On the walking path around Mosinee, WI, Jodie Schillinger is known as the woman who loves hiring people.

The workforce at Maple Ridge Farms (asi/68680), where she serves as executive vice president, swells by nearly tenfold during the food gift supplier’s busy season, and Schillinger is always looking to add to the Maple Ridge family. She believes the best employees are people she sees interacting and thriving in real life. Befitting the company’s standing as a 2026 Counselor Best Place to Work, Schillinger also has a deep appreciation for Maple Ridge’s thoroughly intergenerational workforce, with many employees returning year after year – well into retirement – simply for the love of the job.

“I’m so fortunate and blessed to be built by the people here,” Schillinger says. “I have a little bit of all of them woven into me.”

Schillinger grew up in the industry, but her family didn’t have an easy path. Her mother, Virginia Lemmer, moved her five children to a new city after a divorce. She went back to school and landed a job under Maple Ridge President Tom Riordan as one of the company’s first employees.

Maple Ridge – and the promo industry – have been a part of Schillinger’s life ever since. When she was barely a teenager, one of her first-ever jobs was cleaning the Maple Ridge office. Since then, she and two of her sisters – Jamie Johnson and Joelle Stahlecker – have all launched lengthy careers at the supplier, with Schillinger serving in her current role since 2018.

Her dedication to both Maple Ridge and promo has landed her on the Counselor Power 50 list and garnered a reputation as one of the industry’s most authentic and intentional voices.

Jodie Schillinger, Counselor’s 2026 Woman of Distinction, describes how she grew up in the promo industry and the culture of caring she’s help established at Maple Ridge Farms (asi/68680).

At the heart of that image is a voracious curiosity that extends far beyond her day-to-day tasks and often beyond promo itself. She reads extensively on neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to rewire itself) and challenging the mind, including a book on breakups – not to break up with a person, but to learn how to dump an unhelpful habit. She has both a yoga instructor certification and wilderness first responder training, which she has used to embed breathwork and wellness practices into community spaces.

She loves having her own mindset challenged, too. One of the biggest ways she’s grown over nearly 30 years at Maple Ridge has been learning to focus on the big picture: not managing every detail herself, but instead giving her people room to do what they do best.

“At a 30,000-foot view,” Schillinger says, “you’re removing barriers so that you can create the space for people to do what they do best.”

“Can I remind someone that they belong here? That is a moment that can move someone from paralyzed to maximized.”

It’s not easy, and sometimes it’s daunting – one of Schillinger’s longtime mantras is “scared as hell and doing it” – but that approach has helped her move Maple Ridge’s legacy forward.

It’s also shaped her approach to mentorship. She sees it less as a formal structure and more as a series of impactful moments where she can recognize the potential in someone before they see it in themselves. And, as others have reminded her of her own power over the years, Schillinger rarely hesitates to share that potential when she does see it.

“At any given point, can I remind someone that they belong here?” Schillinger often asks herself. “That in itself is a moment that can move someone from paralyzed to maximized.”

Schillinger is one of those people who makes you feel like you’re the most important person in the world when you’re in conversation with her, says Brittany David, CRO of Counselor Top 40 supplier SnugZ USA (asi/88060) and a Counselor Power 50 member.

Jodie Schillinger and her sister Jamie Johnson, who both work at Maple Ridge Farms, can often be found attending industry events together.

“This is really just her passion – to give back and elevate the industry,” says Mary Jo Tomasini, CEO of Michigan-based distributor CE Competitive Edge (asi/166085) and a past Counselor Woman of Distinction.

“She’s still rising,” adds Counselor Power 50 member Debbie Abergel, chief strategy officer at Counselor Top 40 distributor Nadel (asi/279600) and the 2022 Counselor Woman of Distinction. “I think there’s so much more that she’s going to be giving and doing.”

Lemmer, Schillinger’s mom, says she can still hardly believe how her seemingly random decision to move to the Wisconsin town where Maple Ridge is headquartered has transformed her family. Schillinger especially, Lemmer says, has truly come out of her introverted shell to take her job – and Maple Ridge – to another level.

“She doesn’t do anything halfway,” Lemmer says. “She takes pride in Maple Ridge, takes pride in this industry and always puts forth whatever she can into everything she does.”