winners receive through pictures on social media have looked amazing, but something about how KOTAWesome the trophies actually are isn’t fully appreciated until you’re holding one yourself. You should have seen KOTAW Girl Gang member Kelsey’s face when she first saw the trophy — I wish I could have captured the pure glee of THAT on camera: Her face was all aglow like it was Christmas morning… And she smiled more and more with each word she read on the trophy, until she got to “Pit Bull advocacy” and then jumped around with glee, prompting our Pit Bull Brand Ambassador Ivy (who LOVES to celebrate excitement!) to start doing her happy pittie wiggle (which of course Kelsey and Bri joined in on!) Thank you for bringing so much JOY into our lives and thank you for sharing our love of “The Middle” and in particular, Sue Heck! We are honored to have the KOTAW name associated with Show Us Your Sue. Thank you from the entire KOTAW Gang!
Thank you Bri and Katherine for leaving such kind and uplifting comments here on the Trophy Central blog! We should’ve tried to squeeze in “excellence in leaving comments that make your day” onto your KOTAW trophy! 🙂 You are both a ray on sunshine on social media and we weren’t one bit surprised by all your nominations! The cherry on top was definitely seeing that more and more people wanted to nominate the entire KOTAW Girl Gang. We couldn’t wait to make this trophy for you and squeeze in every accolade possible because you deserve them all! Hugs to you and Kelsey and your pit bull Ivy, poodle doodle LuLU and kitten-cat Doosis. You’re all KOTAWesome!!!