thebuzz

Annette Gildea awarded 2009 Corporate Heroine in Technology

(November, 2009) Ollie Interactive president Annette Gildea was named a recipient of the 2009 Corporate Heroine award at the Heroines in Technology Gala on November 13 at the Hyatt Hotel in Reston, VA. Sixteen metro-DC-area women were nominees for the event, hosted by March of Dimes and Women in Technology. The event recognizes the outstanding efforts of women who balance demanding roles in the fast-paced technology sector with significant commitments to community service. The keynote speaker for the event was Carol Evans, CEO of Working Mother Magazine.

Ms. Gildea was presented the 2009 Corporate Heroine award for her work supporting Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia including the Habitat ReStore, and the National Academy of Engineering program to interest girls in technology fields. Annette serves on the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia; the planning committee of Women Who Build; and on the Advisory Committee for the National Academy of Engineering EngineerGirl! initiative and the EngineerYourLife program for high school students.  Additional information about the gala and details of other award-winners are available at BusinessWIre.Ms. Gildea and local nominees are also featured in the Nov/Dec issue of Fairfax Woman magazine.

(October, 2009) The beautiful Ronald Reagan Center and International Trade Center has engaged Ollie to create a series of print and web advertising showcasing the many assets of this popular events and meetings venue. To date, Ollie Interactive has created more than a dozen Flash and static ad banners focused on special events, meetings venues and the flexible spaces offered at the Reagan Building.  We look forward to a long and happy relationship with the wonderful folks on Pennsylvania Avenue!

Congratulations to our client Chick’s Picks by Hillary for being chosen as a Winner in the “Pitch Your Product” promotion sponsored by Country Living Magazine!  Owner Hillary Tattersall began Chick’s Picks from her home in 2006 as a private boutique shopping experience in metro-DC, featuring unique & funky fashion & home accessories created by women, for women.

Last year Ollie Interactive was engaged to recreate the unique and popular boutique experience online, through a custom-designed shopping cart, easy-to-update merchandise logs, and a gallery of photos from past boutique shows. We are thrilled to be part of Hillary’s business success, and heartily congratulate her on this fantastic piece of media exposure in Country Living Magazine!

(September, 2009) Washington DC’s spectacular Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center has engaged Ollie Interactive to design and author a series of promotions for the destination venue. Working with the recently developed tag line, “exceptional. from start to finish.” Ollie will create print and electronic promotions for trade publications in the hospitality and meetings planning industries.

Join us on August 8, 2009 at 7 pm, for Habitat Night at Washington Nationals Park, when the Nats take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia is a longtime partner of Ollie Interactive, and when you buy tickets from the Habitat ticket sales page, part of the proceeds goes toward building affordable homes in the DC metro area.

Reusable Habitat shopping bags will be given away to the first 500 fans wearing a Habitat for Humanity shirt or hat. There will be other giveaways too, so be sure to show your support by sporting the Habitat logo. If you’re unable to attend the event, please donate (ANYtime!) via our online donation page for Habitat.

Join us WEDNESDAY, JULY 15 for a Happy Hour to benefit Habitat for Humanity!

We at Ollie Interactive heartily support the mission of Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia—to end poverty housing and provide a hand-up, not a hand-out, to hard-working families in our area.

Please come out on Wednesday, July 15 from 5:00-8:00pm at M&S Grille, Reston Town Center for a free happy hour and networking opportunity to benefit Habitat. We have set a goal to raise $5,000 by the end of the year, and invite our friends, clients and supporters to help us achieve this. If you’re unable to attend the event, please donate (ANYtime!) via our online donation page for Habitat:

Thanks for your support, and we look forward to seeing you on July 15!

  M&S Grill in Reston Town Center :11901 Democracy Drive, Reston, VA 20190. Get directions

Ollie Interactive has brought home another award for brand and collateral design! The Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington (ADCMW) named Ollie Interactive as winner in the Collateral and Stationery Suite category for our work for Invision.TV.  See the design for yourself in our portfolio -> print section. Congratulations to Doug, Tanya, and Debra for their outstanding work on this project—and to our wonderful client Invision.TV, who trusted us to run with some stellar creative concepts.  (May, 2009) 

Habitat NoVa launched its ReStore website this month, and the volunteers at Habitat couldn’t be happier about the result. Ollie Interactive created the new site which has a blog, a gallery showcasing new items, a calendar for scheduling pickups and store events, and is managed by Expression Engine—a content management system that allows staff and volunteers to make simple site updates without assistance or technical knowledge. We are so pleased to continue providing service to our pro bono partner, Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia, for the worthy cause of fighting homelessness in our area. (May, 2009)

(September, 2007)  We are pleased and proud to announce that yesterday we launched the new website for La Prima Catering, a well-established catering business in the metropolitan D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia areas. What a beautiful site, and what a fantastic collaborative effort! Check it out at http://www.laprimacatering.com. This site reinvents the La Prima online identity, and for the first time allows La Prima guests to select items and order online. It also creates a brand new identity for the parent company La Prima Food Group. Kudos to the entire Ollie development team including Tanya (PM), Sam (design/Flash), Heidi (design/IA), Alex (code), and our new best friends at Groove Commerce who deftly navigated through the weeds of our shopping cart solution ASP.NET Storefront (dreadful product name, powerful product). Once again we have a very happy client—another Ollie success story!

(May, 2007)  The Art Director’s Club of Metropolitan Washington presented Ollie Interactive with awards in two categories at the 58th Annual Design Show Gala in Washington, DC. Annette Gildea and Doug Fuller won for their collaborative work on the Ollie Interactive logo, as well as for the Ollie Interactive Stationery Suite. Judging the event were Hayes Henderson (HendersonBromsteadArt), Petrula Vrontikis (Vrontikis Design Office), and Ann Willoughby (Willoughby Design Group). The gala was held at the HRC headquarters in Washington, DC.

(January, 2007) Annette Gildea, Principal and CEO of Ollie Interactive LLC, has been named to the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia. Annette has been active with Habitat since 2005, and in 2006 her company provided pro bono design and development services to the non-profit in order to reinvent the image of the Northern Virginia affiliate. The new site at http://www.habitatnova.org takes online donations, and allows businesses and individuals to prepare to volunteer with online registration forms.
      “I am pleased and honored to be asked to serve Habitat in this capacity,” said Annette. “It’s a great thing when your talents and desire to make a difference merge so beautifully with a real need in a worthy organization. I’m also happy we will continue to provide the services of Ollie Interactive to their great mission.”