What a year it’s been!!  So many remarkable things have happened in 2012.  We, along with our clients, have grown a lot in 2012, both professionally and personally.  As we reflect on the past year, there is no doubt that the long days, late nights, unwavering hard work and dedication to what we do, and the constant whirlwind through some of the most challenging endeavors and the most momentous, historic events is all worth it!  We love what we do.

There have been Olympic, World and National Championship medals, engagements, retirements, monumental accomplishments and awe-inspiring performances.  2012 was a year filled with ingenuity, thirst to make the seemingly-impossible possible, and success across so many different platforms.

Just some of the 2012 highlights:

Angela Ruggiero was accepted to and began Harvard Business School.  A CEO in the making, she was also named President of the Women’s Sports Foundation and named to Sports Illustrated list of the Top 40 Athletes of the Title IX Era.  She continues her duties as a valued member of several United States Olympic Committee and International Olympic Committee executive boards.  As a board member of the IOC, she also had the honor of placing the Olympic gold medals around the necks of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Shawn Johnson retired from the sport of gymnastics this spring, but again danced across the stage as she finished the runner-up contestant on a star-studded season of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars All-Stars this fall.  Her second book, “Winning Balance: What I’ve learned So Far About Love, Faith and Living Your Dreams” was published in June.  She continues to be active in her involvement with a number of philanthropic activities and is a strong advocate of health and wellness initiatives.

Chellsie Memmel announced her retirement from an award-filled competitive gymnastics career, but not before a thrilling performance on the post-Olympic Kellogg’s Tour of Gymnastics Champions this fall.  She recently became engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Kory and is planning an upcoming August wedding.  Chellsie is finishing up her judging certifications to serve as a judge for USA Gymnastics competitions, and in addition to coaching and judging competitions, will begin to prepare for college later this year.

Erin Hamlin took a 5th consecutive Luge National Championship title.  She took eight individual World Cup top-ten finishes last season and she currently leads the U.S. team in the World Cup standings.  Erin is known as one of the fiercest competitors in the sport of luge and is working hard as she prepares for another run at her third Olympic games in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

Gabrielle Douglas, after winning first place at the Olympic gymnastics team trials, wowed the world with an All-Around gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, making her the first woman of color and first African-American gymnast in Olympic history to become the individual All-Around Champion.  She is also the first American gymnast to ever win both the Team and All-Around gold medals.  She has been given several honors, including the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, Women’s Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year, was nominated for Time Magazine Person of the Year, just to name a few, and graced the cover of several impressive publications including Time Magazine and even appeared on the Kellogg’s Corn Flakes box.  Gabrielle released a memoir this December entitled, “Grace, Gold and Glory, My Leap of Faith.”

Taylor Phinney continues to gain respect as a young cycling phenomenon who has rapidly built a name for himself in the sport.  Taylor took on some major cycling races and had some outstanding top finishes this year.  He started the 2012 season by helping his team win the Giro del Trentino’s Team Time Trial where he wore the leader’s jersey for a day.  He placed first in Stage 1 of the ITT Giro d’Italia, first in Stage 7 of the ITT USA Pro Cycling Challenge, and fourth place at the 2012 Olympic Games in London in both the Olympic Road Race and in the Olympic Time Trial competition.  Following the Olympics, he went on to win the silver medal at the World Road Cycling Championships in September.

Nick Goepper has climbed the freeskiing ranks and is on his way of reaching his goal to make the Olympic team for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.  Nick won a silver medal at the 2012 Winter X Games in the slopestyle contest.

Bela Karolyi is, well, Bela- one of the most passionate, knowledgeable and funniest people we know.  He continues to amaze us with his insight and love for the sport of gymnastics and the outdoors.

We celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Title IX this year, a significant milestone in the advancement of equality of women and girls in sports and academics.  The development and progression of Title IX and the resulting efforts has undoubtedly had a big hand in shaping who we are today.

And of course, the 2012 U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team, otherwise known as the “Fierce Five” (Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber) made us all so proud when they took home the Team gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games, making it just the second ever gold medal for the U.S. in the women’s team competition.  The team came home from London with a total of five Olympic medals.  It has been a pleasure getting to know all of them and their families.

Our incredible clients, thank you for being you!  What a year!! We can’t wait for 2013!  We are honored and proud to work with some incredible athletes and most importantly, fine individuals.  They continue to inspire us with their accomplishments both inside and outside of the competitive arena, their iron will, determination, perseverance and pure passion for what they do.

To our friends at Coca-Cola, P&G, Nike, Nintendo, Kellogg’s, Tumbl-Trak, GK, Varsity, NBC, USA Gymnastics, US Luge, USA Cycling, Women’s Sports Foundation, AP, it has been a pleasure working with you, as always, and we look forward to our continued relationship through the years.

With Sochi2014 just around the corner, we’re certainly very excited to jump in to the swing of things and begin all of the planning and preparations for the next Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.  Time will fly by and Sochi 2014 will be here before you know it.

Dedication, hard work, integrity, creativity and a constant quest to challenge the ordinary and exceed expectations are some of the qualities that we value most at Shade Global.  Looking forward to 2013, we undoubtedly have a strong and refreshed inspiration to continue to grow and seek the most advanced opportunities and develop and produce successful endeavors.

As we close the door on the incredible whirlwind year that was 2012, we’re anxiously looking forward to all of the excitement, promise and opportunity that lay ahead of us in 2013!  Stay tuned to our website and twitter (@shadeglobal) for new and exciting updates that will be announced very soon!

Wishing you all a year full of peace, love, happiness, health, success, laughter, kindness, compassion and good will.  Happy 2013!!

(read more)