We recently celebrated a kick ass 2018 at our annual holiday party. Looking around the room, as we were about to recognize­ this year’s award winners, we were a bit in awe of just how amazing all the people we get to work with on a daily basis really are. 2018 was a BIG year for us. We rebranded, completely renovated our office space, celebrated wins while learning from our losses and ultimately reinvigorated a company culture that not only did everyone play a part in creating, but one that everyone feels proud of living.

A rebrand can tricky, especially when you have an almost 30-year legacy you want to uphold. Before we started on our rebrand journey, we knew we wanted to keep focused on these three things:

1. We were lucky to work with such an awesome group of people.
   No really, they rock. From their passion for clients to their passion for giving back…Thruliners are the best.
2. We wanted to define a set of values that people were really excited about and incorporate them into every facet of our work.
   We asked for feedback and selected values that not only exemplified us, but also challenged us.
3. We sought out to refocus our mission on something everyone would feel good about.
   We wanted to put the student first and support the “through-line” of the student journey.

What we learned from our rebrand:

1. A rebrand takes a village. A village of highly motivated and exceptionally talented people. We are lucky to work with all of them (most on a daily basis) and they are the reason we are sitting where we are now.
2. Our employees kick ass. We knew we had the best, and yet they still manage to surprise us. They live, breathe and embody our culture on a daily basis. They are the reason we made the Kansas City Business Journal’s Best Places to Work 2018 list and showcased our awesome office winning this year’s Coolest Office Space in KC.
3. Having a clear mission and set of values has helped us help countless people find their way to a rewarding career, and we are really proud of all we have accomplished in just this first year.

We constantly find ourselves torn between scratching our heads to figure out how it has almost already been a year and feeling so comfortable with where we are now. It feels like we have been Thruline for years. What we do know is that we wouldn’t change a thing about how we got here because it has made us the company we are today, and we are crazy excited about where we are going.